Carved Images...

"You shall not make for yourself a carved 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. Exodus 20:4

And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." Numbers 21:8

What?!! Why would the Lord command Moses to do something that was in direct conflict with his own Word? We know that's just not possible! There could be a couple of possible explanations for this. In the Exodus scripture, the prepositional phrase "for yourself" could be of some importance. Could it be that we are not supposed to build things for ourselves; and we can when God tells us to? Possible. It would also be helpful to put this in context with verse 5 of Exodus 20.

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me...

Its obvious that the commandment in verse 4 would be specific to idols. Otherwise, the carvings of the cherubims on the Ark of the Covenant (anything that is heaven above..) would also be contradictory instruction from God. What else would be abominations to God? Children's toys, nativity scenes at Christmas, crucifix necklaces, and fish emblems on cars.

The serpent lifted up in the wilderness was not to be an object of worship. It wasn't faith in the brass serpent that healed the Israelites, it was faith in God's commandment and obedience to his instruction. In fact, the fiery serpent stayed with the children of Israel until the day they decided to use it for a purpose God never intended it to be used for..

He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it... 2 Kings 18:4

Hezekaiah wasn't being sacrilegious to destroy the serpent God had commanded Moses to fashion and had used to heal the Israelites. Hezekaiah destroyed the serpent for the same reason God buried Moses in a place where no one would ever find him, the same reason Noah's Ark has never been found, the same reason the ark of the Covanent mysteriously disappeared somewhere between the time of David and Christ's ministry on earth, and the same reason that angels told humans to not worship them every time they attempted to do so.

"You shall have no other gods before me!" Exodus 20:3

There is nothing wrong with the works of your hands. In fact the Lord is pleased with those who work diligently. The problem comes when the works of our hands become our gods. We forget about God, we neglect our families, and we adapt worldly attitudes closing our eyes and ears to the face and voice of God. This is also possible in ministry. There are many different ministries in the Lord's service, but Jesus is the focal point of all ministry. When the ministry becomes more important to us than Jesus, it's no longer a ministry. It's a fiery serpent that no longer has the power to heal.