Shakin’ off Snakes

A couple of weeks ago, I read Acts 28, and while doing so, I had what felt like an epiphany of sorts. In verses 1-6, Paul has just landed on an island called Malta. The natives show Paul and his crew “unusual kindness” and start a fire for them because it was rainy and cold. When Paul gets some sticks and puts them on the fire, however, a viper – a venomous snake – comes out and bites his hand, clinging to him with its mouth. Paul, however, shakes the snake off into the fire and is completely unharmed. When I read this, it kind of clicked with me, as it never had before, that this isn’t the only instance in the Bible where a snake is mentioned. 

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were tempted by a serpent, who we know to be Satan (Revelation 12:9). Adam and Eve fell victim to the serpent’s temptation, paving the way for sin and death to enter the world. Paul, however, was not tempted by a snake. He was viciously attacked by a viper, but unlike Adam and Eve, Paul came out of this encounter unscathed. 

The natives, when they saw the snake dangling from Paul’s hand, said that Paul was a murderer and that though he survived the storms at sea and shipwreck, “Justice” would not allow him to live. The ironic part is that they weren’t entirely wrong. Before his radical transformation, Paul approved of the imprisonment and execution of Christians. But God had promised Paul that neither he nor his crew would suffer harm or death (Acts 27:22-24). Justice was not going to claim Paul’s life on this trip. God the Just promised Paul protection, and because God was watching over and guiding Paul as he shared the gospel, this snake couldn’t hurt him. 

We also see that the people had the wrong response. They thought Paul was a god when they saw no misfortune come to him from this incident. It kind of reminds me of how the Ewoks treated C-3PO in Return of the Jedi. But anyways, instead of looking to the one true God who saved and spared Paul from the serpent, they failed to see how this miracle occurred and glorified a man instead. How often we do the same, not giving God the praise He is due but instead casting our affections on the creation rather than the Creator. 

Although sin and death entered the world through a serpent, Jesus has taken the sting out of sin and death. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 tells us that death has no victory and no sting. Death’s sting is sin, and sin’s power is the law, but we can give thanks to God because we have victory over death, sin, and the law through Jesus. Satan will try to make us despair. He will try to make us afraid of death, he will remind us of our sins, and he will show us how we fall short of the law’s standards. But because of Jesus, we have victory over Satan and his schemes. He has given us eternal life, forgiven us of all our sins, and fulfilled the law on our behalf. 

Jesus has crushed the head of the serpent with the cross, and though Satan can tempt us, try to dissuade us, and cause spiritual warfare, Satan can leave no lasting damage on the child of God. He cannot touch us because we are in Jesus’ hand which rests in the palm of God the Father. 

Thanks be to God that the sting of the serpent’s bite has been taken out. Satan may attack us – the serpent may bite – but because of Jesus, we can shake him off back into the flames he came from.