"IT'S NOT FAIR!" (part three)
Recap: In week one I talked about Adam and Eve's one sin that got them banished from the garden of Eden. And I talked about one of the greatest examples of 'it's not fair' in the story of Job.
Last week I talked about the prophet who was lied to by another prophet yet God caused the one who was deceived to get killed by a lion. That doesn't seem fair but the prophet already had instructions from God so if they were going to change God would've told him. He should've inquired of the Lord to see if the other prophet was telling the truth. If God tells us something we need to obey it, regardless of what someone else says. And when someone says they have a word from God we need to go to God and his word to see if it's accurate.
Then we looked at Moses not being allowed into the promised land because he disobeyed God and struck the rock instead of speaking to it. Moses did that out of anger and doubt. Yes, he was incited by the grumbling Israelites but he shouldn't have allowed their actions to dictate his. How other people act does not give us an excuse to act ungodly.
The ark of the covenant was a holy relic. In Ex. 25 it is described as a box made of acacia wood. It was almost 4 feet long and a little over 2 feet wide and high. It was overlaid in pure gold, inside and out. It had rings on the sides where poles would go through so it could be carried by the Levitical priests. On top of the cover were two angelic figures with wings called cherubim that were made out of gold.
In Heb. 9:4, the writer describes the contents of the ark. In it was placed a golden jar of manna-the bread from heaven, Aaron's staff that budded as a confirmation of God's abilities, and the two stone tablets containing the ten commandments, inscribed by the finger of God.
You may have heard of the Ark of the Covenant, even if you haven’t read the bible. Are you a fan of Indiana Jones? Well, the professor-archaeologist-adventurer in the Indiana Jones movies “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” goes searching for the Ark of the Covenant.
Supposedly, the ark has survived the test of time and is housed at the Chapel of the Ark of the Covenant in Axum, Ethiopia. They believe that King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who lived in Axum, had a son and that Solomon gave it to him. Apparently DNA testing has shown many Ethiopians are of Jewish descent. However, no one is allowed to see the Ark, not even the Ethiopian president. Supposedly, there is a single monk who watches over the ark and never leaves the chapel grounds.
Regardless of any of that being true (which I have my doubts), the ark of the covenant was a significant item in the life of God's people. With the holy items contained in the ark it makes sense that God would have specific instructions regarding how it was treated and handled. And when we see what happened to Uzzah we understand how important that is.
2 Samuel 6:1-9, "David again brought together out of Israel chosen men, thirty thousand in all. He and all his men set out from Baalah of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark.
They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.
When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD'S anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God. Then David was angry because the LORD'S wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah. David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?”
All he was doing was trying to steady it so it didn't fall. Isn't it obvious he cared about the things of God? Why would he be punished for that? It was to be carried, not placed on a cart. And only the priests of the tribe of Levi were to carry it. In Joshua 3 and 4 you see the repetitive phrase, "the priests who carry the ark of the covenant".
Maybe Uzzah didn't know that? It's understood that Uzzah was a Levite, which means he would've known the right procedure. This is probably why his act is described as irreverent which means blasphemous.
It seems they were following the example set by the Philistines when they had the ark in their possession. The Philistines had captured the ark and they had it for seven months. But God brought devastation upon the Philistines because of it. They figured this out and wanted to send it back to its rightful place.
Their priests told them to provide a guilt offering to appease God. They made golden tumors and rats which represented the specific calamities God had brought upon them. Nice, huh? Ladies, how would you like to have you very own golden tumor necklace? Or maybe a golden rat is more your style.
Anyway, the Philistines placed the ark on a cart and sent it on its way with some of the leaders following at a distance to make sure it got to the right location. It came upon the town of Beth Shemesh. The people rejoiced that the ark was back in their possession and they sacrificed the oxen as a burnt offering to the Lord. But then there was trouble.
1st Sam. 6:19-20, "But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them, and the men of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
This time the punishment came not because someone touched it but because they merely looked inside it. Curiosity killed more than the cat this time. You might be thinking, 'hey, if Uzzah died because they were supposed to be carrying the ark, why did God allow the Philistines to get away with putting it on a cart?'
The difference is the Philistines weren't the people of God; they didn't have the law that instructed them so they were ignorant of the correct procedure. Plus, they didn't have Israelite priests who could carry it; so in essence they didn't have a choice. I believe they did what God wanted them too.
But, the people of God knew better and should've done better. It's not like God hadn't warned his people. When the Israelites were in the desert God gave instructions on what to do when it was time to pack everything up and move out.
Num. 4:15-20, “After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites are to come to do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die.
The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the Tent of Meeting. “Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, is to have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering and the anointing oil. He is to be in charge of the entire tabernacle and everything in it, including its holy furnishings and articles.”
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “See that the Kohathite tribal clans are not cut off from the Levites. So that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons are to go into the sanctuary and assign to each man his work and what he is to carry. But the Kohathites must not go in to look at the holy things, even for a moment, or they will die.”
