In Genesis 3, God prophesies that the serpent will be crushed. In Matthew 4, we finally see it happen.
The post Does the Serpent Get Crushed in the New Testament Too?: Weird Stuff in the Bible, Part 4 appeared first on Bible Gateway News & Knowledge.
At the end of my last blog post, I asked whether the Serpent, whom I formerly called the Dragon-Snake, would get crushed in the New Testament, just as he had been in the Old? To that question, I offer an emphatic YES!
My readers will remember that God had prophesied in Genesis 3:14-15 that because of his deception of Adam and Eve, the Dragon-Snake would be cursed to slither in the dirt and eat dust:
“And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring [seed] and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
— Genesis 3:15 (NIV, my emphases)
We saw that this prophecy would play itself out throughout the entire Old Testament, in both overt and covert fashions.
A Review of the Old Testament Serpent Crushers
Abraham, Joseph, and David are seen as some of the most famous “serpent crushers” who, by faith, perpetuated God’s seed:
- Abraham left his homeland in faith, entering into a covenant with God, through whom the promised Seed would come (Genesis 12–25).
- Joseph, though betrayed and enslaved, trusted God and preserved his family and the covenantal line (Genesis 37–50).
- David defeated Goliath, a serpent-esque giant, and displayed his victory as a testimony to God’s power (1 Samuel 17). This victory of faith in the Valley of Elah anticipated the ultimate crushing of the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15), pointing forward to Jesus, “Son of David” — the Ultimate Serpent Crusher.
Many Old Testament prophecies declare with specificity that heads would be crushed by a certain “He” or “Him.” The following oracles in Numbers and the Psalms harken back to Genesis from their own point in history, while pointing forward to a time when an ultimate crushing blow would be dealt:
He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
He will drink from a brook along the way,
and so he will lift his head high.
— Psalm 110:6-7 (NIV, my emphases)
I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls of all the people of Sheth
— Numbers 24:17 (NIV, my emphases)
The ‘Set Time’ Declared by Paul
The Apostle Paul declares that all these Old Testament prophecies would surely culminate at a particular, “set time” when that certain “He” would finally come:
“When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Gal. 4:4-5 NIV, my emphasis).
Paul’s “set time” would be precisely when Jesus, the ultimate Serpent Crusher, would come to the planet miraculously on a starlit night in a Bethlehem manger, through the virgin Mary (see Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; Micah 5:2). Matthew (Mt 1:1-17) and Luke (Lk 3:23-38) both record how and by whom the Seed traveled, by faith, through the ages to arrive at such a set time.
The Serpent Finally Gets Crushed — Three Times
The battle between the seeds commenced early in the Gospels. Before Jesus the Serpent Crusher was even born, the Serpent tried to crush Him (see Matt. 2:13-23), chasing Him and his family to Egypt. After returning from Egypt, they settled in Nazareth, and the Bible is relatively silent about what Jesus did during most of His youth and young adult life. Knowing how the Serpent works, I can’t help but think that he was doing all that he could to eradicate the young Serpent Crusher, but we just don’t get any of those details in the biblical record. However, we do know that when Jesus was about thirty years old (see Luke 3:23), He entered public ministry — and the Serpent was there waiting for Him.
1. ‘Man Does Not Live by Bread Alone’
In Matthew 4, we literally get a bird’s eye view of Jesus and the Serpent vying for power on three separate occasions. After fasting for forty days, Jesus is hungry, and the Serpent comes to Him, tempting Him to perform a miracle, inciting Him to break His fast by turning stones into bread. Jesus crushes him with the Word by citing Deuteronomy 8:3: “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (NIV).
Eat dust, Serpent! Jesus was not sucked into the seductive test to look to Himself for provision instead of God. It was He and the Father in the wilderness, setting a course to win back what was lost in Eden. Jesus could not, would not be lured into seeking any sustenance other than God.
