God the Father
Turning the PRESS
and the
Lamb of God
at the Chalice
Soul (Prosperity) Piercing
“A sword
will
pierce through
your
own soul also,”
a prophecy fulfilled
when
Mary saw her
Son
hanging from
the
Cross
But he was wounded
for
our transgressions,
he was bruised
for our iniquities: the
chastisement
of our peace was upon him;
and with
his stripes we are
healed
All we like sheep have gone
astray;
we have turned
every one
to his own way; and the
Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed,
and
he was afflicted,
yet he opened
not his mouth: he is brought
as a lamb
to the
slaughter,
and as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb,
so he
openeth not his mouth
He was taken from prison and from judgment:
and who
shall declare his generation?
for he was cut off
out of the land of the living:
for the transgression
of my
people was he stricken.
The Order of
Resurrection
…but each in his own
turn:
Christ the firstfruits;
then at
His coming,
those who belong to Him
then the end will come,
when
He hands over-the kingdom
to
God the Father
after
He has destroyed
all
dominion, authority, and power
for
He must reign
until
He has put all His
enemies
under His feet.…
Daniel 2:44
In the days of those kings,
the God of heaven will set up
a kingdom that will never be destroyed,
nor will it be left to another people.
It will shatter all these kingdoms and
bring them to an end,
but will itself stand forever.
Daniel 7:14
And He was given
dominion, glory, and kingship,
that the people
of every nation and language
should serve Him.
His dominion is an
everlasting dominion that will not pass away,
and His kingdom
is one
that will never be destroyed.
Daniel 7:27
Then the sovereignty, dominion, and greatness of
the kingdoms under all of heaven
will be given to the people, the saints of
the Most High
His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom,
and all rulers will serve and obey Him.'
Romans 8:38
For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor principalities,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
Ephesians 5:20
always giving thanks
to God the Father for everything
In the Name
of our
Lord Jesus Christ
Colossians 2:10
And you have
been made complete in Christ,
who is the head
over every ruler and authority.
Colossians 2:15
And having
disarmed the powers and authorities,
He made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them by the cross.
Then Comes the End,
when he shall have
delivered up
the
kingdom to God,
even the Father;
when he shall have put down
all rule
and all authority and power.
Daniel 12:4,9,13
But thou,
O Daniel, shut up the words,
and seal the book,
even to the time of
the end:
many shall run to and fro,
and knowledge shall be increased…
Matthew 10:22
And ye shall be hated of all men
for my name's sake:
but he that endureth to the end
shall be saved.
Matthew 13:39,40
The enemy that sowed them is the devil;
the harvest
is the end of the world;
and the reapers are the angels…
Isaiah 9:7
Of the increase of his
government and peace there shall
be no end,
upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,
to order it, and to establish it with
judgment and with justice from henceforth
even for ever.
The zeal of the LORD
of hosts
will perform this
Daniel 7:14,27
And there was
given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,
that all people,
nations, and languages, should serve him:
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed…
Matthew 11:27
All things are
delivered unto me of my Father:
and no man knoweth the Son,
but the Father;
neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son, and heto whomsoever
the Son will reveal him.
Sometimes when God
shows us something extraordinary,
we miss the point entirely.
At His transfiguration,
Jesus presented His three closest disciples
(Peter, James, and John)
with a stunning sneak preview of
His resplendent glory:
“His face shone like the sun, and
his clothes
became as white as the light.
Just then there appeared before
them
Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus”
(Matthew 17:2–3).
Ever the impulsive one,
Peter jumped into action, saying,
"Lord, it is good for us to be here;
if You wish, let us
make here three tabernacles:
one for You,
one for Moses, and one for Elijah”
(Matthew 17:4, NKJV).
Peter wanted to honor
Jesus,
Moses, and Elijah
by building
three tabernacles—sacred shrines--
one for each of them.
But God interrupted the well-intentioned,
albeit misguided, disciple:
"While he was
still speaking, a bright cloud covered them,
and a
voice from the cloud said,
"This is my Son,
whom I love;
with him I am well pleased.
Listen to him!’” (Matthew 17:5).
Peter had missed the point,
and God
intended to clear up all confusion.
First and foremost,
the
disciples needed
to understand
the superiority
of
Jesus Christ as the
Son of God,
far above
Moses and Elijah.
The presence of
Moses and Elijah
(who respectively represent the Law and the Prophets)
was to signal the arrival of their long-awaited Messiah and the ushering in of the last days. Everything in Israel’s history had been pointing to the time when the Messiah would fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17; Luke 24:27; Hebrews 1:1–2). God’s command, “Listen to him!” exalted the words of Christ above those of Moses and Elijah. Only Jesus was worthy of worship. The focus is not to be Jesus and anyone else; it is to be Jesus alone.
When the three disciples heard God’s voice, they fell to the ground in terror. Jesus calmed their fears, and when they opened their eyes again, Moses and Elijah were gone. Only Jesus stood in their midst, and their focus was back on Him alone (Matthew 17:6–8). As they walked down from the mountain, Jesus instructed Peter, James, and John, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead” (Matthew 17:9).
