Snake-Problem in Eden and God's Antivenom for "SIN-Bites"
The Greatest Spiritual Warfare is against SIN | Spiritual Warfare Series #Ep.02
Welcome to Biblion’s Spiritual Warfare Series. If you’re just joining, here’s where we are at, and what’s ahead:
#Ep.01 | We are at War: What Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki Teach us about Spiritual Warfare
#Ep.02 | Snake-Problem in Eden and God's Antivenom for “SIN-Bites” ← This post
#Ep.03 | How to know the Enemy is Winning in any Spiritual Warfare [Draft Title]
#Ep.04 | The Purpose and Nature of Temptations— what it Means and Takes to Overcome [Draft Title]
Highlights of this Post
Man’s Original Dominion Mandate in Jeopardy due to a Snake-Problem
Britain Colonized India but also had to deal with the Snake Problem
Antivenoms are produced from Snake Venoms through the Blood of Host Animals
The Snake represents Satan, Venom represents Sin and the consequence of Sin is Death.
The Genius of God’s Salvation plan was to use SIN to destroy SIN — Jesus would be the Host and Sin’s Antivenom would be produced from His Blood
The Antibodies produced from the Blood of Jesus is called RIGHTEOUSNESS, and how to administer God’s Antivenom through FAITH.
It is possible to be bitten by a Snake and still survive the Venom — Paul demonstrated it, and Moses showed us How.
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you
— Luke 10:19
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Man’s Original Dominion Mandate in Jeopardy due to a Snake Problem
Gen 1:28
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be Fruitful, and Multiply, and Replenish the earth, and Subdue it: and have Dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Dr Myles Munroe taught that God, being the King of kings, rules the Heavens. He wanted to have children who should also rule over a region. So, He created Earth as the Colony of Heaven. God made Man and positioned him to rule and dominate Earth — so that it shall be on Earth as it is in Heaven.
There was a Problem — a Serpent was in the Garden and the dominion mandate was now in jeopardy.
2/7
Britain Colonized India but also had to deal with Snake Problems
The English East India Company (EIC) was one of the colonial vehicles used to establish a territorial empire in India. The EIC provided the context for European voyages and settlements throughout the country.
As part of their inspection efforts of the newly conquered colony, the colonizers undertook geographical and botanical explorations of ‘exotic’ and ‘wild’ India. They had to gather relevant information about the newly acquired land to fully exploit India’s natural resources for material profits.
There was a Problem — wild India was a vastly snake-infested landscape.
The exploration, commercial activities, and livelihood of the colonizers were threatened as they frequently encountered venomous Snakes — their colonization mandate was in jeopardy.
In their early report, the colonizers noted that “every year a very great number of deaths occur, both amongst cattle and mankind, through the bite of snakes, and particularly through the bite of the Cobra.”
Lethal snakebites were rare in Britain, hence, the colonizers had insufficient knowledge about the varieties of snakes, and the potency of the snake venom they encountered in India.
To subdue and control the snake-ridden terrain, the colonizers were compelled to carefully study snakes and their venoms.
In 1895, Sir Thomas Fraser, a British physician and pharmacologist, invented a specific Antivenom that was particularly effective against Cobra venom. This invention, and other medical-zoological engagements, contributed to Britain's efforts to sustain and strengthen its domination over India.
Fraser’s invention built on earlier discoveries that Venomous snakes were self-immunized against their own Venom — i.e., Antivenom could be produced from the Venom themselves.
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Antivenoms are produced from Snake Venoms through the Blood of Host Animals
Snake antivenom is produced by injecting small amounts of snake venom into a domestic animal (a host). The immune system of the host triggers an immune response from which antibodies are derived.
The antibodies that form is then collected from the domestic animal's blood, purified and processed into usable antivenom.
Domestic animals used are Horses, rabbits, goats and sheep. Horses (Equine) and sheep (Ovine) are mostly used in commercial antivenom production, with Sheep being the most preferred.
Horses possess a large volume of blood from which antivenom can be produced, but equine-derived antivenom has too many side effects. Rabbits and goats produced lesser sensitivity reactions in the patients. However, rabbits produce less blood compared to horses (1 horse to 200 rabbits); goats are prone to tropical infections and may not respond well in hot climates.
