THE SERPENT HUNG FROM HIS
HANDS
April 28, 2002 am
MFBlume
Act 28:1-6 And when they
were escaped, then they knew that the island was called
Melita. (2) And the barbarous people shewed us no
little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every
one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.
(3) And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid
them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened
on his hand. (4) And when the barbarians saw the
venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No
doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the
sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. (5) And he
shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
(6) Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or
fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great
while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and
said that he was a god.
This serpent bit onto the hand of Paul.
- They were shipwrecked on an island called Melita.
- Many scholars believe it is what is known today as Malta.
- It is sixty miles from the southern point of Sicily, 200 miles
from Africa, and is about sixty miles in circumference.
The people there were called barbarians.
- So called because they were neither Greeks nor Romans.
- The word did not anciently mean uncivilized.
- The island was governed by the Romans, but the people were of
African and Asiatic stock.
- The modern Maltese speak Arabic, mixed with Italian and
English.
As the people showed great hospitality in burning
a fire for the folks from the ship, during the cold and rain they
passed through, Paul helped gather some wood.
- As he proceeded to pile some sticks onto the fire, a viper
shot out of the pile of wood, due to the heat, and bit Paul's
hand, hanging there.
The natives took this as an omen that
Paul was a murderer.
- We know that Paul was no murderer.
- And the natives watched.
- Paul simply shook the beast off into the fire, so that it
would indeed burn, when it initially tried to escape the fire.
- And the people expected to see him fall in shock or fever from
the poison.
Time ticked away.
- Normally a man should have swelled up and fallen into a coma,
or whatnot.
- But they kept watching.
- And when they realized he did not fall dead, they considered
him a god, so contrary to a murderer.
Jesus Christ came
for one purpose.
Where did sin originate?
- With man, sin originated in the Garden of Eden when Adam and
Eve fulfilled the temptations of the serpent.
- The viper.
- The beast.
- Notice that Acts 28:5 called the viper a beast, and Gen 3:1
called the serpent a beast as well.
- So sin is connected with the thought of a serpent or viper.
We read the following about Jesus Christ.
John 3:14-15 And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of
man be lifted up: (15) That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life.
In
order to get the point I am trying to make, we must understand this
picture about Moses and the serpent.
- Numbers 21 shows a time when fiery
serpents plagued Israel due to their disobedience.
- They were sick of the manna, of light
bread, as they called it, indicating it did not satisfy
them.
- They wanted another food...
- Just as Eve was tempted to eat the fruit
of the knowledge of good and evil, which God told her would cause
her to die, should she eat it.
- Nevertheless, she ate it in disobedience
to God and ended up dying, when mankind was meant to live forever
with God.
- And the people of Israel began dying from
snake bites.
- God told Moses to make an image of what
was the origin of the poison killing them, and put that serpent
made from brass on a pole.
- And the people need only look at
the serpent and they will be healed.
The origin of sin was
the serpent's enticements to Eve, as the origin of the venom killing
Israel was the serpent.
- Sin is like a poison.
- People who live in sin will die.
- Not all poison kills right away.
- Sin is a poison that works away at souls.
- But in the end there is death.
James 1:14-15 But every man
is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and
enticed. (15) Then when lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth
death.
And the bible says Jesus became sin
for us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might
be made the righteousness of God in
him.
So you can see why Jesus
would say the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the
serpent.
- The thing was responsible for the venom that was killing the
people, was lifted up.
- Looking to it would heal them.
- Jesus became what was killing us -- sin.
- This is symbolized perfectly by the serpent lifted up on a
pole.
- When Jesus was lifted up on the cross, since He became sin,
SIN was lifted up.
- And Sin originated from the temptations of the serpent to
mankind.
- So God was saying he is getting rid of the poison called sin
that first came from the serpent's temptations in the Garden.
LOOKING TO something is a figure of speech the Bible uses
to indicate TRUSTING IN, and BEING STRENGTHENED BY.
Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
set down at the right hand of the throne of
God.
Here we read we look to Jesus
specifically with the work of the cross in mind, upon which He was
lifted up.
- Look to Him who endured the cross.
- IT WILL SAVE YOU FROM THE POISON OF SIN THAT IS KILLING YOU.
Jesus took the sin, represented by the serpent, into
Himself as He hung on the cross.
- Why?
- To destroy the thing that was killing us.
- If He became sin, and was crucified, then SIN WAS CRUCIFIED.
- If the serpent represents sin, then the serpent was crucified,
so to speak.
- And if we trust in that work of God through the cross, WE WILL
BE SAVED FROM SIN.
