A Thing of Brass

2 Kings 18:1-4

Nearly 700 years had passed since Moses had fashioned a serpent out of brass and placed it on a pole for all of Israel to look upon and be healed when twenty-five year old Hezekiah became king of Judah. A true son of David, he followed in his ancestor’s footsteps, doing “that which was right in the sight of the LORD” (2 Kings 18:3).

One of the first things that Hezekiah did as king was brought spiritual reform to the nation. He started by removing the high places of worship that Israelites had fashioned to avoid making the journey to the temple in Jerusalem. These high places represented alternatives to the brazen altar and were as damaging to the people as an alternative form of Calvary would be to us.

He also broke in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had made. This brass snake had been held in high regard by the children of Israel for 7 centuries, and had become a holy relic to the people. They had gone so far as to burn incense to it (verse 4), which is a form of worship. Barred from worshipping idols by the law, Israel was taking something that was meant to be good to a previous generation and turning it into a shameful thing.

Hezekiah calls the serpent “Nehushtan” which in Hebrew means, “a thing of brass”. This title removes all mystery and superstition from the snake, taking it back to what it truly is, just a thing made out of brass. He meant to jolt Israel into a realization that it was never the snake that had delivered them, but it was the Lord God of their fathers.

The presence of this brass snake after 700 years shows us that Israel had lost consciousness as to who God really was. It also shows that they still had a hunger for the things of God, though they did not know how to bring those things about. They had also made a mistake that is common to the church today; they had misinterpreted history and trusted the serpent instead of what the serpent represented.

We are often guilty of making holy relics out of things that are purely symbolic. Some have elevated the act of water baptism to a level on par with salvation itself. Others view the sacraments of the church as vital to salvation or a particular denomination as having special revelation from God, and only the members of that denomination as being truly saved. All of these things hold their place within Christianity, but they are still “Nehushtan”, and can be treated as nothing more.

Still others elevate the act of praise and worship to the highest level in the church or they have a secret worship of their building and structure, feeling that these things actually bring them closer to God. If we do not keep Jesus in our sights we are all susceptible to a Nehushtan becoming bigger and more important to us than Christ and His finished work.

Let’s live our lives in a way in which we can keep the serpent of brass around for what it is without making it more important than who we are in Christ. Our traditions and buildings and beliefs are beautiful and should be respected, but our Savior is glorious and should be adored.

The Serpent of Brass

Numbers 21:5-9

Without a proper understanding of precisely what happened to Jesus at the cross, this story of the brazen serpent on the pole makes no sense. First, how could looking at anything affixed to a pole bring healing in the body? Second, and perhaps most important, why would God chose a snake as His symbol? Every Sunday school student knows that the snake first appears in the Garden of Eden and that he is a cursed creature.

To answer these questions, we must realize what happened in this story and why. The Israelites were complaining to Moses about the lack of water and their weariness with manna. They call it “light” in the King James Version, but the word is “worthless” in Hebrew. They are so sickened by God’s provision that they deem it as “worthless”.

In response, God allows “fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died” (Numbers 21:6). Remember, this incident occurs while the Israelites are under the Law, thus the Old Covenant must be honored. Though they are undeserving of any mercy, the Israelites beg Moses to ask the Lord to “take away the serpents from us”.

God instructs Moses to make a fiery serpent and place it upon a pole. Every person who has been bit can look upon it and they are promised life. Moses obeys, forming the serpent out of brass, and God honors His promise to heal all who gaze upon it. Jesus speaks of this incident in His conversation with Nicodemus when He says, “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 eternal life” (John 3:14, 15). Jesus places Himself in the position of the brazen serpent, stating that He will be lifted up, which happens at Calvary. He then substitutes the “looking upon the serpent” with “whosoever believeth”. Where the Israelites were simply told to look upon the snake and they would live, Jesus states that people will have to “believe in him”. This is the role of faith in your salvation, and it is the answer to the first question that we posed: How could looking at anything affixed to a pole bring healing in the body? Your faith in what Jesus did at Calvary brings healing and redemption from the poison of sin.

That leaves us with the second question: Why would God chose a snake as His symbol? The serpent is a symbol of sin having been judged, thus it is brass, which comes from being placed in the fire. Jesus was made to be sin for us at the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21), and He bore the curse of sin, just as a serpent is cursed (Galatians 3:13). By showing Israel a serpent of brass, God was saying that the curse of sin will be judged, and that this judgment would provide redemption for all who believed. Jesus fulfilled this to perfection, bearing the blow of death that was meant for us, so that we might have eternal life.

This incident came to a head when Jesus proclaimed, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Jesus never calls His Father, “God” except at this moment, for it is the first and last time that He has been separated from Him by our sins. God could not continue fellowship with Jesus in that moment, prompting Jesus to address Him as “God”, so that we could always address Him as “Father”.

Thank God for that serpent of brass, cursed for you and for me!

