Good Snakes and Bad Snakes

My friend Dr. Mike Plummer is a herpetologist at Harding University…that’s academic language for “snake handler.” Dr. Plummer is probably the most widely respected and well-published member of the Harding faculty and is a regional, if not national expert in his field of reptiles. He often amazes students with his love of all things creepy crawly, and I remember him saying years ago that there are good snakes and bad snakes. According to Dr. Plummer, the vast majority of snakes are good. Good snakes that eat mosquitoes or poisonous frogs or other undesirables are often unfairly tried, convicted and murdered by humans who never pause a second to consider giving them a fair shake. The good Dr. Plummer still has a fair bit of PR to do on behalf of the snakes of the world to redeem their not-so-good reputation with the human race. The fact is most people still agree that the only good snake … is a dead snake.

We should not be surprised to hear that there are good snakes; we have direct Biblical evidence to support that notion. In Numbers chapter 21 the bad snakes are biting the Israelites, and God sends a good snake to save them. Moses fashions a snake on a pole and all who look to it after it is “raised up” are saved. We have seen some pretty strange things in Numbers, but this one might just take the cake. Why would God use this snake on a pole to save the people?

We are all familiar with John 3:16, but not as many of us are familiar with the verses before it. Jesus said, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:14, 15). Evidently this story, handed down through the ages was one familiar to all. Jesus reminds the people that they are snake bit, doomed to die without an antidote, and God provides the one and only antidote in the form of his Son.

This week we will talk about good snakes and bad snakes and the fairly obvious fact that this wonderful old story points us to Jesus. However, we will also talk about how God uses unexpected things for his glory, and how the things that were once “good snakes” might just turn on us over the years and become “bad snakes” if we are not careful.

Mark