November 29: The Messiah Will Bruise the Serpent
♫ Music:
The Messiah Will Bruise the Serpent
Scripture: Genesis 3:14-15
The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
New Heaven-New War
by Robert Southwell
This little babe, so few days old,
Is come to rifle Satan’s fold;
All hell doth at his presence quake.
Though he himself for cold do shake,
For in this weak unarmèd wise
The gates of hell he will surprise.
With tears he fights and wins the field;
His naked breast stands for a shield;
His battering shot are babish cries,
His arrows looks of weeping eyes,
His martial ensigns cold and need,
And feeble flesh his warrior’s steed.
His camp is pitchèd in a stall,
His bulwark but a broken wall,
The crib his trench, hay stalks his stakes,
Of shepherds he his muster makes;
And thus, as sure his foe to wound,
The angels’ trumps alarum sound.
My soul, with Christ join thou in fight;
Stick to the tents that he hath pight;
Within his crib is surest ward,
This little babe will be thy guard.
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
Then flit not from this heavenly boy.
EVE’S TRIUMPH
Milton tells us that upon realizing what they had done, Adam and Eve concluded it would be nothing but hate and spite to bring a child into this world of sin and death they had made. Called to name the animals, the first couple now had a litany of new realities to name: war, famine, adultery, miscarriage, disease and death to name but a few. So what did Adam and Eve decide to do? The poet gives a glimpse of what Adam might have spoken to Eve, in their grief:
Childless thou art, Childness remaine:
So Death shall be deceav’d his glut, and with us two
Be forc’d to satisfie his Rav’nous Maw.
Paradise Lost, X.979-991
In response, God comes, not with judgment, but with prophecy, giving an expanded version of our passage (Gen. 3:14-15), foretelling the history of Adam and Eve’s descendants, and the way God would use them to overcome Sin, Death and the Devil. For this is indeed good news:
The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Where Adam and Eve fell through the temptation and deceit of the serpent, Scripture tells us that the child of Eve will in turn crush that same serpent, reversing the effects of that fateful day in the garden. A rich line of reflection runs through the tapestry of the church, reflecting on this pattern, this relationship of Eve with her daughter, Mary, and the son that was to be born to that line, the Messiah of Israel.
In today’s work of art (Father Verekade’s Mary and Eve), Mary replaces the angel in Eden, coming to bring comfort to her mother—our mother—Eve. Grace, glory and upright honor meet shame and contrition, speaking of a Gospel to come. For this is how God loves his treasured creatures, giving us a share in the telling of the good news, a role to play in the Gospel, the opportunity to say “Thy will be done,” where we had previously said “My will be done.” God is a God who delights not merely in goodness, but in reclaiming, restoring, remaking. He gives to Mary the role that Eve should have played, that in her daughter and daughter’s son, this baby boy, she might find comfort—no, not comfort: joy. Where Eve had taken food for herself, Mary now nurses her newborn son, whose body and blood will in turn feed her.
The good news of Christmas certainly involves God’s determination to allow the angels a role in this great event (as we see in Southwell’s poem). But even more so, it involves God’s choice to grant us a small but real part in the reversing of wrong, in the restoration of humankind and all creation, seen here in the role of Mary.
Prayer
Father, you used Mary to remedy the fault of Eve, and her son to triumph over the serpent. Use us, now, to continue in this work, restoring your great garden, to your joy and that of the angels. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Adam Johnson
Assistant Professor of Theology,
Torrey Honors Institute
Videos: The Biggest Story: The Animated Short Film (Chapters 1 & 8)
Kevin DeYoung and Don Clark
About the Videos:
In his book The Biggest Story, best-selling author and pastor Kevin DeYoung shows kids how all classic Bible stories connect to Scripture’s overarching message about God’s glorious plan to redeem his people. Featuring beautiful illustrations adapted from the book, The Biggest Story: The Animated Short Film, captivates children everywhere as they are led on a journey through the Bible, connecting the dots from the Garden of Eden to Christ's death on the cross to the new heaven and new earth.