The news of the transfiguration was reserved for a later time, after the resurrection. If Peter had constructed three tabernacles at the site, keeping the revelation concealed until after the resurrection would have become impossible. And if Jesus’ closest disciples struggled to comprehend the significance of the transfiguration, how much more would others exploit and misunderstand it? Jesus knew the spectacle would only distract from His mission as He prepared to suffer and die on the cross.
Peter, James, and John would later testify boldly about the transfiguration after the resurrection. Peter never forgot seeing the “majestic splendor” of God’s glory with his own eyes, an experience that inspired him to preach confidently (see 2 Peter 1:12–21, NLT). Many years later, John would write, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Peter wanted to make three tabernacles and stay there for an extended mountaintop experience. He wished to capture God’s presence in an earthly tent. But until the time of the future millennial kingdom, God’s kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, separate from the material things of this world (John 18:36; Romans 14:17).
Peter’s desire to build three tabernacles
revealed a
common misconception among the Jews,
who thought their Messiah would
come and reign on earth as a
triumphant king
and not a
suffering servant
Jesus knew His
mission
(and the mission of His followers)
was to deny Himself
and
take up His cross.
Peter would later preach that the Christian path to glory traverses trials and suffering (1 Peter 1:6–8, 11; 1 Peter 4:12–19). C. H. Spurgeon expresses it beautifully in his daily devotional Morning and Evening, “The cross must be carried before the crown can be worn. We must follow our Lord in his humiliation, or we shall never rest with him in glory” (Evening, November 14).
Indeed, the three men who witnessed Christ’s glory would follow in His footsteps. James would die by the sword as the first of the apostles to be martyred for Jesus (Acts 12:1–2). Peter would suffer greatly and eventually give his life for the Lord (John 21:15–19). John would be the last of the three to die, experiencing a life of extreme persecution and exile (Revelation 1:9).
In Genesis 3,
God pronounces judgment
against
Adam, Eve, and the serpent
for their sinful rebellion.
To the serpent, God says, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (verse 15, KJV). This verse is known as the protoevangelium, or the “first gospel,” because it introduces the theme of a Savior who will redeem humanity from the curse of sin (Galatians 3:13). In Genesis 3, the Savior is called the “Seed” of the woman (NKJV and AMP).
The Hebrew word for “seed” here means “offspring,” which is how many translations render it (e.g., NIV, ESV, CSB). The figurative language in Genesis 3:14 (“dust you shall eat,” ESV) indicates that the subsequent verse speaks of a spiritual war between Satan (the serpent) and humanity (the seed of the woman).
The woman spoken of is Eve, the mother of humanity (Genesis 3:20). The prophecy is that her offspring would be continually harassed by Satan and his followers (the offspring of the serpent). Sin entered the world through Adam’s disobedience, and we all suffer because of it (Romans 5:12–14). The perpetual war Satan wages against humanity began in the Garden of Eden.
There is an indication of number in Genesis 3:15 that we cannot overlook. The woman’s offspring is referred to by the singular noun seed, and that seed is immediately antecedent to the singular pronouns he and his. So, the seed of the woman is individualized. There is one Seed in particular who is to come. The sole tempter will be countered by the sole Savior.
Also, Genesis 3:15 speaks of the seed of a woman rather than the seed of a man. This unusual wording could indicate that the woman’s offspring would not have an earthly father. In that case, the protoevangelium is certainly fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who was begotten of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin (Luke 1:34–35).
The enmity spoken of in Genesis 3:15 is ultimately between Satan and Christ. Satan “bruised the heel” of the Savior when Jesus was crucified—Jesus suffered in His flesh. But the story does not end there. On the third day, Jesus rose from the grave. In so doing, He crushed the power of Satan, sin, and death—He crushed the serpent’s head. Jesus is the Seed of the woman who has won the victory over the tempter and enemy of mankind.
And, to His eternal praise,
He grants victory to everyone who believes in Him
(John 16:33)
“To the one who
is victorious,
I will give the right
to sit with me on my throne,
just as I was victorious
and sat
down with my Father
on his throne”
(Revelation 3:21).
Interestingly, the serpent/snake speaking to Adam and Eve is not the only instance in the Bible where an animal speaks. The prophet Balaam was rebuked by his donkey (see Numbers 22:21-35). We have to remember that while animals are not capable of speaking, there are powerful beings out there (God, the angels, Satan, the demons) who are capable of the impossible, including enabling animals to speak. Most scholars hold that it was Satan in the Garden of Eden who was speaking through the snake, not the snake itself speaking on its own. Thus, the Genesis 3 account it is not suggesting that snakes were of an intellect that would have enabled them to speak coherently.
