2 Samuel 6:6–7

0:00 Good evening church. Our text tonight is on your bulletin as usual. It could also be found in the Red Pew Bible on page 258. Our text says, and when they came to the threshing floor of Nekon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it. For the oxen stumbled and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. So what's the point of the text? Well, I believe the point of the text tonight is God is holy, and how we respond is critically important.

0:49 And what we're going to do tonight is we're going to break this up into three segments. So our first segment, we're going to meditate a little further on God's holiness, and then we're also going to look at just understanding where this story takes place in the metanarrative of scripture. And then lastly, we're going to contemplate how this text points toward Christ. So first, God's holiness. So God has a variety of attributes that give expression to his revealed will. Some may include God is righteous, God is long-suffering, God is merciful, God is gracious, God is love. God is good. God is holy. God possesses all of these attributes and others perfectly. There is no tension. They work in harmony. They work in unison as God communicates who he is to what he has created. No attribute should ever be divorced from all the other

1:51 attributes. They are taken in totality. So when I think of this list, as I work through this list and hit each of those attributes, I've got a reference point, just something quick usually just pops into my mind for the majority of them. However, I must admit that when I come across the holiness of God, as difficult as it is for me to do, I've got to slow down. I'm usually a go-go-go kind of guy, but I've got to slow down when I come across the holiness of God. I have to think a little harder come up with the words that capture what does that what does that actually mean what does that entail to say God is holy of God's divine attributes that we just mentioned and others it is the only one mentioned in threefold repetition as the seraphim cry out in Isaiah 6 holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory Isaiah is so moved

2:53 by what he sees in Isaiah 6 that he goes on to refer to God as the Holy One 35 times in the rest of the book. Coming across God's holiness impacted Isaiah greatly. In Revelation 4, the four living creatures, they never, never cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is is to come. The repetition is an attention getter, an attention grabber, and it emphasized the importance of that word. So holiness refers to the perfection of God's ethical character, and it also refers to the otherness of his nature. God is set apart, and he is the only one who has the authority and power to set things apart. We see this in how he dealt with Israel by setting apart priests, garments, days, utensils, buildings, places, and artifacts.

3:55 And when we close tonight, we're going to see God set apart people through Jesus Christ. So God's holiness is not to be taken lightly. And encountering God's holiness lays an individual bare. In that Isaiah text that we previously cited, Isaiah reacts and cries out, Woe is me, for I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

4:26 Moses, Joshua, you remember different encounters they had where they had to remove their sandals because of the sacredness of God's presence and how it made that ground holy. God's holiness demands a proper response. We are to do the mental and heart work to seek to understand and seek to know our holy God intimately. This is how relationships flourish, to know and to be known. Be amazed as you encounter our holy God in his creation.

5:04 It's there. As you commune with his saints together in the rhythms of congregational worship or home groups or coffee chats or whatever brings you into the presence of something set apart specifically by our holy God. Be amazed when you encounter the holy God in written scripture as well as in the incarnate word of Jesus Christ. Give him the honor and give him the place in your life that he demands and he deserves. We often sing a song together.

5:36 I've distilled it a bit. It says, from my failing has offered his only son and invites us to call him father our holy god is holy other so our text tonight how does where does this land when we think about that epic story of the bible and the meta-narrative of scripture and all that god is doing through his word what's the context of tonight well i've distilled that a little bit for you as well but israel Israel's first king Saul has died and David has been anointed king the early years of this kingdom

6:40 have been full of battles between Israel and those forsaken Philistines the back and forth but before we dig into that back and forth we got to go a little further and really capture a few key details details want the details I want to talk about tonight numbers four numbers four the Lord is giving explicit instructions to Moses on Mount Sinai. He is establishing his rules of engagement, his expectations, particularly for the Levites and the sons of Kohath among this particular tribe.

7:14 Their service consisted of caring for the most holy things set apart by God. When Israel is to set out in the wilderness. Aaron and his sons are to go in the tent of meeting, take down the veil of the screen, cover the ark of the testimony with it. A covering of goatskin and a blue cloth are to be placed on top of the ark. Two poles are to be placed through four rings to carry the ark. Along with the ark, there are instructions for covering and carrying the table of the bread of the presence, the plates, the dishes, for instance, the bowls, the cups, the lampstands, the utensils.

7:52 there is order and intentionality in everything that has to be done with what is in the tent and all the sanctuary and all the furnishings and as they move numbers 4 15 says and when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary as the camp camp sets out. After that, the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things lest they die. Familiarity can be a great thing. It can bring peace. It can bring security. It can bring comfort. But familiarity can also be very dangerous. Unfortunately, Familiarity can also open the door to contempt, complacency, carelessness.

8:50 Drift can be deadly. May every time we gather together, as wonderful as it is to worship with the saints, may we never be so familiar with what we do week in and week out to where we lose sight of what's behind what we are doing. May we give our personal discipleship and our devotion and our disciplines the attention and the focus that they require.

9:24 Because, as Alex said today, it's not about the legalism of it. It's not about doing it. It's about the heart. And where is the heart when we encounter our holy God? So we move forward 400 years after the Exodus, and we're at the time of David's anointing. The Philistines have been a thorn for Israel up to and even after David's slaying of Goliath. You know the stories. You probably know them well. During a particular battle with the Philistines, the Israelites, they bring the ark, almost as a good luck charm, to the battleground.

