In 2 Kings 18:4 we read “He… broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made: for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan (bronze thing). Sometimes good things can be used in an evil way. Some years ago I was discipling a man whom I had the privilege to leading to faith in Christ. He told me he always prayed to a picture of Jesus he hung on the wall of his apartment. I showed him Exodus 20:4-5 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image… you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.” I thought he understood until I came back a week later. He then announced to me that he was praying to the cross on the steeple of our church, which he could observe from his window. He thought he was doing better since it was on our church building. No, I said, a cross is a reminder of the sacrifice of our Savior but we are not to pray to it. It is so easy for us to take anything and make an idol out of it. Do you need an image in your mind to connect you to the invisible God? The only image of the invisible God is Jesus and we don’t know what he looked like. The only picture we have of Him is the Lord’s Supper elements and these are not to be worshipped or adored. That is idolatry. How can we worship God without statues and pictures? Jesus said in John 4:23-24, “… worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.” Do you need a certain kind of music in order to worship? Do you need a particular place in order to worship? True worship only needs spirit and truth. Not flesh, not emotions, not feelings. Are you truthful with God? Do you focus on Him in His holiness and love as you worship Him. Think about it. Do not let your worship become Nehushtan.
