THE BIBLE AND CREATURES (ANIMALS) WORK SHEET
Ant > Bear > Dog > Lion > Sloth > Snake > Worm © Karl Thompson 1998 . Permission for use and copying of this worksheet is granted for Sunday School and Religious education classes, churches and Bible Study purposes, freely
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THE SNAKE - A Mere Piece of Brass
WHY WE SHOULD NOT MAKE IMAGES TO WORSHIP OR GET SIDE TRACKED BY IMAGES OR ILLUSTRATIONS.
LESSONS FROM: Nehushtan - A mere piece of brass .
( Key Scrirpture Texts : See Numbers 21:4 etc; 2 Kings 18:4 etc; John 3:14 -15 )
In the time of Moses when the children of Israel travelled from Mount Hor by the Red Sea they began to complain because the way was difficult. They complained that they had no water or bread (although they had the manna which was like light bread). Because the way was difficult they murmured against the Lord and Moses and complained that it was better in Egypt - the very place from which they had been delivered from over 400 years of slavery and brutality !
Due to their sinful and terrible ingratitude God sent fiery serpents that bit them and many of them died from these bites. After this they admitted that they had sinned against God and begged Moses to find a way to stop the serpents biting them. They now had something really significant to worry about.
Moses prayed to God Who told him to make a statue of a fiery serpent. The serpent was a metallic brass thing stuck up on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten by the serpents (snakes) s/he (in obedience to God's instruction to Moses) would look at the statue of the snake and would be healed.
Numbers 21: 9
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
TO DO
There is a lesson in this (see John 3: 14 below). First write down what you think about the brazen serpent event on the back of this sheet. Then read the question and answer on the next sheet and say what you understand or think now that you have read them. Younger children can also draw pictures of the various creatures in the worksheet or spot any other the creature referred to from the texts. All the creature illustrations can also be drawn upon to tell a fuller picture of man's sinful nature and his need for complete forgiveness and a changed life.
Question
Does this mean that it is OK for people to make statues and look to them for cures, deliverance or help ?
Answer
READ/ See (ll Kings 18: 4 and John 3:14 below)
2 Kings 18: 1
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king
of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to
reign.
18: 2
Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he
reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also
was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
18: 3
And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that David his father did.
18: 4
He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down
the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had
made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to
it: and he called it Nehushtan.
For he clave (kept to, stuck to, followed very closely) to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.
Why was the Picture or illustration of the Brass Serpent given to the Israelites ?
John 3: 14 - The Lord Jesus Christ like the brass serpent was lifted up on a cross. He went to the Roman cross to suffer for the sins of all those who would trust in Him to heal them from their sin-sick lives. He did this by taking their punishment, in their place. He was made guilty for sinners. He suffered completely the curse and penalty justly and fairly meant for all sinners. He has bartering power. That is why he can forgive sins. Those who realise their guilt and ask His complete forgiveness will ( if they mean it sincerely ) know what it means to have peace with God and experience liberation from their sinful habits and lifestyles. Furthermore they will have hope of the resurrection of their body and an eternal life with God.
What are the Signs that a Person has been cured or healed of the deadly effects of sin, today ?
You can know these people by the fruits of their lives not merely by religious claims or denominational bigotry. These people, for example, show that they have received a Divine cure by the gradual but certain change in their natures, thought processes and convictions. They are sympathetic to the needy, compassionate and merciful. They hate lies and hypocrisy. They worship the God of Heaven in Spirit and in truth. If you take them away from a church building they won't wither and die. They don't need priests to speak to God on their behalf, because God is with them personally as He was with those true believers who have gone on ahead. They show all the signs of being cured of the empty desires and fashions of this world. They have new thirsts and desires - To please God, to live holy lives, to be obedient to their new Master - the Lord Jesus Christ. They live as the nomadic in tents - no permanent place clung to in this world. Their minds and affections are fixed on the Kingdom of Heaven where Christ has ascended to, and the spirits of those equally forgiven dwell with the holy angelic beings. They would rather be martyred than deny their faith. They confess their wrongs and failings and are not self righteous but obedient to Christ's commands.
John 3:14
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
3: 15
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
LESSONS FROM Nehushtan - A mere piece of Brass - 2 Kings 18:4 & Numbers 21:8
The important thing was not the brazen serpent but what it was used to teach. Unfortunately people sometimes confuse illustrations with the lessons they are meant to teach. The Bible has many illustrations and many get side tracked by the illustrations and miss the important lessons they teach. It is not therefore surprising that there are so many different views about things that are otherwise clearly taught in the Bible. The fact that people get things mixed up from the Bible is not a poor reflection on the Bible's historical and Divine accuracy and importance for our lives and eternal destiny - it is rather a poor reflection on people's often wilful ignorance or laziness to study God's Word carefully.
This is an important lesson for today since people like to get to the bottom of things at ` break neck speed ` in the fast paced modern world. At the same time many ignore the simple truth that to find any precious jewel, hard digging is required. The teaching that salvation is easy is partly correct and partly misleading. It is correct in that Christ has already been to the Cross to die for sinners who turn to Him. There is nothing we can do to heal ourselves by our own attempts at doing good and stamping out sinful habbits and desires. Just as there was nothing the ancient Israelites journeying through the wilderness could do to heal themselves of the serpents' bites.
