| Will Jesus BRUISE
the head of Satan? | |
Q. What does the following mean from Genesis 3:15 " . . . He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."? (Submitted by: D. M. ) A. You picked a good question. These few words contain a tremendous meaning. To begin with, this is the first prophecy in the Bible. Let's take a look at the verse in question within its immediate Biblical context: "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?' "And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" "Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate . . . "And the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.' "So the Lord God said to the serpent: 'Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.' " (Genesis 3:1-6, 13-15, NKJV throughout)
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| The serpent unequivocally represents Satan, also human beings that are, consciously or not, serving his purpose ( " your seed" ). The woman represents Christ and the church ( " her Seed" ). It has always been a struggle between these two parties, the outcome of which is just staggering. It has to do with God's plan of salvation in producing children for God's family, and Satan endeavoring to damage and destroy as much as possible of that plan. In a small way, it applied to the people of Israel in the Old Testament, (the " church in the wilderness", Acts 7:38) as the Devil enticed the Israelites to sin and disobey. Most of all it applies to the New Testament church. Satan tried to kill the Messiah, soon after He was born, through Herod. As that failed he used the Pharisees and other enemies to try to make Jesus stumble, right up to the His crucifixion. That having failed, he endeavored to make "her Seed," the church stumble. He has had, tragically, some success there, as some of God's children have lost out and more will. All this is the fulfillment of "you shall bruise his heel". What about the other part, "He shall bruise your head"? Jesus Christ will crush Satan, his power and his empire of demons at the end of this age: "Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!' " (Revelation 11:15) Around five hundred years earlier Daniel prophesied the same event: "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth . . . "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." (Daniel 2:34-35, 44). There are many more prophecies adding more details of this glorious future event. Tragically, before that fulfillment, mankind will have to learn a very painful lesson. Two world wars have not driven the lesson home yet . . . the next and LAST one will (Matthew 24:21-22.) | | Written by: Adriano Borean |
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