The children of Israel had been bitten by poisonous snakes, and God instructed Moses to make a serpent out of brass and mount it on a pole. God’s instructions were that the people only needed to look at the brass serpent to be healed of their snake bites. It was a simple matter of look and live!
Wasn’t that a wonderful brass serpent? No, not really. The wonder was in the God who made the promise. Maybe the serpent had to be polished to keep its shine, but it was only a brass statue on a pole and had no real power of itself. God tells you this story because He wants you to see that the power is all His own. Religion will not save you.
This amazing serpent seemed to be a treasure which the people felt must not be destroyed. Keep it, they decided. It saved our lives!
Do you think that the church can save you? No, that isn’t God’s way. Do you think that some man or woman, whoever they are, could say good prayers for you and make sure that God would listen? No, that isn’t God’s way either. These people made the same mistake about the shiny brass serpent, and it seemed to grow more important to them as the years went by.
They gave the statue lots of honor. They even burned incense to it! That means they took some sweet-smelling dried plants, the best they could find, and burned them to make a cloud of scented smoke around the serpent. This seemed very nice, but they did not search to see what God had commanded, so all their sweet smells had no value at all.
God is not hard to please. He has already provided all you need to be saved: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)). He does not ask you to fold your hands and pray to the cross. No, He asks you to pray to Jesus Himself - the Lord Jesus Christ. He will save you from your sins and give you power to choose His ways and to live for Him.
The king at that time was Hezekiah. The brass serpent had been treasured all through the life of David and Solomon and many others, but King Hezekiah knew that making an idol of the serpent was wrong. He didn’t trouble himself about what other great kings had done. He saw that cloud of sweet incense being offered to that ancient statue and he said, No! That’s just a piece of brass! And he broke it to pieces.
We hear no more about it, but I hope the people listened to King Hezekiah. God doesn’t want worthless worship - don’t worship “things,” no matter how valuable they may have been to you in the past.
And I hope you listen to God’s message too. We read in the Bible that our God wants worshippers!. . . He wants you! He will not make you a miserable slave, but He wants to save you from the pain and suffering of eternal punishment and give you eternal joy with Him in heaven forever.
Yes, life is a rough road, and God does not promise to take away your troubles now. But He does promise to stay with you always, until He comes to take you home to heaven.
Think About God’s Word!
1. What did the people begin to do with the brass serpent?
2. Have you ever gotten so excited by a gift that you forgot to thank the person who gave it? Have you given a gift that no one said thanks for? How do we thank God for His wonderful gift?
Project: What examples of gratefulness to the giver of a gift can you find in the Bible? Start your search in Luke 17.