BreadEntire Chapter of Isaiah 53
Numbers 21:8And the Lord
said unto Moses, Make the a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it
shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon
it, shall live. This is where God saves Israel from his judgement with
the brass serpent.
2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, and brake the images,
and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that
Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense
to it: and he called it Nehushtan. This is where Hezekiah, begining
his reign in Judah, cast down all the idols the people were serving, including
the brass serpent.
I used to get the magazine Popular Mechanics, and in December, I think, was an article about the true face of Jesus. I opened up the magazine with a cringe, usually this stuff is downright heretical. Imagine my surprise when they got it right! The reason they did was they used the Bible to figure out how to use their science. But this isn't the point of this Daily Bread so I'll just give the scriptures and a breif explanation. Mark 6:3 Jesus was a carpenter. As such he worked hard out in the sun all day. The picture of a fair skinned weakling isn't him. Matthew 26:48-49 Judas had to show the soldiers which one Jesus was, so the picture of a tall, handsome man isn't him. He looked like any other Jew of the time. I Corinthians 11:14 & I Corinthians 15:8 Paul speaks in the first passage about how long hair on a man is a disgrace. Then later in the same letter, talks about seeing Christ. So unless Paul is calling the corner stone of his faith a disgrace Jesus didn't have long hair either. So all that was left was to find the skull, of a Christ era Jew and do some high-tech computer imaging to add a face. "This is what a Jesus era Jew looked like, and the Bible says that Jesus looked like any other Jewish Carpenter of that era." I though it was noteworthy that they made the distinction that the picture there was not supposed to be Jesus. But back to my point.....
About a week ago, I was waiting on my wife at the doctor's office. I saw the Popular Mechanics for March, since my subscription ran out, I hadn't seen this one. I started reading it and found myself in the letters section. It was nothing but hate mail about that article. People were so angry about their idol being cast down. That reminded me of the brass serpent. At first it was a symbol of God's mercy toward Israel. Jesus is the personification of God's mercy. Eventually, the Jews started worshiping the serpent. Like many people today worship their "picture of Jesus". Many people today say "It's just a tool, it helps me worship God." Then why get so angry when your picture is proven, by the scriptures, to be completely wrong!
Many people remember the first commandment and somehow ignore the second. There is more after that people! Exodus 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Jesus walked the earth. Jesus is in heaven, at the right hand of the Father. That's two out of three! Don't serve idols even if they are supposed to be of Jesus. God commands not to make idols of anything in heaven, what other gods are there in heaven to make an idol of!
However the Bible does give us a picture of Jesus, though it's not what most of us would choose to look at. Read Isaiah chapter 53 the next time you want to know what Jesus looks like. It paints a picture that mere drawings can't.
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