Most Christians today will associate the original promise of victory over the serpent by the woman’s offspring (Gen. 3:15) with the death and resurrection of Jesus. However, it’s easy to see in the New Testament that Satan is still active in the world (e.g. 1 Pet. 5:8) after Jesus ascended. While Christ was victorious, He did not destroy Satan or his minions. Rather, He disarmed them (Col. 2:15) and made it possible for the devil to be destroyed (Heb. 2:14-15).
This apparent paradox of Christ’s victory with Satan’s ongoing activity is made apparent earlier in Hebrews 2. After quoting Psalm 8, which meditates on God’s creation of mankind as rulers over all creation (including the angels—Satan included), the writer of Hebrews says,
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Hebrews 2:8-9 ESV
Everything has been put in subjection to Christ, but from where we stand in history, it doesn’t look like that yet. So, what’s going on? How do we make sense of a plotline where the victorious King doesn’t always seem to be visibly victorious, where earth is still a cosmic battleground, and where daily reminders of suffering and death invade our lives?
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.”
1 Corinthians 15:20-27 ESV
“For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” is an allusion to Psalm 110:1, the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. Christ is reigning, but He must continue to reign until all of His enemies are conquered. Death was conquered, but at present, humans must still go through death to attain to the resurrection of the dead. Satan’s power over death was taken away (Heb. 2:14-15), but he is still active until he is destroyed. So, how is it that he will be destroyed?
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
Romans 16:20 ESV
The plotline promised in Genesis 3:15 (the victory of the woman’s offspring over the serpent) is being fulfilled through the church. The woman’s offspring in Genesis 3:15 is singular, and this offspring is later identified as Abraham’s singular offspring (e.g. Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:16). How then is the church, composed of many, the promised offspring?
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Galatians 3:29 ESV
The Apostle Paul often speaks of followers of Jesus as being “in Christ,” being the “body of Christ,” or having “Christ in you.” The resultant plot twist is that the One Offspring will be composed of many individual humans, who will collectively have Satan’s head crushed under their feet.
The cosmic battle was always between humans and the serpent. Because the God of gods became a human, humans in allegiance to Him become the humanity that we were originally created to be, imaging God as the true rulers of the cosmos (Rom. 8, for instance). Jesus was and is victorious, but the battle persists as a slow but steady march toward complete and ultimate victory.
We don’t yet see everything in subjection to Christ, but eventually, we will see all things subjected to Him. Currently, the kingdom is coming on earth as it is in heaven, but it is not fully realized yet. This kingdom must grow until it fills the whole earth (Dan. 2). In the end, death is destroyed, Satan is thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10), and heaven fully comes to earth (Rev. 21).
But for now, we live in a paradoxical time where Jesus is King but we don’t yet see everything in subjection to Him. He has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), but Satan is still active. Those who choose allegiance to Jesus join Him in the cosmic push toward ultimate victory, becoming part of the growing body of the offspring of the woman as God continually puts the enemies of Christ under His feet.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
Epic Gospel 