The following sermon was preached by His Eminence ++Archbishop Dr. Stephen Michael at the Sabbath services on October 15th, 2016. This was broadcasted LIVE online on the Kingdom Message. click here to download the audio mp3.
Walking on Serpents and Trampling Dragons
Isa 27:1 KJV – 1 “In that day YAHWEH with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that [is] in the sea.”
Jesus said if you believe, you will be trampling serpents. It also says if you’re bitten by snakes that it won’t harm you. What does this mean?
This has been an area of interest for so many people. The first Messianic prophecy speaks of the seed of the woman bruising His heel on the serpent’s head. Many strange cults have said that Jesus was telling us if we get bitten by a poisonous snake the venom wouldn’t kill us. There have been strange faith healers that go around letting themselves get bitten by snakes to prove they are anointed. However that often goes terribly wrong. Little do they know in most of those areas Jesus was speaking about they didn’t have venomous snakes!
So lets discuss what the Bible says about it. We are going to get into Hebrew and Greek words, and I’m afraid frankly, some of this might just blow your mind. J Remember I didn’t write the Bible, but I’ll be glad to help you find any of these verses, or lookup any parts. This study is by no means covering everything, but because I am merely presenting the word, it is rock solid and good for doctrine.
Mar 16:17-18 KJV – 17 “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 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.”
Psa 91:13 KJV – 13 “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.”
You’ll find in the Bible there are serpents and there are snakes. Snakes being lower than serpents. Serpents, like the one who tempted Eve can speak and walk, these days they are probably more understood to be dragons.
Serpents became the symbol of illnesses and demonic spiritual attack long ago. Even today most medical establishments show the symbol of the impaled serpent (that Moses put up in the wilderness). In the wilderness, as we will read, “fiery serpents” went among and killed much of the people. They didn’t die immediately, but were able to come look at the impaled “fiery serpent” and recover.
These kinds of serpents Jesus talked about often. This kind also it says would bite the believers, but it will not harm us. There weren’t any poisonous snakes in many of the areas mentioned in the New Testament.
He didn’t say only the poisonous ones wouldn’t kill us, but also the non-poisonous ones. If it was just talking about regular snakes then He would have talked about venomous snakes. Since snakes didn’t exist in most of these areas we know it’s talking about something very different altogether.
Let us look to the Scriptures for more information. First the fiery serpents Moses had to deal with in the wilderness (that were sent by YAHWEH to punish them for their contempt).
Num 21:6 KJV – 6 “And YAHWEH sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. (millions maybe)”
When the people repented Moses prayed to YAHWEH and He gave Moses a solution,
Num 21:8-9 KJV – 8 “And YAHWEH said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”
Do those sound like normal snakes to you? There was something more to these serpents. They were not only fiery (like electronic / subatomic) but also they can fly. This goes back to ancient times, in many ancient traditions. These traditions exist to this day as legends about dragons, as well as about snakes.
YAHWEH allowed this to happen to show the people in their pride they are and were nothing without YAHWEH. To turn against YAHWEH after He has so miraculously delivered them was really a terrible thing to do to His face.
Moses’ staff also held this ancient secret:
Exo 4:1-5 KJV – 1 “And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, YAHWEH hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And YAHWEH said unto him, What [is] that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And YAHWEH said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that YAHWEH God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.”
Many of the Celtic Knotworks give us a glimpse into the understanding of this topic. The crosses often have these weavings around them, because the cross disrupts, exposes and detracts them. The Bible talks about the devil is also one of these dragons that has war against the ones who keep the commandments and the testimony. (Revelation 12:17). The cross always makes demonic afraid, as our King was “is the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world”. When we remember His work of the cross it always has this effect of destroying serpents. Especially when you are one who has chosen to also follow after Him like He did, and keep the commandments. And it says we overcome the dragon/devil by the “blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony”. Rev 12:11.
Here is one Celtic and one Gothic example.
Mainly the understanding was to remind the devil he will be destroyed by the Cross, as Christ was slain before the foundation of the world. When He went into heaven He went to before time (eternal means always was and always will be.) Adam probably communicated this promise to His sons that the Messiah would come.
The traditions of using the cross goes back to very ancient times before Christ. Also the Hebrew prophets knew Christ would one day be crucified on a cross, just like the Passover Lamb every year is impaled on a cross.
You’ll find in their traditions that crosses were used as a weapon to fight against evil serpent spirits. These were from people who believed in one Creator God YAHWEH, that He so loved the world that He gave them another chance and victory through the sacrifice of His son. Many knew about the coming savior, and many were descendants of the twelve tribes, which originated these beliefs.