9:59 They didn't inquire of God. We're going to bring the ark of God to the battle, they say. You may know how this story ends up, or you may have a good idea, but this is much different than seeking the Lord's counsel. Israel was routed. 30,000 men died that day, and the Philistines took the ark. The prophet Eli, he dies when he hears the news. His wicked sons die in the battle.

10:30 His daughter-in-law gives birth and names her son Ichabod, meaning the glory has departed from Israel. Israel is truly at a low point due to familiarity that brought carelessness and contempt. So, after trying to commingle the ark with the Philistine god Dagon and a plague of tumors following the ark to every city, it was transported to the Philistines.

11:02 The Philistines said, we don't want this anymore. Get it out of our sight. Instead of trying to destroy it, they tell the Israelites at Beth Shemesh, hey, we're going to give it back to you. They sent messengers and they said, we don't want this. So they send the ark back to the Israelites in 1 Samuel 6.13, and the people rejoice. They rejoice to see it coming. The Levites take the ark off the transport cart, And they offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord.

11:35 The Lord strikes 70 men dead that day just for looking at the ark. The people of Beth Shemesh send messengers to Kirith Jerem, also referred to as Baal Judah, in the territory. And they say, please, take this ark out of our sight. Take it away. And there it sits for many years under the charge of Eleazar in the house of Abinadab of the tribe of Levi. The newly anointed King David starts to build momentum.

12:10 And he inquires of the Lord. He realizes it's time to do things differently. He inquires of the Lord, should I go and meet the Philistines? The Lord answers him and says, absolutely, I've given them into your hand. Go. So, David's army subsequently routes the Philistines in the valley of the Rephaim. Things are looking great. The golden age is being ushered in.

12:42 David wants the ark to be in Jerusalem. All of this sounds good. The tide is shifting. There is good news. The desires are good. David gathers 30,000 more men and they transport the ark on an eight-mile victory parade. They're celebrating. They're singing. They're playing instruments. And then we hit our text again. When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and he took hold of it for the oxen stumbled and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah And God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark.

13:31 So how does this text point us toward Christ, given our meditation on the holiness of God and the backdrop of where we have just been through and moving, and now Uzzah dead by touching the holy ark? It's definitely a shock factor in reading that the Lord's anger was kindled against someone trying to do good. But the text is very clear. Uzzah made an error. The contextual details that brought us to our text tonight are full of assumptions, rash decisions, ignorance, and at the heart of the matter, disobedience.

14:13 Regardless of the situation, God had given explicit instructions and expectations, and what we see is a failure to honor him as holy and what he has designated as holy. The issue isn't God. The issue is man's inherent sinfulness and offense toward the Holy One who is holy other. God's holiness is not subject to our feelings, our perspectives. It doesn't change. It is a mercy and a grace that God defends his holiness the way he does.

14:50 Praise the Lord, we serve a God who takes his holiness serious. It is also a mercy and a grace that God is so clear on his requirements and expectation. There's no conjecture. There is no guesswork. There is no shift. There is no new revelation. God has said what he expects. So how do we respond? How do we approach and draw near to God? Because that's how he's made us. How are we to be holy as God is holy?

15:26 How can we accomplish what appears to be an insurmountable task? You know, in God's divine providence tonight, one of my favorite hymns has always been, And Can It Be? It just, growing up in church, I loved. and can it be a still love, and can it be, and we sang it tonight, and I believe the fifth stanza talks, it answers the how. It says, no condemnation, now I dread. Jesus and all in him is mine.

15:58 Alive in him, my living head, and clothed in righteousness, divine. Bold I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown through christ my own so we come we come we come through the one who came to fulfill the law and the prophets the one who received the father's affirmation at his baptism when he said this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased the one who said of himself no one comes to the father but by me the one who cried out it is finished on the cross and prior to that the one who the father said at the transfiguration this is my son my chosen one listen to him the one who said that he is with his followers always even until the end of the age the one who said behold I'm coming soon we have a champion we have a conquering king and we have a

17:05 savior who is above all and with that I turn to another text it's familiar it's Colossians 1 1 15 it says he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things hold together he is the head of the body the church he is the beginning the first born from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent for in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of his cross and sometimes I just stop right there and I say hallelujah praise Jesus Christ but reading a little further it says and you who once were

18:07 alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him this is amazing amazingly good news for the believer we get to be presented holy to the Holy One.

18:43 This transforms everything about us. And we get to live a life reveling in the love of the Father. For the unbelieving, for the unsure, the invitation is there. Christ is also the one who said, come, I'll give you rest. Anyone who puts their faith in him, Christ is waiting, willing, and able to escort you into the presence of the holy God and say to him, this one is with me.

19:20 I declare them holy and blameless. There are no better words that we can hear. The holy one sits on his throne and he rules the cosmos. The Holy One has established His requirements. The Holy One invites us in through Jesus Christ. Let us worship and let us honor Him. Let us live for His glory. Let us receive the infinite, immeasurable joy in the process.

19:53 Let's pray. Holy Father, we praise You. We thank You for Your goodness. We thank You for the clarity of Your Word. how you have given it to us lord that you are clear and what your expectations are lord we stand amazed in your holy presence lord we thank you for jesus christ the one who can take the dead and bring us to life the one who can present us holy before you Lord may we live in a way that honors you Lord that is so beautiful and attractive to a broken dying world Lord we love you, we trust you it is in Jesus Christ we come, Amen