A Deal with the Devil

1 Samuel 11:1-3

Nahash the Ammonite encamped against the children of Israel that lived in Jabesh, in the land of Gilead. The Ammonites had waited nearly 100 years to retake the lands that the Israelites had taken from them upon entering the Promised Land, and when the Israelites saw them coming, they immediately conceded defeat. Cut off from the rest of the tribes of Israel by the Jordan River, the people of Jabesh-Gilead must have felt completely hopeless.

Nahash means “serpent” in Hebrew, while Jabesh-Gilead means “dry, rocky place”. The typologies are clear, with Nahash being a type of Satan, the serpent who comes against us, similar to the Garden of Eden. The dry, rocky place is any place that we are in which lacks the flowing waters of Christ’s revelation. The enemy loves dry places, for they lack living water.

When Satan sees God’s people wandering in dry places, the opportunity for attack is great. He knows that you are in a weakened position spiritually, and he comes to offer you some illusory form of hope or peace. We often think that Satan looks to attack us in these hours of dryness, but he actually tends to give us opportunities to compromise.

Jesus had been in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights when Satan appeared to tempt Him. Satan did not attack His physical body or go after His spirit, but rather he offered Him various chances to compromise who He was and why He was here. Turning stones to bread is Satan wanting Jesus to feed Himself on the Law and not on the words of His Father. Casting Himself off of a high place is an opportunity to take glory to Himself as the city watches the angels catch Him and float Him to the earth. Finally, bowing before Satan is an opportunity to have all of the earth and its glory without paying for it in blood at the cross.

Nahash offers safety and protection to the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead on one gruesome condition: they must cut out their right eyes. This form of mutilation was common in the Eastern world as punishment over conquered cities. It brought humiliation and suffering to the victims but it also ensured that there would be little military resistance from that particular village again. Soldiers of that era fought with sword and with shield. Most fighters were right handed, so they held their weapon in their right hand and their shield in their left hand. The shield would cover half of their body, with the other half exposed to fight. It was the right side that was exposed with the right eye available to see the enemy. Without that right eye, there was no chance that they could fight properly.

Satan has always hated mans ability to see. One of his first attacks against man in the Garden of Eden involved man’s eyes, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). He actually tells a portion of the truth, for when they eat the text says, “And the eyes of them both were opened” (Genesis 3:7), though they only see that they are “naked”.

Feed yourself on the fresh water of the Holy Spirit so that you do not get cornered in a dry place. Satan will attack your ability to see who you are in Christ and how great that Christ is in you. Do not exchange the great covenant that you have in Christ with temporary satisfaction from the serpent. Be blessed in your Daddy God!

A Thing of Brass

2 Kings 18:1-4

Nearly 700 years had passed since Moses had fashioned a serpent out of brass and placed it on a pole for all of Israel to look upon and be healed when twenty-five year old Hezekiah became king of Judah. A true son of David, he followed in his ancestor’s footsteps, doing “that which was right in the sight of the LORD” (2 Kings 18:3).

One of the first things that Hezekiah did as king was brought spiritual reform to the nation. He started by removing the high places of worship that Israelites had fashioned to avoid making the journey to the temple in Jerusalem. These high places represented alternatives to the brazen altar and were as damaging to the people as an alternative form of Calvary would be to us.

He also broke in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had made. This brass snake had been held in high regard by the children of Israel for 7 centuries, and had become a holy relic to the people. They had gone so far as to burn incense to it (verse 4), which is a form of worship. Barred from worshipping idols by the law, Israel was taking something that was meant to be good to a previous generation and turning it into a shameful thing.

Hezekiah calls the serpent “Nehushtan” which in Hebrew means, “a thing of brass”. This title removes all mystery and superstition from the snake, taking it back to what it truly is, just a thing made out of brass. He meant to jolt Israel into a realization that it was never the snake that had delivered them, but it was the Lord God of their fathers.

The presence of this brass snake after 700 years shows us that Israel had lost consciousness as to who God really was. It also shows that they still had a hunger for the things of God, though they did not know how to bring those things about. They had also made a mistake that is common to the church today; they had misinterpreted history and trusted the serpent instead of what the serpent represented.

We are often guilty of making holy relics out of things that are purely symbolic. Some have elevated the act of water baptism to a level on par with salvation itself. Others view the sacraments of the church as vital to salvation or a particular denomination as having special revelation from God, and only the members of that denomination as being truly saved. All of these things hold their place within Christianity, but they are still “Nehushtan”, and can be treated as nothing more.

Still others elevate the act of praise and worship to the highest level in the church or they have a secret worship of their building and structure, feeling that these things actually bring them closer to God. If we do not keep Jesus in our sights we are all susceptible to a Nehushtan becoming bigger and more important to us than Christ and His finished work.

Let’s live our lives in a way in which we can keep the serpent of brass around for what it is without making it more important than who we are in Christ. Our traditions and buildings and beliefs are beautiful and should be respected, but our Savior is glorious and should be adored.

