And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

— Genesis 3:15

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

— John1:18

38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.

40 For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

— John 6:38, 40

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

— Isaiah 53:10

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, salvation and joy from Jesus Christ to you.

God’s response to suffering is always tied to His Son. As God declared the curse of sin in Genesis 3, He also gave a prophecy. God told the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” God promised that the woman’s offspring would suffer and die, but He would crush Satan through that death. God revealed His redemptive work through His Son alongside the fall of humanity. God’s Son, Jesus Christ, came to earth to reveal the Father. In loving obedience, Jesus died to save His people.

God the Father caused His own Son to suffer on behalf of sinners. Jesus told His disciples He would “suffer many things the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and the He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Jesus’s suffering and triumph crushed the devil and paid sin’s penalty. Those who have faith in Jesus Christ are justified—declared righteous before God and made recipients of eternal life. Faith in Christ connects God’s people with Him in eternal union that cannot be broken. Nothing can separate believers from the Savior. God used Jesus’s suffering to redeem His people. In the same way, our suffering has a redemptive purpose beyond what we can imagine! Amen!