In John’s Gospel, Yeshua says that he will be lifted up like the snake in the desert. Many consider this to be a prophetic statement about how he will die, but I believe it means more than that.

I believe he is saying he will become an idol, replacing his father as God.

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I suppose we should start by reviewing the snake incident.

In Numbers 21, after the people kvetched (again!) about something, God sent poisonous snakes to bite and kill them as punishment. The people repented, and asked to be saved, so God had Moses make a brass serpent and place it high on a pole. When someone was bitten, they only had to look towards the snake and they would not die.

(You know, there is an entire message in that one sentence, how people sinned and would not die but still suffered the consequences of their sin, i.e., they still got bitten! But that is for another time; actually, I just recalled I already did a message on that one, and I’ll put a link to it in the Description.)

Now, what happened to that snake is not mentioned again until centuries later, in 2 Kings 18, when we learn that this snake, which originally was designed to represent God’s salvation from death (by snakebite) was now being worshipped as an idol, a god in and of itself, and it was being called Nehushtan (“Nachash” is Hebrew for snake). King Hezekiah had it destroyed.

Now let’s see why Yeshua chose that event to tell us what will happen to him.

Yeshua was placed on a stake for all to see, and he tells us that those who see him there and believe in him will be saved. Just like those who saw the bronze serpent on a pole and believed in God would be saved.

Prophecy fulfilled, right? Not quite.

The snake was later turned into a god, and what the “Church” has done is the same thing with Yeshua, changing what he is (the Messiah FROM God) into God, himself!

Christians constantly pray to Yeshua instead of to God, they ask Yeshua for forgiveness, when God is the only one who can forgive, and they thank Yeshua for blessings in their life when those blessings come from God!

Let’s get something straight: While Yeshua did say he had authority to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6), he specifies that he has this authority on the earth. This is also in two other gospels, and the reason he says that is to prove he is coming from God, NOT that he is God, and since he is no longer on the earth, the sin forgiveness thing has reverted back to Daddy.

The prophecy Yeshua made was a dual-prophecy: first, a soon-to-occur prophecy that Yeshua would be raised on a stake and secondly, as a future prophecy that he would be worshipped and replace God.

Exactly what happened with the snake.

So, if you find yourself praying to Yeshua, stop it- pray to God.

If something wonderful happens in your life, don’t thank Jesus- thank God.

And next time someone tells you that it is all about Yeshua, remind them (as you are being reminded, now) that for Yeshua, it was ALWAYS only and totally about his father in heaven.

Hey, look- if Yeshua said it is all about his father, and that his father forgives, and that his father blesses, and that he only did and said what his father told him to do and say (that’s in John), then who are you or I to say anything different?

Yeshua always referred to himself as separate from God, identifying as the Son of God, and he always considered himself subservient to God, so how do you think he feels when people worship him instead of his Father?

Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!