Leviathan, the Swiftly Moving Serpent

Posted on by Adrian Clark
A horned sea dragon roaring above stormy ocean waves

“Look! The Lord is coming from heaven to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will no longer hide those who have been killed. They will be brought out for all to see. In that day the Lord will take his terrible, swift sword and punish Leviathan, the swiftly moving serpent, the coiling, writhing serpent. He will kill the dragon of the sea.”
Isaiah 26:21 – 27:1 NLT

“Leviathan, the swiftly moving serpent”. A reference to this “whatever it is” occurs five times in the Old Testament and on another occasion in Psalm 74:14, “You crushed the heads of Leviathan and let the desert animals eat him”. The Book of Job also refers to Leviathan but in a different context. But whatever it is, it has several heads and lives in the sea, which is where God despatches it with His “terrible swift sword”. It is, of course, quite conceivable that such a monster could have existed, and we have, potentially, such a beast dwelling in Loch Ness here in Scotland. There may also have been an influence from local folklore. Isaiah also referred to it as a “dragon”.

The obvious connection between Leviathan, the serpent and dragon of old, is with the devil, the fallen angel Lucifer or Satan. In Genesis 3:1 we find that “The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made..”. Paul referred to the serpent in 2 Corinthians 11:3, where we read, “But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent”. But the clearest connection between the devil and a serpent comes in Revelation 12:7-9, “Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out of heaven. This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels”. And then in Revelation 20:1-2, we read, “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years”. The final destination of the devil is described in Revelation 20:10, “Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulphur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever”. As an aside, I wonder sometimes about the attitude of people who would rather contemplate spending eternity in the company of the devil than with Jesus.

So there we have it. Leviathan will be destroyed by God’s sharp sword. However, we pilgrims have our own weapon of destruction, effective against the devil. We read in Ephesians 6:17, “ … take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. The “sword” we have is God’s Word, the Bible. This Word of God is the same Word that Jesus used to defeat the armies of the kings of the world at a place called Armageddon (Revelation 16:16). Then in Revelation 19:19 we read, “Then I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army”. But it didn’t end well for them, because two verses later we read, “Their entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the white horse. And the vultures all gorged themselves on the dead bodies”. Who was the One riding the white horse? We find the answer earlier in Revelation 19: “Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God”. 

But fascinating as the story in Revelation is, the only offensive weapon mentioned in Paul’s account of the armour of God is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God”. Jesus effectively used God’s Word during His temptation in the wilderness, countering the devil’s temptations three times with verses quoted directly from Scripture. In that encounter between Jesus and the devil, we note one other thing – the devil knows the Bible as well. We pilgrims must be prepared for the battles we have with the devil and his forces of evil by knowing and, if necessary, memorising the Scriptures. We can do that only by reading the Word of God. As Paul said to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and … [He] uses it to prepare and equip His people…” (2 Timothy 3:17-17). What soldier ever picks up a rifle and runs into battle without first finding out how it works and how to shoot straight? 

Do you, dear fellow pilgrims, need a Word from God today? Well, there is a book full of them, and many helps to find the verses that apply to your situation or request. But nothing replaces studying the Bible. Jeremiah wrote, “When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies” (Jeremiah 15:16). The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you”. And then we have another “3:16”, this time from Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God”. We must be equipped to face our Leviathan at any time he chooses to attack us. With the Word of God, “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12), in our hands and in our hearts, we don’t have to wait until the End Times for God to do the job. We have the means here and now, today.

Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for Your Word because without it we are nothing. Thank You for the faithful men who wrote down what Your Spirit revealed to them, so that future generations could be informed and equipped for their lives. As we read, please reveal the Scripture to us so that we can respond to the pressures and temptations of the world around us with Your righteousness and truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Final Items

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Ephesians 6:17

So we come to the remaining items of armour from Paul’s analogy – the helmet and the sword. So far he has listed the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel of peace, and the shield of faith. He looks at his soldier companions in his prison cell, and wonders for a few moments about what the helmet achieves. It protects the soldier’s head from a blow that would otherwise kill him. The head contains the brain and it is particularly vulnerable to an enemy’s attack. So it is with us – our brains are where battles are fought and won or lost. In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 we read, “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ”. Paul had his finger on human thinking and behaviour when he wrote these words. He correctly noted that “human reasoning”, “false arguments” and “rebellious thoughts” are all strongholds. Places where our thinking can be trapped into an apparently indestructible state of falsehood. Our human minds can develop all sorts of tricks to tick all of Paul’s boxes. Consider the following scenario. A thought pops into our minds. But intuitively we know that what we are thinking is driven by our sinful natures, and in our minds we then go through thoughtful gyrations to try and rationalise that our resulting actions won’t be too bad, or that we can even repent of what we intend to do at a later time. Paul summed up our problem very well in Romans 7:23. “But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am!”. Paul knew the value of the helmet of salvation. If we read on in Romans 7 and 8 we see how our salvation is essential to fending off these attacks. 

The second weapon in this verse is the “sword of the Spirit”. This is the only offensive weapon mentioned by Paul, and it is extremely effective in fighting off the devil’s schemes. Again this morning I am conscious that the devil doesn’t want me to write these words because he knows the power that we have at our finger tips – the Word of God. In His temptation in the wilderness Jesus used His knowledge of the Scriptures to frustrate the devil’s onslaught. Three times Jesus refuted the devil’s temptations with references to Scripture and we read that because of this the devil finally left Him, for another “opportune time”. The devil has no defence against the Word of God. None at all. The Bible we have access to, wherever it is, on paper or on our smart phones, tablets or on-line, is a powerful weapon that should not be underestimated. A Roman soldier, if under physical attack, would not dream of not using his sword in some way. He would not forget it and leave it strapped to his side. With his shield and his sword, protected by all the other items of armour, he would have been a fearsome opponent in hand to hand combat.

One thing we should note. Our Roman soldier didn’t one day put on all his armour and become a warrior. He would go through a period of training. With fellow soldiers, they would have trained together to develop the combat skills needed. The skills needed were not automatically available. I’m reminded this morning about young David, in the passage in 1 Samuel 17. “Then Saul gave David his own armour—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. “I can’t go in these,” he protested to Saul. “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off again. He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine“. David had never used the traditional armour and weapons of his day, so they were no good to him. However, he was equipped with a very effective weapon that he had trained himself to use. I can imagine that on many occasions he had taken his sling and lobbed stones at the equivalent of tin cans, in his days spent watching his father’s sheep. And we read that when wild animals turned up hoping for a tender, juicy, lamb steak, then they received some well-aimed missiles, hitting them in painful places, discouraging them from their endeavours. David’s response to King Saul was basically that he couldn’t fight the traditional way because he had not been trained. 

The illustration of David is crucial to our journey as a pilgrim. Without being trained in the right way, we will inevitably fall by the wayside and never reach our promised destination. So we must read the Word of God, absorbing the Scriptures into our minds, getting used to our armour. Our training in the university of life constantly improves our skills. But occasionally we will be knocked down by the devil’s onslaughts. We will be bruised and battered. Full of remorse for not having done better in the fight. And we find that our loving Heavenly Father is there for us. He picks us up, dusts us off, forgives us and helps us on our way, loved and healed and ready for the next steps in our journey. What an amazing Father we have!