There are two reasons in particular that this verse sticks out to me. The first reason is the fact that Paul is miraculously unharmed after being bitten by a snake. The second reason is that anytime a snake appears in the Bible… I am leaning in. Not only is Paul completely injury free after this snake bite, but he also shakes it off into the fire. This is a symbolic picture of Jesus’ redemption interwoven throughout the Bible. From the moment Adam and Eve listen to the serpent and choose sin in the Garden of Eden, God promises in Genesis 3:15 that the serpent’s head will be crushed by Eve’s offspring. It’s the first foreshadowing of the victory that is to come in Christ.
Hundreds of years later, there is a story in the book of Numbers where venomous snakes begin biting and killing the Israelites as a result of their rebellion to God. In God’s kindness, Moses is instructed by the Lord to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole, and that anyone who is bitten may look up at the snake and live. Sure enough, anyone who was bitten and looked up at the bronze snake did not die. This was another glimpse of the hope that was to come.
When we look to Jesus and receive the gift of what He did for us on the cross, we will no longer be under the curse of sin. So, when this snake appears and attempts to take Paul down, it does not feel like a coincidence to me. In Revelation 20, we are told that Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire forever… This story of the snake being thrown into the fire feels like yet another picture where God is trying to remind us of Satan’s final destiny.
Our lives will no doubt have metaphorical snake bites, but the story interwoven throughout Scripture is that Jesus has defeated the serpent. C.S. Lewis famously writes, “You can give the Devil too much or too little attention”. My prayer for us today is that we would not give the serpent too much or too little attention. That we would be aware of his attacks, and stand in victory knowing that Jesus has crushed him once and for all.