Thursday, May 5
I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring.
The woman producing the offspring is none other than “the Jerusalem above”—the heavenly part of God’s organization, made up of loyal spirit creatures. As the Abrahamic covenant promised, the offspring of the woman would bring blessings to mankind. The Abrahamic covenant points to the King and to his corulers in God’s Kingdom, and it forms the legal foundation of the Kingdom of the heavens. It is “an everlasting covenant,” states Genesis 17:7. It remains in effect until the Messianic Kingdom destroys God’s enemies and all the families of the earth have been blessed. In fact, those who will then live on earth will benefit in an everlasting way. God’s covenant with Abraham shows that Jehovah is determined to fulfill his purpose that righteous humans “fill the earth”!
COMMENTARY
The history of Israel from the beginning up until Christ is basically a chronicle of the enmity or warfare between Satan’s seed and the offspring of the woman. Although the Messiah did not appear for many centuries obviously God indicated the linage of the seed would be through Abraham.
Being the resister Satan employed all of the weapons at his disposal to destroy Israel through open warfare, such as when Assyria invaded Judah, or to corrupt it from within. Ultimately though, God prevailed. The Messiah appeared and a new phase of God’s purpose began when Jesus began to rule over the “Israel of God” in the form of a congregation of anointed followers of Christ —Christians.
The seed of the serpent followed the same pattern of open warfare in the form of persecution and the promotion of corruption from within up until this very moment. To disguise the activities of his agents within Satan promotes the idea that Jehovah’s Witnesses reside in a spiritual paradise and that Christ cleansed his congregation of corruption back in 1919.
Going forward we may be certain that the Devil will revert to open warfare as never before when he is cast down from heaven. Ultimately he will kill off all of the sons of the Kingdom, just as he killed the Messiah himself. But because the Kingdom will have come to power then the deaths of the holy ones will result in their instantaneous transformation into immortal spirits, and as such they will crush Satan and obliterate his world.
