 |
Web Hosting by Netfirms | Free Domain Names by Netfirms |
|
|
|
Answer for yourself: Are you aware that within the Jewish Scriptures we can find a "Pattern of Worship" given by God that was followed by both Jews and non-Jewish believers in God both in the Old Testament and New Testament times (well into the early 5th century and there are some records of this continuing until the 7th century)?
Answer for yourself: Are you aware that both historically and archeologically we can attest that this "Pattern of Worship" continued until early in the 4th Century A.D. when Rome for all practical purposes changed it for everyone and today we seldom if ever stumble onto the prior existing pattern that God had intended that all His children, both Jew and non-Jew, observe in their worship of Him? Are you aware that for another 300 years many non-Jews would give their lives to the Roman sword before they would allow themselves or their families depart from this "Pattern of Worship"?
Answer for yourself: Are you aware that the tabernacle was built according to the divine blueprint given to Moses by the Lord (Ex. 25:8-9)?
Answer for yourself: Are you aware that Aaron and his sons were consecrated to their priestly vocation according to a divine pattern as well, and they offered the prescribed sacrifices unto God according to a divine pattern?
Answer for yourself: Are you aware that David was given the same pattern when told to build the Temple, set aside the Priests, and oversee the work of the service (worship) within the Temple (I Chron. 28:13)?
1 Chr 28:10-15 10 Take heed now; for the LORD hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it. 11 Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, 12 And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things: 13 Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the LORD.
Let us look and examine the the Hebrew word for :service and see what we find hidden in the Hebrew:
Strong's Concordance:
5656 `abodah (ab-o-daw'); or `abowdah (ab-o-daw'); from 5647; work of any kind: KJV-- act, bondage, + bondservant, effect, labour, ministering (-try), office, service (-ile, -itude), tillage, use, work, X wrought.
Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Lexicon
5656 `abodah or `abowdah- labor, service
What we see from these words is that there is a "MINISTRY" and "SERVICE OF GOD" that was given by the Spirit of God according to a "PATTERN."
Even the New Testament alludes to this pattern:
Heb 8:5 5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. (KJV)
Now it is for us to both understand that a "pattern of ministry" existed both in the Old Testament and New Testament that was a pattern of the intended service of mankind toward God. This is called "ministry" according to the Hebrew words. I know that the term "ministry" is so overworked today but it is for us to try to discern if this "pattern" of service and worship of God can be discerned from the Jewish Scriptures and if examples of it can be determined to have existed after Jesus' death and if this "pattern of ministry" was remained unchanged for both Jew and non-Jew following the crucifixion of Jesus. If this can discerned from New Testament examples as applying "unchanged" for both the Jew and the non-Jewish believer who came to God through the ministry of Yeshua's disciples and apostles then we need then only ask if our experience as Christians and followers of Yeshua is yet today according to this "pattern of ministry" or if our experience is different and if so we must ask "why?" If not then we have to honestly as if we have let Israel be a light unto us as the nations of the world as God has said they were to be in the Jewish Scriptures or if we have been misled in our ministry toward God.
It is not my habit to chase rabbits here but let me give you a little tid-bid of knowledge which is shared on our other websites. Archeology today in the last 100 plus years is blowing the lid off the Catholic Church tradition and mind control to which we have fallen prey as not only Catholics but Protestants as well. Facts today reveal to us that these Partriarchs and Biblical heroes who were given this "Divine Pattern of Worship" were Egyptian Pharaohs and not "Jews" as we suppose. That means that men like King David, Solomon, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc., were linked to Egypt as rulers and we don't know it because of Ezra. We can thank Ezra for that, a Persian no less passed off as another Jew, in the Hebrew Scriptures which he would edit and reinterpret and write with an agenda to cover up this Egyptian link since Persia was at war with Egypt in in 600 B.C.E. when the writing of Genesis were done in Babylon and Persia. Having said that then know for now that this "Pattern of Worship" that we find given to King David (Thutmose III) and handed down to Solomon (Amenhotep III) finds its roots in Ancient Egypt and beyond and has its origin in the earliest Divine Revelation given to mankind by God (Elohim). This "Pattern of Worship" revolves around the Invisible Creator who imparted within His creation the message of true salvation that in intricately linked with the solstices and the equinoxes. It will take a lot of reading to not only familiarize yourself with these new concepts but how they were later altered almost beyond belief but only in so doing will you come to see the very simple message of true salvation given originally by our Divine Creator to all of His creation which we have lost almost entirely today. You can thank Rome and and the "Early Church Fathers" and their hatred of the Jews for this. It is time we recover these truths and return to the True Pattern of Worship "once given the saints" and which the Jewish people carry with them today (since the Jews are the children of intermarriage of these Egyptians and semites). Now let us continue.