The Serpent of Brass

Numbers 21:5-9

Without a proper understanding of precisely what happened to Jesus at the cross, this story of the brazen serpent on the pole makes no sense. First, how could looking at anything affixed to a pole bring healing in the body? Second, and perhaps most important, why would God chose a snake as His symbol? Every Sunday school student knows that the snake first appears in the Garden of Eden and that he is a cursed creature.

To answer these questions, we must realize what happened in this story and why. The Israelites were complaining to Moses about the lack of water and their weariness with manna. They call it “light” in the King James Version, but the word is “worthless” in Hebrew. They are so sickened by God’s provision that they deem it as “worthless”.

In response, God sends “fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died” (Numbers 21:6). Remember, this incident occurs while the Israelites are under the Law, thus the Old Covenant must be honored. Though they are undeserving of any mercy, the Israelites beg Moses to ask the Lord to “take away the serpents from us”.

God instructs Moses to make a fiery serpent and place it upon a pole. Every person who has been bit can look upon it and they are promised life. Moses obeys, forming the serpent out of brass, and God honors His promise to heal all who gaze upon it. Jesus speaks of this incident in His conversation with Nicodemus when He says, “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 eternal life” (John 3:14, 15). Jesus places Himself in the position of the brazen serpent, stating that He will be lifted up, which happens at Calvary. He then substitutes the “looking upon the serpent” with “whosoever believeth”. Where the Israelites were simply told to look upon the snake and they would live, Jesus states that people will have to “believe in him”. This is the role of faith in your salvation, and it is the answer to the first question that we posed: How could looking at anything affixed to a pole bring healing in the body? Your faith in what Jesus did at Calvary brings healing and redemption from the poison of sin.

That leaves us with the second question: Why would God chose a snake as His symbol? The serpent is a symbol of sin having been judged, thus it is brass, which comes from being placed in the fire. Jesus was made to be sin for us at the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21), and He bore the curse of sin, just as a serpent is cursed (Galatians 3:13). By showing Israel a serpent of brass, God was saying that the curse of sin will be judged, and that this judgment would provide redemption for all who believed. Jesus fulfilled this to perfection, bearing the blow of death that was meant for us, so that we might have eternal life.

This incident came to a head when Jesus proclaimed, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Jesus never calls His Father, “God” except at this moment, for it is the first and last time that He has been separated from Him by our sins. God could not continue fellowship with Jesus in that moment, prompting Jesus to address Him as “God”, so that we could always address Him as “Father”.

Thank God for that serpent of brass, cursed for you and for me!

A Deal with the Devil

1 Samuel 11:1-3

Nahash the Ammonite encamped against the children of Israel that lived in Jabesh, in the land of Gilead. The Ammonites had waited nearly 100 years to retake the lands that the Israelites had taken from them upon entering the Promised Land, and when the Israelites saw them coming, they immediately conceded defeat. Cut off from the rest of the tribes of Israel by the Jordan River, the people of Jabesh-Gilead must have felt completely hopeless.

Nahash means “serpent” in Hebrew, while Jabesh-Gilead means “dry, rocky place”. The typologies are clear, with Nahash being a type of Satan, the serpent who comes against us, similar to the Garden of Eden. The dry, rocky place is any place that we are in which lacks the flowing waters of Christ’s revelation. The enemy loves dry places, for they lack living water.
When Satan sees God’s people wandering in dry places, the opportunity for attack is great. He knows that you are in a weakened position spiritually, and he comes to offer you some illusory form of hope or peace. We often think that Satan looks to attack us in these hours of dryness, but he actually tends to give us opportunities to compromise.

Jesus had been in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights when Satan appeared to tempt Him. Satan did not attack His physical body or go after His spirit, but rather he offered Him various chances to compromise who He was and why He was here. Turning stones to bread is Satan wanting Jesus to feed Himself on the Law and not on the words of His Father. Casting Himself off of a high place is an opportunity to take glory to Himself as the city watches the angels catch Him and float Him to the earth. Finally, bowing before Satan is an opportunity to have all of the earth and its glory without paying for it in blood at the cross.

Nahash offers safety and protection to the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead on one gruesome condition: they must cut out their right eyes. This form of mutilation was common in the Eastern world as punishment over conquered cities. It brought humiliation and suffering to the victims but it also ensured that there would be little military resistance from that particular village again. Soldiers of that era fought with sword and with shield. Most fighters were right handed, so they held their weapon in their right hand and their shield in their left hand. The shield would cover half of their body, with the other half exposed to fight. It was the right side that was exposed with the right eye available to see the enemy. Without that right eye, there was no chance that they could fight properly.

Satan has always hated mans ability to see. One of his first attacks against man in the Garden of Eden involved man’s eyes, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). He actually tells a portion of the truth, for when they eat the text says, “And the eyes of them both were opened” (Genesis 3:7), though they only see that they are “naked”.

Feed yourself on the fresh water of the Holy Spirit so that you do not get cornered in a dry place. Satan will attack your ability to see who you are in Christ and how great that Christ is in you. Do not exchange the great covenant that you have in Christ with temporary satisfaction from the serpent. Be blessed in your Daddy God!