“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.”
(Genesis 3:15)

Someone was once asked to summarize the story of the Bible in as few words as possible. The answer? “Kill the snake; get the girl.” Isn’t that great? Satan must be crushed, and the Church as the Bride must be redeemed. As much as I love this summary, it leaves how one important fact - the how. When I kill a snake, I go in the house to find the biggest gun that I own. Not only do I want to kill it from a distance, but I want to blow it into a million pieces. That’s how we operate, but that is not how God operates. God crushes Satan with weakness.

Who can forget the downfall of Abimelech - who sought power and prestige through murder and cunning? As he sought to bring a town to a cursed end, a woman dropped her millstone - the weaker vessel dropped the symbol of poverty and crushed his head. Malice crushed by a millstone, pride and power defeated by weakness.

Who can forget Sisera? Who by his iron chariots subjected Israel to bondage and fear? Yet he did not die on the field of battle, nor in the place of honor. No, his head is crushed by that of a lone woman. Over and over, God does not fight fire with fire, power with power, cunning with craftiness; God triumphs power with weakness, glory with shame, cunning with foolishness. As Lewis says, God stoops to conquer.

Who can forget Christmas morning? The Son does not appear in resplendent glory, setting the world ablaze by His magnificent holiness, turning the dominion of darkness into stubble with His blazing fury. No, He comes in the likeness of sinful flesh, born into our weakness, born to restore the honor of woman, born to bring blessing to man. The manger was but the storming of Normandy, the opening salvo in a battle of cosmic proportions.

And have we forgotten the cross of Calvary - the place of power cloaked in weakness, in darkness, in death? To deliver men from the defilement, Christ would be defiled. To save from sin and shame, Christ would bear our sin and endure our shame. Where Satan promised life leading to death, nails held the dying Christ’s arms wide, forever welcoming and securing the sinner to life.

Christmas stands as a reminder that the forces of Hell are not destroyed from afar, but that God Himself was “pleased as man with men to dwell” that He may in weakness crush the prince of darkness. If you find yourself to be weak and weary, Christ comes to both receive you into His company and relieve you of your burdens.