Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.
THE RESURRECTION: TAUGHT BY THE LORD FROM THE BEGINNING
Because our happiness here and in the life to come depends on our knowing and believing the teaching of the resurrection, it's natural that the Lord chose to reveal it to His people from the very dawn of time. When Adam and Eve disobeyed the command about the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the penalty for sin (physical death and eternal damnation) crashed down on the whole human race. But the Lord right away gave them His promise of a Savior who would enter our sinful world, crush Satan's power, counteract the effects of sin, defeating death itself.
The Bible shows how believers of old drew comfort from this truth throughout their pilgrim days. David wrote: "My heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave ... You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand" (Psalm 16:9-11). The patriarch Job exulted: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes -- I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:25-26).
May we believers living in these latter days of the New Testament rejoice in this truth too! Let's carry this thought with us as we travel on our pilgrim way: Since the head of the serpent has been crushed, death has been abolished! The initial promise of a Savior given to our first parents in the Garden of Eden gives us the sure hope of a resurrection on the Last Day and restoration in another life after this one.
Earth receives the mortal, Earth receives the mortal.
Doubt not this, While in bliss,
Cleansed of sin and crowned with peace eternal,
There serenely rests the souls immortal.
Oh, rejoice, Praises voice --
'Tis saved from foes infernal.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 603:2)