The Knotwork overall is typically understood to be a coiled snake biting it’s tail. This goes also into Viking mythologies, and really in almost every culture this knowledge exists. It was even more heavily understood by the Apostles. The cunning artwork of Israel no doubt included these depictions. In most mythologies they block and guard the realms that lead to the heavens. A similar word of the Cherubic orders was used to describe the ones who guard the garden of Eden so that no one can go back there. They have fiery swords.
The word for serpent is a totally different word than snake (in Hebrew and in Greek). Serpents is sometimes not a snake at all. It comes from the word “seraphim” which is Strong’s 8314. At this link you can see every time the Hebrew word shows up in the entire Scripture. You’ll see it has a dual meaning obviously. Ones who have the power to ascend up to God’s presence basically. Many of the times it’s referring to the higher cherubic order (higher than archangels):
Isa 6:2, 6 KJV – 2 “Above it stood the seraphims:[H8314] each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. … 6 Then flew one of the seraphims[H8314] unto me, having a live coal in his hand, [which] he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:”
Brother Rav Jeff Smith shared with us more on these cherubic orders (It seems to be there aren’t just one cherubic order). In Revelation it says that one of the orders of Seraphim are redeemed by Christ’s blood sing a song that He has redeemed us (Christians).
He had to say this about the “e’paniym” order of the blessing Presence of the Face of Yahweh, the o’phan or o’pennim of the Seraphim or Cherubim, angels of the Paniy/Face or Presence, consisting of rotating, turning over, spinning and churning around and around thereabouts in time, moving away from or in motion towards before AND after time.
That word is key, paniym was given to Manasseh who was to weave in and out with Ephraim. Ephraim to proceed in the promises, and Manasseh to overtake with that Paniym blessing of Genesis 48:20 https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/gen/48/20/t_conc_48020, two brother nations that have had all the promises of His chosen to be a Great nation and company of Nations (as we know fulfilled in prophecies of only two nations on earth) anyone know which nations fulfill those prophecies? We have many books on this. Jacob Israel pronounced the blessings with his arms crossed saying one will proceed the other, but the other will overtake him. Speaking of their seed and fulfilling the promises in the very end times.
Sometimes, these “seraphim”/serpents are referring to a special force of punishing messengers that YAHWEH created to punish the rebellious (like He did to the Israelites in the wilderness). We all know satan was originally a good created being known as an anointed Cherub. Most people just know cherubim and seraphim are angels. However some don’t know there’s dragons who hold that title. We believe those ones were the 1/3 of the angels who after they were kicked out of heaven became corrupted and made to look ugly etc. Yet they still sometimes are used by God to punish the rebellious. The devil also was ordained long ago to be a judge in heaven and like all angels active in music. These lower dragons or seraphim snakes are believed to still exist in the world.
Here is some more on these seraphim. Do they sound like normal snakes?
Isa 14:29 “Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery H8314 flying serpent. H8314”
Jer 8:17 KJV – 17 “For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which [will] not [be] charmed, and they shall bite you, saith YAHWEH.”
Luk 10:19 KJV – 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.”
Does this sound like a normal snake? One that can fly? Remember they have a special task. It’s not for everyone.
So then what was Jesus talking about, walking on serpents? I think it may be referring heavily to the “unclean spirits”, like the ones that Jesus said was causing illnesses. Lets look at some verses that show that “unclean spirits” cause diseases.
Mat 8:16 KJV – 16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with [his] word, and healed all that were sick:
Mat 10:1 KJV – 1 And when he had called unto [him] his twelve disciples, he gave them power [against] unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
The medical symbol of the snake on a pole looks much like what Moses lifted up. It seems they know something and don’t share it. A lot of people don’t know what causes viruses, it cannot be found on a microscope, and it is believed to be something fiery (like these serpents that can go in and out of the world. There are seven heavens in the Bible (Enoch talked about 12, and that was Bible canon too until 100 years ago), so maybe those creatures are mostly living in a different heaven.
However, for now they prefer the book of Enoch is not for everyone to read, and let everyone be on drugs etc. They would lose a lot of money if people started getting set free without their pharamakia drugs, and got set free from the blood of Jesus Christ, and His way of life.
This topic may be having a part 2 very soon. However, it may be found in an expanded version in one of a few books we will have coming out. The surrounding topics are also available in our online archive for the Kingdom message. Other teachings like this will also be taught on this network in coming weeks.
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