Having justified for your that worship of God in Israel was according to a pattern, then let us regress to the evens surrounding the beginning of Tabernacle worship. The Bible records for us that the "glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people." Fire came out from the Lord and lit the offering on the altar, consuming the sacrifice, "which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces" (Lev. 9:23-24). We can only imagine the mixture of awe, wonder, and joy which the people experienced on this holy and festive occasion as Nadab and Abihu led the people in worship.
Moments later, the scene changed dramatically, as a terrible judgment fell upon Nadab and Abihu. In the midst of their activities, "there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord" (Lev. 10:2).
Answer for yourself: Are you aware that God killed them in their “church?”
Answer for yourself: What had they done, to provoke the anger of the Lord?
The biblical narrative tells us simply that they "offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not" (Lev. 10:1).
Nadab and Abihu had done something which was expressly forbidden.
Answer for yourself: What had they done that was so bad in worshipping God to demand that their lives be taken?
Surprisingly, they merely added something to the worship of God that He did not command. They added a bit of "strange fire" which the Lord had not commanded. The judgment which came upon them stands as a perpetual testimony against those who presume to worship God by means which lack divine decree. It is a solemn warning: "the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified" (Lev. 10:3). God means that all false and man-made worship are detestable to Him and will not be accepted by Him and the deaths of Nadab and Abihu remain as eternal testimony to God's will in this matter.
Answer for yourself: Are we to understand by this story that God is displeased with synthetic worship that deviates from His expressed commandments regarding how He desires to be worshipped as taught throughout scripture which is according to "the" pattern that God chose and not man?
In order to gain a better understanding of scriptural principles of worship, we will make a further examination of precepts and examples from the Bible.
In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses exhorts the children of Israel to keep the law of God. In chapter 12, he reviews scriptural precepts pertaining to worship.
The Lord forbids his people to imitate pagan ways of worship; the Israelites were commanded to eradicate the remnants of corrupt worship from their midst. They were commanded to destroy "all the places"wherein the heathen served their Gods. They were instructed to purge the land of all the implements associated with false worship: "Ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their Gods." Even the terminology of corrupt worship was to be erased: "Destroy the names of them out of that place" (Deut. 12:2-3).
Answer for yourself: To the modern mind, this may sound strangely intolerant, but is it?
Answer for yourself: Do you believe that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever and that He changes not?
But the Lord warned his people against the danger of imitating the worship practices of the pagans: "Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God." The chapter concludes with a further warning against imitating heathen worship. "Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their Gods, saying, How did these nations serve their Gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God. What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it" (Deut. 12:30-32; cf. 4:2).
The sufficiency and authority of scripture are brought to bear upon the content of our worship. This is the meaning of the scriptural law of worship: all forms of worship must have express scriptural warrant, if they are to be admitted as legitimate means of worship. "The acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in holy scripture" (Westminster Confession, 21:1).
The biblical pattern of worship needs no supplements of human devising; indeed, such man-made innovations are a snare the very seed of idolatry.
When we consider the fallen nature of mankind, we see why the biblical precepts of worship are necessary. Since the fall of Adam, the nature of man has been thoroughly corrupt. This inherent corruption drives men away from God: "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God" (Rom. 3:11). Thus, the native tendency of mankind is to pollute the worship of God, exchanging the truth of God for a lie, worshipping and serving created things rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25).
