Expectantly Waiting

Introduction

We come to the first Sunday of Advent and we are here with the anticipation of the birth of our Lord. We are going to wait together over the next few weeks in the Old Testament. I thought it appropriate to start this season together at the beginning. Turn with me in your Bible to Genesis 3. We are going to read the first 15 verses. Our focus will be on verses 14 and 15.

For some of us, waiting can be a difficult thing. Children this time of year have a hard time waiting for Christmas. For some parents who manage the gifting of Christmas, they cannot wait until Christmas is over. So, either way whether child or adult there is some difficulty waiting for the Christmas season.

Turning our focus now upon the purpose of Advent being the birth of Christ, it can seem sort of strange for us. For, Christ has already been born. We are living between two advents. The first being the birth of Christ and the second being his thundering appearing as a conquering king. My hope is that as we go through the Old Testament together, that we see through the eyes of the people who lived in those days. They longed for the promised Messiah to come. There was difficulty waiting as they lived through many evil kings and being destroyed as a people to be rebuilt to be destroyed again.

My desire is to see us wait in three ways 1. For the Deception to End (v.14), 2. The Enmity/Hostility to End (v.15a), and 3. The reign of Satan to End (v.15b). [Read verses 1-15].

Waiting for the Deception to End

We begin our time together looking at verse 14 as we wait for the Deception to End. In order to see waiting for the Messiah in its fullness, we must start with the reason he needed to come. The end of verse 13 is Eve’s confession that she ate of the tree and that the serpent deceived her into it. How did he do that? We read that in verse 4. The serpent tells Eve that she will not die the moment that she eats the fruit. She believes the serpent and partakes.

In verse 14, God brings a commanding curse upon the serpent. What is important for us to consider from this exchange is that God deals with the sin of Satan immediately. He does not let it linger on. Satan is eternally judged at that moment. He is cursed above all else. His cursing is most severe.

However, deception did not end in that moment. Deception has occurred since that moment and continues today. Listen to any “truth claim” from the media and I am sure you can see the deceit behind it. But we don’t wait for the deception of the media to end. We don’t wait for the deception of people to end. What we are most concerned about as Christians is for the deception of the evil one to end. If you and I end at only wanting to see the deception of worldly matters end, we are not thinking with an eternal perspective. We are not thinking the way that Jesus thought.

Because deception continues today, the church is not immune to it. Listen to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” See, without Christ being born, deception would reign with no hope in sight.

Deception, I am convinced, was performed in its most vilest form in Genesis 3:4 when Satan twists the words of God to make his command not sound so bad to break. Even Jesus mentions the wiles of Satan in John 8:44 when he compares the Pharisees to Satan, in that they are deceivers.

Coming back to our present day, there will be many sermons that are preached through the advent season that are going to miss the mark. There are going to be sermons that seem to elevate Jesus to an authoritative place, but then insert human beings into being authoritative in our own right. Yes, deception can occur during advent sermons. No sermon is immune when the goal is the elevation of self. In a Christmas interview several years ago, a prominent pastor did not tell of the Christmas story when given an opportunity to do so. Instead, he brought the Christmas story to a place where you and I can do good things to make other people happy. We can be a blessing to others on Christmas. This is a big time pastor who had the opportunity to tell the truth of what the Christmas story is all about, and he whiffs. These things don’t sound bad. Helping others and caring for others are not bad things. But what is the purpose of Christmas time? If the answer is anything other than the birth of Christ, it is deceptive. The same was true in the garden. God said not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Anything other than obeying is deceptive disobedience.

The writers of the Old Testament experienced deception as well. There were those who would speak as a prophet spoke and would claim to be speaking of God, but they weren’t. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 13:1-5. These verses gives us instruction as to how to handle this type of person. [Read verses 1-5]. Deuteronomy 18:20 warns of this kind of person as well saying, “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’”

This is none other than deception of the same kind that Satan spewed out of his mouth. Man did not become like God, knowing good and evil, but became like Satan in that he does wickedness and evil in hatred of God. But do not worry, the story does not end here.

Waiting for the Hostility to End

Turn back with me to Genesis 3. As we anticipate the Messiah’s coming at advent, we also wait for the Hostility to End. Look with me at verse 15. There are two hostilities that occur in verse 15. One is with man and one the other with God. There is enmity between the literal offspring of those who are in Satan and those who are in Christ and there is enmity between Satan and God.

