Meditation

06/22/2021

“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 between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)

God had warned the man that sin, would lead to death. The serpent had questioned God’s warning. As illustrated here, some human suffering is deserved as the consequence of human sin. A moral, just God punishes sin and rewards obedience. Physical pain and physical death are examples of deserved suffering for the man and the woman. Human work and sex are not evil. They were part of life in God’s good creation, but they became associated with pain through God’s punishment of human sin.

The connection of serpent imagery with Satan is clearly established in Rev. John 12:9. The infliction of a fatal wound to the head points to the victory of Christ at the Cross (John 12:31). Satan’s final defeat is revealed in Rev. 20:7-10.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY:

Precious Abba, there will be a time with God releases Satan, but that time in not yet and when Jesus returns for the second time, He will end his time on this earth forever, as the new kingdom will be established. It is in this ending, that we praise Jesus’ precious name that we pray that God’s will is completely and finally done. Amen

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“JESUS – No man has ever so comforted the distressed – or so distressed the comfortable!”

KNOWING GOD:

“In that day, the Lord will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.” (Isaiah 27:1)

Leviathan was the sea monster in ancient Near Eastern creation stories in which the creator slew the monster. Isaiah’s use of the mythological creature does not imply that the myths were true. Using the figure of the sea monster as a symbol of evil, the passage relates the future day of the Lord’s new creation to the destruction of evil. Inasmuch as Satan is evil personified, the passage anticipates the eschatological (end times) victory over Satan that Christ will accomplish at His return.

I AM:

“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.” (John 12:31)

Christ’s death upon the cross is the most significant moment of history, for it allowed Christ and the Father to reveal Their full glory and to received praise acknowledging Their glory. The basic purpose of historical time is to give praise and glory to God. Christ’s death spelled Satan’s ultimate defeat. It showed no one, not even death, could defeat God and His control of history.

SECOND THOUGHT of the DAY:

“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—-Gog and Magog—-to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the amp of God’s people, the city he loved. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:7-10)

The age-long adversary of humanity faces eschatological (end time) defeat. The principle of defeat was accomplished at the cross (Hebrews 2:14). The preliminary manifestation of the defeat is seen in the binding of Satan for one thousand years (Revelation 20:2-3). The final establishment of the eternal order is preceded by the endless confinement of the and torment of Satan in the lake of fire.

Such an end was announced in embryonic form in the prophetic word of Genesis 3:15 and reaffirmed by Jesus in John 12:31. Those interpreters who took for a literal thousand year reign find here a descriptions of international rebellion led by Satan against the political kingdom of Christ. Some would identify this period of temptation with the tribulation. But no matter beloved, Satan’s end is coming and Christ is the victor for all eternity.