He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.
— 2 Kings 18:4
WHILE JOURNEYING through the wilderness, Israel complained against God and Moses. So God sent fiery serpents which began to bite and kill. Realizing they had sinned against God, the people asked Moses to pray for them. The Lord told Moses to make a brass serpent and put it on a pole in the midst of the camp. When the people were bitten, they were to look in faith upon the serpent on the pole. If they did so, they would live.
Faith in God’s promise healed those bitten. But later, Israel began to worship the serpent Moses had made. When Hezekiah saw that, he broke the snake in pieces and called it Nehushtan, which in Hebrew means, “A thing of brass.” He wanted to remind the people that the snake was not a thing to be worshiped; it was simply a thing of brass.
When man makes an idol out of a religious relic, it means he has lost the consciousness of the presence of God in his life. It means he is trying to recapture what has been lost.
OUR WALK WITH GOD SHOULD ALWAYS BE PROGRESSING.
If you can remember a time when you were closer to God than you are today, then you are backslidden. It’s time to break those brass serpents and put your faith in Jesus again.
Father, help us to have a closer relationship with You, where Jesus means more to us than anything in the world.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.