Cross worship: the same idolatry today that was in Ancient Israel

There is so much in the Old Testament that is a warning to the church that goes ignored.  Yes, it was history of Ancient Israel and their rebellion although it is also a lesson for us today.  History repeats itself and there are those who heed the warnings from history and then there are those who repeat it.

In Ancient Israel there was a time when they rebelled against Yahweh and He was upset with them.  Yahweh sent a fiery serpent to punish the people and many of them died.  When they repented, Yahweh had Moses make a metal serpent (often translated as brass or bronze, sometimes copper) and place it on a pole.  Anyone who was bit who looked on the metal serpent on the pole was healed.

Numbers 21
5  And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
6  And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
7  Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8  And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee 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.
9  And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

 So there was healing power when looking onto what was on the pole (the metal serpent).  This is the same as when Messiah Yeshua atoning for sin by His shed blood when He was on the execution stake / cross / tree (it was a stake, a cross, as well as a tree which can be easily proven - more on this in a future post)  Yeshua even equated His death on the cross with the brass serpent:

John 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

The problem was when people began to worship the copper serpent instead of what it represented.  Many years later the people of Judah (thekingdoms were divided then) began to worship the metal serpent and King Hezekiah destroyed it:

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 thatMoses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.  (Nehushtan means copperserpent according to Strongs so it could have been copper)

The idolatry of worshiping the brasen serpent instead of just accepting it as something to look on by faith for their healing is the very same thing that is happening today when the cross is made an idol and worshiped instead of worshiping Messiah Yeshua and looking to Him for healing.  Yeshua is no longer on the cross and using it as a worship object is idolatry.

 People need to stop their pagan practices and examine if what they are doing is true worship of Messiah or idolatry.  The cross does not save- Messiah Yeshua saves and He is no longer on the cross.