Hunting season has always been big for my friend Stan. He was a pretty young man the day he and his cousin went on one of this more memorable trips. Because of the rattlesnake. They were deep in the woods turkey hunting when they heard that telltale rattle right behind them. Stan turned, fired his gun and - I don't mean to be crude - but he actually shot the head off that rattlesnake. And then the rites of manhood thing started. Yeah - Stan says to his cousin, "Pick it up." "No I don't want to pick it up, it's a rattlesnake." "Are you chicken? It can't hurt you anymore." So his cousin picked it up - suddenly he heard that rattle again - and he screamed and threw that snake in the air. Of course, the rattle was just a reflex - obviously that rattlesnake couldn't do any damage. Stan laughed, and his cousin said, "You pick it up, Stan." Finally, Stan started to pick it up and of course the rattle started clicking again. At which point, Stan did exactly what his cousin had done - screamed and threw the snake in the air. Well, they did eventually get that snake home - but the scene was repeated all the way home. Stan and his cousin would take turns carrying the snake - and hearing the rattle - screaming - and throwing it into the air. Even though the rattler couldn't possible bite them.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Rattle But No Bite."
Satan's first appearance to man came in the form of a what? Serpent. Adam and Eve fell for his lies and brought sin into the world. Satan had won. But right there at the dawn of time, God told the devil what his fate would ultimately be in Genesis 3:15 - "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers..." Then, referring to the Savior who would ultimately come, God said - "He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel." God would send His Son in human form -and Satan would be able to wound Him.
But the Savior would crush Satan's head forever. Sounds a little like what happened to that rattlesnake that day in the woods, doesn't it?
In our word for today from the Word of God, God describes when Satan struck the Savior's heel - and the Savior crushed Satan's head - Colossians 2:15 - "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, (Jesus) made a public spectacle of them, triumphng over them by the cross." Until Jesus' death on the cross, sin was man's unchallenged slavemaster. But when Jesus paid all the death penalties for all the sins of all of us, He smashed the power of sin and Satan. When you put all your trust in Jesus to be your Savior, a rescue takes place. Colossians 1:13 says, "He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves." The bottom line is this - if you belong to Jesus Christ and you stay close to Him, the devil cannot hurt you! To put it bluntly, the head of the snake was blown off at the cross of Jesus!
You say, "I don't know. It seems like the devil has a powerful pull on me." You see, Satan wants to intimidate you, he wants to make you live in fear and worry, make you retreat spiritually - he seems to have quite a bite. Wrong. According to God's Word, if you're a disciple of Jesus, the worst the devil can do is rattle, make some scary noise - but he cannot bite one who belongs to Jesus Christ - someone who has been bought and paid for with the blood of God's Son! The only reason you have to fear this snake if you are away from Jesus.
In John's vision of heaven in Revelation, he sees believers who "overcame the devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." If you have been hearing the rattle of the serpent, keep praying in the Name and blood of Jesus - the forces of darkness cannot stay where a person is standing on the authority of Jesus' blood - His crushing of Satan's head.
You've been frightened and held back long enough by the rattle of a snake whose head is crushed. He has no bite - just a lot of noise! So, resist the devil, and he will flee from you!