SERPENTS IN MARK 16: 17-18 AND LUKE 10: 19

This interpretation of the Trumpet Judgments owes a great deal
to the many broadcasts on the Threshing Floor by Sue Patterson and
Randy Maugans. The view below however, is not nearly as full a
treatment of
this subject as you can find on
http://threshingfloor.onevoicemm.net/weblog/?m=200607 which is their
8 part series summary on the Trumpets.

Mark 16: 17-18 and Luke 10: 19

Mark 16: 17-18: "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In
my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new
tongues;
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it
shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover."

Luke 10: 19: "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."

Even before Christ died on the cross and rose again, his disciples
were able, through
him, to cast out devils, as Luke 10: 17 says. In Acts 19: 12 Paul
healed people
of diseases and cast out evil spirits. At Pentecost in Acts 2: 4,
and in Acts
10: 46, and in Acts 19: 6 the disciples spoke in other tongues. Then
Paul was
bitten by a snake when he and his company were shipwrecked on the
island of
Melita (Acts 28: 3-6) but it did him no harm.

Mark 16: 17-18 and Luke 10: 19 are not addressed to all Christians,
but these prophecies were
fulfilled though not exhausted in the acts of the Apostles.

In addition, Luke 10: 19 is metaphoric since its not talking about
real snakes. It
could have a literal fulfillment also though being able to kill real
snakes with
no danger of being bitten is not the main point here.

We have to make a distinction between the broad figurative method of
interpreting prophecy used by Origen, Augustine and their followers
from
an attempt to accurately read specific metaphors like serpents and
locust-scorpions.

On Revelation 20: 4, the thousand year reign of Christ on earth,
Augustine suggests, "...he (John ) used the thousand years as an
equivalent for the whole duration of this world, employing the number
of perfection to mark the fullness of time." (City of God, XX,7). In
this Amillennial or broad figurative interpretation, the thousand
years
refers to a span of time between Pentecost of Christ and Christ's
appearance. The broad type of allegorical interpretation of end time
prophecy by Augustine
was followed in medieval times and taken up by the leaders of the
Reformation. The Reformers used a more careful and literal
interpretation of most other Scripture, contrary to the Catholic
Church's method of interpretation.

I saw an example of the use of this broad
allegorical interpretation
recently on a web site I did not keep. Perhaps this is the kind of
sweeping allegorical interpretation that Origen used. It suggests
that Paul's
journey
by ship to Rome in Acts chapters 27 and 27 is an allegory of bringing
the Alexandrian New Testament as compiled by Westcott and Hort to
Rome. In Acts 27: 6 the centurion in charge of Paul and the other
prisoners put them on a "ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy..."
There was opposition, metaphorically, to this bringing of the
inferior New Testament to Rome, for example, in Acts 27: 14 a
tempestuous wind came up and threatened the ship. Finally, the ship
was wrecked on the island of Melita. In this allegorical
interpretation, Rome is apparently spiritual Babylon - the apostate
church - which receives
the inferior New Testament. But what is the metaphorical meaning
of Paul, the authentic Apostle, who in the literal story is being
taken prisoner to Rome? Maybe he represents that part of the
authentic body of Christ who is fooled into accepting the Westcott-
Hort Greek text and its many new Bible version translations. Or, Paul
represents the group of God's people who depart captive into false
doctrines but return to him in the Tribulation? I don't find this
as good a metaphor as the taking of an inferior version of the New
Testament on a ship from Alexandria to Rome as spiritual Babylon. The
role of Paul does not seem to me to work clearly in this allegory.
This is the problem with broad allegorical interpretation. Though
this sweeping allegory is interesting, it does not serve
as an example of an interpretative method we should use in decoding
the metaphors of the Book of Revelation.

Even now, the majority of people in the Reformed Camp
follow the Amillennial and broad allegorical interpretation of
the Book of Revelation. This method of interpretation effectively
keeps many end time prophecies sealed up and not understood. The
supposed consistent literal interpretation of end time prophecy of the
dispensationalists also prevents end time prophecy from being
unsealed and revealed.

For example, the consistent literal interpretation followed by the
dispensationalists says that the Trumpet Judgments of Chapters 8 and
9 of the Book of Revelation predict destruction coming upon the earth.
One example of a strictly dispensationalist literalist view of the
Trumpet Judgments can be found at

http://www.fundamentalbiblechurch.org/Feature/fbcfeat7.htm

This site tells us that at the First and Second Trumpets "HAlL, FIRE
and blood are "cast upon the earth." This causes wide devastation
upon the earth's vegetation. Be sure to notice that this is not an
ecological disaster that man has brought upon his own environment,
but rather the super-natural intervention by the Lord God of Heaven...
The second trumpet blows and judgment upon the sea follows, one-third
of which turns to blood. A great object falling from heaven will
destroy ships and marine life (vv. 8, 9 cf. Ex. 7:17,18). The exact
mechanics of the judgments are not given by God, but the results of
these catastrophes which are seen by those on the earth are extremely
real and indicate the literalness of these events. Trying to
interpret these judgments as changes in governments, ideologies or
economies would not have this kind of effect upon men. People
actually die as this happens."

