Read: Genesis 3:1-4:26; Matthew 2:13-3:6; Psalm 2:1-12; Proverbs 1:7-9
Right away, God wants us to know the nature of our enemy. He is deceitful, a liar, and only wants to kill what God has made. He will do anything to defy God and he uses God’s creation to get back at him. Satan deceived Eve into eating the apple, but Adam took the apple of his own free will. So sin entered through the first Adam and exited through the second Adam, Jesus.
When God found out what they had done, he cursed the serpent first and said he would put enmity between his offspring and Eve’s. Satan has an offspring and we see it right away. Even has two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain cannot please God but Abel does. Cain is the devil’s offspring and Abel is the Lord’s. Cain kills the Lord’s offspring just as Satan’s offspring killed Jesus on the cross. God replaced Abel with Seth just as God replaced Jesus with his Holy Spirit. Seth was the third son of Adam just as the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity.
We see the murdering spirit of the devil in Matthew. He will do anything he can to stop the Messiah from coming to save the world. Satan used Herod to kill all the babies of Bethlehem and its vicinity to try to kill the Messiah. We see that Satan is not all-knowing. That is why God hides his plans in mysteries encoded for his people to search out and find. Proverbs 25:2 says that it is the glory of God to hide things and the honor of the king to search them out. God is the king who hides things for us, the princes to find them out.
God introduces John the Baptist as the one Isaiah spoke of: the voice calling in the desert to prepare the way for the Lord and to make straight paths for him. He was calling to the people to get their hearts right to receive the Messiah. He baptized them to clean their souls.
Lord, help us to be aware of the wiles of our enemy and be awakened to the spirit of God.
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