Read week 1 and week 2 from Franklin Graham’s devotional, The Greatest Rescue Mission.
Week 3: Operation Deathblow
SCRIPTURE READING: Colossians 1:13-22
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
“And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”
AFTER ADAM and Eve listened to the lies of the serpent and disobeyed God, the first prophecy of Jesus Christ appears in Scripture. The Lord cursed the serpent, saying the woman’s offspring “shall bruise your head”—but then showing the great cost He Himself would bear, He said to the enemy, “you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
In the Garden of Eden, the shadow of the cross was cast. At that moment, God warned Satan that even though he would be allowed to bruise Christ’s heel—which was a reference to the crucifixion—Jesus would bruise his head. He would strike a deathblow to the power and curse of the devil, sin, and death through His resurrection. The miracle of Christmas culminates in the victory of Easter.
“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). God sent His Son to live a sinless life and to die the death our sin deserved. The rugged cross at Calvary was the penalty for criminals, but the sinless Lord of the universe allowed Himself to be crucified there in our place. He willingly bore the sin of the world upon Himself and shed His blood so that our relationship with Him could be restored.
The wickedness of sin and its destructive forces could not keep God from making a way to bring salvation to His people. This Christmas season, take time to thank the Lord for this amazing gift—“redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
PRAYER: Father, thank You for sending Your Son at Christmas to bear my sin on the cross at Easter.
