What?! #2

In Numbers 21:4-9 The people began to complain about God and as a result God sent venomous snakes among them to kill them as a punishment. They later asked for forgiveness and God instructed Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. If anyone was ever bitten by a snake, all they had to do was look to the bronze snake and they would be healed. For the Israelites at this time, the bronze snake was very much their salvation. I think that we can all agree that the bronze snake was a very good thing. Jesus even referred to the bronze snake when he spoke about Himself on the cross in John 3:14. So, was the bronze snake a really really good thing…yes, I’m pretty confident that it was. There are some pretty wonderful things about the church that exist; music, preaching, worship services, air conditioning and many other things. These are all good things. Will they still be good things tomorrow?...Yes. My question for you is "at what point is a good thing no longer a good thing?"...Well, when it is no longer useful, it is no longer a good thing. I think that this occurred with the bronze snake. In 2 kings 18:1-4 King Hezekiah actually breaks the bronze snake. One has to wonder why he broke the bronze snake which was such a wonderful salvation to the Israelites, right along side other objects that were completely pagan idols? Well, first, the bronze snake had served it’s purpose. I think that is very obvious. But I do believe that it went much deeper than that. I would imagine that Hezekiah would have had no problem keeping the snake around, I mean wouldn’t it have been wonderful the keep the statue around to remind the people that God delivered the Israelites from a punishment that they put themselves under?...Wouldn’t it have been great to remind the Israelites of the compassionate God which they serve?... I believe that there was a much more important reason that Hezekiah broke the bronze snake. More in the next post.