Just as men are incapable of forging a method for their own salvation, so they are incapable of devising proper means to worship and serve God. Therefore, the only proper way to worship God is through the means established by the Lord himself.
During the wilderness wanderings, the Israelites had to be schooled in proper principles of worship. Their native tendency toward corrupt worship was shown early, while they waited for Moses to return from Mt. Sinai. Growing restless, Aaron and the people constructed a golden calf to serve as a visible symbol of deity.
Virtually all expositors decry the action of the Israelites as idolatry. What is often over looked, however, is the manner in which the Israelites justified their action. They did not view the calf as a newly-created deity; rather, they made the calf as a testimony of their divine deliverance from Egypt. The calf-image evoked a sense of the strength displayed in their deliverance. "These be thy Gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord" (Ex. 32:4-5).
Answer for yourself: Did you notice that Aaron did not plan to worshipping the golden calf, but rather desired to re-direct the people’s worship toward God; yet he himself was guilty of adding to the accepted worship commanded expressly by God?
Answer for yourself: Although our intent is to worship God, have we, like them, added to the worship of God in our church or in our denomination, or omitted from our worship necessary elements commanded by God and thus stand condemned like Israel and know it not until we die?
In other words, the Israelites did not claim to worship new deities that would be blatant idolatry. No, they intended the calf to serve as a symbol of deity; and Aaron seeks to honor the sacred name of the Lord through this monstrous invention. Even the Anglican author, J. Packer, explains this incident as an attempt by Aaron to worship the Lord (not other Gods) an attempt using unlawful means. "Aaron made a golden calf (that is, a bull-image). It was meant as a visible symbol of Jehovah, the mighty God who brought Israel out of Egypt. No doubt the image was thought to honor Him, as being a fitting symbol of His great strength. But it is not hard to see that such a symbol in fact insults Him: for what idea of His moral character, His righteousness, goodness, and patience, could one gather from looking at a statue of Him as a bull? Thus Aaron's image hid Jehovah's glory.” Knowing God (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973), pp. 40-41.
Now, when Moses returned, he did not regard this matter lightly. He did not employ the tactic which Christianity has used for centuries (and which evangelical churchmen presently endorse), simply cautioning the Israelites not to worship false Gods, noting that the image itself was not a deity, and then allowing the image to remain strictly as a symbol. Moses "took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?" (Ex. 32:20-21).
This sin had transpired while Moses was receiving the ten commandments on the mountain. And the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) forbids not only the worship of false Gods, but it also condemns the worship of the true God by unsanctioned methods. The same is found in the Laws of Noah as applying to all non-Jews of the world and the Mosaic legislation only built upon it.
Answer for yourself: More to the point, when shown [presuming that you have read the prior articles in this website] that the celebration and observance of Biblical Festivals and the Sabbath is part of the divine pattern of worship for all time (for both Jew and non-Jew), then are we guilty as Israel [as ingrafted Gentiles into the Israel of God] by substituting for observance our church calendar which is full of paganized holidays to which we affix Yeshua’s name to the neglect of the true days of Biblical worship?
Stop...read that again...and THINK!
The first commandment declares, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me" (Ex. 20:3). It is plain that the Lord God is the only proper recipient of worship.
The second commandment continues the focus on worship by telling us how God is to be worshipped. It does so in a negative sense, by forbidding us to worship God with human inventions. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" (Ex. 20:4).
A graven image is not merely a statue of a false deity. If that were the case, the second commandment would be redundant of the first. Instead, the second commandment plainly forbids making or revering physical or artistic representations of the true God.
When the Lord revealed himself to the Israelites, He did so by means of His word not by physical images to be imitated or embellished. Therefore, He warned them: "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure," etc. (Deut. 4:15-16).
Let us take time to note that Roman Catholics and Lutherans divide the ten commandments differently than ordinary Protestants. Catholics and Lutherans combine the first two commandments into one, thus subsuming the second command as a mere appendix to the first. They divide the tenth commandment into two commands prohibiting different kinds of covetousness. Thus, they still maintain ten in number, but the effects on their doctrine of worship is devastating.
