Crushed (DOP #19 2016)

I asked you to meditate on Romans 16:20 (a) last night, which says “The God of peace will crush Satan under his feet.”

It turns out in my sleepless stupor, I made a typo.  The Bible says that “The God of peace will crush Satan under YOUR feet.”

I think I conflated two verses actually, bringing together the verse in Genesis that talks about the Man bruising the Serpents head, while the Serpent strikes at his heel.  That verse in Genesis 3 even has a fancy name!  The “protoevangelium” is the first verse to foreshadow the coming of Christ.  Even in the very beginning, God has a plan for restoration of his people.

So what does it mean practically when we read these two verses?

Well…Paul addresses the brotherhood of Christ at the top of the paragraph, so we know that Satan will be crushed, by the God of peace (Jesus), under the feet of His people.   In some sense, God has already done this through the work of the cross.  In another sense, Satan is still making an impact on the world today, and there is plenty of his work to crush.

So I think this verse is a call to arms!  A call for us to be ready to march when God asks, so that we may crush the true enemy under our feet.   We march, Satan is crushed.   It all seems so simple.

Simple, that is, until you try to relate it to the world we are living in today.  What does it mean to march together as Christians?  What would that even look like?  Should followers of Christ take up arms to free people from the bondage Satan has placed them in?   If we focus on a global conflict such as Syria, is Jesus asking the Church to eliminate the “bad guys” on Jesus behalf?  Are we to stand up against the works of Satan in this world, using everything we have at our disposal, including violence?

It seems like we are back to where we started.

Lets look at two more passages.

Are you familiar with the armor of God described in Ephesians?  Read the passage if not.  Note that it speaks specifically about our enemy not being an enemy of flesh and blood, but one of powers, principalities, and rulers.  Also take a closer look at verse 15;  “and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.”  God tells us to crush Satans head, while wearing shoes of peace.  So…The God of Peace, will crush Satans head, under our shoes of peace.

Last passage.

This section  of Romans tells us that we are more than conquerors as we fight against powers and principalities, but it also shares the example of Christ with us again.  Christ, who gave himself up for us all, asks us to believe that no matter what happens, we can not be separated from his love.

Read the list again…”35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ” – “38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I think we are being asked to march, peacefully, no matter the cost to ourselves, because absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God found in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Where will we march?


There is more here…but I’m struggling to condense it into a coherent thought.  Perhaps more tomorrow.