Be Ye Wise As Serpents And Harmless As Doves
This scripture has always intrigued me. What does it really mean?
In Matthew 10 from whence we get this saying, Jesus is preparing to send his apostles out to the world to do his work. He is empowering them, giving them power from on high.
“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”
The power against unclean spirits not only refers to evil spirits who are possessing other people, such as in the “Exorcist”, unclean spirits can also be referring to an evil person whether carnate or incarnate, whether from our dimension or another dimension. To cast them out not only refers to an exorcism, but also to putting aside the evil one. To heal “all” manner of sickness and “all” manner of disease indicates no limits, it is all and everything. The Greek word “nosos” for sickness and “malakia” for disease actually translates to all manner of chronic and difficult ailments and all manner of weakness and defects. In other words, nothing is out of reach of the power of the disciple of Jesus Christ, all power is given to them. As such, no enemy would have power over them.
Let’s analyze this marvelous promise given to any disciple of Jesus Christ and why the righteous need not fear anybody or anything in this world:
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Where is the kingdom of Heaven? It is within us. It is at hand because it is near, physically and spiritually near, as it is within us is near.
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Now, this important! Freely receive and freely give what? His power based on love. What is the only condition or requirement? To believe on and in him. Did the disciples have to worry about a “Lord’s timetable”? Did they have to worry whether it was the Lord’s will? Did they have to worry if it was a test for the afflicted person? NO! If these miracles were so conditional, then they are not freely given.
9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, 10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
Any disciple of Christ, will not need to worry about anything, similar to the lilies of the field, all will be provided to them, believest thou this?
11And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. 12And when ye come into an house, salute it.
Salute comes from same root as salutatory or healthy, literally wishing good health. When a soldier salutes another, by touching his head with his hand or holding out his hand with the palm forward, he is literally directing an energy from his hand, head and heart towards another person and wishing them good health, A disciple of Christ is able to use their hands with great power to bless the house and to ascertain if it is worthy, whether their heart is honest or hypocritical.
13 And if the house be worthy
Worthy of what? Worthy of the kingdom of Heaven, the house being literally a building but also representing ourselves, the inner kingdom,
let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
In the Greek translation, peace means to join, unity, wholeness or holiness. Therefore, the worthy house may join you and also become holy and enjoy the blessings of discipleship, otherwise, the wholeness is returned. Instead of being whole or holy, it is fragmented and “a house divided, cannot stand” It is a house built on sand, not on a rock.
14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
This failure to receive and hear is very serious because the disciple of Christ has already manifested his power, has brought good health, has worked miracles and the evil one who occupies the house and the hearts of the other occupants, is the evil serpent who shall “eat dust all the days of thy life”. Therefore, the disciple of Christ is shaking off the dust related to the evil one who was given power to “bruise his heel” but the servant of Christ shall have power to “crush his head”. Actually, under the Hebrew, “bruise” and “crush” are the same word and translate as bruise. The Hebrew word Shuph which is the word for bruise, also means overwhelm. It doesn’t mean crush in the sense of stamping and breaking into pieces. It is not a violent act. It is victory without bloodshed.
15Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
The day of judgment of whom? Many think that God will be the judge but in truth, we will judge ourselves by our own measuring of the unrighteous judgments we meted out. The city that rejects and even mistreats the servant of Christ, will suffer from such a judgment which may be worse than what befell S and G.
16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep
Who are the sheep? They are the seed referred to by the Lord whose heels will be bruised. They are the true followers of Christ and who are empowered over all things.
in the midst of wolves
Who are the wolves? They are wolves in sheep’s clothing, they are hidden in plain sight.
be ye therefore wise as serpents,
The Greek word for serpent is related to the word “seer” or to have sharp and far vision. The wisdom of the serpent comes from its ability to see. It may be related to remote viewing, to having a far reaching network of spies, it may be the all seeing eye on the back of the dollar. In the sense that the serpent is evil and is an archetype of Satan, we should be wise in being aware of their practices, their secret combinations, oaths and covenants. It is interesting that the serpent can also be righteous. The serpent was an archetype of Jesus Christ. It was the serpent that Moses placed on the staff representing the Son of God. John confirms this interpretation,
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 everlasting life" (John 3:14-15).
It is the feathered serpent of the pre-colombians. It is the opposites in all things. Part of Jesus’ greatness is his ability to make evil good through his power of transforming and healing. He does not do it through force but he does it through love, the opposite of evil and wickedness. So, one can be wise like the evil serpent and one can be wise like the righteous serpent, seeing and having far reaching vision.
