And As Moses Lifted Up The Serpent In The Wilderness, Even So Must The Son Of Man Be Lifted Up.

In this sermon, I have borrowed very heavily from the work of Pastor Walter L Pearson Jr. He blessed me with his work.

In the bible, Satan is often depicted as a Serpent, the Dragon; the snake. But how does God reflect Himself?

In the woman of Revelation 12, the Bible says that when this woman was under attack by the serpent, God gave to the woman eagle's wings.

I think about Moses. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 32 that God had told Moses, “You are going to die”, but before you die, I want you to write me a song”.

If God had given me a terminal sentence, my song would not have been worth listening to. But Moses accepted the punishment and began to write about the goodness of God; and in the middle of his song (Deut 32:9-12), this is what he says “9 For the Lord’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance. 10 In a desert land He found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; He guarded him as the apple of His eye, verse 11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft. 12 The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him”.

From these passages, God sees Himself as an eagle. And He said, “I found Israel in a waste howling wilderness. I found him there, but I have cared for Israel”. When Israel was down in Egypt, about to be stung with the venom of the serpent of oppression; when she was about to be pushed out and cast aside and her life snuffed away; when the serpent was poised to strike; He said “I brought you out on eagle's wings”.

In another culture, another story is told: About 800 years ago, a group of migrants left what is now Northern Arizona, on a religious pilgrimage to find what they thought of as the promised land.

They travelled the Colorado River and its tributaries, and in 1325, arrived at the marsh land of Mexico City, and there, they founded the Aztec culture.

They may not have been Christian, but they were a religious people. As a religious group, they believed that man has two natures. One carnal, represented by the snake; and one spiritual or heavenly, represented by the eagle.

These faithful Sojourners decided that the way that they would know when they found their land, was when they would see an eagle killing a snake because that will represent a land where righteousness overcame wickedness.

Faithfully they moved on, until finally they came to those swamps, where MEXICO CITY is located. Then, lo and behold, somebody peered out into the distance and said, “see, there is an eagle with a snake subdued on the ground”. Those people rejoiced and put down their wears and decided this is the place.

So, if you go to the pyramids of Mexico, you will climb staircases that are in the shapes of serpent heads, and you will see eagle's wings upon them. Even the Mexican flag has on it the image of an eagle, subduing a serpent.

These people recognized that if you want to find a home, find a place where the Eagle subdues the serpent; find a place where righteousness has power over wickedness.

So, who was the serpent before the fall? Ellen White says, in her book, the story of redemption page 32; that the serpent was a beautiful creature with wings. And while flying, his appearance was bright, resembling burnished gold. He did not go up on the ground but went from place to place through the air and ate fruit like a man.

The translation is clear. Genesis 3:1 confirms that the smartest creature after man was the serpent. So, Satan chose the most outstanding creation after mankind; the most subtle, the craftiest, the most beautiful of them all. Satan asked for access, and the serpent granted it. And for his agreement to be used, the serpent is included in a curse.

But what was the accusation? Genesis 3:8-15. Verse 8 “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”