A Serpent Can Point to Christ
John 3:14: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up...."
The tiger keelback snake's bite delivers a slow-acting venom that prevents the victim's blood from clotting. While an adult human could bleed to death from a bite, it takes a while for the snake to deliver a lethal dose.
When it is threatened, the average keelback will raise its head and display its colorful swollen neck. Should the attacker bite the snake near its head, it will get a mouth full of a much stronger poison from glands in its neck. Where does that poison come from? For years scientists have debated whether the keelback made that poison, too, or whether it got the poison from some other creature it ate. Now, research has revealed that the keelback actually stores the poison of a poisonous toad that it eats. It seems to know that it has this poison stored, too. There are no poison toads on one island where the keelback lives. When threatened, a keelback from this island does not display its neck to an attacker. Rather, it flees its attacker.
God has placed many ingenious designs into His creation in the hope that, seeing His handiwork, we would recognize His existence, power and glory. His desire is that, seeing this, we might be driven to His Word to learn of the salvation He has prepared for us in Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Father, I thank You that You desire our salvation and that You have called me to faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Notes: Science News, 2-3-07, p. 69, S. Milius, "Bite This."
For more from Creation Moments, please visit CreationMoments.com!
You can also listen to daily messages from Creation Moments on OnePlace.com.
