Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem
In Florida, the State does not mandate Vehicle Inspections, so for 16 years I rode my motorcycle around the state without doing inspections. My late husband made sure everything was safe and in working order, and we had a wonderful Mechanic (a woman!) for the big repair jobs. After my husband died in 2011, my pastor kept an eye on my bike for me, and once, as a Christmas Present to me, tore my bike "down to the bare jugs" to replace all my aging, rotting, gaskets. (RIP in the Arms of Jesus, Dear Pastor Jerry!)
Anyway, I've been living in Massachusetts for three years now, and every year, must submit my aging but still very awesome vintage Harley to a complete safety inspection. Riding around without a valid Massachusetts Safety Inspection Sticker can get your Bike impounded, Registration Cancelled, and huge fines. Regular gas stations do not do these inspections on motorcycles, so one has to first FIND one that does. My first two years' inspections went well.
THIS year, however, went very wrong. Everything worked: horn, mirrors, turn signals, tire pressure, etc, but when the guy examined the rear brake-pads, he discovered that I had been riding around for a year with NO REAR BRAKES! It seemed that, riding the same bike for 26 years, I had developed a riding style that included a lot of clutching and down-shifting, so that I never had to use the brake. I had adapted to the bike.
Well, of course, I had to have the rear brakes replaced, so I had the guy do a bunch of other stuff while he was at it. A week and 500 bucks later, I had my bike, with new rear brakes, and a bright yellow Inspection Sticker.
The Mechanic handed me the old brake-pads.
Bikers, like Sailors, are a superstitious lot, and as he handed me the two chunks of gleaming, scraped-clean metal, he said:
"You are one lucky lady, ML. Carry these with you whenever you ride, to remind you how lucky you were that you didn't get KILLED!"
I held up the two pads in the light, and they looked like angel wings.
"It wasn't luck", I told him, "It was The LORD watching over me."
I still have the brake-pads, but they are NOT talismans or "good-luck charms." In fact, I use them as paperweights!
In the Book of Numbers (chapter 21) way back in the Torah, we read of a plague of venomous snakes that attacked the Hebrews in the desert during the Exodus from Egypt. As it was a punishment, the reason for the snakes was a spiritual one, not just a "bad day in the Sinai". God gave Moses very strange instructions to bring about healing. He instructed Moses to make a bronze snake and hold it aloft on a pole. Those afflicted, who raised their eyes to the bronze snake were healed.
The word "Nehushtan" sounds like "Bronze Snake" in Hebrew. The thing had one purpose only. The people had to believe that looking up at it would bring healing, so it was a matter of Faith.
In John 3, when Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, the Bronze Serpent is used as a symbol of the Crucifixion and of God's Grace. The most familiar verse in the New Testament is immediately preceded by the example of the Bronze Serpent. Look at this:
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:14-16).
But, like the Brake Pads, the People of Judah tried to make a Talisman out of the Bronze Serpent. Since the Nehushtan is not mentioned during the reign of previous Kings of Judah, it is possible that someone made a replica or many of them, for devotional purposes (eek!) and people were burning incense to it! To God, this was just as offensive as the Asherah Poles, the Statues of Molech, the Ba'als, and the idols of the Canaanites. Even though the Bronze Serpent had once served as a symbol of God's Grace, and would do so again in the Gospel of John, it was not something to be venerated in and of itself.
King Hezekiah did the right thing in getting rid of it, because it was causing the people to stumble.
Another interesting note is that the brake-pads had to be replaced. It was not possible to put NEW LINERS on Old Brake-pads. At the first emergency stop, such liners would instantly fail, and the brake-pads, the bike, and probably the rider would be ruined. Like New Wine in Old Wineskins, or an Bronze Serpent whose usefulness was now defunct, we are not to cling to them.
Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.
The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance! (Psalm 33)
God Bless America!
Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.
This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.
Hallelujah and Amen
ML/LTOS
