The Burning Bush
and Pentecostal Fire (cont.)

"These signs shall follow them that believe:

1. In my name shall they cast out devils;2. they shall speak with new tongues.3. They shall take up serpents;4. and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;5. they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."These are the five signs that are supposed to follow them that believe. The word follow (parakoloutheo) actually describes a side-by-side following, just like a very nosy disciple would follow his master's every move.Like a crazed fan would obsessively stalk her star.These signs should be so dense around us, they should literally pester us. They should surround us and accompany us. According to this word "parakoloutheo" we should be known for them.

Not everybody will be a miracle worker, or an evangelist, or an inspired tongue talker with interpretation, of course, (1 Cor. 12, 30), but every born again believer can work these five signs. Not just some: all of us who believe!

If Jesus says these signs will walk side by side with us, then he gives us with the authority the power to work them. (Authority is worthless without power.) But if Jesus commissioned us thus, then - where are the signs? Billy Smith works them. What is christendom at large doing? And here I would like to contrast our behaviour with the behaviour of MOSES at the BURNING BUSH.

Moses was supposed to work the same signs as we are commissioned to do. Actually, you can't understand the cryptic metaphor Jesus uses in Mark 16, 17-18 without being familiar with Exodus 3 and 4. Or do you take up real serpents every day?
Sure. Right. We handle snakes all the time. (If you do, police may follow you instead of signs.)
Had your dose of deadly drink yet today?
Coke and root beer may not be very healthy, but they're far from deadly. (I'm not sure about that cream soda stuff ...)
Moses and the burning bush were on Jesus' mind when he spoke these closing verses in Mark 16. He wanted to prepare his disciples for their own BURNING BUSH experience ten days hence: the PENTECOSTal fire and the outpouring of sign power on believers!

So in order to explain Mark 16, 17-18 let's look at Moses and the signs he was to work:
The first sign mentioned by Jesus is: to cast out devils.
Moses was to cast out the Canaanites from the promised land.God said to him: "So I have come down to deliver Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite." (Ex. 3, 8.)
It is easy for us to deduct that Jesus came to deliver us from "Egypt": the sinful world, the Kingdom of Darkness. And the evil occupants of the promised land, - Canaanites, Hittites, ... -, are the demons we are to cast out according to Mark 16, 17. Please note: we are not to cast devils out of people all the time!
We do that, too, but we don't do it all the time. We should rather be busy chasing them off our Canaan, our divine inheritance: the great and precious promises. We should fight these DEMONIC THOUGHTS of doubt and failure. ("Poor ole me, me, me.") We are to hold fast to the promises of God's word. Some of us even have to switch the sun back on in our heart and be THANKFUL ON PURPOSE. Take a period of time every day to do that! (Count the "thankful"s in Philippians sometime!) And ponder David: he did it all the time! Listen to this: "And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise ALL THE DAY LONG." (Ps. 35, 28.)

God is not moved by your moaning and groaning, rather he moves by your FAITH. And faith always carries a notion of joy and thanksgiving in it. So blow Satan and his subtle whispers off the battlefield of your mind. YOU CAN! As the old Nike slogan goes: just do it! Depress Satan. Make your joyful and positive disposition a sign that follows you around.

The second sign designed to follow true believers is the speaking with tongues. Of course this is obviously talking about the gift of tongues we received when we experienced our private pentecost: our baptism into the Holy Spirit. But the Moses-Exodus-context reveals that there is more to it.

In Ex. 4, 10 Moses complains that he is not able to express himself properly with words as would befit his new leadership position. God objects, but Moses insists. Then the Lord promises him to be with his mouth.A saved mouth is a sure sign of a true believer.I have never, ever seen any christian whom God blessed and used in any significant manner who didn't have a saved mouth. Anybody I know who used borderline language was sooner or later sidelined by the Lord, and blessings remained scant.Let's go on to the third sign: the picking up of serpents. Ooh, there is a whole bag of goodies in this one.

