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“And these signs shall follow them that believe…they shall take up serpents” (Mark 16:17-18).
“And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks…there came a viper [poisonous snake] out of the heat, and fastened on his hand…And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm” (Acts 28:3,5).
When the Lord Jesus was ready to ascend back to heaven after His resurrection, He told His disciples that miraculous signs would follow those that believed. These signs would show that their message was from God. One of these signs was that the followers of Jesus would be able to take up serpents.
Here in Acts 28, we see Paul collecting some sticks for the fire, when a poisonous snake bit him. But Paul simply shook it off into the fire, and its bite did not harm him. Later Paul also worked miracles of healing among those who lived on the island of Melita (Malta).
This does not mean that you and I should deliberately pick up a rattlesnake or a cobra, and expect that we will not be harmed. God does not encourage us to do something foolish. Also, God does not work these same miracles today in the way that He did at the beginning of Christianity. But He used these signs in the beginning to show that this new message of the gospel was from Him, and those miracles encouraged people to listen to the message, and receive it.
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