This text is sometimes referred to as the war between two seeds: the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The seed of the woman is a prophetic reference to Christ, who represents the kingdom of light. The seed of the serpent represents the kingdom of darkness led by Satan and manifested on earth through the spirit of antichrist (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3).
All humans are born fallen (Ephesians 2:1−3) and biased to sin (John 3:19). This means all are part of the kingdom of darkness. There is only one way to enter the kingdom of light: through regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3, 5). Those who have been regenerated have been sovereignly, divinely transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13).
This battle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light has been engaged as God has executed (and continues to execute) his metanarrative of redemption. In part, God is redeeming a remnant—a people for himself.
This metanarrative of redemption is the stage for all of life—individuals, families, Christian communities, the workplaces, and civil governments. Each person and organization has a role to play in the metanarrative of redemption, which is being executed by the sovereign will of God. Success is not about achieving the American dream or executing a bucket list. Success is finding and fulfilling your purpose in the divine metanarrative. In other words, success is doing God’s will individually and organizationally (James 4:13−17).
Here is your business tip. Organizational leaders and managers must be clear that work is a venue to facilitate God’s will both individually and organizationally. This is the most profound definition of success. To accomplish this requires people within the organizations who are committed to finding and fulfilling their individual purposes in the context of the organization’s purpose congruent with the metanarrative. This is a high standard. No one will accomplish this perfectly, but all Christians should be committed to seeking to do this with excellence. Consequently the only viable way to strategically align organizations with God’s purpose is to build organizations with people who are truly disciples of Jesus. This is rare, but if leaders and managers are convicted of this truth, they must commit to the long-term incremental process of populating organizations with Christ followers.