In Acts 28 Paul inadvertedly picks up a poisonous snake on the island of Malta. The snake bites him. But Paul cooly shakes it off into the fire and suffers no harm. The islanders are impressed.

So we see that Jesus's words can be taken literal.

(I have been to Malta, preaching the gospel. I have been at the very site where this happened.)

However, let me say that Paul was no "pentecostal" snake-handler the likes of which you sometimes find in the Southern U.S. These foolish people tempt God by recklessly handling venomous beasts without protection. The Lord is not encouraging us to flaunt our stuff and be foolhardy!

You don't play with Kaa. Kaa might start to play with you. (Unless you're Shere Khan, perhaps.)
Always remember Mowgli. Without Bagheera he would have become snake poop!

Besides, people tend to find you sectarian if you do tricks like that in front of them. They probably won't fall on their faces and worship God because you're doing a sign.

If all of us average believers are to be known for picking up serpents, then, what is Jesus talking about?

In Exodus 4 Moses takes his shepherd's staff and casts it to the ground. It becomes a serpent. Then by God's command he reaches out and grabs it by the tail. He picks it up. And it becomes a harmless staff once again.

Moses picked up serpents!

This is rich. Let me develop several ideas on that:

1. The sign was given to Moses, a shepherd.
Instrumental was his staff.
On it the shepherd leans.
When God confirms your ministerial work by signs, you can lean on that divine affirmation of your labour. People can see: God is with you. That establishes your authority in the eyes of the sheep.

The staff is also a weapon. With it the shepherd chases away the enemies of the flock. And it's crooked tip is a tool for salvaging sheep that got stuck in the underbrush with their thick wool.

This sign helps both: shepherds and sheep.

2. The staff is a symbol for the grace of God. (Word, Holy Spirit, church, prayer life...)

When Moses threw it away, he was helpless and fearful in the presence of the snake.

His first impulse was to run away. With lots of courage he faced his problem and dealt with it squarely. He had to literally touch the snake and it became a harmless staff once again.

Grace is available. It is only a sincere confession of sins away.

Deal with your sin. (1. John 1, 7 - 2, 1.)

3. The staff is also the symbol of the power of a ruler. (Ps. 2, 27.)

When we christians quit praying for our governments we throw the staff of rulership to the earth. Government will then become an instrument of Satan for repression. We need to pray and participate in government for our societies to be blessed and to be tools of God.

4. The staff also symbolizes Jesus. (Ps 110, 2.)

Jesus was a miracle-loaded tool in the hands of God. When God threw Jesus to the ground so to speak (on the cross) he became sin for us. (Gal. 3, 10f.) And sin is symbolized by the snake. (See John 3, 14.) After the resurrection Jesus became God's executive top tool once again.

5. The staff-miracle is a symbol for the believer.

We all were born with a life plan from God. We were supposed to be his tools. But then sin came and we died spiritually. We fell to the dirty ground. We literally became as wicked and mean as snakes in our sin. Then Jesus came and we accepted him. In that instant we were reborn and made into tools of God once again. We became harmless staffs in his hand after he picked us up.

Fearsome slithering snakes - true sinners - turn into straight and sturdy children of God when we pick them up and lead them to Christ.

The fourth sign that is to follow every believer is the drinking of something deadly without being hurt.
How literal can this be taken?
Again, don't be foolish.
And don't gargle with hydrochloric acid!

In Exodus 4, 9 we see how something drinkable - water - turned into something deadly: cold blood.

God tells Moses to pour out water onto the dry land. On the dry ground the water turns into blood.

Blood on the dry land?
Sounds like WAR to me.

Water turned to blood is a sign of divine judgement.
Yet judgment is not for the christian.
When christians drink of that bitter cup it shall not hurt them.

