In Numbers 21, we read one of the more surprising rescue stories of Israel. The people rebelled, serpents bit them, many died, and Moses prayed for the nation. Then the LORD said:

“Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” (Numbers 21:8)

So Moses made a bronze snake, lifted it high, and those who looked endured. That bronze image was, in its moment, a divinely-given means of deliverance. It was not magical in itself, but God created it as a sign: repent, look, live.
Later, however, we read in 2 Kings 18:4 that King Hezekiah destroyed that very bronze serpent — called Nehushtan — because the people had begun to burn incense to it. What was once a tool became an idol.

The bronze serpent was not a fetish. It was not meant to become the object of worship. It was a “look and live” sign. The serpent foreshadowed later realities (as Jesus himself referenced in John 3:14–15) — the lifted-up Christ, who brings healing, life, and redemption.

The key is: God ordains means, for his purposes, in his time. A means is good so long as it points away from itself and points to him.

But the bronze serpent became a problem. 2 Kings 18:4 states:

“…for up to that time, the Israelites had been burning incense to it. It was called Nehushtan.”

What changed? The people stopped seeing the object as the means. They began venerating the object. They burned incense. They worshipped the serpent. The means became the end. The sign became the substance. The action became the object of trust.

Thus, we see a pattern:

1. A god-ordained symbol becomes a comfortable habit.

2. A god-ordained tradition becomes a barrier to biblical truth.

3. A god-ordained means becomes the substitute for the true end.

If we’re not cautious, the very things God uses to bless our faith become traps in our devotion.

What does this look like in our context today?

Perhaps a worship style, a ministry program, a church tradition — originally given to serve — becomes the thing we cling to, rather than Christ.

Perhaps a past experience of God becomes the standard prize rather than the person of God.

Perhaps a helpful symbol, like a cross on a necklace, becomes the locus of our trust.

When the object of our faith becomes anything but the living God, we drift into idolatry. And idolatry is not just bowing to carved images; it is anything that takes God’s place in our hearts (see Romans 1). To serve the created rather than the Creator is to become idolaters (Romans 1:25).

Hezekiah’s act of breaking the bronze serpent is a striking image. It’s not destruction for destruction’s sake: it is obedience to the Lord’s re-ordering of worship. The object itself had done its job — it had served its day — and now it hindered the true worship of the living God.

We, too, must ask: Are there “bronze serpents” in our lives? Things once used by God that now stand between us and God. Things we trust in, cling to, bow down to — though they were only meant to lead us to Christ.

Therefore, be thankful for the means God has given. Use them. But never worship them. When they become a wall rather than a window to God, they must go.

The gospel is always about Christ, not our methods. Always about faith, not form. Always about the living God, not our comforts.

The Lifted Serpent and the Lifted Savior

Jesus said of this ancient event:

“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up…” (John 3:14)

The bronze serpent pointed to Christ on the cross. The serpent on the pole drew the dying, the wounded, the bitten — and when they looked, they lived. Christ on the cross draws sinners, wounded by sin, and grants eternal life by his work. The serpent was never the object of worship — Christ is.

Let us, therefore, live by faith in Christ, not in our symbols. Let us worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Let us tear down our idols — even those born of good intentions — that none may stand between us and the one true God.

Conclusion

The story of Nehushtan is a sober warning and a hopeful message. A warning: that the means can become the idol; a hopeful message: that Christ is the true object, the true end, the living hope. May our hearts hold fast to him — not the bronze snakes of our past, but the Living God who grants life by faith.

Derrick Stokes for Theologetics.org