God commands Moses to lift up this symbol and if anyone would simply look to the symbol, then they would live. And this was not lost on Jesus. In John 3:14 and 15 (the setup to John 3:16), He says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” He understood that this was a shadow that was pointing to Himself.

He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).

2 Kings 18:4

Did you know that it’s easy to make idols. Really anything will do. Money, status, jobs, etc… God’s word tells us that presumption and covetousness are like idolatry (Col 3:5, 1 Sam 15:23), and that we should, “flee from idolatry” (1 Cor 10:4). God expressly forbids idolatry in all its forms in the Ten Commandments. The Heidelberg Catechism defines idolatry as “having or inventing something in which one trusts in place of or alongside of the only true God, who has revealed himself in the Word.” John Calvin said that our hearts are idol factories, and I can believe it. We are often tempted to push God to the side in order to trust and be satisfied in something else.

But something about the verse at the top of this page strikes me in a different way about idolatry. Something that might not be obvious at first glance. Idols can be overtly evil, but did you know that even good things can become idols? Did you know that even things that are meant to be pictures of Christ can be turned into idols? This is where Nehushtan comes in.

Nehushtan was the name that the people of Israel had given to the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness.

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