This Day in History: 0000-12-04
December 4 – Hebrews 2:14
Because God’s children are human beings – made of flesh and blood – the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.
Today we’re wrapping up our first examination of prophecies about Messiah fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We’ve been looking at Genesis 3, and the predictions made by God Himself about the relationship between the Christ and Satan.
Genesis 3:14-15 – Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike His heel.”
- The Messiah would be the male offspring of the woman
- There would be hostility between the offspring of the Devil and the offspring of the woman
- The Messiah would be wounded by Satan.
- The Messiah would destroy Satan.
We’ve already seen how Jesus fulfilled the first three parts of this prophecy over the past few days. Yesterday, we imagined what it might have been like for Satan in those first few days after Jesus died – likely believing he had somehow overcome the prophecy and dealt a death blow to the promised Messiah rather than the simple wounding God had foretold.
As is so often the case, if he had simply spent more time familiarizing himself with the Scriptures, perhaps he would have known Jesus was always going to die. It had been a part of the plan from the beginning, though so few seemed to understand it. And that brings us to the final component of that Garden-of-Eden prophecy.
4. Messiah would crush Satan’s head
Hebrews 2:14 – Because God’s children are human beings – made of flesh and blood – the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.
1 John 3:8 – But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.
Oh how I would have loved to have seen the reaction from all those terrible forces of evil as they realized what had really happened. As Jesus walked from that tomb, He struck the death-blow to the power of death held by Satan. He assured the victory.
With that triumph came a promise yet to be fulfilled – A prophecy we still look forward to seeing fulfilled in the second coming of Christ.
One day, when this world’s time has come to an end, Jesus Christ, the promised offspring of the woman, will hurl Satan and all of his forces into the Lake of Fire to continually die an eternal death.
In light of the richness of this promise and all that has already been fulfilled, may we each praise our Lord and Savior for setting us free from the power of sin and death! As His precious children, may we look forward to the day when He will strike the final blow and we will live with Him forever!