Looking For A Satan-Crusher

Our hope for defeating sin lies with Jesus, who committed no sin.   #daybydaylw   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   This book that we open each week unveils a story to us. And this story makes sense of everything in the world. It is the belief of the orthodox Christian that life and the world does not make sense otherwise. We understand what is going on because the nature and the motivations for what is going on in us, through us, around us, and to us is explained sufficiently in this book we open each week. Not every question you ask of it will find the answer you are looking for, but there are answers. Not every answer will be as specific as you want them to be, for God has chosen to drape a cloak of mystery over some of His determined will. But when we do find mystery in this life, we can rest assured that we also find sufficiency in the presence of God with His people. So what is the story of this book? What is the unfolding drama? The story is that a good and righteous and holy God created us, and he created us for His glory. And in creation God laid upon us His word, or His laws, by which, through our obedience to them, would bring glory and honor unto Him. But our first parents failed at this task, listening to the slithering whispers of Satan Himself, thus infecting the line of humanity with weakness, with a spiritual death and curse that we are all born into. But not only is God good and righteous and holy, He is also a God of mercy and grace. And in His grace, He extended words of promise and salvation/rescue/redemption to our first parents, and to us. The promise was that God would send a Satan crusher, putting an end to Satan’s ability to bring deceit and shame upon God’s people. So we read the OT, and we look and anticipate this great Satan-crusher. Our hopes rise and fall as we see glimpses of this mighty Hero, hoping that each new character we run into on these pages is the one promised by God. We learn as we read that a sacrifice is what is needed to cleanse us from our sin, from our guilt, from our shame. Could it be Abraham? Could it be Joseph? Could it be Moses? Most recently, as we have studied 2 Samuel, we have wondered, “Could it be David?” After all, this was a man after God’s own heart. But we know it’s not David, and over the last few weeks we have seen why. David was imperfect. David was a good king, a great king, but David was not able to defeat his own sin, so how could he be the victor over other people’s sin. How could he be the perfect atoning sacrifice each of us must have if we ever dare live in communion with God. David is our last real hope until we come to the NT. And it is in the NT that Jesus breaks on the scene, born of a woman, hailed as God with us, God in the flesh. He taught the people as one had never taught them before. He was truthful, compassionate, bold, full of mercy and grace and truth, preaching the kingdom of God was at hand. No one, no matter how hard they tried could find fault with him. No one, no matter how many traps they set for him, could ensnare him in their wicked schemes.