Understanding Redemption (Part 2)

It has always been God's plan to redeem humankind from the fall and from the loss of man's lordship over this world.  When Adam and Eve sinned Satan become their god and spiritual death came into them and they died spiritually.  As a result of this, Satan took the lordship of this world from Adam, because when Adam sinned he relinquished his authority over the earth.  Yet at that time God promised the human race that the lordship would be taken back from Satan and given back to man.  This is all part of the "redemptive" process God has for us through the Savior Jesus Christ.

Four Truths In Genesis 3:15

1.  There will be enmity or "hatred" between Satan and womanhood throughout life.  To recognize this, all you have to do is study history to find out that the most subjected human being that has ever lived on the face of the earth in the heathen nations has been the woman. There has been a Satanic involvement to belittle and to push down women.

2.  God told the serpent that He would put enmity between thy seed (which is Satan) and her seed (which is Christ).  Notice that there has always been enmity between God's people and the world.

3.  God also told Satan that he had become the lord of this world.  But that the seed of the woman shall bruise his head, which is a term that means, shall take the lordship away from Satan.

4.  He (Satan) shall only bruise the heel of the woman's seed which would indicate something less than a fatal blow.

The Seed Of The Woman Shall Bruise The Head Of Satan

When we read the account of man's fall in Genesis we see that man handed over this world to

Satan and it would seem all hope was lost.  But God had a plan.  God would send another man from the seed of the woman and this man will take back the lordship that Adam had relinquished. Satan had no idea as to who this man would be. All he knew was that it would be from the seed of the woman and that this man was going to bruise his head.

Was Cain or Abel to be that seed?  Satan in his limited knowledge said maybe Abel is the one that is going to crush my head and as a result he drove Cain to kill Abel thinking perhaps Abel was that seed.

Was Seth the seed?  After the death of Abel, God gave Adam and Eve another son, Seth.  His name means "substitute."  Eve said God has appointed me another seed instead of Abel.  Through this birth, God was bringing forth a lineage in which He is going to bring forth Jesus.

Was Noah to be that seed?  In Genesis 6 we see that only Noah and his family are left after the flood and God used Noah and his seed as the next step to bring forth Jesus.

Was Abraham to be that seed?  After the flood God sets aside a nation and calls Abraham to be the father of that nation.  Satan now knows a little bit more.  Satan now knows that this is the nation that is to bring forth the seed that will defeat him.  Psalm 89:3-4 "I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant.  Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up the throne to all generations."

Was David to be that seed?  God is narrowing it down to a nation, to a family, then to the house of David.  That is why Satan fought David so much.  He hated David because he knew his family was the one in which the seed was going to come.

The seed would come from a virgin.  God finally narrows it down and marks off not a nation not a family, but an individual.  Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

Jesus is that seed!  Imagine what Satan was thinking when the birth of Jesus came to pass.  He had waited all those centuries wondering when it was going to happen.  Satan now knows who the person is and that is why every attempt was made on the life of Jesus and if it had not been for God's intervening and angelic protection, the Christ child would have been killed in infancy.

In Matthew 3 when Jesus was baptized, God Himself witnessed to the fact that Jesus was His son, when a voice from heaven announced "this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."  It was at this moment that Satan knew for sure that Jesus was the one to take back authority and rule. That's why Satan came against Jesus in Matthew 4 with numerous temptations.

Towards the end of Jesus' earthly ministry, the opportunity came for the devil to enter into Judas and he sold out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Jesus was then crucified on the cross and laid in the tomb.  It was at this point that no doubt Satan thought he had won and had conquered the seed that was to bruise his head.

But Satan hadn't won.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus rose from the grave and made a show of the devil openly (Colossians 2:15).   Now Jesus takes from Satan the keys, that is the authority of death and hell, and goes over to paradise and opens it and leads those that had been kept captive in paradise to heaven.  In doing this, Jesus took the lordship away from Satan and delivered it back to us.  No longer do we have to live in spiritual death, but Jesus has won it all back for us that we can have life and have it more abundantly.

Jesus has a name that is above every name; and things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth will all have to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  All this has been part of God's redemptive plan for humanity.

God has a redemptive plan for you!  All you need to do is accept it!

-- Pastor Temple