Hezikah (2 Kings 18:4) .?.?.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. Isn't this the same as worshipping the cross?
The cooper serpent was kept for many years as a symbol of Jehovah’s saving power, but when the nation turned away from God and began showing devotion and homage to that relic, good king Hezekiah, with God’s full approval, had it destroyed. The people started to use the cooper serpent as an idol, which is against Gods commands. It is also possible that they even took up a pagan religion and worshipped the snake. So therefore, in an effort to restore true worship King Hezekiah destroyed all the pagan forms of worship, such as the sacred pole, which was a phallic symbol and pillars erected to false gods. Cross worship, itself is idolatry. People are in effect worshipping or showing devotion to an instrument of death. If Jesus was killed by a bullet from a gun, would people worship or show devotion to, the gun or the bullet?
It is well for every Christian to remember what took place in connection with the figure of the copper serpent made by Moses. During the sojourn of the Israelites in the wilderness, God commanded Moses, who had led Israel out of Egypt, to make the figure of a copper serpent, which was a symbol and had prophetic significance, but it was not for religious worship. (Num. 21:4-9; John 3:14, 15) Thus the copper-serpent image was not adored or used for worship in Moses’ day. Though that image was made under proper circumstances, even at the command of God, yet, finally, it had to be destroyed. How so? Because centuries after Moses’ day the Israelites turned that same image of the copper serpent into an object of religious devotion, even burning incense to it. (2 Ki. 18:4) So when King Hezekiah purged the land of Judah of religious images, he had the copper serpent made by Moses crushed into pieces and utterly destroyed. That destruction of religious images had God’s blessing, since the true God wants to be worshiped without images or not through images, as Jesus Christ himself stated: “God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.”—John 4:24; 2 Ki. 18:1-7.
During the sojourn of the Israelites in the wilderness, God commanded Moses, who had led Israel out of Egypt, to make the figure of a copper serpent, which was a symbol and had prophetic significance, but it was not for religious worship. John 3:14, 15 Thus the copper serpent image was not adored or used for worship in Moses’ day. Though that image was made under proper circumstances, even at the command of God, yet, finally, it had to be destroyed. How so? Because centuries after Moses’ day the Israelites turned that same image of the copper serpent into an object of religious devotion, even burning incense to it. So when King Hezekiah purged the land of Judah of religious images, he had the copper serpent made by Moses crushed into pieces and utterly destroyed. That destruction of religious images had God’s blessing, since the true God wants to be worshiped without images or not through images, as Jesus Christ himself stated: “God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.”
When Jehovah God got tired of the Israelites complaining about everything down to the perfect manna he provided for their survival and deliverance from slavery, he punished them by sending poisonous serpents. After the people showed repentance Moses spoke to Jehovah on their behalf. Jehovah then told him to make a signal pole in the form of a copper serpent. Then, if a serpent had bitten a man and he gazed at the copper serpent, he then kept alive.”—Nu 21:4-9; 1Co 10:9. The Israelites kept the copper serpent and later improperly began to worship it as an idol instead of remembering the living God's miracle of saving his repentant people. So, as part of faithful King Hezekiah's true worship reformation he had the more than 700-year-old copper serpent crushed to pieces because the people had made an idol of it. I cannot possibly imagine Jehovah God then saying it would be OK to venerate the object his only begotten son was put to death upon. The distinguishing mark of faithful men from Adam’s day to ours is that they did not worship any other God than Jehovah, nor did they bow to ANY graven images.—1 Ki. 19:18. I wonder a lot if when we are delivered out of Armageddon if we will not fall into these same murmurings with whatever provisions Jehovah makes instead of just being happy to be alive in a world where evil has been ripped apart from it (Ps 37:10, 28) and having faith Jehovah will provide as we diligently work with his plan to repair his Earth and grow to human perfection.