Some dispensationalists interpret Revelation 8: 10-11, the 3nd
trumpet, to say that
a large meteor or star called Worldwood will hit the earth.

"THE THIRD trumpet sounds and God's judgment upon the rivers and
springs is realized (vv. 10,11 cf. Ex. 15:23-25, Egypt's inability to
drink the polluted water). Wormwood speaks of a bitter herb..."

"The fourth trumpet heralds the Lord's judgment upon the heavenly
bodies. The workdays and nights are disrupted because of actual
changes taking place in the light-giving heavenly spheres (v.12 cf.
Lk. 21:25-28). The rapid withdrawal of light reminds us of the plague
of darkness in the land of Egypt (Ex. 10:21-23)."

In speculating on the meaning of the metaphors in Revelation 9: 7-10,
the 5th Trumpet, dispensationalists sometimes say these are
helicopters of the
future.

Dispensationalists speculate about Revelation 9: 12-21, the 6th
Trumpet, and some claim that at the 6th trumpet a 200 million man
army from the east, probably from China, will invade the nation of
Israel. All these dispensationalist interpretations and speculations
about the meaning of the Trumpet Judgments are literal. In refusing to
consider that the many things, creatures and images mentioned in the
Trumpets are metaphors, the classical dispensationalists miss the
entire focus of the Trumpet Judgments.

During the Tribulation, there may be some destruction coming upon the
earth and perhaps also on the solar system or heavens. But the main
focus of the Trumpet Judgments is the Lord's trying of his
Church which has gone into false doctrines and is not following his
truth. He will thresh the Church to bring out those who will repent
and turn to his truth.

I Peter 4: 17 is a statement in language that is not metaphoric
that "...judgment must begin at the house of God..."

The meaning of serpents and vipers in Scripture is not as
difficult
to read as some other metaphors in prophecy. Locusts, scorpions and
serpents are important metaphoric identifiers of the players of
the Trumpet Judgments.

The Bible sometimes uses more than one metaphor in prophecy to stand
for a group of people
or for a spiritual construct. Yet Scripture tends to be consistent
across books of the Bible in the use of the same metaphor to identity
these people and spiritual
constructs.

In Matthew 23: 33 Jesus called the scribes and Pharisees "Ye
serpents, ye
generation of vipers..."

In Revelation 9: 19 serpents is again used metaphorically in saying
of a group
of people during the Sixth Trumpet who are to cause another group to
be killed
(Revelation 9: 20) that "...for their tails were like unto serpents,
and had heads, and with them they do hurt." Saying their tails were
like serpents may just be a way
of alerting readers that this is figurative language. The main point
of the metaphor
is that this group of people are figuratively serpents.

The scribes and Pharisees of Matthew 23: 33 were leaders of the
church at the time of Christ. He called them serpents. I Peter 4: 17
says "For the time is come
that judgment must begin at the house of God..." Ezekiel 5: 8
says "Therefore
thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, against thee, and will
execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations,"

Who is "thee" here? It refers back to the metaphor of Ezekiel
shaving off his
beard and dividing the hair into three larger parts and a fourth
small part which he binds in his skirts to preserve them. The three
large parts die, and Ezekiel 5: 12
goes on to explain that one third will die by disease and famine, a
second third will die by the sword and the last third will scatter
into the winds and a sword will
be drawn out after them too.

Zechariah 13: 8-9 again talks about three groups of people. Two
thirds will
be "cut off and die," and I think this refers to spiritual death as
well as physical death, while one third will
be brought through the fire where they are refined. They will call
on the Lord and
he will hear them. In other words, they undergo a big change in
their spiritual
condition, turning from apostasy to the truth and the Lord tells them
here that
they are his people.

The "fire" that this one third of the entire group of professing
followers of the Lord
are put through is the 6th Trumpet Judgment. The Multitude
(Revelation 7: 9)
will be threshed by God using vessels of dishonor who are called
serpents. At this point in time the people who are to become the
Multitude are part of the Church who are in false theologies and
doctrines. They are to come out of these false teachings during the
Tribulation and turn to the truth. Then they will shine as the
brightness of the firmament...(Daniel 12: 3)
These modern Pharisees are
vessels of dishonor who cause the Multitude to be killed and at the
Seventh
Trumpet they too are killed.

In Luke 10: 19 the group who is said to be able to tread on serpents
and
scorpions is a small number of followers of Christ who will be in
some ways
similar to the Apostles. They are probably the few in Ezekiel 5: 3
who are preserved,
i.e.,bound in the skirts of Ol Ezekiel. The scorpions are another
group of
the originally apostate church who torment the Multitude at the Fifth
Trumpet.
They are called both locusts and scorpions in Revelation 9: 3. In
Verse 5 they
have the torment of a scorpion.

Luke 10: 19 is a prophecy for a few followers of Christ in the
Tribulation. Having power to tread
on serpents and scorpions does not mean that the small remnant, called
the 144,000 in Revelation 7, will be empowered to stop the
scorpions and serpents from tormenting and causing the Multitude to
be killed.. Rather, it must mean that at the Sealing (Revelation 7:
3) the small remnant
is protected from the scorpions and serpents.
Bernard