Wednesday September 14 | Redemption: A New Hope for Shalom
Read Genesis 3:14-19
“He will crush your head.” Christians read a foreshadowing of a Messianic promise in Genesis 3. That the offspring of Eve (Jesus) will crush the head of the serpent (Satan) through His death and resurrection.
As soon as sin entered the picture and humankind broke creation through their disobedience, God had a plan. See, God had created the world so that He would be known, and so that everything He made would flourish, and God will not let anything get in the way of His mission.
The mission of God to be known and to curate a flourishing creation has not changed, throughout the entire Biblical story and up until the present time. The Bible is a collection of narratives, written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, over almost 2,000 years that all contribute to this same story.
From the time of Abraham to the formation of the people of Israel, and throughout the Old Testament, God declared His purpose: to reveal Himself as God, so people would know Him. Do a quick Google search of the phrase “then they will know that I am the LORD” and you’ll see what I mean. It’s everywhere!
The ultimate expression of God’s mission happened in the incarnation of Jesus. Mark 24:44 tells us that Jesus sees himself as the fulfillment of every promise of restored shalom God made in the Old Testament. Jesus came so that people can know God! He came so all creation can flourish again. In short, Jesus is God’s secret weapon to restore shalom.
Take some time to read these passages that point to God’s consistent mission:
Genesis 12:1-2; Isaiah 49:6-23; Luke 4:16-21; Matthew 28:19-20; Galatians 3:7-9.
How does reading these verses help you understand that God’s mission has been the same from the beginning?