God's Peace Prize

No, this isn't an analysis or comment on today's Nobel Peace Prize announcement. What could I possibly say about that, that hasn't already been said? The truth is, I had been thinking about a certain verse in Genesis recently, and all the hubbub over today's big news suggested to my mind this title, "God's Peace Prize."

I've been reflecting on Genesis 3:15 as a result of preparing for a Sunday School lesson on that chapter. Here is the verse:

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.

The speaker is God, and he is directing this curse to the serpent, Satan, who has just successfully tempted Adam and Eve to sin against God by eating the forbidden fruit. Theologians have called this verse the protevangelium ("first gospel"), because here for the first time God declares his intention to reverse the consequences of the fall by raising up a Savior for mankind. The offspring of the woman, referring ultimately to Christ, shall bruise the head of Satan, i.e., deliver a fatal blow to the one who engineered humanity's fall into sin. In the process, the serpent would bruise the heel of Christ. That is to say, Satan would hurt Christ, but not destroy him. The fulfillment of all this, of course, was at the cross.

What struck me about this first proclamation of the gospel is the fact that it is couched entirely in terms of conflict. There will be hatred, fighting, and death. And this is "good news"?

The truth this passage reveals so clearly is that there can be no salvation from sin apart from conflict and suffering. Satan, who gained dominion over mankind in the Garden, would not voluntarily surrender his rule; he had to be defeated. As for humans since the fall, our sin necessitates just retribution from a holy and righteous God. Therefore, if we are to be saved from God's condemnation due to us for our sin, someone must suffer: without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:23).

The good news is that Jesus has accomplished our salvation from sin and death. And he did not do it without war: The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). Neither did Jesus obtain our redemption apart from suffering. Only by submitting to the unimaginable agony of the cross (at which he suffered not only physical torment, but also the infinitely greater spiritual torment of bearing God's wrath against sin), could he save us from our sins.

To paraphrase Hebrews 2:14, through his own death Jesus destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, in order to bring about our redemption. In terms of Genesis 3:15, Christ bruised the head of the serpent in the very act of allowing the serpent to bruise his heel.  

Thus it is that all the wonderful blessings that accrue to us in Christ - forgiveness, salvation, the knowledge of God's love, the hope for resurrection, joy, and so on - are ours only by virtue of the fiercest imaginable conflict and the greatest imaginable suffering. Genesis 3:15, the first gospel, reminds us there is no easy salvation, no cheap grace, no painless redemption from our sin.

But out of this conflict and suffering Christ gives us peace - peace with God and the promise of a world at peace in the new age to come. Jesus, warrior and sacrificial lamb, will be glorified forever as the one who gave the world true peace.