Moreover, the Greek word for wise in this scripture is “phreneo” which is the root of the word “diaphragm” or that which comes from within and moves outward. It is related to the word, “phrenology” which relates to the mind, or being thoughtful. It is subtly distinctive from the Greek word, “sophos” which has more to do with being clever, skilled and knowledgeable.
Most importantly, the scripture says,
and harmless as doves.
Not “or” but “and”. We are to be both. It is not a matter of separating the serpent from the dove because the serpent is evil and the dove is good. Both are necessary and thus, both are good. Therefore, I am inclined to believe that Jesus was speaking of the serpent in a good sense.[1] In fact, there are bad sheep and good sheep, bad wolves and good wolves, bad serpents and good serpents within the animal kingdom[2]. Jesus spoke in parables and it is for us to use our “preneo” to discern.
The Greek word for harmless relates more to being pure and unadulterated, unmixed. In that context, we are to be aware of the secret works of the wolves in sheep’s clothing, without becoming contaminated from or seduced by their works. The doves represent the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the key to knowing the truth of all things. The interrelationship between the serpent and the dove is reminiscent of the relationship between mind and heart, male and female. It is about balance.
17But beware of men:
THIS IS SIGNIFICANT AND KEY! Be-ware-y, be aware, be cautious. Here, Christ is not telling the disciples that they have to submit to their enemies. He is telling us that if you are not “wise” and aware, that you will be overpowered by your crafty enemies. A disciple of Christ led by the Holy Ghost will be protected. Christ is giving us a warning. If we heed his warning by bewaring, then we have no reason to fear and our enemies will not overcome us.
for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
Let us remember that Jesus earlier gave the disciples power over all things, over unclean spirits and over all manner of afflictions. That power enables us to be delivered from our enemies. If the disciple, for a righteous purpose, allows themselves to be captured and delivered up and scourged, then it is part of their mission. However, scourge can also mean “chastise”. It doesn’t necessarily mean to be whipped or flogged and suffer excruciating pain.
18And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 19But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
This may be the righteous purpose for being delivered up, to be a witness for Christ. Again, I emphasize that the power that the enemies have over us is only what we permit. If spoken by the spirit of our Father, which abides in us, we have nothing to fear from our enemies.
21And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
I personally believe that this is addressing the unique evil found among secret combinations, Satanic ritualistic abuse and diabolic ceremonies. Obviously, the disciples will not be hated by “all men”, for there will be many who will be converted by them. “All men” refers to those who have been seduced by darkness and have become the wolves in sheep’s clothing, those who are capable of killing brothers and family. The light of Christ brings out their hate because darkness hates light.
The Greek word for endure is “hypomeno” which literally means to bear under a load of some kind. The load that is being born by the follower of Christ is the sorrow and anguish of seeing their fellow man consumed by hate and wickedness. But, Christ later says that there is no reason to fear them. Why? Because he has already given them power over them.
[1] At the very dawn of religion in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the serpent was a symbol of the Creator-God-of-Life. The identical significance and meaning were attached to the serpent symbol in ancient Mesoamerica. The body of a living serpent is never straight. It curves and undulates, as do all rivers and streams. The serpent was a logical likeness and symbol of the life-giving waters of a river. The river was the very basis of civilization in both Mesopotamia and Egypt, the very source of life. Water for the rivers came from the sky in the form of rain. When the ancients looked into the mystical heavens-the source of the rain, there they saw at night a great river in the sky-the wonderful and beautiful Milky Way. The Milky Way was observed to curve and undulate across the sky as the Euphrates and the Nile curved through the river valleys. The Milky Way came to represent the source of life, the source of rain, or the Creator-God, and the stars were regarded as the creative water or seed of God. In summary, the thinking of the ancients formed a concept which connected the undulating serpent to the Creator in a series of logical symbolic steps: undulating serpent = curving river = Milky Way = the Creator. In other words: the symbol of water = the source of life = the heavenly symbol of the life-giving waters= the Creator. It is interesting that one of the names for the Messiah in Mesoamerica was Itzamna, which means "the dew from heaven". One of the symbols of Itzamna was the serpent. [Bruce W. Warren, The Messiah in Ancient America , chap. 6
[2] Serpents or snakes are sacred members of the animal kingdom and find joy in fulfilling the measure of their creation. Whether venomous or not, they are no more evil than other animals.
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