Supper was over and it was dark outside. It had been a busy day, but the dogs still needed to be fed. Esther got their food ready and opened the kitchen door to go out to feed them. She stopped on the top step when she saw the cat looking intently at something. She must be watching a mouse, thought Esther, as she waited quietly on the step.
But the cat didn’t pounce as she would have at a mouse. Esther was curious. She looked down at the bottom of the second step. There in the corner where the step met the cement walk lay a long, rope-like thing.
Just then the cat moved forward a little and Mary heard a warning rattle. “John!” she called. “I think there’s a rattlesnake out here!” She jumped back into the house, grabbed their 22 rifle and aimed it at the poisonous snake’s head as it flipped its tongue in and out. After she shot it, John grabbed a hoe and chopped off the snake’s head to make sure it was dead. They took off the rattle and hung its body over the fence.
The serpent in the garden of Eden was an attractive creature, not something we would run away from. He was able to talk to Eve. But he was sly and deceiving. He made Eve doubt what God had said by asking her if God had really told them not to eat of every tree in the garden. Then he made Eve distrust God by telling her that she and Adam would not die if they ate the fruit. He told her that eating the fruit would make them be like gods, knowing good and evil. But the serpent did NOT tell Eve that even though they’d be able to tell good from evil, they would have no power to do what was good. And that’s the way it’s been ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden by eating the fruit and disobeying God. All of Adam and Eve’s children, all the way down to you and me, are sinners. We have no power to do what is good; we just keep sinning. We need to have all those sins put away.
Although God hates our sins, He has never stopped loving people and wanting to have them close to Himself. John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) tells us, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John and Esther wanted to get rid of that poisonous snake; they wanted to put it out of the way permanently. On the cross the Lord Jesus defeated “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.” Revelation 12:99And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Revelation 12:9). And another verse tells us what God is going to do with Satan: “The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone . . . and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Revelation 20:1010And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10). God is going to put Satan away permanently.
Don’t choose to follow Satan and spend eternity with him in that awful place of suffering. Choose the Lord Jesus Christ and follow Him. He loves you and gave Himself for you so that you could be forgiven and spend eternity with Him in heaven. “Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world.” Galatians 1:3,43Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 4Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:3‑4).
ML-04/11/1993