The apostle Paul instructed the Athenians, "We ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device" (Acts 17:29). Any attempt to represent God by human devices is an insult to the Lord. His pronouncement is clear: "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images" (Isa. 42:8).
The prohibition expressed in the second commandment reaches beyond what we might call an image, in the strictest sense of the term. In its broader scope, this commandment really forbids the use of all man-made devices in worship. It directs us to a basic concept: that the only acceptable way of worshipping God is to render homage to Him according to the instructions given in His word. Any deviation from his word by adopting humanly-devised forms of worship is, de facto, a violation of the scriptural law of worship. This is devastating to Gentile Christianity which can be shown when investigated through in-depth study that many of it's very foundational doctrines and dogmas are pagan to the core and which therefore render the worshipper as an idolator before God!
In practice, many modern Protestants have unwittingly adopted this same viewpoint. The second commandment is expounded as a mere expansion of the first, and restricted in application only to false deities and open homage to images. As a result, they admit images and false teachings into churches, ostensibly for didactic purposes. This modern interpretation is contrary to the Protestant confessions of the Reformation as delineated in the Heidelberg Catechism #96-98, Westminster Confession, 21:2-3; Westminster Larger Catechism, #107-109.
In other words, all religious ceremonies and institutions must have clear scriptural warrant, if they are to be admitted as valid expressions of worship...those which don't render the worshipper an idolator...and you may never know this until you die and let God tell your face to face (idiom for Yom Kippur)
The designation of a central place of worship did not occur until the Israelites conquered and settled the land of Canaan. A central site for public worship had been anticipated since the time of Moses (Deut. 12:11; cf. 12:5, 14); but it did not reach fulfillment until the reign of David. During David's rule, the ark of the covenant was moved to Jerusalem, thereby establishing the city as the center for the sacrificial ordinances of the Levitical priesthood. Even so, the entire program of worship, from the tabernacle to the temple, was directed by divine revelation.
Tabernacle worship was structured according to the divine blueprint. The Israelites were instructed: "Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." Descriptions of the tabernacle furnishings reiterated that all things had to be made according to the God-given pattern (Ex. 25:8-9; cf. 25:40; 27:8; Num. 8:4; Acts 7:44; Heb. 8:5).
Later, David provided Solomon with the plan for constructing the temple: "David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof and the pattern of all that he had by the spirit also for the courses of the priests and the Levites. All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern" (1 Chron. 28:11-13, 19).
Nothing was left for improvising; everything was ordered by the divine pattern for worship.
Solomon built the temple according to the heavenly blueprints left by David, and Jerusalem remained the seat of public worship for the entire kingdom of Israel.
After the death of Solomon, the kingdom became divided and the people slid into corruption and apostasy. The northern tribes swiftly embraced false worship, and never recovered from their apostasy. Within the kingdom of Judah, there were several seasons of reformation, amidst other waves of idolatry. The key to understanding the history of the Israelites it to note the critical connection between the worship of the people, and God's dealings with them in relation to their worship.
When the northern tribes seceded, Jeroboam took a pragmatic approach to worship in the northern kingdom, devising a "local" program of worship suited to his own purposes (1 Kings 12:28-33). Jeroboam's actions were wholly revolutionary. He established a new center for worship, new means for worship, and a new priesthood. It was not so much that Jeroboam encouraged his people to worship other deities, but that he devised new methods which displaced the biblical means of worship; Jeroboam's offense was akin to Aaron's sin in making the original golden calf.
Answer for yourself: If you have read the earlier articles in this series and on this website can you not see the similarities in what Gentile Christianity has done; not only concerning the appointed times of YHWH such as the Sabbath and the Biblical Festivals but the many replacement doctrines concerning Yeshua as well (evidence for this on our other websites)?
Subsequent kings in the north, such as Ahab, blatantly embraced the worship of Baal. Later, when Jehu ruled the northern kingdom, he exterminated the house of Ahab, and repudiated the Baalism of his predecessors. Yet for all his zeal, Jehu retained the "sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin" (2 Kings 10:29-31).