Sheep are mostly preferred because the Ovine-derived Antivenom had numerous benefits:
They had very mild side effects.
They trigger a better immune response against snake venom in human patients.
They produce a significant amount of blood at each bleed, with more antivenom produced than horses.
Moreso, sheep are abundantly available globally (in the southern and northern hemispheres); they are cheap, easy to maintain, and resistant to diseases.
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The Snake represents Satan; the Venom represents Sin and the Consequence of Sin is Death.
The Serpent represents Satan — the Devil. Snake Venom is a type of SIN. The ultimate effect of Sin is Death. The Serpent-Satan had the power of death, being the father of Sin.
The deadly effect of envenomation from snakebite can be summarised as Paralysis, Skin damage, vital Organ damage, Permanent disability (affecting the limbs) and Death. A full list can be found here.
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Cor 15:55-58)
Recall that God originally created man to dominate all of his creation in the Colony called Earth. Earth, like every colony, is subjected to a foreign rule, in this case, Heaven.
As mentioned in the last post, Eve’s exposure to the lies of Satan and acceptance of those lies comprised Man’s dominion. That compromise led to Man’s Rebellion and subsequently the Fall and Death of man — indeed as God had said, “the day you eat of the fruit you shall surely die”.
You see, when Eve had a bite of the forbidden fruit, she also had a Snakebite that introduced Sin-venom.
From that moment, Man declared his rebellious independence from Heaven’s rule, became paralyzed and can no longer fulfil the dominion mandate because of the effects and consequences of the Sin.
God was disappointed — yet with compassion. God said, “the seed of the Woman will bruise your head, I have a redemption plan, an Antivenom plan, though it would require Blood”.
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The Genius of God’s Salvation plan was to use SIN to destroy SIN — Jesus would be the Host and Sin’s Antivenom would be produced from His Blood
Before the coming of Jesus, the Old Testament foretold a shadow of the Salvation plan — the Blood of animals would be used to atone for the sins of men.
Like in the production of antivenom, the people laid their hands on the animal’s head — transferring their Sins to it — then the animal’s blood is shed in sacrifice unto God, to cleanse themselves from the effects and consequences of their sins.
This system had a problem — they had to repeat the process of shedding blood again and again as often as they sinned. We live in a snake-infested world, which connotes a sin-infested world.
God introduced a permanent system, to ensure an effective eternal and global supply chain of Sin’s antivenom — to neutralise the effect of the Snakebites forever. Though we can live in a snake-infected world or culture, we can be immune to Sin-venom.
John the Baptist gave Jesus a grand introduction in John 1:29 — Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Recall: Sheep have a worldwide appeal, and they produce the best Antivenom.
Paul explained the antivenom production process — God made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (1Cor 5:21).
Read Isaiah 53:1-12 for the complete story. Here is a summary:
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes, we are healed (referring to the effects of Sin — sin and sickness always go together)
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter, and as a Sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge (antivenom) shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Jesus is the Lamb of God. Man’s Sins were imputed to Christ. He shed his Blood, died and the Antibodies derived from his Blood produced God’s Antivenom against Sin-venom.
This antivenom has the potential to purge Man’s conscience from dead works — including all thoughts and acts of rebellion against God.
Heb 9:14
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
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The Antibodies produced from the Blood of Jesus is called RIGHTEOUSNESS, and we administer God’s Antivenom through FAITH.
Snake antivenom is on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines, which must be available at all times. In the event of snakebites, antivenom is usually, administered by injection.
The antivenom boosts the patient’s immune response to the venom deposited after a snakebite. The antivenom neutralises the venom components and hinders their ability to bind to a target’s tissue and does no harm to the target.
Righteousness is what ensures our immunity against Sin — a state in that we are not affected by Sin-venom.
Righteousness is triggered and sustained by Faith.
The Righteousness from the Blood of Jesus was produced once and should be administered as often as possible.
Faith is the premium we must pay consistently to access Righteousness. This Faith is not passive, it is Active with definite proofs of Righteousness!
So Jesus became Sin, died, and entered death — which is the endgame of Sin, and through Death destroyed him that has the power of death (i.e. the Devil), so we can live lives unto Righteousness (Heb 2:14).
