Apples & Forgiveness, Snakes & Hope

A comment went right over my head at first, and I'm sure it didn't help that I read "snack" as "snake"... but it's interesting. In fact, the more I think about it, the more interesting it becomes.

Oh, shall we begin at the beginning? That's always a good place to start....

About a month ago, I had a wonderful time at the great "Minnesota Get-Together", the Minnesota State Fair. I spent the day with friends, including one who was experiencing its uniqueness for the first time, looking at everything from fine art to socks-on-a-stick. We met up with my uncle and cousin for a while, and of course food was everywhere! That is, if you can call the greasy, fat-laden, artery-clogging stuff there "food" (I guess the fair provides an accurate definition of "junk food"). While some of my friends go to see how much they can consume, I like going for the things there are to see and a souvenir or two to bring home, and that's just what I did. This year, I decided to bring home yet another snake for my collection of Minnesota State Fair Snakes, cut from cloth and filled with plastic pellets. This was much to my mother's dismay because she was never very keen on snakes.

I also told some friends online about my "new pet" and even attached a picture. Responses to him were varied, of course, but one comment especially caused me to think. "If he tries to interest you in a snack, avoid the apples." I can see the humor in it, but I can also find so much more. And it is that which I would like to share with you now.

Apples: one of the fruits typically used to describe the "forbidden fruit" of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, although the exact fruit is was never described. The apple is just symbolic of the real temptation: a "knowledge" that they didn't have. We know that it turned out to be something which Adam and Eve regretted gaining because in order to know the difference between good and evil, they had to experience evil for themselves.

Snakes, the serpent: the creature that was indwelled by the fallen angel who came to tempt mankind, thus cursed above all animals, to slither on his belly and eat the dust of the earth. So there's a lot that's held against the slithering creature, but there's also amazing portrayal of good in a separate Biblical illustration. But wait, there's more!

When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, snakes with poisonous bites were used by Jehovah to help His people realize they were sinning against Him. Yet, in His love, He also provided one sole means of healing. He commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass set upon a pole "that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." (Numbers 21:8) So when God's people looked upon that snake, He healed each one who had obeyed His command, despite whether they understood or thought it made no sense at all, their obedience was rewarded (but the disobedient died).

And when we jump ahead to when the Israelites were in the Holy Land, we read in John 3:14-15 that Jesus Christ is likened unto that same object of focus God had used when those wandering in the wilderness sought healing, the brazen serpent. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

Now, we can look at I Corinthians 15:44b-58 and see how this all ties in with the passage:

As sin entered into the world through the the "first Adam," Christ has come to save us, the spiritually lost. "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven." Again, God in His love, provided the only hope in Christ, the "Last Adam". "As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."

As the Israelites in the wilderness were serpent-bitten and died when they looked not unto the brazen serpent, so is mankind a snake-bitten race, spiritually dying of sin. "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."

You see, the picture in our minds of the wicked one indwelling the snake has an opposite comparison: the serpent in the wilderness, a symbol of hope which became healing and fulfillment to every individual who trusted God. "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

So the apple's association can also become just the opposite - not our downfall, but our victory! "The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." This passage challenges us, in light of the price of our sin which cost Christ everything, how can we offer Him less than our best? Recently a preacher offered this sobering thought for those of us who are saved: What if, when I stand before the Lord in Heaven someday, He shows me how wonderfully my life would have impacted others for the cause of Christ if only I had continually walked with Him instead of pursuing my own selfish desires?

Sin has already entered the world. There is no longer a forbidden tree. However, there are other things in this world that can be a temptation to us, just as the fruit was to Adam and Eve. Maybe the "apple" in your life is keeping you from going to the One who loves you so much that He willingly took your place and punishment that you may have eternal salvation and forgiveness. Will you continue to let that thing keep you from Him, or will you let the conviction in your soul lead to repentance and a life lived in the grace of God? For born-again Christians, an "apple" may be something that has become more important in our life than our Lord and Saviour.

Let's turn our apples of temptation and sin into memorials of God's mercy and grace. After all, we wouldn't ever experience blessed forgiveness if it weren't for the "apples" in our lives.

My friend, I don't know where you are at spiritually, but God does. It is my hope that, as apples are physically refreshing, this entry will gives you something to refresh your spirit just has it has mine.