Bible Lesson: Relics-Church

Bible Lesson: Church Relics.

New World Dictionary
Relic: The body or a body part of, or some object associated with, a saint, martyr, etc. kept and reverenced as a memorial.”

An interesting story of an ungrateful people.

Numbers 21:4-9 NLT
4 Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey,
5 and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”
6 So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died.
7 Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.
8 Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!”
9 So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

This is where the symbol of the apothecary has been derived.

Ungratefulness brings God's wrath.

The people of God were saved from certain death, through obedience, “...Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!”

Now thee interesting part of this story is found centuries later when recounting the reign of one, Hezekiah, a Godly King of Judah.

II Kings 18:1-4 KJV
[1] Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.
[2] Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.
[3] And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.
[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*.

* Nehushtan-Hebrew (Ne-hush-tan): Serpent of the desert, said with contempt,
“piece of metal.”

Oh how like fallen man, it so much easier to bow down to a brazen serpent on a pole, then to bow down to the living God, and confess ones sins.

Proverbs 14:12 KJV
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Godly King Hezekiah, “destroyed the relic,” which had itself become an object of worship, being reverenced, with incense and prayers.

Relic worship (reverencing, people or objects), is nothing short of idolatry, it is a person place or thing, which usurps the very position of Christ.

Exodus 20:4-6 KJV
[4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
[5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me;
[6] And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.

Leviticus 26:1 KJV
Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 4:28 NLT
There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.

Deuteronomy 7:25 KJV
The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.

Deuteronomy 11:16 KJV
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

Isaiah 40:18-20 NLT (Read the whole chapter.)
18 To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble Him?
19 Can He be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
20 Or if people are too poor for that, they might at least choose wood that won’t decay and a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won’t fall down!

Isaiah 42:8 KJV
I am the LORD: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images.

Isaiah 42:8 NLT
“I am the Lord; that is My name! I will not give My glory to anyone else, nor share My praise with carved idols.

Isaiah 45:20 NLT
“Gather together and come, you fugitives from surrounding nations. What fools they are who carry around their wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save!

Jeremiah 10:1-16 NLT
1 Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O Israel!
2 This is what the Lord says: “Do not act like the other nations, who try to read their future in the stars. Do not be afraid of their predictions,
even though other nations are terrified by them.
3 Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.
4 They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won’t fall over.
5 Their gods are like helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field! They cannot speak, and they need to be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of such gods, for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.”
6 Lord, there is no one like you! For you are great, and your name is full of power.
7 Who would not fear you, O King of nations? That title belongs to you alone!
Among all the wise people of the earth and in all the kingdoms of the world,
there is no one like you.
8 People who worship idols are stupid and foolish. The things they worship are made of wood!
9 They bring beaten sheets of silver from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, and they give these materials to skillful craftsmen who make their idols. Then they dress these gods in royal blue and purple robes made by expert tailors.
10 But the Lord is the only true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King! The whole earth trembles at His anger. The nations cannot stand up to His wrath.
11 Say this to those who worship other gods: “Your so-called gods, who did not make the heavens and earth, will vanish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
12 But God made the earth by His power, and He preserves it by His wisdom. With His own understanding He stretched out the heavens.
13 When He speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from His storehouses.
14 The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud.
These idols have no breath or power.
15 Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies! On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed.
16 But the God of Israel is no idol! He is the Creator of everything that exists, including Israel, His own special possession. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is His name!

Acts 17:29 KJV
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

Romans 1:22,23 KJV
[22] Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
[23] And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

I John 5:21 KJV
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.