That sounds pretty extreme, doesn't it? If they so much as looked at the holy things they would die. Why so serious? The main reason is something we read in 2 Sam. 6:2, " the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark". Verse four of the passage we just read in Numbers reiterates this.
The most holy aspect of the ark of the covenant was that God's presence was there. When the temple was constructed in Solomon's time, God would be enthroned in the Most Holy place. Before the temple there was the tabernacle. And it was the same situation.
Ex. 26 explains that the ark of the covenant (Testimony), would be behind the curtain in the Most Holy Place. And, God had strict instructions about who and when someone would be allowed into the Most Holy Place. God is holy and where he chooses to be is holy so you don't treat what is holy as if it were just an everyday item. Anyone who disregarded his specific instructions were going to pay for it.
We might not have to deal with the ark of the covenant today but we do have holy things we need to be concerned about. We have God's holy word and his Holy Spirit. God uses these to tell us what we should and shouldn't do. When we know what we should do but we disregard that and choose to play by our own rules we sin.
James 4:17, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." When we know it, we are responsible to do it.
The bible says we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus died the curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom signifying that the barrier was removed and now all who trust in Jesus for salvation are allowed into the Most Holy Place. As followers of Jesus we have the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are now the Most Holy Place because that's where the Spirit of God is-inside of us.
How should we respond to that reality? 1st Cor. 6:15-20, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body?
For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."
Sex is a personal connection; the joining together of two people. Today we have cheapened it to just an act and therefore it's no big deal. Things like one night stands, prostitution and 'friends with benefits' help to remove the intimacy God intended it to have.
When a Christian commits sexual immorality it's a serious offense because we have the Spirit of God. Would Jesus hook up with a prostitute? Would Jesus have sex with a man? Would Jesus look at porn? Would Jesus live with his girlfriend? No! Was he tempted to sin sexually? Yes.
Heb. 4:15 says that Jesus was tempted in every way. Jesus resisted all temptation because of his devotion to God. The same Spirit that empowered Jesus to resist empowers us. We need to resist because we are to be holy and we are supposed to represent God to the world. We're called to be different.
2nd Cor. 6:14-16a, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God."
We can talk with non-Christians and share the gospel with them but we are not to be connected to them, be partners with them or be in agreement with their practices. It's not because I'm better than you, it's about separating myself from anything that dishonors God.
Paul went on to say in 7:1, "Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God." Since we have the promise of fellowship with God, since we have the promised Holy Spirit living inside of us, let us decontaminate ourselves from all unholiness.
In the NIV, except for one verse in Lev. 14, the only other references to the word contaminate are in Lev. 13 where it talks about dealing with articles of clothing that had mildew. The remedy was to remove it. If you've ever dealt with mold you know the only way to get rid of it is to remove it. You can try to clean it but it will just come back until you remove it.
And not only will it come back, it will spread. Likewise, if we don't get rid of the things that contaminate us bodily and spiritually it will spread. Sometime we try to deal with the contamination by just "cleaning it"; we cover it up or we deal with it on a surface level but we don't remove it. We don't stop drinking or drugging we cut down. We don't stop having premarital sex we just stop playing the field. We don't stop swearing we just don't drop f-bombs anymore. We don't stop the sin we just do a "cleaner" version of it.
Paul was specifically talking about sexual immorality in 1st Cor. 6 but he finished by saying we need to honor God with our body. And he reiterates that in 2 Cor. 7, saying we need to purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit. So we need to think about every part of our body and how that factors into the contamination process.
Our eyes are part of our body so what are we looking at? Our ears-what are we listening to? Our mouth-what are we saying? Our hands-what are we doing with them? Our feet-where are they taking us? Our minds-what are we thinking about? Our heart-what are we feeling? Our stomach-what are we feeding ourselves? Our bodies as a whole-what are we doing to it-how are we dressing it? Honoring God with your body is really honoring God with all that you are.
Paul says we are to do this out of reverence for God. That's something that's lacking today. We think because we don't see the severe ramifications like what happened to Uzzah or last week's story about the prophet getting killed by the lion or Ananias and Sapphira being struck dead for lying, that we can somehow get away with disregarding God. Big mistake. David was struck with fear when he saw what God did to Uzzah. Does it register with us when we see what God did when his holiness was not respected?
We need to consider the sobering words in Heb. 10:26-29, "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?"
We saw what God did when his law was broken. Do we think because we're under grace we won't suffer for disrespecting the sacrifice of Jesus by continuing to live in sin? God is loving, patient, forgiving and merciful but that doesn't mean he will tolerate his people disrespecting his holiness.
Let us learn from the examples we read about and develop a holy reverence for God, his word and his Spirit, which has taken up residence in us. We have an obligation to honor God with our lives; knowing there will be consequences if we don't. Is that unfair? No. God's holiness commands it, our commitment to him demands it and God deserves it.
