"The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you." Romans 16:20
Last Sunday we discussed this passages from Genesis that talk about God as the creator of everything and from the beginning of John. Let's review them for a minute.
John 1:1-5, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
Now skip down to verses 10-14. "He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed His name, He gave the right to become children of God-- Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
What an amazing passage! Where did all this begin? Well, now we can turn to the other book that starts with "In the beginning..." Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
This God of creation is the same Word of Creation spoken of in John. This is the same God that became flesh and dwelt with us. So this text could say In the beginning, Jesus created the heavens and the earth. So why did this almighty and powerful God become weak and powerless flesh? The answer is in Genesis 3. Here we have the story of the first human sin. The story of how Satan, using the guise of a serpent, tempted Eve, and she fell , then Adam fell and they blamed each other and they blamed the serpent. How does this story come to an end? God has to sort it out. In Genesis 3:14 and 15 we have the conclusion of this story and the beginning of the salvation saga. Here we find the first prophecy.
Genesis 3:14,15. "So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life."
"And I will put enmity.." I looked that up in the dictionary. Enmity: severe hatred. I will put severe hatred "between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel."
I like how Dr. Jack Blanco puts it in his Clear Word paraphrase that he has done. Genesis 3:14,15 Then God said to the serpent, because you were used as a tool of Satan, I cannot continue to let you be the most beautiful creature in the garden. You will now be lower than any of the animals and will crawl on the ground eating its dust. Also, I will place a hatred of sin in the heart of the woman and her descendants, and this hatred of sin will find its ultimate expression in One of her offspring. Satan, like a striking serpent, will try to kill Him, but as a man crushes the head of a poisonous snake with his bare heel to save his children knowing he will die, so the Savior will sacrifice His own life to save those who love Him, and He will utterly crush the serpent s head."
It's amazing grace. God's grace devised a means, way back in the beginning, whereby His banished children need not be expelled from Him but only from the garden. Adam and Eve were saved from the eternal consequences of their sin. Adam trusted in the promise of a coming Savior, the Seed of the woman. He was clothed in skins at the expense of an innocent victim a clear fore-view of Calvary. He confessed his faith by calling his wife's name Eve, which means Mother of all living , in the face of the death sentence recently pronounced.
Have you ever made a deadly decision? Maybe you haven't made a decision that has doomed all humanity, but we all like Adam and Eve has a choice to make to either cave-in and let temptations to sin win or put our foot down and take a stand against evil and against our human nature to sin against God. To sin is literal us telling God we know better and that our ways are better than his. Sin is a serious offense, but "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:9
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