Sometimes we take the tools of God and turn them into items of worship. That’s the way I feel about the cross, what with some who wear one as some kind of talisman. There is certainly importance and power attached to the cross, but that importance and power is Christ Jesus, Himself.

As with the cross, the people of ancient Israel eventually misread the significance of Moses fashioning a bronze serpent and putting it on an upright pole, per God’s instructions.

That episode transpired because the Israelites’ became discouraged about their wanderings in the wilderness, even though it was the failing of their faith that consigned them there. They had lost confidence in God that He would give them victory over the giants in the Promised Land. Continuing in their unbelief, they constantly chastised and blamed God’s servant, Moses, for bringing them into the wilderness.

As a result of this sin, God allowed poisonous snakes to enter their camp. It was after some of the people had died, and the rest having confessed and asked for mercy, that Moses prayed for them. The bronze snake on the pole was God’s answer to that prayer.

By looking at the bronze snake, a person would be healed from their snake bite. Of course, it wasn’t the bronze snake that was doing the healing. God was doing the healing through the lesson of faith that He was teaching them. The bronze snake on-the-stick was symbolic of the forthcoming cross on which Jesus was raised; who of course, heals one from the venomous bite of sin. The snake, an inanimate object, was meant simply to be a symbol of the snakes that attacked the camp.

The healing miracles that ensued caused the image of the serpent to be preserved, and many years later in the Promised Land, the snake, unfortunately, became an object of idolatry for the Israelites.

That should never happen. God’s tools, human or otherwise, should never be worshiped. Only God is worthy of that honor.