The reign of Jehu indicates that the guilt of Israel came not merely from idolatry, in the narrow sense of the term: that is, the worship of false deities. Jehu eradicated the worship of other deities and claimed to worship the Lord, but he clung to the unhallowed methods of worship instituted by Jeroboam. Thus, Israel was charged with corrupt worship for attempting to worship the true God, the Lord, with unsanctioned means.
The comparison here between Jeroboam and Jehu again illustrates that Jeroboam's original crime was in establishing alternative forms of worship from those enjoined in the Mosaic law (remember within the Mosaic Law are Laws for non-Jews..the Laws Of Noah which the Mosaic Laws built upon). Jeroboam's initial action took Israel to the slippery slope of corrupt worship. From there, the nation frequently degenerated into further idolatry by worshipping false Gods as well.
Therefore, let it be noted that the first step on the path of idolatry is taken when men presume to worship the Lord through means and measures not ordained in the word of God.
Answer for yourself: How much do you know about "idolatry" and just what it is? Is it possible that although we don't bow to fire or stones we yet practice idolatry in our Christian Churches and don't know we do? A sure test is to read the articles on our Laws of Noah Website where we define this according to the Rabbis and their interpretation of it. Hopefully you will take this challenge and then factor in just what we have been taught about this "Jesus" in our Churches and you will the terrible idolatry to which we have innocently fallen and of which we are guilty.
The kings of northern Israel were idolaters; the apostasy of the nation was thorough; and so the Lord destroyed the northern kingdom. A chilling account is provided in 2 Kings 17:4ff., with a summary judgment in verses 20-24 of that same chapter.
The 17th chapter of 2 Kings also explains the origin of the mongrel religion of the Samaritans. After the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, the Assyrian king deported the Israelites; he then used the land of Israel as a relocation center for Babylonians and other displaced persons (2 Kings 17:24-41). These heathen refugees "feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them" (2 Kings 17:25).
Alarmed by this development, the king of Assyria sent back an Israelite priest to instruct the people how to serve the Lord. The people then professed to worship the Lord God, but they attempted to render service to the Lord by resorting to their customary idolatry, employing their own devices and priesthood. "So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the Lord, and served their own Gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence. So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day" (2 Kings 17:32-33, 41).
The technical term for such a religious admixture is syncretism. For centuries it has been the modus operandi of Roman Catholicism. Sadly this Samaritan approach to worship is only too prominent among professing Protestants and in the church growth movement among contemporary "evangelicals." The trends in popular culture and the deviant worship of the pluralistic masses are adopted as a way to make worship "relevant" and appealing to modern society.
After the separation of the northern tribes, the kingdom of Judah often embraced corrupt worship, beginning with the reign of Rehoboam: "Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel" (1 Kings 14:22-24).
Today, many Roman Catholics and evangelicals decry the sins of abortion and homosexuality as manifestations of our nation's corruptions (which they are); but these contemporary moralists are generally silent about the heinous sin of corrupt worship.
When Asa became king in Judah, he instituted reform. In the scriptural account of his reign, he is commended for removing corrupt worship. "Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God: for he took away the altars of the strange Gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him" (2 Chron. 15:2-5; cf. 1 Kings 15:12-19).
Read the above passage in "red" again and THINK!
Among the later kings there were both good and evil rulers. What is striking about the biblical narratives is that kings are consistently measured by their approach to worship. Those rulers who made an effort to restore biblical worship are commended; those kings who resorted to idolatry (or tolerated corrupt worship) are criticized.
During the reign of Godly King Jehoshaphat, the people manifested an attachment to corrupt worship, in spite of efforts by the king to reform the land. "The people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers." Many resorted to sites of corrupt worship, "for the people offered and burnt incense in the high places," and these high places were not taken away (2 Chron. 20:33; 1 Kings 22:43; 2 Chron. 20:33).
Corrupt worship reveals a serious problem of the heart. In conducting unsanctioned worship, the people showed that their hearts were not right with God, regardless of what their professed motives might have been.
