The Lord God said to the serpent, “I will put open hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall fatally bruise your head, and you shall only bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, a forty day period in which we have an opportunity to view the Cross and Resurrection through the lens of our brokenness and dis-ease. WARNING—“Like the cancer patient that refuses to acknowledge he has cancer and thus rejects all treatment, refusal to acknowledge our brokenness prevents us to be healed” (John Kelley).
During Lent I shall be presenting seven snapshots of the Cross from the Old Testament. My purpose is to deepen our understanding of what Jesus did for us at Calvary. Astonishingly, the Gospel is first announced in Genesis 3:14-15. Let’s examine the Good News in these words!
“So, the serpent of ancient times, who is called the devil and Satan, was hurled down upon the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him” (Revelation 12:7-8). After Adam and Eve had been deceived by the serpent God addressed Satan: “I will put open hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.” Two facts are revealed. First, earth will be the battleground of the hostility. Second, history will be the record of the hostility. The word “ISIS” is more than ample evidence of these facts!
“He shall fatally bruise your head, and you shall only bruise His heel.” Events from World War II illustrate these words. D-Day was when the Allied forces landed in Normandy and established a beachhead. The generals on both sides recognized that the outcome of the war would be decided on that fateful day. V-Day marked the surrender of the enemy and the Allies’ liberation of all of Europe. But between D-Day and V-Day there’d be many months of suffering and struggle. There’d be horrendous battles as the Allied armies, little by little, pushed back the Nazi forces.
Jesus fought (the Cross) and won (the Resurrection) the decisive battle, God’s D-Day: “God took our debt and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s Cross. In this way God took away Satan’s power to accuse you of sin.” By defeating Satan’s power (sin and death) a beachhead of victory was established on earth. However, since the first Easter, Satan has engaged in a “scorched earth” policy, knowing that God’s V-Day, the return of Jesus, is coming—“I saw a new heaven and a new earth. I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: ‘Now God’s home is with people! He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared.’”