However, the teaching that salvation is easy is incorrect in that it may obscure the fact that the Bible teaches `you shall seek me and find me when you shall seek for me with all your heart ' (i.e. mind and affections).
Jeremiah 29: 13
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Children and young people should be especially encouraged to seek the Lord.
Proverbs 8: 17
I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
It is wrong to teach them that by simply becoming baptised by whatever means, without any faith or trust in Christ or genuine repentance (i.e. being truly sorry for wrongs and turning away from sinful lives to obey the Lord's way), they become Christians. Unless we understand the seriousness of our rebellious hearts and look for real change in our lives to that of being obedient to God's way, we deceive ourselves, and will be like the dog who returned to his vomit. Too many churches try to take a short cut with the precious souls of the young by resorting to gimmicks to attract young people in. Think about it. Are you seeking genuine evidence of the supernatural work of God - the new creation, new lives and hearts, or are you seeking to make up the numbers in your churches or are you on a proselytising campaign?
Don't play gimmicks with people's spiritual welfare. You will have to answer to God for this. The serpent of God's wrath will bite ferociously those who do these outrageous things in the name of getting more people into the church. If you want more people into your churches, first, show that you are a true Christian by doing the right thing, God's way. Did we die for sinners? No, Christ did. It is only His way that is acceptable. He has given us clear teaching in the Scriptures. First ask: how should I go about getting in the children and young people ? It is better to ask and receive clear instruction from Above. The alternative is do it your own way and deceive yourselves and others. If we believe in the extreme importance of the task of bringing the young to the Lord we must follow the maxim IT IS BETTER TO ASK in prayer and study of God's word first.
Do you make images of Divinity ? Why do you do it ? Has the brazen serpent illustration anything to teach about this ? I beg you, please cast away your images and relics from worship and services. If you use illustrations be very careful with them. Do not let even legitimate illustrations like the brazen serpent become Nehushtan.
ANT (This tiny insect may be wiser than you. Tread carefully! )
Proverbs 6: 6 - 8
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
BEAR - ( It may be safer to meet this ferocious creature than a foolish person )
Proverbs 17: 12
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool
in his folly.
SICK DOGS AND DIRTY PIGS
Proverbs 26: 11 - Dogs who return to their own vomit will always be sick - Yuk !
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
ll Peter 2: 22
But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Proverbs 22: 13 - The lazy can always find a reason to put off duty.
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
Proverbs 28: 1 - Be the lion not afraid of the lion
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.
MY THOUGHTS SO FAR ...........?
Job 25: 4 - 6 ( Mankind - like worms ! )
How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
Isaiah 41: 14 ( But God cares even for us worms )
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
NOTES
Mount Hor
Probably from `Har' - Hebrew term for mountain. This is the mountain on which
Aaron (Moses' brother) died See: Numbers 20: 25; 27 & 28. It was on the boundary line or at the
edge of the land of Edom. The height of this mountain is approx. 4800 ft above the Mediterrean Sea. Now called Jebel Nebi-Harun i.e. `the mountain of the prophet Aaron'
Source: Dr Smith's Smaller Bible Dictionary (Sir William Smith, May 19, 1866 pub 1897, John Murray)
Definition, Roswell Hitchcock , Hitchcock - Interpreting Dictionary of Scripture Names
Nehushtan - a trifling thing of brass
Definition, M.G.Easton, Easton's Bible Dictionary (Nehushtan)
of copper; a brazen thing, a name of contempt given to the
serpent Moses had made in the wilderness (Num. 21:8), and which
Hezekiah destroyed because the children of Israel began to
regard it as an idol and "burn incense to it." The lapse of
nearly one thousand years had invested the "brazen serpent" with
a mysterious sanctity; and in order to deliver the people from
their infatuation, and impress them with the idea of its
worthlessness, Hezekiah called it, in contempt, "Nehushtan," a
brazen thing, a mere piece of brass (2 Kings 18:4).
Easton's Bible Dictionary (brass / brazen) , M.G.Easton
The serpent of brass was made by Moses at the command of God
(Numbers 21:4-9), and elevated on a pole, so that it might be seen by all
the people when wounded by the bite of the serpents that were sent to
them as a punishment for their murmurings against God and against
Moses. It was afterwards carried by the Jews into Canaan, and preserved
by them till the time of Hezekiah, who caused it to be at length destroyed
because it began to be viewed by the people with superstitious reverence
(2 Kings 18:4).
Adam Clarke, Clarke's Commentary - v 2, Joshua - Esther, p783
` The brazen serpent was a type of Christ, John 3:14, and was held in great
veneration for a considerable time among the Jews; but when it became an
incitement to idolatry, it was called nehushtan, a brazen trifle, taken down,
and destroyed; 2 Kings 18:4. Typical persons and typical things may
perish as well as others; the antitype alone will infallibly remain'.
Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon - Morning & Evening, Oct 16 pm, p583
Anything becomes an idol when it keeps us away from God: even the brazen serpent is to be despised as "Nehushtan," if we worship it instead of God.
John Wesley, Wesley's Notes on the Bible - OT, Chpt 18, p1125
Nehushtan - He said, this serpent,
howsoever formerly honored, and used by God as a sign of his grace, yet
now it is nothing but a piece of brass which can do you neither good nor
hurt.
Numbs 20: 25 & 27 & 28
Numbers 20: 27
And Moses did as the LORD commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.
Numbers 20: 28
And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount.