The Serpent’s Bite

In this episode we look at the account of Paul getting bit by the poisonous serpent while shipwrecked on the island of Melita. We look at how it happened and what the initial reaction of the natives were. We see how we see the same reaction from people in the world today. We then see how Paul's survival and his power over the serpent shows us the power that we have over the enemy and his attacks. It shows us the power of the Gospel to overcome all opposition in this world. We then look more closely at just what our power over the serpent means for us today and how God preserved Paul that day for a reason. He was going to go on and accomplish important and amazing things for the Kingdom and God is preserving us today for the great things He has ahead for us!

Transcript

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Welcome to the King's Word Bible study. Today our topic is going to be the serpent's bite. Let's begin today in Acts chapter 28.

Acts 28:1

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In Acts chapter 28, beginning in the first verse, it says, And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita, and the barbarous people showed us no little kindness, for they kindled a fire and received us every one, because of the present rain and because of the cold. 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. Verse three in the Living Bible says, As Paul gathered an armful of sticks to lay on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, fastened itself onto his hand. What we're seeing here is a poisonous snake, a serpent that crawls out from the heat and latches on to Paul's arm. The imagery here is important. All these little details that are mentioned seem insignificant at first, but they're not. This venomous snake attacking Paul was a natural manifestation of a supernatural attack. The serpent always represents the enemy in Scripture. And just as this natural viper fastened itself onto Paul, trying to kill and destroy him, the devil was trying to latch himself onto Paul too, oppressing him and persecuting him, trying to stop the influence that he was exerting over people. The fact that the viper bit him on his arm stands out too. Paul himself, a member and a part of the body of Christ, was himself like an arm who was called by God to reach out to the Gentiles, pointing them to the outstretched arm of Christ on the cross, where they could see his hand nailed for their sins, the very hand upon the palm of which their name is written. Paul was reaching out to people everywhere that he went, bringing in souls to the kingdom, bringing sheaves into God's house during the explosion of a harvest in the church, and the devil couldn't stand what he was seeing. None of the attacks seemed to be working, though. He tried to imprison him, to shipwreck him, to beat him, and none of it worked. He threw every weapon in his arsenal at him, all for nothing. Now he was trying the very mode of attack that led to the fall of man in the first place, the original attack of the serpent, wanting to see the poison lead to Paul's demise. He wanted to steal his life from him, kill his mortal body, and destroy the work that he was doing for the Lord, doing what he always does, the only thing that he does, steal, kill, and destroy. Yet we see that this demonic attack against Paul also didn't work. Let's go further and see how the natives reacted when they saw that Paul had been bitten. Verse 4 tells us, 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. Here we find something very interesting. Why would seeing this cause him to immediately think that Paul must be a murderer? We have to think of the context here. When this happened, he had just been shipwrecked while as a prisoner on his way to Rome. The natives would have been familiar at this point which boats were carrying prisoners and which were for merchants, so they would have been immediately skeptical of his past and his origins. It's understandable why they would think that he would be a criminal who may have gone so far as to murder someone, but why would it be the snake bite specifically that would cause them to come to that conclusion? Why wouldn't they just think that when he first appeared on the shore of the island with the other prisoners? The natives' pagan beliefs consisted of a system very close to what people today would call karma. They believed that good actions were rewarded with good results, and that bad actions were punished with bad results in corresponding degrees. That being the case, it's not hard to see how the normally deadweed bite of a poisonous snake would be a fit punishment for someone who brought death upon another man. But it goes even deeper than that. The other part of this that lies beneath the surface here has to do with the word vengeance in this verse. This word in the Greek also translates as justice, and further than that, it's the exact word dyke, which was the idea that was personified in the Greek goddess dyke, the goddess of justice and vengeance. In their mind, this bite of the viper was showing that the goddess Dyke had hunted down Paul and finally caught up with him, finally avenging herself after his narrow escape from death in the shipwreck that he'd just been through. Far from viewing him as a helpless victim of a wild animal, they had enough sense to discern that there was a supernatural element to all this, except that they were viewing it through the wrong lens, seeing it as the work of the hand of a false god. To anyone who witnessed this take place, it would be easy to write off Paul's beyond any hope at this point. The venom would be seeping deep into his bloodstream. It would kill him. Yet as they all stood there watching and waiting for him to fall down to the earth as a dead man, they were shocked to see that the venom of the viper had no power over him. The next two verses, verses five to six, go on to tell us, and he shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm. How be it 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. These are even more fascinating verses than the ones that we read before, because we see a revolution happening in the minds of these people. Their entire system of belief and of thinking was turned upside down right in front of them. Here's a man that they would have initially thought to be a bad man, to be a criminal, who was bit by a serpent as a judgment against him by the gods, to only then shake off that vessel of death and then not fall prey to its supposed power. They couldn't understand something like that and went against everything that they thought to be true. What would they think of him now? Now instead of viewing him as a criminal, they went to the other extreme, the other end of the spectrum, and they viewed him as a god. The message Bible puts it well. Verses three to six say, Paul pitched in and helped. He had gathered up a bundle of sticks, but when he put it on the fire, a venomous snake, roused from its sleepiness by the heat, struck his hand and held on. Seeing the snake hanging from Paul's hand like that, the natives jumped to the conclusion that he was a murderer, getting what he deserved. Paul shook the snake off into the fire like it was nothing. They kept expecting him to drop dead, but when it was obvious he wasn't going to, they jumped to the conclusion that he was a god. There's a phrase that we find repeated here twice. They jumped to conclusions. That's what the fallen mind loves to do before we come to Christ. That's what pagans always do. First he's this, then he's that, because they're being shown a demonstration of supernatural power. Since they don't have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, they're not looking for an inward witness to the truth of what they're seeing. They're looking outwardly to what they see with the natural eye to witness. They're using the natural carnal mind in order to discern. We know that no man is without excuse, because the natural world itself bears the signature of its creator, and it bears witness to his existence, his care, and his power. But as they don't have the Holy Spirit to lead and to guide them into all truth, they believe a lie. A small event like this was enough to make a fellow mortal man seem like a god in their eyes. And that's the danger of the fallen mind apart from Christ. It's quick to establish gods for itself, which is why we find so many idols in the world today. People today are no different than those islanders. They think the same way. If money can protect them and provide for their needs, money must be a god. If a politician can promise some great things and deliver on some promises, that man must be a god. If they can meet all their own needs and they can find some pleasure in this world, they must be their own God. It's the same line of thinking and never changes. That's the mind of the fallen carnal flesh. The Lord protected Paul. He supernaturally intervened to give Paul a sign for his own good, for the good of his fellow prisoners, and for the good of the natives. It was a sign that he was speaking through him, that he was using him to show forth his power. But why do we find things playing out in this exact way? In order to better understand this, we have to go back to the Garden of Eden. Genesis

Genesis 2:17

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2 and 17 says, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. This was the one rule that God established for man in the garden. There was one tree that belonged exclusively to God, and man was never to touch it. Disobedience against the will of the Lord, the abuse and the exploitation of the gift of free will, would result in nothing less than death. Then we jump ahead to the next chapter, and we find that the serpent is introduced to us. The devil, embodied in the serpent, deceived Eve.

Genesis 3:1-2

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Genesis chapter 3, verses 1 to 2 say, Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, if God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Here's the first line of attack from the serpent, questioning God. Did God really tell you that? Now it's important to note here that Eve wasn't there when God gave Adam the initial command to avoid the tree. It was his job to relay that information, and he did. Adam did tell her. But now the devil wanted her to doubt if Adam really told her the truth. Was this command really from God Himself? Then verses 3 to 4 go even further. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God have said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. This is the second part of the attack. First, question God, second, outright lie. After Eve initially stood her ground, affirming that the command was in fact from God, and that the consequence of disobedience was death. Now the serpent said that God didn't tell them the truth. God lied, God misled them. Then verses five to six tells, For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband wifer, and he did eat. She fell right into the serpent's trap, and as he symbolically bit onto them and fastened himself unto mankind, they bit into the natural fruit, disobeying God, and inviting death into the human story and the human condition. What did the devil do here? This was the devil's most subtle and most nefarious line of attack, because this wasn't completely a lie. There's a lot of truth in his statement. He said that their eyes would be opened, and that's true. The first phrase in verse 7 is, and the eyes of them both were opened. They did know good and evil, that's true too. It's not that this was a complete lie, it was partially true, and that's where the real danger was. It's the partial admission of truth in the enemy's attacks that often allures the sin. Just because some part of the whole is true doesn't make the whole of it true. The same way every poison in the world has some amount of water in it. The presence of the water doesn't make it okay to drink. It's the same principle here. The serpent won his battle against man, leading to man's fall from grace, leading to what the Lord told the serpent in verses 14 to 15. Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly thou shalt go, and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. This wasn't only the curse of the serpent, it was also the first prophecy of the gospel. It was on Calvary that the serpent bruised the Lord's heel, a painful but not a fatal wound. And it was on Calvary that the Lord defeated Satan once and for all. Jesus reversed the curse, liberating man from his bondage to sin and to the enemy.

2 Timothy 1:9-10

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2 Timothy 1, verses 9 to 10 tell us, who have saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who have abolished death and have brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. He abolished death because he took death in our place. He took separation from God on our behalf, and he took our disobedience upon his own shoulders. Now because of him and his victory over the serpent, and because of his Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we too have the power over the serpent. That's what Acts chapter 28 is showing us.

Luke 10:19

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Luke, the same man who wrote the book of Acts and told us of Paul's snake bite, is the same man who wrote Luke 10 and 19. It says, Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. This is the power that we have in Christ. This is our inheritance and the blessing that we enjoy when we have Christ in our life. You have power over the serpent. The serpent doesn't have any power over you, you have power over him. Paul demonstrates that more clearly than anybody else, not just in this attack, but throughout the entirety of his walk with God. Nobody's ever been attacked like he

2 Corinthians 11:25-28

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was. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 25 to 28 tell us of all that he went through. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day. I have been in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils of water, and perils of robbers, and perils of mine own countrymen, and perils by the heathen, and perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness and watchings often, in hunger and thirst, and fastings often, and cold and nakedness, besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Why would God subject one man to so much persecution? Paul shows the strength of the gospel through his life. He shows that the gospel of Christ, that the born-again believer bought by the blood of Jesus, could survive any attack of the enemy and not only prosper, but fully thrive in the midst of the enemy's oppressions. God used Paul to remind us of the power that we have, and that should encourage us to boldly and courageously resist the enemy. Another thing that we have to look at with the serpent's attack on Paul is what happened later on. Now at the end of Acts chapter 28, the last two verses, tell us of when Paul got to Rome and was imprisoned in Caesar's house.

