I asked my father-in-law if I could share the text of this sermon, because it made a huge impression when I first heard him preach it about 20 years ago. Although I have heard many more sermons in my lifetime, this one has stayed with me.
Hatching Snake eggs is a biblical term, not a joke. It has to do with walking in holiness before God.
the prophet Isaiah discovered the secret cause of the spiritual breakdown of God’s people, and God commanded him to shout out against it. Isaiah 58 verse 1 says: “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins!”
Isaiah was told to expose the sins of God’s people, even though outwardly they seemed to be seeking The Lord daily, delighting to know His ways, walking in righteousness, and desiring to approach God. (Isaiah 58: 2.)
Despite all this, their prayers were not getting through and their fasting was in vain. They concluded that all their sacrificing, praying, and seeking after God was not paying off – that in fact, God was hiding His face from them.
Chapter 59 verse 2 says: “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.”
There was a good reason for God’s anger. His people were going through all the motions. They were consistently in His house. They said all the right words, seemed so obedient, and looked so religious. But their hearts were divided. They loved God with their mouths only.
God also revealed to another of his prophets: “Son of man, your people talk about you in their houses and whisper about you at the doors. They say to each other, ‘Come on, let’s go hear the prophet tell us what the Lord is saying!’ So my people come pretending to be sincere and sit before you. They listen to your words, but they have no intention of doing what you say. Their mouths are full of lustful words, and their hearts seek only after money. You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument. They hear what you say, but they don’t act on it! But when all these terrible things happen to them—as they certainly will—then they will know a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 33: 30-33.)
The challenge for us is: do we put into practice what we here at church on a Sunday? Or have we completely forgotten about it by Monday afternoon? This is what was happening in the days of the old testament prophets, and it’s why God commanded Isaiah to cry out so loudly against His own people.
What sin caused God to withdraw His presence? It was the sin of hatching snake eggs and weaving spider’s webs. (Isaiah 59: 5.) The mind is the womb of the heart and thoughts are seeds. Evil thoughts are serpents seeds which will become eggs if the seed is not immediately destroyed.
God looks at what is going on inside the womb of the mind. He doesn’t judge by outward appearances; He considers the heart. (1Samuel 16: 7.) God’s people were giving him lip service. They cried a loud “Amen” to every call to holiness. They appeared to be devout lovers of truth, but their minds were snake dens. They were nests filled with serpent eggs, and they were sitting in God’s presence hatching evil thoughts. Their minds were poisoned. They were thinking of idols. They were weaving spider webs with flimsy excuses to indulge in forbidden things. They were doing religious things, but their minds were not cleansed. Thoughts and wild imaginations were not brought into captivity.
There is nothing harmless or innocent about evil thoughts. If they are not cast down immediately they can poison the soul. Isaiah 55: 6-9 says: “Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Some Christians let the enemy sew evil thoughts in their minds, then let the thoughts linger, not realizing the danger. Jesus compared these evil thoughts to tares or weeds, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. Christians are to cast down such thoughts as soon as they appear. Christian living involves casting down imaginations, and every proud thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. (2Corinthians 10: 5.) Evil thoughts become strongholds. Satan plants the thought, and he is determined to keep it alive and protect it, until it conceives and becomes a full grown serpent.
To put up with evil thoughts is to hatch a snake. God says: “Pull it down! Cast it out! Bring every single thought into captivity. Don’t let a single evil thought be allowed to roam at will. Rather, go after that thought, capture it, and kill it.
When someone misunderstands you and says hurtful things about you, do you begin to let those thoughts replay over and over again in your mind? If so, you are hatching snake eggs. Believe it or not, people who work in full-time ministry get their fare share of criticism. Congregations can be cruel to their pastors in very subtle ways, often saying things with a double meaning. People say things like: “he’s not as good as so and so used to be. He’s not that holy. I’ve seen him make mistakes.” But pastors are only human, and more often than not they get to hear of the things that are said about them.
The problem comes when we brood over all these hurtful statements. If we do, we conceive and hatch snake eggs of bitterness and resentment. But God says: “Don’t kick it around ! Kill it! Don’t fight your accusers. Don’t react. If you continue with such thoughts – if you replay them over and over, you will conceive an egg and hatch a serpent of resentment.”
There are family members who are enemies. There are Christians who don’t speak to one another. They say: “I can’t forgive what was said. I can’t get over it.” They have all hatched snake eggs, and the snakes now run loose through their minds spreading bitterness and venom.
Do you get injured easily? Do you boil inside? Do you stay up at night replaying every word? If you do, you are in a very dangerous place because you are sitting on snake eggs and conceiving poison. Let the heel of Christ crush the serpent’s head. Suffer the wrong. Swallow the hurt. Cast away the thought of hatred and revenge. Put it outside of your mind.
There are people who have left the church and forsaken the Lord, all because bitterness has eaten them up. Somebody said something hurtful and unthinking, and they were wounded. Then they hatched those snake eggs of wounding thoughts and let the serpent make his nest in their hearts. Now they can’t forgive and forget.
Psalm 58 verse 3 says: “These wicked people are born sinners; even from birth they have lied and gone their own way.” Lies and gossip are poisonous to you and me if we allow them to enter our hearts and dwell on them, defending ourselves and wishing for revenge. God said Vengeance belongs to him and he will repay.