God’s Word for You
Mark 16:18 Snakes, poison, and demons
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, April 17, 2024
18 They will pick up snakes with their hands. If they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all. They will lay their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Mark records three more miracles from our Lord’s own mouth. There is no record of anyone picking up snakes on purpose in the Bible as if to prove that they are authentically Christian. In the last chapter of Acts, Paul (shipwrecked on Malta) was picking up brushwood and a viper, driven out by the heat, bit him in the hand and fastened itself there so that “the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand” (Acts 28:4). But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and was not hurt by it. Here we have a comforting statement! If we did not have this promise from Jesus, imagine the wild interpretations that might be spun from those who would place the other important snake story (the temptation and fall of Eve and Adam) side-by-side with this one. Did Paul do what Adam could not do? We are spared from such speculation (which could only lead a person into terrible heresy and misunderstanding) because Jesus promises, plainly and simply, that there might be times when a Christian is bitten by an actual snake (not the devil) and won’t get hurt, so that he may continue with the work of the church. In fact, it would be better to compare Paul’s serpentine adventure with the Children of Israel being bitten by venomous snakes beyond the land of Edom (Numbers 21:4-10).
The promise not to be hurt by deadly poison raises another kind of question. We don’t have any record of anybody doing this in the Bible. True, Eusebius and Papias both say that Justus Barsabbas “drank deadly poison and suffered no harm” and that this was witnessed by Philip’s daughters, but it is not recorded by the Holy Spirit, and we must leave it alone as a possible miracle, but not a certain one. This and the account of the martyr Hermias (another man unaffected by poison, according to tradition) do not create or strengthen our faith, but they might perhaps remind us that the Lord has done many things “not written in this book,” as John says (John 21:25), and that he promises to be with us and to bless us (Matthew 29:20).
Peter and Paul both healed and raised people from the dead. Dorcas and Eutychus were brought back to life (Acts 9:41, 20:9), and both Peter’s shadow and Paul’s handkerchiefs and aprons were used by the Lord to heal many (Acts 5:15, 19:12). Paul also cured the father of Malta’s chief official when he was suffering from fever and dysentery (Acts 29:8), and many other people besides. James also says that healing the sick was a frequent part of the ministry of the early church (James 5:14-15).
The message we should take to heart from these things is the promise of Jesus our Lord to bless us as we carry the gospel into the world; he will guard us and protect us until it is time for us to be called home to glory (for both Peter and Paul were finally executed for their faith by the Romans). But what we should never do is tempt the Lord our God or test him (Deuteronomy 6:16; Luke 4:12). We must not go out of our way to handle poisonous snakes to prove our faith or orthodoxy, nor drink poison on purpose. In the same way, we would not go seeking out demons only to seek the glory of driving them out. God warns us not to follow “a prophet or a dreamer” even if they perform miracles, signs, and wonders, if their message is different from the inspired word of God. “If he says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 13:2-3). Paul also warns about the lawless one (Antichrist) appearing “according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9). Miracles by themselves are not absolute proof of the genuineness of the claims a preacher or teacher makes. What is? The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets (Ephesians 2:20), that is, the Holy Scriptures themselves. “These words,” John said, “are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.