2. ‘Do Not Put the Lord Your God to the Test’
The second attempt to lure Jesus away from His purpose was for the Serpent to take Him to Jerusalem, set Him on a high pillar, and tempt Him to jump off and miraculously be saved by God. He even quotes Psalm 91 out of context to Jesus, attempting to appeal to His love of the Word. Jesus crushes Him again with the Word, citing from Deuteronomy 6:16, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
After two crushing blows, one would think that the Serpent would relent — but he didn’t.
3. ‘Worship the Lord Your God and Serve Him Only’
On the third attempt to seduce Jesus, the Serpent took Jesus to a high mountain to flex and show Him all that was rightfully his. You see, all that Adam had lost to the Serpent in the Garden was now at stake in the wilderness. The Serpent presented it as the perfect opportunity to abandon His sacrificial mission and seize all glory and power.
He only had to worship the cursed Serpent.
Ultimately, He was being tempted to subvert the cross and just bow down — maybe to become teammates with the Serpent against God. This was way easier than the cross — much less blood, too. Yet, the Crusher immediately took him to Deuteronomy 6:13 and crushed him with the words, “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only” (Matt. 4:10 NIV).
Crush, crush, crush. Three seductive assaults and three crushing Word-based blows. The rest of the text tells us that the Serpent left, with angels coming to take care of Jesus.
And the Crushing Battle Rages On …
The above battle between Jesus and the Serpent occurs early in the Gospels (see Matt. 4:1-11 and Luke 4:9-12). While Jesus was obviously victorious in the above narrative, the Serpent was relentless. However, Jesus, possessing all the power of the Trinity in the flesh (see Phil. 2:5-11 and Col. 1:19), was always up to the task and is eternally more relentless than the Serpent. Sometimes Jesus crushed the Serpent in head-to-head combat, and sometimes the combat would be with those forces under his crafty control — such as demons or individuals.
One such story was that of the Gadarene demoniac (Matt. 8:28-34 and Luke 8:28-38), where He crushed some demons by casting them into a herd of pigs. Then there were the times that He crushed demons by casting them out and forbidding them to speak (Mark 1:34 and Luke 4:35, 41).
There were religious demons in the Gospels as well. Pharisees and Sadducees, whom He would call vipers (little venomous snakes) (e.g., Matt. 12:22-37), were constantly being crushed by Him in their failed attempts to subvert Him. He relentlessly assaulted the venomous religious spirits that they perpetuated, hating the way they twisted God’s words and ways — just like their lying father, the Serpent, had done in the Garden (see John 8:12-59).
Will It Ever End?
Yes, the battle is over, but not yet finally, fully realized. Jesus Himself announced that the Serpent was and is a defeated foe:
“He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.'” (Luke 10:18-20 NIV)
The Serpent has most assuredly been cast down from any sort of ultimate authority. Yes, he does roam, roar, and strike at us still — but his bite has been disempowered (see 1 Peter 5:8).
You might be thinking that his bite stings at times, and yes, it does; but Jesus is the antidote, cure, and ultimate Crusher of any lasting and eternal effects. The Serpent doesn’t win; the Crusher does. I know so, because I have read the end of The Book.
In the Book of Revelation, John pulls back the curtain and gives us a glimpse of what will play out at the end of time. Here are a few of the highlights …
“The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”
— Revelation 12:9 (NIV)
“He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”
— Revelation 20:2 (NIV)
“He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'”
— Revelation 21:5 (NIV)
Mocking the Defeated Foe
As we read above, the Serpent’s fate isn’t to keep doing what he’s doing now, forever. He will be done away with, and he has no part in the New Kingdom. He is a defeated foe, and he knows it. Because of the relentless work of the Serpent Crusher, the dust eater’s time is limited, his powers have been stripped, and his memory will be mocked. In fact, my next article will be devoted to engaging in that mockery, so you won’t want to miss it.
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The post Does the Serpent Get Crushed in the New Testament Too?: Weird Stuff in the Bible, Part 4 appeared first on Bible Gateway News & Knowledge.