Scripture: 2 Kings 18 v 4:
"He removed the high places, and brake the images,
and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had
made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he
called it Nehushtan."
Numbers 21 v 8: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Make
thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that
every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live."
Nehushtan, Moses' brass serpent, had gone from being a
miracle against snake bites on the Exodus from Egypt, to being worshipped as an
idol during the reign of King Hezekiah. So the obedient king destroyed it along
with all the other forms of idolatry being practiced.
Moses never realised that his Nehushtan was symbolic of
the Son of God being lifted up on a pole when He was crucified. He took upon
Himself all the sin that the serpent in Eden had brought upon humanity. He
became SIN on that Cross and broke its power to free us all.
The work of the Cross in your life is to crucify your
flesh, break through your stubborn soul to release your eternal spirit to
receive from the Holy Spirit everything you need to stay in God's perfect
will. It brings death to every wrong
thing in your life and brings healing and renewal to your whole body.
The Lord does not want a religious idol made out of the
Cross. Witches and satanists hang crosses everywhere to try to ward off their
own evil spirits from attacking them. It doesn't work.
The Lord wants us to be free of dead works. If by wearing
a cross on a chain is meant to convey your commitment to Jesus Christ, why
didn't His disciples do it? Why is it not stated clearly in the Bible? Even the persecuted Christians in Rome used a
symbol of a fish to know each other. One would draw an innocent arc in the sand
and the other would complete it so it resembled a fish. Then they knew they
were fishers of men.
If your lifestyle, behaviour, love, hospitality,
generosity, peace, and witness do not proclaim Who you follow, then no ornament
will make it clear either. We need to be
real with ourselves; with God and man; ready to help one another in every way
possible. We need to go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, be a martyr or
put others first to really make the world take notice.
The world is weary of fake Christians and plastic
Christianity. We are in a war zone 24/7 but many churches are like
entertainment centres full of amusement and fun. Christians in the Middle East
lands are dying on crosses every day at the hands of the psychopathic ISIS militants.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants are fleeing to Europe to escape the
slaughter.
If your family were martyred in Iraq with little children
hung upside down on crosses, would you worship those crosses? What of the
70,000 Christians in North Korean prison camps, kept in cages where they can
only crouch? They cannot sit, stand or lie down. We would not make an idol of those cages
either.
Hezekiah broke Nehushtan into little pieces, even though
it was given by God to Moses to do miracles. As soon as it became an idol it
lost its power for good. It became a
curse to them. Put your faith in Jesus alone and not in statues, symbols, or
objects. Get rid of religion and religiosity to become a person of power in Christ.
Prayer: Father God, our world is full of logos, emblems,
brands, product identities but You call those dead works, especially religious
symbols. Help us to clear our lives of all that offends You, Lord, and let Your
grace upon us be a beautiful ornament. In Jesus' name. Amen.