Worship of Jesus.......Idolatry?

How does John 3:14,15 help one to see how christendom could fall into the trap of idolatry with the worship of Jesus?

(John 3:14-15) And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone believing in him may have everlasting life.

The Israelites had a problem with murmuring and complaining in the wilderness prior to entering the promised land.

For this, they had to be disciplined. Notice the account at Numbers 21:4-6:

4While they continued trekking from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of E'dom, the soul of the people began tiring out because of the way. 5 And the people kept speaking against God and Moses: "Why have YOU brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread and no water, and our soul has come to abhor the contemptible bread." 6 So Jehovah sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they kept biting the people, so that many people of Israel died.

The Israelites realized their sin and asked Moses to intercede for them. Notice what Jehovah God (Jesus' heavenly Father--Almighty God) did in their behalf at Numbers 21:7-9:

7 Finally the people came to Moses and said: "We have sinned, because we have spoken against Jehovah and against you. Intercede with Jehovah that he may remove the serpents from upon us." And Moses went interceding in behalf of the people. 8 Then Jehovah said to Moses: "Make for yourself a fiery snake and place it upon a signal pole. And it must occur that when anyone has been bitten, he then has to look at it and so must keep alive." 9 Moses at once made a serpent of copper and placed it upon the signal pole; and it did occur that if a serpent had bitten a man and he gazed at the copper serpent, he then kept alive.

Can you see a parallel between the serpent of copper and Christ Jesus?

In both instances, Jehovah God (Jesus' heavenly Father, Almighty God) provided a means of salvation. Much like a doctor provides a life-saving medicine.

Then the converse must be true.....If Jesus is not God Almighty but was created......then it is idolatry.

But please give attention to the subject matter of this thread......the parallel found at John 3:14,15.

Try to stick with the parallel account that is found at John 3:14,15.

More is coming.

Yes....the question came up........What ever became of that copper serpent that Jehovah had Moses make?

Is it in a museum in London? Is it buried under mounds of earth awaiting discovery by archaeologists?

Remember that the Israelites were well versed that they were only to worship their one God.....Jehovah.

Notice that in due time, the Israelites began to focus their attention away from their one true God Jehovah and began to put their full focus on the copper serpent.

In other words, rather then worshiping the giver of salvation, they began to worship the means of salvation.


Please notice what King Hezekiah did centuries later at 2Kings 18:1-4:

18 And it came about in the third year of Ho·she'a the son of E'lah the king of Israel that Hez·e·ki'ah the son of A'haz the king of Judah became king. 2 Twenty-five years old he happened to be when he began to reign, and for twenty-nine years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was A'bi the daughter of Zech·a·ri'ah. 3 And he continued to do what was right in Jehovah's eyes, according to all that David his forefather had done. 4 He it was that removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars to pieces and cut down the sacred pole and crushed to pieces the copper serpent that Moses had made; for down to those days the sons of Israel had continually been making sacrificial smoke to it, and it used to be called the copper serpent-idol.

Oh yes, the Israelites still had their laws and scriptures....but they deviated as they often did from true worship.

And this is exactly what christendom has done. They have left off worship of the only true God Jehovah (which is the common modern day English pronunciation of the heavenly Father, Almighty God-------the one to whom Abraham, Moses, David, and yes.....even Jesus prayed to).

And christendom has now focused all of their attention on Jesus....the means of salvation, rather then the giver of salvation. Why in fact in many, but not all, even the name of Almighty God has been expunged from their Bibles.

Yes, the copper serpent in the wilderness saved the lives of many in the wilderness, but it was only Jehovah that the Israelites were to worship.

Hard to imagine that an entire religious system could be wrong....that is christendom....and yet the parallel is there with apostate Israel. It is nothing new.