The Serpent is the Bible’s first and last name for the enemy of God and man.
He appears in the garden more crafty than any beast of the field.
He is called the ancient serpent, the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.
Christ crushed the head. The bronze serpent lifted in the wilderness became Jesus’ own picture of the cross.
Genesis does not introduce evil as an equal god. It introduces a creature who speaks against the Word. “Did God actually say?” The woman is deceived. The man eats. Shame, blame, and exile follow. The Lord God said to the serpent that the seed of the woman would bruise his head, and he would bruise the heel. From that sentence the rest of Scripture reads the war.
- Pharaoh’s Egypt could be called a serpent.
- Leviathan is the twisting monster the Lord will punish.
- In the wilderness fiery serpents bit the people, and Moses lifted a bronze serpent so that whoever looked would live.
- Jesus told Nicodemus that the Son of Man must be lifted up as that serpent was lifted up.
- Paul feared that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, the church’s thoughts would be led astray from a sincere devotion to Christ.
- John named the great dragon that ancient serpent.
The first lie and the last war are the same enemy.
The gospel is the same answer:
the seed of the woman, lifted up, victorious.
- The serpent is a creature who questions God’s word before he offers a better world.
- Craft is his first weapon. Violence follows the lie.
- The promise in the garden is older than Israel’s law and older than the cross in time, and it points to both.
- Looking at the lifted serpent was not magic. It was obedience to the word that saves.
- Christ is not the serpent. He is the One lifted up where the curse was put to death.
- The ancient serpent is still the deceiver of the whole world.
- The head is bruised. The church is not to make peace with the lie.
- Crafty Speech – He revises what God said and denies what God threatened.
- Deceiver – Eve was deceived; the whole world is in his sights.
- Cursed Creature – On his belly, dust for food, enmity decreed.
- Head and Heel – He wounds; the seed of the woman crushes.
- Bronze Serpent – Judgment lifted up so that lookers live.
- Ancient Serpent – The same enemy from Eden to Revelation.
- Crushed – The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
- Genesis 3:1-5 – “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”?’… But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”
- Genesis 3:14-15 – “The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’”
- Revelation 12:9 – “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
- Revelation 20:2 – “And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”
- Numbers 21:8-9 – “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”
- John 3:14-15 – “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
- 2 Corinthians 11:3 – “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
- Romans 16:20 – “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
- Isaiah 27:1 – “In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.”
- Isaiah 14:29 – “Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod that struck you is broken, for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.”
- Psalm 91:13 – “You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.”
- Luke 10:18-19 – “And he said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.’”
- Matthew 23:33 – “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?”
- John 8:44 – “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth…”
- 2 Kings 18:4 – Hezekiah “broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).”
- Romans 5:12, 19 – Sin came into the world through one man; by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
- Hebrews 2:14 – Through death He destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.
- 1 John 3:8 – “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”
Did God actually say?
That is the serpent’s first work. He still asks it.
The seed of the woman shall bruise his head. The Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted the serpent, that whoever believes may have eternal life.
Do not be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Hezekiah smashed the bronze serpent when it became a thing to burn incense to. Look to the lifted Christ, not to the relic.
The ancient serpent is thrown down. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
Believe. Live. Do not make peace with the lie.
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