W hen Adam sinned God made an extraordinary announcement to Satan: “ I will put enmity be tween thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). Here God reveals to us His plan to the world and its redemption. It was a prediction of a perpetual conflict bringing injury to both parties. The serpent would attack the woman’s seed secretly and treacherously. It would be from the back and beneath the heel. On the other hand, the serpent was to be decisively defeated, and that by Man. In particular, there is a reference to One Man— the Man Christ Jesus. “As the Serpent is represented as bruising the heel of the man, and is distinguished from his seed in God’s direct address to him as ‘thou’ . . . it seems to be necessary to think of the seed of the woman as culminating in an individual victor” (C.A. Briggs). A Messiah was thus promised Who would save the world Satan had ruined by successfully tempting Adam and Eve. Satan had now one main objective in life— to prevent the birth of the Messiah. He was determined to prevent the fulfilment of God’s plan. God at first gave the largest statement possible— that the Messiah would be man. So Satan needed to kill all the males before he could be sure he had succeeded. The time came when God narrowed the channel through which the blessing could flow. He confined the Messiah to the descendants of Abraham. “ The Lord had said unto Abram, . . . I will make of thee a great nation, . . . and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:1-3). The seed of Abraham is specifically said by Paul to be Christ (Gal. 3:16). Satan had now but to exterminate the race of the Jews and there could be no Messiah through the seed of Abraham. At one time in history, all the Jews were concentrated in Egypt. The difficulty seems then to have diminished. Further, Satan had a willing agent at hand—Pharaoh. He was disturbed by the pace at which the Jews increased. Then he considered the possibilities of war. He realized that if the Jews allied themselves to his enemies, he would have an increased burden in defending himself. A plan was formulated. It was this: The Egyptian midwives were to allow the little girls to live, but to kill all the little boys. Pharaoh and Satan had reckoned without God. The women feared the Lord so at the peril of their lives the baby boys were spared. Instead of the race perishing “ the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty” (Ex. 1 : 20 ). Satan worked again. “ Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is bom ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.” If the plan worked, there would be no male Israelites left and so no Messiah. Whether any little boys were treated as Pharaoh suggested we do not know, but one certainly was not—the child Moses. He was saved by Pharaoh’s own daughter. He was brought up at the Palace and there trained in all the wisdom of Egypt. Thus Pharaoh
made a full provision of home and education for the one who would defeat his plans. This boy was God’s destined deliverer of His people. Yet Satan soon tried again after the Jews had been delivered from Egypt and began their wilderness march. He worked on the heart of Pharaoh encouraging him to pursue them. Soon Israel found themselves literally “ be tween the Devil and the deep blue sea”—the Red Sea. The drowning of the Israelites would have suited Satan well. But God had His plans. A way was opened through the sea and Israel passed through as on dry land. All Satan accomplished was the destruction of his agents— the Egyptians. Centuries passed and God once more narrowed the channel. To David God said: “ I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels.” “ And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever” (2 Sam. 7:12, 16). Satan has now but to destroy the seed of David and his purpose will be completed. How near he came to accomplishing his purposes! His agent this time was a woman—a wicked woman, Athaliah. Ahaziah the King was dead and “ when Atha- liah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal” (2 Kings 11:1). Had Satan won this time? Not quite. Jehosheba “ took Joash the son of Ashaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.” All apparently de pended on one little boy. God preserved him through all dangers. In due course they brought forth the king’s son and anointed him as king. Satan’s agent, Athaliah, was soon slain. God had preserved the royal seed. During the exile Satan made another victorious attack on the people of God. Judah had gone into exile. Haman, second in power to the King, asked for a decree to slaughter the Jews. “ Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws; therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them. If it pleases the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed” (Esther 3 :8,9). The king agreed. What would happen to the Jews now? God intervened. A sleepless night for the king gave him the opportunity to consult official records. This revealed that a Jew had saved his life. As a result the King spared the Jews. Through prophet after prophet, the theme is maintained until it is taken up by the angel in the annunciation to Mary: “ Thou shalt bring forth a son, . . . : and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:31-33). So “ when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Gal. 4:4). Satan had now to concentrate his attack, not on a
C O N F L I C T -A J X T D
by Gordon Chtlvers
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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