Crushing Satan's Head - 3

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. (Romans 16:20)

And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded. (Genesis 3:15 BBE)

I have been thinking more about this issue of what this word crush means in this verse. I talked with my sister some about it last night and insights keep coming out into the open more and more. And as I look at it again this morning I notice its connections to more of the surrounding context as well.

I still believe that this verse in Romans is a direct allusion to this verse from Genesis. But the prophecy from Genesis given to our first parents just after they brought the curse of sin into our world was primarily a reference to Jesus. Most agree that it was Jesus who's head was bruised or wounded for our sake's and that it is Jesus who will finally eliminate Satan and all of his rebellion as represented by a fatal wound to the head.

What is not so clear in most people's minds is just how Jesus will go about crushing Satan's head under His foot. But there is another clue for this found in the Psalms.

The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." (Psalms 110:1)

One thing I want to point out in this text is the method that Jesus depends on to accomplish getting His enemies under His feet. Notice that it is a promise from His Father that is made to Him, not something that He takes upon Himself to accomplish. Now, couple that with the fact that Jesus and the Father are in perfect unity and are no different than each other in character and you find yourself in very interesting territory.

The point I want to emphasize is, the example that Jesus came to reveal to us as to how to live is the example of living in complete dependence on another higher power without resorting to depending on our own will or resources to accomplish our goals. This is the most difficult part of living as a Christian for us to swallow and it was even a struggle for the Son of God when faced with the final battle with Satan just before His crucifixion.

And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done." (Luke 22:41-42)

Jesus not only taught the important principle of non-resistance but He lived it out in His own life as well. What does this have to do with crushing Satan under our feet? Take a closer look at the context here in Romans 16.

Paul has just finished telling us to turn away from those who are trying to attract us to themselves through flattering speech and smooth talking. But what is likely to happen after it becomes clear to them that you are not going to follow their suggestions or come under their influence? How are they going to respond after you turn away from them?

Well, in my experience what is very likely to follow is bitter accusations, false representations of your motives and character and all sorts of recriminations designed to intimidate you into rethinking your rejection of their advances on you. And what does the name Satan mean anyway? It means the accuser – that's what it means.

The bruising of Jesus was not primarily because His body was abused and tortured, beaten, whipped and crucified. The bruising that caused the most pain to Jesus was the internal agony beyond comprehension that our sins and our rejection of God's love for us brought to His heart.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5 NRSV)

But the amazing fact that occurred by Jesus going through this immense wounding which was prophesied as bruising His heel, was the unmasking of Satan's counterfeit system constructed on lies about God that has been fabricated and promoted for many ages. When Jesus acted out the perfect love and compassion and forgiveness that ever emanates from the heart of the Godhead, the reaction of rage, resentment, and repulsion on the part of sinful humanity and all the demonic forces of hell made it perfectly clear to all the intelligent beings in the universe the true diabolic nature of Satan's kingdom. No more was there any doubt about their allegiance and no more was there the slightest trace of sympathy for any of his assertions and accusations against God. In the light of calvary Satan was completely crushed in the minds of all the heavenly beings.

But the same is not yet true of human beings who do not have the same perspective of the war that the rest of the universe is privileged to have at this time. Humanity has yet to comprehend the true nature of this immense war of deception that has gone on for so long and is ever growing in intensity. But this will not remain the situation for much longer. God is arranging events and guiding history so that very soon the maturity of evil will come to its climax but at the same time the maturity of righteousness will also come to a climax in the lives of everyone who fully submits to being led by the Holy Spirit.

So, how is it going to happen that Satan will be crushed under our feet? And why does Paul say it will be our feet and not just Jesus' feet? And also, what is the right reason we should even want this to occur?

I think we need to be extremely cautious at this point that we do not get sidetracked by our religious paradigms that can easily cause us to misunderstand God's ways. If we think with delight about Satan being crushed under our feet because of a sense of bitterness against him or a desire for revenge, we are likely tainted with motives that do not yet resonate with the motives that filled the heart of Jesus. We need to keep firmly in mind the true character of God and the consistent ways that He always deals with His opponents. He never uses force and is never arbitrary, yet He is also never at a disadvantage. So within these parameters, how is Satan going to be crushed under our feet?

What seems to be emerging here is that Satan will be crushed using the very same tactic that Jesus used when Satan was crushed under His feet at calvary. That is why it is of supreme importance that we get all of our cues about how God intends for us to relate to sin and sinners by looking to the example and spirit of Jesus when He was viciously attacked and abused in the worst way. Because the only way that Satan will ever be crushed under our feet is not by our using force or even fighting him with lots of help from God but by being filled with the very same spirit that motivated Jesus when He overcame.

If we take a very close, heartfelt look at the way Jesus related to everyone during the last hours of His life on earth we will see evidence of continuous forgiveness, compassion, patience, and most of all respect for every person's freedom to choose what they want to do without any coercion from Him. This is the part that was so amazing to one person who was intimately involved in that whole scene that he later wrote, and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:23-24)

When I become so enamored, convicted and transformed by a deep, heart-based comprehension of what Jesus really experienced in order to reveal to me the heart of the Father and the truth about God; when this really sinks in so thoroughly that my own responses to abuse and attacks by sinners reflects this same spirit of trust in God without retaliation or bitterness, then Satan's control over me will be crushed and his designs against me will be thwarted for all eternity. At last Satan will indeed be crushed under my feet, for my life and heart will be so filled with the presence of Jesus that I will fully share in His victory over our mutual, mortal enemy.

In the process of having Satan crushed under our feet we will quite likely also experience the wounding of our own heel. And given the example of Jesus that could mean a lot of pain even to the point of giving up our earthly life in the process. Jesus also made many statements to this effect in His teachings while here on earth. But He also made it clear that those who chose to be willing to be wounded for the sake of God even to the point of death will find that they have made a choice that will actually result in receiving the eternal life. And this life will have dimensions and proportions far beyond anything we can now even dream of or imagine. While we may experience the pain of being wounded, the life we receive in exchange will make it seem insignificant by comparison.

But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death. (Revelation 12:11 NRSV)

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