https://www.crossway.org/books/the-biggest-story-dvd-dvd/
About the Author:
Kevin DeYoung (b. 1977) is a Christian Reformed pastor and award-winning author. DeYoung has served as senior pastor at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan since 2004. He has authored or co-authored many books and articles. His book Why We're Not Emergent (co-authored with Ted Kluck) won the 2009 Christianity Today Book Award. His book Why We Love the Church (with Ted Kluck) won the 2010 Christianity Today Book Award. Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem was awarded the 2014 Christian Book of the Year by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). In 2012, DeYoung gained nationwide attention for his article responding to the viral video Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus, after the popular rapper Lecrae posted DeYoung's article, "Does Jesus hate religion? Kinda, sorta, not really," on Facebook.
https://www.universityreformedchurch.org/people/kevin-deyoung/
About the Illustrator:
Don Clark is an artist and the co-founder of Invisible Creature, a widely respected and award-winning design studio based in Seattle, Washington. He has worked with clients such as Target, LEGO, WIRED magazine, Nike, Adobe, XBox, The New York Times, and other organizations.
http://www.invisiblecreature.com/
Mary and Eve
Father Verekade
Graphite drawing on paper
About the Artist and Art:
Johannes Sixtus Gerhardus (Jan) Verkade (1868 - 1946), afterwards Willibrord Verkade O.S.B., was a Dutch Post-Impressionist and Christian Symbolist artist. A disciple of artist Paul Gauguin and friend of French painter Paul Sérusier, he belonged to the circle of artists known as 'Les Nabis' a group of Post-Impressionist avant-garde artists. Of a Dutch Anabaptist background, his artistic and spiritual journey led him to convert to Roman Catholicism, and to take Holy Orders as a Benedictine monk, taking the religious name Willibrord. He entered the Archabbey of Beuron and continued his art work in a religious context. He worked throughout Europe and had an important influence on the continuing development of Benedictine art. Verekade’s powerful drawing depicts Mary as the “New Eve.” Justin Martyr, the early Church’s first great apologist, describes Mary as the “obedient virgin” through whom the Savior came, in stark contrast to Eve, the “disobedient virgin” whose actions brought death to the human race.
About the Music:
“Baby Boy”
Lyrics:
If you told me all about your sorrows
I'd tell you about a cure,
If you told me you can't fight the battle
There's a baby boy who won the war,
The war was won by a baby boy.
Alleluia, we can sing it,
Alleluia, heaven's ringing,
Alleluia!
Endless hope and relentless joy started with a baby boy.
Oh, before that silent night
No savior and no Jesus Christ,
The world cried out so desperately
And the baby boy was the reply,
Yes, heaven's reply was a baby boy.
See, the king is coming down
And he's here without a crown,
The baby boy without a bed
Giving life back to the dead.
And hear the angels shout it out
As the people come and bow.
Unexpected majesty,
Alleluia, what a king.
About the Composers/Performers:
For King & Country, is a Christian pop duo composed of Australian-American brothers Joel (b. 1984) and Luke Smallbone (b. 1986). The Smallbones are the younger brothers of Christian recording artist and speaker Rebecca St. James. Their music has garnered them three GMA Dove Awards including Christian Artist of the Year in 2015. They describe their philosophy as such: "The power of music can impact our mood, emotions, our day. But when you merge the strength of music with the heart, hope and passion of the Gospel... it has the ultimate power not only to change someone's day, but to impact them for eternity. This is why we write music and sing songs - we hope that people will be moved, encouraged and stirred to live a life for Someone greater than themselves."
http://forkingandcountry.com/
About the Poet:
Robert Southwell (1561–1595), known as Saint Robert Southwell, was an English Roman Catholic priest of the Jesuit Order. He was also a poet and clandestine missionary in post-Reformation England. After being arrested and imprisoned in 1592, Southwell eventually was tried, convicted and executed for his links to the Holy See. In 1970, he was canonized by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Southwell's writing differs from that of the Christian stoics of his time in his belief in the creative value of passion. He felt that he could use his writing to stir religious feelings; and it is this pattern in his writing that has caused scholars to declare him a leading Baroque writer.