We wait for both of these things to end. Do you think Satan loves human beings? You might think absolutely not, he is the devil. The devil does nothing good! You would be correct, but I want us to go further than just because Satan is the devil.

Let me ask again, Does Satan love human beings? I answer that with a question. Who created human beings? God created human beings. Do you see where I am going? Satan hates God, that is why he rebelled against him in heaven. Satan hates God, therefore, he hates human beings that are made in God’s image. If human beings had no attachment to God, there would be no hatred from Satan. The reason that Satan hates human beings has nothing to do with the human being. This has nothing to do with you! This has everything to do with God!

Now, if Satan loved human beings, he would have left them alone in the garden to have peace and prosperity with God forever. He would have rejoiced that humans were having perfect fellowship with God. This would have been pleasing to Satan. In an act of what Eve thought was kindness, was, in reality, deceptive hatred.

What hostility occurs between Satan and man? I think there are two kinds, hostility in the hatred of the children of God and oppressive hatred in keeping unbelievers blind to the truth.

There is hostility between Satan and believers. Every chance Satan gets, he desires to kick believers down and keep them doubting and having periods of unbelief. For the evil one is also busy at work when we do sin and he actively accuses us before God. Job is the most notable example of Satan going after the people of God in Scripture (Job 1:9, 2:5). Another example is found in Luke 22:31 when Jesus says, ““Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.” Satan waits for us to and “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). And during those times when we fall short and sin, Satan is right there accusing us before God the Father. Revelation 12:10 tells us that “the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.”

Satan hates when unbelievers are converted and are adopted into the family of God. He longs to keep as many as he can unbelieving so that they can share the same fate that he will. Doesn’t sound loving, does it? Turn to Zechariah 3:1-4. I want us to see an example of the hatred that Satan has toward those who are cleansed by God. [Read the verses.] Clearly, we see that Satan despises the salvation of men. Because he is full of hatred before man is saved, that hatred continues on as the believer is sanctified. Again, because Satan hates God, he hates us. It is not the other way around. We wait for the Messiah who will take away this hostility. He will not take it away until Satan is bound and we are in the presence of Christ. But we rejoice in that the Messiah has already come because his first advent was as necessary as his second. Turn back with me to Genesis 3:15.

Satan’s hostility toward God keeps going. That is told to us in the middle of verse 15. There is a hostility that occurs between the offspring of Satan and the Lord Jesus Christ himself. We desire for that to end. For we know that as long as Satan hates God on earth, he is going to keep people bound in their sin in spite of God. We know that it is not God that keeps them in their sin. But men “who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them” (Romans 1:18-19). This brings us great displeasure and sorrow as we see people we know live blinded lives not knowing the truth in their hearts and are led to a life that leads to eternal death. As Christ does not desire that any would perish (2 Peter 3:9), neither do we.

Although at the judgment of Satan, hostility was not abolished, we wait for the coming of our Lord expecting that he will one day do away with this hostility.

Waiting for the Head-crusher

I would ask that you turn your attention to the end of verse 15. Our third means of waiting is for the Head-crusher. We come to the most important prophecy in all the Bible. It is the first prophecy regarding our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Martyn Lloyd-Jones saw the importance. He said, “The real division of the Bible is this: first, everything you get from Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 3:14; then everything from Genesis 3:15 to the very end of the Bible.”

Verse 15 begins the work of redemptive history. It is prophesied of Christ that he would bruise the head of the serpent. In the Hebrew, this “bruising” means to crush or to compress “out of natural shape or condition” (ESV RI). Hence, the title of this last point. Make no mistake, Jesus Christ, in verse 15, is prophesied to one day crush the serpent’s head.

I want to work backwards as we dissect this last part of verse 15. What does it mean for Satan to bruise the heel of the Messiah? Time does not allow us to work through every text that is mentioned, but I do want us to look at two texts. First, turn to Matthew chapter 4. I want to read the first 10 verses. As you are turning there, I want us to focus on the sorrow and paint that this caused Jesus. [Read the verses.] Imagine for a moment your child or grandchild, brother or sister, whom you know well to one day turn his/her back on you because they envied you for something you accomplished or something that you possess. If this has happened to you, Jesus knows what you are going through this morning. This very thing happened to our Lord. Lucifer, one of the prized angels turns his back in jealous anger to God and takes other angels with him. Ezekiel 28:13-17 gives some specifics as to what occurred in heaven regarding Satan’s fall.

