Years ago, I opened the back screen door to go outside, I looked down and saw a Speckled King snake wrapped around a Copperhead on the step. I immediately froze because as a student of nature and biology, I knew what was happening. As I stood there and watched, I witnessed the King snake squeeze that Copperhead to death and slowly swallow him head first. It was a fascinating show. Whoever named the King snake named him right. I did a little research to learn that the King snake is immune to the venom of poisonous snakes in the local area and that they are known for feeding on other snakes, even to the point of being cannibalistic. Plus, they also eat rats and mice, so I am happy anytime I find a King snake in the yard. He is welcome to live at my place.
As Barb and I discussed the feeding practice of the King snake, we were reminded of the Bible incident where Aaron took Moses’ rod and threw it down in the middle of Pharoah’s court and it became a snake. The power of God in the form of a snake swallowed up the powers, the snakes, the demons, of the magicians (Exodus 7:12). Then I remembered the time the Israelites murmured in the wilderness and were bitten by serpents and “much people of Israel died”. Moses prayed for the people and God instructed him to make a “fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole”. When the people who had been bitten looked on the serpent of brass, they lived (Numbers 21). What a prophetic picture of the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf! His righteousness, his sacrifice, his power, what he has accomplished, swallows up the powers of the world. Those who will take the rod, the supernatural power of God, and persistently apply it by faith and obedience, will receive deliverance. The world carries the power of sin, sickness, satan, and bondage of all kinds. The world carries the power of negativity and depression. The world carries the power of hatred, strife, and division. God’s rod is the power of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. Those who receive his Word and His Spirit, the anointing, the power, and the presence of God with no resistance become filled with his life, power, and ability to overcome all things. When his accomplished work is applied by faith to various situations, the power of God is released to “swallow up” that situation. “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). What kind of poisonous snakes are in your life threatening or killing you? The King of kings gives his Word to help you. You are to take it in faith. He gives his Spirit to fill you. You take it in faith and yielding to Him. In this way you bring God’s power on the scene to swallow up those poisonous snakes.