So hanging from those hands was the
serpent!
Just as Paul saw a serpent leap from the fire and
hang from his hand.
Satan knew he was doomed when he was cast
out of heaven.
- It was just a matter of time until he would be cast in to the
lake of fire forever.
- But he felt he would not go down alone.
- He lept from the fires of hell, so to speak, and latched onto
humanity.
- But Jesus became like us.
- Human.
Let me interject here and note that during
thursday night bible study, I planned on speaking about this detail
of the serpent hanging from the hand.
- And a sister in our church had this thought that very night,
when I did not even bring the idea about the serpent forth.
- She received revelation saying that Jesus was like Moses' rod
in the courts of Pharaoh.
- Moses threw his rod down and it became a serpent.
- The magicians did likewise and there were serpents all over
the place.
- But Moses' rod swallowed up the other serpents!
- It overcame them all.
- They were in it when Moses picked it back up again!
Jesus swallowed the serpent of sin, and as He hung on the
cross, that old serpent of sin was inside Him hanging from His
hands.
And what did Paul do to the serpent hanging from his
hands?
Act 28:5 And he shook off
the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
He
shook it off!
Back into the fire from whence it
came.
Praise God, Jesus shook that old serpent of sin off
when He was removed from the cross and laid in a tomb.
- And when He arose three days later, that serpent of sin was
still there!
- But Jesus came out...
- Just as if it did not real harm to Him at all!
- He arose from the dead, triumphant!
Paul also called
the Red Sea crossing a sort of baptism unto Moses.
1 Corinthians 10:1-2 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be
ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all
passed through the sea; (2) And were all baptized unto
Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
Recall
that Pharaoh chased Moses and Israel as they left Egypt.
- And after Israel went through the miraculous opening of the
Red Sea, and crossed to the other side, Pharaoh sent his armies
after them.
Exodus 14:21-23 And Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea
to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea
dry land, and the waters were divided. (22) And the
children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry
ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand,
and on their left. (23) And the Egyptians pursued, and
went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's
horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
But
look what happened...
Exodus 14:26-30 And the LORD
said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the
waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and
upon their horsemen. (27) And Moses stretched forth
his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when
the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the
LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
(28) And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and
the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea
after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
(29) But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the
midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their
right hand, and on their left. (30) Thus the LORD
saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel
saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
As
though Pharaoh were a dragon and his armies were like a flood, read
Revelation 12.
Revelation 12:13-16 And when
the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the
woman which brought forth the man child. (14) And to
the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might
fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished
for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the
serpent. (15) And the serpent cast out of his mouth
water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be
carried away of the flood. (16) And the earth helped
the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the
flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth
.
The earth swallowed up the flood.
- The Red Sea in this grand old earth, swallowed up the armies
of Pharaoh.
- In fact, Moses even said the Lord "bare them on eagles wings",
just as Revelation says about the woman who escaped!
Exodus 19:4 Ye have seen
what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles'
wings , and brought you unto myself.
Exodus 15:12-13 Thou
stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed
them . (13) Thou in thy mercy hast led forth
the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy
strength unto thy holy habitation.
And since
this RED SEA experience was called a BAPTISM by Paul in 1 Cor 10,
and since baptism is the emblem of getting into Jesus' death on the
cross (Ro. 6:3) ....
- We see that the death of the cross swallowed up the old dragon
or serpent!
- And we are saved!
- Exodus says the Lord saved Israel that day from Egypt!
- Those armies of Egypt that went into the Red Sea, with the
Hebrews, but never came out like the Hebrews did, speak of the
armies of sins that once enslaved us as Israel was in bondage
beneath Pharaoh's forces.
God shook them
off!
Christ shook off the serpent!
When you get
baptized into Jesus Christ's death, you are baptized into His work
shaking off sin!
And your sins are removed!
They
incorrectly thought Paul was a god.
- But Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.
- As Paul was accused of being a wicked murderer because of
having the serpent slay him, as they thought it would, Jesus
Christ was crucified as a common thief.
- The real murderer was the devil.
- He brought death upon the lives of Adam and Eve.
- But Christ should not have suffered such a death, since he was
sinless.
- However, it was not for His sins that He suffered.
- It was for our sins.
- And He was defeating the devil through the cross!
- He was shaking him off back into the fires of hell where he
came from.
Paul was esteemed guilt-ridden.
Listen
to what Isaiah foretold of the cross and the reason for Jesus'
suffering.
Isaiah 53:3-5 He is despised
and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we
esteemed him not. (4) Surely he hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. (5) But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we
are healed.