Acts 28:30-31

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Verses 30 to 31 say, And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came unto him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him. It was here, as he was under house arrest, under close watch by Caesar and his men, that Paul kept preaching. And not only did he keep preaching, he did a lot more. It was during these two years of imprisonment that Paul wrote four books in the New Testament, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philomene. Then when we look at his letter to the Philippians in specific, we find something really amazing hidden in the fourth chapter. Chapter 4 and verse 22 says, All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. That's a small little greeting that could easily be skimmed over, but it's full of meaning. The Living Bible says, and all the other Christians here want to be remembered to you, especially those who work in Caesar's palace. Where's here? It's in Caesar's house, where he's under house arrest writing this letter. Even though he was imprisoned, which would seem like a horrible, terrible thing in the natural, he was making the most of it. And God was using him powerfully, even in the midst of such a bad situation. God was taking the bad and turning it around for good and using it for his glory. Now the very guards who were meant to watch Paul were getting saved. They were putting their trust in the Lord. And it was during this period when Paul wrote these four letters that would go on to disciple millions upon millions of Christians for the next 2,000 years, including us. Paul could have easily gone cynical and bitter about his imprisonment. He could have felt like the enemy had won, and now he was trapped and stuck in this situation. And that's the way that we feel so often, too. We start to hate our jobs and feel like we're stuck. Maybe we start to hate the relationship we're in, or we hate the place that we feel like we're in at life. Maybe we start to hate our financial state or anything else. And we let these things cause us to have a bad attitude and to speak words that don't give life. And we get more and more resentful and we get more and more bitter, which the enemy gladly uses against us to his advantage. Sometimes we may feel stuck in the natural, but God is just stuck for a reason, just like he did with Paul. Maybe there's people around you that God hasn't removed from your life because you're called to help them and to lead them to the Lord. Maybe there's situations that you're in because it's necessary preparation for your mission and for your calling in life. There's lessons there that you need to learn. Maybe the place you're at right now isn't meant to keep you stuck, but it's meant to remind you to draw near to God and to pursue him more deeply and to lean and depend on him more fully. Maybe everything happening in your life is meant to cause you to surrender more of your life to God, which is the requirement of being used greatly by the Lord. We need to ask the Lord how he wants to use us during this season and in this place that we're in, so that we can make the greatest impact in advancing the gospel as we go into the enemy's territory and take back ground for the Lord. Many times we haven't seen the change that we're believing for because we haven't changed. You can't put new wine in old bottles. We have to adapt. We have to prepare ourselves for the new work that's about to spring forth. That's a new work in our life, in our homes, on the job, in the church, everywhere. We have the ultimate promise, and not only do we have such amazing power and authority over the serpent, not only will we trample him under our feet, but just like Paul shook off the enemy and cast him into the fire, God is going to take the serpent and cast him into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:1-2

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In Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 to 2 tell us, and I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. What's the Lord going to do to that old serpent after the thousand years is up? Verse 10 tells us, and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beasts and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. That's the serpent's future. That's our hope. And until we see this hope fully fulfilled, fully manifested, we do as Paul did, and we shake off the serpent. We don't let him latch on to us or to our home or to our workplace or to the church. We shake him off and we resist him. We use our power. We exert our authority in Christ and we trample him each and every day, crushing him underneath the power of the living God. Let's close in prayer. Lord, today we thank you that the serpent is defeated. We thank you that you've given us power and authority in your name to shake off the serpent just like Paul did, to shake him off into the fire, as we wait for that beautiful, glorious day when you'll shake him off forever, once and for all, into the lake of fire. And Lord, today we thank you that you've given us power not only for that, but power to go out, to go forth carrying your word, planting seeds in the hearts and the minds of all those around us. Lord, we ask that you give us the boldness and the courage to exert our authority, to use the power that we've been entrusted with. And Lord, we thank you in advance for the abundant harvest that we know is about to spring forth. We thank you in advance for all the souls that you're going to bring home, that you're going to adopt into your kingdom. And Lord, we thank you in advance that just like you did with Paul, you're going to use us greatly, even as we go through these different hard times that we go through in the natural, that you're using these things, that you're turning them around, that you're changing them, that you're using them for your glory. And Lord, we give you all the honor, all the glory, and all the praise. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, if you want to crush the serpent and have Jesus as a part of your life today, all you need to do is invite Jesus into your heart to be your personal Lord and Savior. You then need to repent of your sins and ask for his forgiveness. Then you trust that you've been forgiven and you ask for his free gift of eternal life. Now, if you've prayed this from a sincere heart and you truly meant it, then you are now a part of the family of God. Welcome to God's family. We want to thank everybody for listening today. We appreciate you taking out your time to spend with us. If you want even more of the King's Word, you can go to our YouTube page at Kingsword Ministry or visit our TikTok page at Kingsword Bible. God bless you. We want you to know that we love you all, and we'll see you next week as we continue to study the King's Word together.