The curse is this: Satan, you’re not going to frighten anybody; not Eve, not her seed, and not the One who is going to come and crush your head. You don’t threaten any of the godly; be it Eve, be it those who are spiritually her seed, and that they love You and hate Satan, be it the Son Himself. You may assault Eve; you may assault her seed, her spiritual progeny, those who believe, that love Me; you may assault the Son. You will not succeed. You are crushed in the head. That is the curse on Satan. It’s a devastating, crushing curse. And in the midst of that crushing curse is this promise of salvation, the promise of election, the promise of transformation, regeneration, the new birth, conversion, the promise of forgiveness, the promise of a new nature, the promise of a redeemed humanity called “her seed,” the promise of a Messiah, a Savior who will come, a Savior who will come and crush the head of the serpent; a promise that ultimately in the end we are triumphant and He is triumphant. That’s the curse on Satan.
Satan thought he could lead a successful rebellion in heaven. He couldn’t. Thought he could lead a successful rebellion on earth. He couldn’t. We don’t need to run around worrying about Satan. He’s been crushed under your feet. You can enjoy your triumph. That’s why Martin Luther wrote this, and maybe he was thinking about this passage which he loved when he wrote it. “And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim; we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure for, lo, his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him.” We have no fear of Satan. So we say the amazing thing is the curse on Satan is a promise of salvation. In the midst of the sentence on Satan, hope appears, along with mercy and grace and forgiveness and victory. The God of mercy shapes the curse to give hope to sinners.
So even before God banishes Adam and Eve from the garden, which He does, they receive the hope of a paradise restored. Here is the first prophecy in scripture, the first gospel promise in scripture. Man, the momentary enemy of God and friend of Satan, will become the enemy of Satan and the friend of God. And the whole humanity will become the friends of God. And out of that humanity, one will be chosen to crush the serpent’s head for all the rest, who will triumph in that crushing. By the woman came sin. By the woman will come the Savior of sinners. By the woman came the curse. By the woman will come the One who removes the curse. By the man paradise was lost. By a man paradise will be restored. And as Paul puts it in Romans 5:20: “Where sin abounded,” what? “Grace much more abounded.”
Father, we thank you again tonight for your word. How glorious it is, how stirring it is to our hearts. How we thrill and rejoice in its immense riches, its great truths. And thank you for giving this to us. It seems as though there’s no end to the glories and the wonders of Your word, which are Your own glories and wonders manifest on the pages of scripture. Just when we think we may have heard it all, we go through another door into another treasure house. And it really never ends. We thank you for the wonder of the word. And we do love You and adore You, and we desire to worship You and serve You and honor You. We thank you for the word which has been brought to us tonight, a word of salvation and hope in the midst of a curse, that tells us you are a God who is by nature a Savior, who isby nature merciful, gracious, kind and forgiving to sinners. And we thank you that you have given us salvation through Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