The word Destroy (Greek katargéō) is a compound word that means (katá: "down to a point," and argéō, "inactive, idle") – idle down; rendering something inert; being of no effect, i.e. totally without force, completely brought down; make invalid, bring to nought; to make idle or inactive or completely inoperative.
So, we can boldly declare Sin shall not have dominion over us!
7/7
Is it possible to be bitten by a Snake and still survive the Venom? The answer is Yes — Paul demonstrated it and Moses showed us How.
Satan has not gone on break. There are snakes everywhere and exposure to Sin-venom is everywhere in our culture. We all are still susceptible to snakebites in real life and “snake-bytes” online (pun intended).
We are exposed when we innocently browse web pages or scroll through social media feeds; watch news or movies; sit through a lecture or presentation in college; read a book or magazine; engage in a casual face-to-face or online conversation with an old acquaintance or co-worker etc.
Paul Demonstrated it:
Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, to laid them on the fire and a viper came out an bit Paul’s hand. The locals saw the venomous snake hanging on his hand and accused Paul of being a murderer. They concluded that although he escaped the shipwreck, he must still suffer vengeance.
Paul shook off the snake into the fire and he felt no harm. The people expected him to be swollen, fall and die. But after a long while, seeing nothing happened to Paul they concluded that Paul was a god — Paul was immunized and vaccinated against venoms.
Shaking the snake into the fire doesn’t stop the effect of the bite — shutting down the browser, deleting the movie or suddenly shutting your eyes as you are confronted with evil doesn’t stop the effect of the exposure.
The exposure may be inevitable, and the bite did happen, but we now have an in-built mechanism that immediately neutralises the effect of the bite — rendering completely inoperative the Venom.
The Israelites had Snake Problems in the wilderness:
The people “tempted” God — their punishment was a serpent-infested camp. They were dying of snakebites. They asked Moses to intercede on their behalf for God to remove the snakes.
Moses prayed. But God did not remove the snakes, rather He instructed Moses to make a serpent out of bronze and put it on a flagpole. Anybody that is bitten by a snake and looks at the pole will live. Those who refuse to look at the pole died. The serpent on the pole is the global symbol of medicine today.
No Prayer can remove the Devil nor eradicate Sin from the world. Jesus had prayed for us in John 17:15 asking the Father not to take us out of the World, but that the Father keeps from the evil one.
In John 3:14-15, Jesus described himself as that Serpent on the pole. When bitten by snakes, which will happen sooner or later — we MUST look up to Him if we will survive the bite. Verse 15 ended by saying, “whosoever believes may have eternal life” — “believes” is in the present continuous tense.
The next verse is the popular John 3:16 — For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life — Life that is immune to Sin and the consequences of Sin including Sickness and death.
We must keep looking unto Jesus — the Author and Finisher of our Faith — because we have not resisted Sin to the point of Shedding our own Blood, and there is no need to, just to look at the One who already did (Heb 12:1-4).
Paul admonished Timothy to Fight the good fight of Faith to lay hold of Eternal life — so our fight is about Faith — because whatsoever is not of FAITH is SIN (Rom 14:23)
A Question
Now that the Snake-Problem is solved, what is stopping you and me from fulfilling the Dominion Mandate? Please leave your Thoughts and Answers in the Comment section below.
— Azubuike ✌️
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My two biggest takeaways are:
1. Effort can never be enough to stop sin but a change from sin nature to righteousness nature is the best anti-venom to sin. This nature can be accessed through faith in Christ and the Holy spirit.
2. Everlasting life — Life that is immune to Sin and the consequences of Sin including Sickness and death.
Thought provoking Sir,
When we hear of snake bite, we are terrified but the knowledge of antivenom gives a high sense of relief.
We need not die in sin even though death is the consequence of sin. We can always seek antivenom relief. 'Hebrews 4:15- For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need'
I have always thought why we are not embarking on a mission to destroy every untamed-death causing animal on earth. What a wishful thinking right!. They are in fact part of the ecosystem and very necessary for livelihood.
Sin cannot be removed from the earth, we would have to coexist yet have dominion over it.