Still, why didn’t Adam and Eve find it strange that an animal was speaking to them? It is unlikely that Adam and Eve had the same perspective we do on animals. In our era, we know from experience that animals are incapable of speech on the same level as humans. Adam and Eve did not have a childhood, nor did they have other humans to learn from. Given that Adam and Eve had probably only been alive a matter of days, it is not unreasonable for them to believe that animals were capable of speech. It is also possible that this was not the first talking animal Adam and Eve had encountered. Perhaps Satan or even God Himself had used animals to communicate with Adam and Eve before. There are so few details given in the account that much is left to speculation and presumption.
Lastly, it was not unreasonable for Eve to answer the snake. After all, the snake was evidently speaking in a language that she understood and asking an intelligible question. It is also likely that Adam was nearby and could verify that she was not imagining things. It was not the serpent speaking that should have alarmed them. Rather, it was the fact that he was causing them to doubt God’s instructions (Genesis 3:1), contradicting God (Genesis 3:4), and calling God’s motives into question (Genesis 3:5). That should have been enough to cause both Eve and Adam to stop talking to the serpent.
The
good news
is that the
Son of God
came to earth to reconcile God and man. This was the “glad tidings” the angels brought to the shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace” (Luke 2:14). Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus bridged the gap between Jew and Samaritan, much to His disciples’ surprise (John 4:1–42). He bridged the gap between Jew and Gentile, fulfilling His purpose “to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility” (Ephesians 2:15–16).
And, most importantly,
He bridged the gap between God and man;
through Christ,
God “reconciled us to himself” (2 Corinthians 5:18).
The Offspring of the
woman has
crushed the serpent’s head
(Genesis 3:15).
Believers have now been
given
“the ministry of reconciliation:
that
God was reconciling the
world to
himself in Christ,
not counting people’s sins against
them.
And he has committed
to us the
message of reconciliation”
(2 Corinthians 5:18–19).
The gospel breaks
down
barriers, and in
Christ those who were
former
enemies of God are made
His own children
(Colossians 1:21–22)
Genesis 3:15 is one of the
most famous passages in Scripture,
since it offers the first,
veiled prophecy
of the coming of
the Messiah.
But confusion results from differing
translations of the passage.
In most editions of the Douay-Rheims Bible—the
Catholic counterpart
to the
King James Version—Genesis 3:15 says,
“I will put enmities between thee [the serpent]
and the woman, and thy seed and her seed:
she shall crush thy head,
and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.”
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike at your head,
while you strike at his heel.”
The difference turns on who will crush the serpent’s head and whom the serpent tries to strike. The Douay-Rheims uses feminine pronouns—”she” and “her”—implying that the woman is the person being described. Modern translations use masculine pronouns—”he” and “his”—implying that the seed of the woman is the serpent-crusher.
This disparity results from a manuscript difference. Modern translations follow what the original Hebrew of the passage says. The Douay-Rheims follows a textual variant found in many early Fathers and some editions of the Vulgate, though not the original. Jerome followed the Hebrew of this text in his edition of the Vulgate. The variant probably originated as a copyist’s error, when a scribe failed to note that the subject of the verse had shifted from the woman to the seed of the woman.
Today, people notice this variant because the expression found in the Douay-Rheims has been the basis of popular Catholic art showing a serene Mary standing over a crushed serpent. Her representation as Our Lady of Grace usually depicts her in this way.
Christians have recognized since the first century that the woman and her seed of Genesis 3:15 do not simply stand for Eve and one of her righteous sons, such as Abel or Seth. They prophetically foreshadow Mary and Jesus. The first half of the verse (speaking of the enmity between the serpent and the woman) has been applied to Mary, and so the second half (speaking of the crushed head and heel striking) also has been applied to Mary.
Though the variant that uses “she” and “her” probably came from a copyist’s error, the idea it expresses is true. There is a sense in which Mary crushed the serpent’s head and in which she was struck at by the serpent. She didn’t do these things directly, but indirectly, through her Son. It was Jesus who directly crushed the serpent’s head from the cross and Jesus whom the serpent directly struck on the cross. Yet Mary cooperated in these events.
She, not anyone else,
was the person who
agreed to
become the human channel
through which Christ
would enter the world in order
to crush
the serpent’s head
(Luke 1:38).
She herself was wounded when the
serpent struck Jesus
Simeon had prophesied to her that
“a sword
will pierce through your
own soul also,”
a prophecy fulfilled when
Mary saw
her
Son hanging from the cross
(John 19:25–27).
Thus Jesus
directly crushed the serpent and was
directly struck by the serpent, while
Mary indirectly
crushed it and was indirectly struck by it,
due to her cooperation
in becoming the mother of Christ.
Therefore, though the she/her and he/his readings of Genesis 3:15 are different, both are true, and Catholics have long recognized this. A footnote provided a couple of hundred years ago by Bishop Challoner, in his revision of the Douay-Rheims version, state, “The sense is the same: for it is by her seed, Jesus Christ, that the woman crushes the serpent’s head.” (For more information, see A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, Bernard Orchard, O.S.B., ed. [New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1953], p. 186.)