The bruising of the heel is a sharp blow, it is a painful blow, but it is not a crushing blow. This blow from the serpent does not end in the defeat of the Messiah. It is a blow with a temporary effect. It is a blow that does not have a lasting imprint. Consider the agony that Christ went through as it is told to us in Luke 22:39-44. Was this a permanent affliction? Is the death of Christ the end result of his ministry? Of course not! Christ, the babe of advent, rose from the grave and overcame the bruising of the heel. The strike that Satan gives pales in comparison to the head-crushing that Christ will do.

The text uses the word bruise in both instances, so how could they mean different things? Two observations to note 1. the tenses are different, and 2. if Satan crushed the Messiah’s head then every other prophecy that parallels with this is not true. I do not wish to go into a dive of word meanings. I want us to see the implications of Christ crushing the serpent’s head.

There is a scene in the Passion of the Christ movie after Christ dies on the cross. The devil is shown by himself and screams a loud screech. I bring that up to say this, that scream that the movie portrays is not even close to the reality of the crushing of Satan’s head. Remember how Isaiah 53 says that Christ was marred to the point where he did not bear human semblance? That was for a short time. The head-crushing that he will do to Satan is eternal, it is complete, it is that that brings forth total destruction. I heard it said this way the end result of the crushing of Satan’s head is that Jesus wins. Believer, Christ crushed the serpent’s head so that you could be forgiven for every sin you do. He crushed the head of the serpent so that you and I could partake of the tree of life without the stain of sin. Brothers, without this prophecy of Christ being fulfilled you would sit here hopeless. But praise be to God, that the babe we celebrate this time of year lived a perfect life that you and I could have life with him in heaven forever.

I want to bring this reality into the eyes for the unbeliever this morning. As much as this sounds wonderful (because it is) for anyone here who does not believe in the name of Jesus Christ, this is terrifying news for you. It is said of those who distort the gospel and who do not believe in Christ in 2 Peter 2 that by not believing, they bring upon themselves swift destruction. Friend, if this is you this morning, you do not have to have the fear of falling into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31). As I mentioned earlier, God does not want one to perish, so I urge you as the Lord Jesus did, to repent and turn from your sins, for the kingdom of God is at hand (Matthew 4:17) and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in him for salvation (Romans 10:9).

For those of us who have trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, we are awaiting the head-crusher this morning. Romans 16:20 tells us that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” It is the Godman as a babe whom we look forward to this morning. Listen here, this babe is THE head-crusher!

Conclusion

So what do we do with the truths we have heard this morning? What do we do with the prophecy of Christ being brought before us? I want to encourage you this morning that if you are struggling with unbelief today, come and taste, again, that the Lord is good. He has fulfilled the prophecies of his first coming. We look forward to his birth because we know the implications that it means. We are the representatives of the precious blood spiller.

Brothers, we can believe every promise that is found in the Bible. The miracle of Christmas is that Christ fulfilled the prophecy of Genesis 3:15. He has come born of the Spirit and of the woman to be the head-crusher. God wants you and me to be reminded this morning that he is trustworthy and that everything in Christ is yes and amen!

We wait expectantly this morning. We do not wait for the advent babe as though he is not coming. We are not hopeful in that we hope it happens. Rather, we expect it to happen. Just as Christ came the first time as a precious babe, so we expect him to come at his second coming as a conquering king who will destroy the works of the devil. We wait for the prophecy fulfiller to come back and fulfill the other prophecies made of him.

And finally, we do not have to listen to the lies of the devil. His ‘reign’ on earth is temporary. Brothers, you and I have power that is in Christ. He gives us power to overcome the evil one because he has overcome him. I close with this exhortation from Jesus in Luke 10:17–20 “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.””

Rejoice brothers that Jesus has empowered us to overcome the evil one on the way to heaven. Let’s pray.

Benediction

Romans 11:33, 36 “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”