In subsequent generations, the kingdom of Judah degenerated into further idolatry and Baal worship. "They left the house of the Lord of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass" (2 Chron. 24:18).
Answer for yourself: Could anything be clearer? The Lord detests corrupt worship and he punishes this sin.
Hezekiah was a good king, and he issued a call for national repentance; he also established a program of reform (2 Kings 18:5-6; 2 Chron. 30).
The passover was restored. Moreover, the people "arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all" (2 Chron. 30:14; 31:1).
Under Hezekiah's leadership, we see two aspects of reform united:
Both aspects are essential components of thorough reform.
As a negative facet of reform, Hezekiah "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 [ a piece of brass]" (2 Chron. 18:4).
The destruction of the brazen serpent is an extremely important event, for it demonstrates the far-reaching scope of genuine reform. The brazen serpent was originally made at the command of God. It had not, however, been designated as an implement for use in the ordinary worship of the Lord. Therefore, because the brazen serpent had been superstitiously abused, it was necessary to destroy it.
Contemporary readers may find it difficult to comprehend this deed. It is easier to discern why Hezekiah led the people to destroy the high places, images, and groves dedicated to unsanctioned worship. But, truly, the brazen serpent was a hallowed symbol of God's former deliverance of the Israelites.
Answer for yourself: Why destroy it?
Answer for yourself: Why not simply caution the people against the abuse of a traditional symbol?
Hezekiah was wiser than both Papists and our modern evangelical churchmen, who would, no doubt, follow a more "moderate" course. The king realized that the serpent had become a snare; it fostered superstition. And Hezekiah knew that this superstition this corruption of worship was sufficient to provoke the wrath of God. Far better to dispense with a sacred relic, than leave it as a temptation for present and future generations.
As noted, the brazen serpent was included in no part of the ordinary worship of God. By comparison, the passover was an integral part of the stated worship of God; therefore the passover was renewed and restored. But since the serpent had no sanctioned role in the stated worship of God, it was better to remove it altogether.
After Hezekiah's rule the nation again drifted into apostasy. The last reforming king was Josiah. He purged "Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem" (2 Chron. 34:3-7; cf. 2 Kings 23:4-14, 24).
In addition to purging the kingdom of corrupt worship, the young king directed repairs of the house of the Lord (2 Chron. 34-35; 2 Kings 22). After Josiah's death, the kingdom of Judah passed again into apostasy. The nation then fell to the Babylonians, and the Jewish people were carried away into exile.
Eventually, the Jews were permitted to return to their homeland and commence rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. They were careful to restore the temple and its services according to the scriptural pattern (Ezra 3:10). When the construction was complete, "they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses" (Ezra 6:18). Moreover, the passover was restored (Ezra 3:10; 6:18, 20-22).
With this in mind we are forced to confront the worship of God in the contemporary churches today which have substituted Pagan days of worship for the Holy Days of the Bible and the Lord's Sabbaths. To replace the “pattern” of worship in the Bible, given to both Jews and Gentiles with one of man's making birthed out of antisemitism is an abomination that has gone unnoticed by most well meaning Christians for much too long. There is hardly any way you will every know of this or see this tragic loss of "true worship" unless you study and study hard. I am one who is called to do this to help others see the darkness that has overtaken them. There are many reasons for such neglect and oversight, and it is not our intent to discuss the various factors that contributed to the loss of such Biblical truth in this article. But as I end this article, I behoove you to “consider your ways” and listen to what Bet Emet Ministries, as well as other ministries today are saying about the paganism that is accepted as righteousness Sunday after Sunday in our churches. We need a new Josiah to have the courage to stand up and address the problem of corrupt worship as it exists in Christianity today. Bet Emet is one such voice among many today. We plead with those who read this article to request our free publications on such issues, for if you read them, you will come to understand what you now do not perceive. Your only sin is the sin of ignorance, for you have not had, for the most part, adequate religious teachers who were well versed in such issues. Thus, the blind follow the blind and both fall into the ditch! We at Bet Emet Ministries beg you to not let this be your legacy. Shalom.