A Few Observations on Christ's Triumph over the Serpent.

Ben (Sep. 2014)
_______

Christ’s triumph over the serpent is inadvertently thought as supreme a matter in the counsels of God.

The nature of the devil is falsehood and violence- a liar and a murderer from the beginning. This is in contrast to that which is of God- Light and Love.

But the works of the devil is the impartation of its nature firstly to Adam and then to Cain and his institutions*. It has to do with man. This is peculiar as it shows that man is in bondage. To destroy the works of the devil is to then imply the imperative of rescuing man from bondage.

*In Adam we are all lost- ‘where art thou?’ In Cain we are all murderers (guilty of Christ’s death) - ‘what hast thou done? ’. Further in Cain we are all builders too- for he kills as well as builds a city after his son- a system of pure evil. This act of building is peculiarly incidental to fallen man. It is corruption. Thus we have violence and falsehood- the beast and the false prophet, and man’s corrupt institutions as well- ‘Babylon’. The works of the devil is to enslave Adam and teach Cain to kill. Christ came to deliver man and enable him to love in the Spirit. We find corruption, violence and falsehood in v5, 8 and 9 of Col 3 respectively.

For the king of Egypt to be destroyed, Egypt itself can be destroyed with one swipe of judicial intervention. There is no revelation of grace in this as such the children of Israel too perish. But to rescue the children, the red sea must open- in a word death and resurrection of Christ is needed, but this in itself proved to be the death of Egypt as well. In destroying the works of the devil (in saving us from bondage), the devil is too destroyed*. The red sea prevented the Israelites to escape Egypt and behind was the raging madness of Pharaoh pursuing them. The red sea is the righteous judgment of God against the wages of our sin which is death. But the red sea is an advantage to Pharaoh- the power of death singularly profited the devil. Christ takes up our judgment on Himself (the red sea opens, so that we can pass), but in doing so the red sea nullifies Pharaoh- ‘through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil’-Heb 2.

*This is singularly remarkable, but at the same time for this to be realized His partaking of flesh and blood is needed-(a truth assertively emphasized in Heb2 as well as in 1 John3) for without this there can be no opening of the red sea, and if the red sea open not, it is to our condemnation along with the devil- a terrible thing, though reflective of God’s righteousness but not an iota of grace and redemption to be known. In this we see Christ glorifying God in bringing out the eternal counsels and riches of His grace to man.

It is the ‘her Seed’ that is to bruise the head of the serpent. It is Christ as Man, though being God who is promised victory over the devil. In Genesis, the promise to the Seed is twofold: destroying evil and to be the root and object of all blessing. The former is found in ‘her Seed’ (Gen 2), the latter is found in Gen 12, 22 and 26 later reiterated in Galatians (in connection to the true and risen Isaac). Compare Ps 91:13-‘thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder’ with v14-‘…I will set him on high’ of the same chapter. Thus in Gen 2, the focus is the counsels of God’s grace and not the theological question of destroying the devil*, though this is inevitably the product of the former when acted upon.

*The reference to the destruction of the prince of this world is purely judicial in the prophecies of Ezekiel and Isaiah, and not the moral question of deliverance of man from the stronghold of Satan.

The head of the serpent and the tail of the serpent is to be considered. In Exodus, the rod becomes a serpent, but Moses is commanded to take it by the tail- not to bruise its head. For to bruise the head would tantamount to error, as Moses here is the type of Christ in His second advent to deliver the nation from its foes. In His first advent, He bruised the serpent’s head which is as true as His heel getting bruised, but in the second advent, it is just the matter of taking it by the tail- the powers ordained of God that had become evil instruments reverted to its former purposes- a rod of God.

Christ was sent to realize the Samson’s riddle- to bring out meat out of the eater and sweetness out of the strong- not just to kill the lion. The counsels of God’s grace and love, is in redeeming us through Christ at the cost of His heel getting bruised (the destruction of devil simultaneously). It is the truth about the red sea in all its beauty and profundity.

Go to Collected-Writings.net