Smashing Snakes Keeping Our Worship From Becoming Our Idol
by Cadet Jonathan
Taube
When exploring the subject of worship, the Old Testament
provides a wealth of material for consideration. Far from
being irrelevant because of the advent of Jesus as Messiah,
the Old Testament's teaching on worship is critical for truly
understanding the relationship between humankind and the one
true God, Yahweh. The Old Testament relates, in large part,
the history of the people and nation of Israel, and Israel's
history is important to Christians today because their story
is our story.
Israel is God's chosen people, and all of us who believe in
Jesus the Christ have been adopted into their inheritance, as
God's people called out from all the worldly kingdoms we were
born into. We've sworn our allegiance to God's Kingdom, and
this is meaningful because it impacts every aspect of our life
as the Holy Spirit enters us and remakes us into the people
God intended us to be all along. The struggles we each face to
faithfully live our lives in a way that brings glory to God
mirrors much of the story of Israel (which literally means
"struggles with God”).
The Bronze Snake
Though Numbers is an often skipped-over book (due to its
abundance of census data and collection of seemingly random,
archaic laws) it actually has a lot to offer. It provides a
window into the period directly after the Israelites were
rescued from Egypt. By the time we pick up the story in
chapter 21, the newly christened nation of Israel has already
witnessed the Lord's power and providence in so many ways, as
he has continually responded to their near constant
complaining by miraculously meeting their every need. However,
they continue to rebel and grumble against God and against
Moses until, in an act of righteous judgment, God causes
venomous snakes to run amuck throughout camp. As many
Israelites begin to die from the snake bites, the people
repent and cry out for mercy.
A really strange thing happens next: though the people ask God
to take away the snakes, he instead instructs Moses to make a
snake out of bronze, and to lift it up so it is visible
everywhere in the camp. The poisonous snakes don't immediately
stop terrorizing the people, yet anyone bitten who looks at
the bronze snake lives. This giant snake, lifted high in the
air over all the people, sits above them as a constant
reminder of their rebellion and their need for the care, love,
and protection of God. Even as the snakes strike at their
heels.
Smashing Snakes
Fast forward a few dozen generations and we find that though
the Israelites have indeed inherited the Promised Land, king
after king has abandoned the Lord and led the people astray to
idol worship. 2 Kings 18 opens on the reign of Hezekiah, one
of the last good kings of Judah before the fall of Jerusalem
and the exile to Babylon. In verse 3 we read something
shocking, “[Hezekiah] did what was right in the eyes of the
LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high
places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah
poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made,
for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to
it."
The same bronze snake Moses made in Numbers had been kept for
so many generations, and was intended to serve as a reminder
of the Lord's judgment, and of his mercy and his goodness––yet
somehow it had become an idol. Isn't that astounding? This
should serve as a wake up call to all of us. We worship an
amazing God, who is even greater and more wonderful than we
can truly grasp; we should remain resolute in our commitment
to worship him for who he is, not getting distracted by our
preferences or rituals and only worshiping ourselves in the
process.
What we need to understand and admit to ourselves is that
whenever we allow a format or a tradition to become
foundational to our worship, we haven't only built a
distraction, we have built an idol. It’s then time to smash
stuff, because worshipping God can’t be limited by our
misguided efforts. Worship isn’t about the "how," it's about
the "who." It's not about the action, it's about the attitude.
So unless we are completely humbled before God and submitted
to his will, letting go of everything else in the process, we
aren't truly worshiping.
Lifting Up Jesus
The foundation of our worship is God himself, and him alone.
Jesus, knowing full well what had transpired with the bronze
snake under King Hezekiah, spoke about the true purpose of
rituals and traditions in worship. In John 3:14-15 he says,
"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the
Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may
have eternal life in him." Jesus perfectly fulfilled the
purpose the snake was meant to, because he was the perfect
image of his father.
Jesus himself is the greatest reminder, symbol, or expression
of the character and nature of God. Everything we do and say,
and all the rituals or traditions we embrace must point to him
and bring him glory. In John 14:9, Jesus says, "Anyone who has
seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the
Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that
the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on
my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who
is doing his work."
To be Spirit and Truth worshippers, our focus must be Jesus,
and our goal must be lifting him up so that our world can see
how wonderful he is. That means embracing the work of the Holy
Spirit in our lives to remake us into his image, and living
out a life of submission to the will of God. Building our
worship upon the foundation of Jesus Christ will bring God his
rightfully deserved glory and will keep us from the dangers
and emptiness of idolatry.
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