Later, when Moses turned the Nile river and all other bodies of water in Egypt into stinking blood, the Egyptians were digging holes into the ground in search for something to drink. (Ex. 7, 24.) Yet no such harm befell the Israelites. They were right there, right in the midst of the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God - and were not hurt.

They were exempted from damnation and judgement.

The bells of hell will never ring for you and me.

The fourth sign is the protection of the holy from the fearful vengeance of God's wrath.

But before God ever visits the earth in judgement he first pours out mercy and grace in abundance. Of that the fifth sign speaks. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Let me tie that into the Moses-narrative:

In Exodus 4, 4 God tells Moses, who is quite unwilling to obey God as you know, to put his hand into his bosom. Moses does so, and his hand comes forth leprous!

Moses had reached into his bosom and laid his healthy hand upon his rebellious little heart.
And forth came a dead, white, leprous hand.

Leprosy is a symbol for sin.
Moses outward leprosy was a picture of his sinful heart.
You might say his sickness was caused by his sin.
(Now put those stones back down!)

In James 5, 16 it says: Confess your faults (sins) to one another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.

We see that many times sin and sickness are tied up with one another. (Check also John 5, 14.)

Many a sickness is caused by stress or guilt. Doctors write that 50% of ailments are psychosomatic in nature. (I have a couple of doctors and nurses in my church.) Those people will not get healed unless they deal with their stress or guilt.

James knew that 2000 years ago.

Well, Moses stuck his hand back into his bosom and it came up clean.
Healing is part and parcel of biblical christianity.
Please note, however, that Mark 16, 18 speaks of RECOVERY.

There is a difference between a miracle and a healing.

A miracle happens in an instant!

A healing happens over a period of time. This period of time elapsing is called the recovery period. The person is reconvalescing.

Every christian can pray with a sick person and bring peace, tranquility, and a turnaround.

Now let's look at Moses's hem-hawing around when God tried to send him to Egypt with miracle power.

When God came Moses said five things:

1. Moses said: who am I? (Ex. 3, 11.)

He was self conscious and preoccupied with himself.
Neither the 40 years in the Egyptian high society nor the 40 years of life as a virtual hermit in the desert prepared him adequately for his job: God personally and directly had to deal with him.
Today the church equips the believer and tells him who he is in Christ. (Eph 4, 11f.)

2. Moses said: who are you, God? Are you trustworthy? (Ex. 3, 13.)

This is a statement of unbelief.

God says: I am the same yesterday, today and forever.

Today the Lord speaks to us in his word. There we see him as he is in Jesus. This is where we get faith.

3. Moses says: the people will not believe me. (Ex 4, 1.)
What will the people say about me? They will talk about me!

Never deposit your happiness in other people's heads.

God answers: I will give you signs.

This is what we are talking about all along in this article.

4. Moses says: I can't talk right. I mumble and bumble. (Ex. 4, 10.)
God says: I will give you an anointing and a mouth to talk. Besides: what you say is more important than how you say it!

5. Finally Moses says what he means (and what many christians say in their heart of hearts mean): Lord, I just don't feel like it. I don't want to do it. (Ex. 4, 13.)
I don't want to pray and do miracles. I don't want to deal with people, be it hostile or friendly. I don't want to expose myself to unkind criticism or differing opinions. Don't want to lead.

Just leave me alone. I'm happy and content in my sedate little corner of the world. I'm only called to my town. Forget the rest of the world.

God, I don't care about missions, about evangelism, about reaching out. I don't even like to go to church. Haven't been there in 40 years.

This is where God finally gets mad.

The Lord chides him quite a bit. But he also gives Moses a LOYAL and ABLE co-worker: his brother Aaron! A person to talk to. A friend who sticks closer than a brother.

He will do the same for you, if you'll ask him.

Jesus himself said that he'll give you houses and mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters in this world, and in the world to come eternal life, if you'll work for him.

Let's be true believers and let's work the signs of Mark 16, 17.18. No more cop-outs.

Yours in Him,

Gert Hoinle
Editor of Teaching News