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Our scripture reading this evening is 2 Samuel 6 verses 1 through 11. Again, I'd ask that you rise as God addresses us here by His Word. Again, David gathered all the choice men of Israel, 30,000. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Bala, Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the name the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. So they set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahil, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart, And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which is on the hill, accompanying the ark of God. And Ahio went before the ark. Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord, and all kinds of instruments of firwood, and harps, and stringed instruments, and tambourines, and sistrums, and on cymbals. Now when they came to Nakhon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error, and he died there by the Ark of God. And David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah. And he called the name of the place Perez-Uzzah to this day. David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, how can the ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the city of David, but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. After David was anointed king over all Israel, his kingdom was established politically and militarily, first by taking Jerusalem to be his central capital city over all Israel, and then second by destroying the Philistines who invaded the land, battling them twice and defeating them twice. But both of those events to establish David politically and in terms of military were really preparation for this great event in our passage this evening. You could argue that the establishment of the central city was so that the Ark of God could be brought back to its place of prominence in the nation. You needed that central capital city in order to bring the Ark there and to declare that this is God's kingdom. Also, that in order to bring the ark to Jerusalem with this fanfare and this procession, you would need to oust all of those invaders, all of those who would ruin this procession by attacking it. so that we find these were preparatory works for the great work that is here in view to put God in the prominent place over the nation, to make clear that the kingdom of Israel under the reign of David was a kingdom in which God is front and center. In fact, that is exactly what the ark signifies, the presence of God. It signifies God is there where the ark is. Remember what Moses said whenever the ark would rise up in Numbers 10, 35 through 36, So it was whenever the ark set out that Moses said, Rise up, O Lord. Let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee before you. And when it rested, he would say, Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel. When the ark left, God went with it. When the ark returned, God returned with it. This was a symbol of his presence amongst his people Israel. Remember then that in 1 Samuel chapter 4, Israel, recognizing that to be the case, thought superstitiously that they could manipulate God. And so they brought the ark into their army, presuming that God would therefore come into their army and help them defeat the Philistines. But what actually happened, of course, was the Philistines defeated them. And the Philistines themselves captured the Ark and took it to their temple to lay before their god, Dagon. And of course we know how that ended up. The Ark and the presence of God destroyed the Philistines so that they sent it back to Israel. But it was a lesson to the Israelites not to mishandle or presumptuously use the ark of God. Though it was bound up with the presence of God by God's own designation, it was not to be abused or superstitiously used to manipulate God. It would not work. but also this ark of God is His throne room. It is His throne, rather, that is placed in the Holy of Holies. It is the seat upon which He sits, and the cherubim overshadowing Him, looking upon Him, are in the background. looking at the glorious Lord seated there. And so David is declaring that God is the ruler of Israel, that in the heart of Israel, in Jerusalem, in Zion, in the city of God, in the city of David, God is to be the ruler, established front and center as the great king over kings. He is to rule there. David is saying the opposite of what Saul said throughout his kingdom, throughout his rule. Saul repeatedly ignored and denied and marginalized the will of God and the presence of God and the need for God. But here David comes and says that the most important thing is for God to be placed at the center of the kingdom of Israel. And so surely, as we look upon this event, we say, this will be a joyful event. Surely God will look upon their zeal for him, and he will be pleased in what they do. Let us consider this event in three parts. First, bringing up God's ark, verses 1 through 5, and then provoking God's wrath, verses 6 through 8, and finally seeing God's blessing, verses 9 through 11. David, as we see here, takes the initiative and he publicly and clearly is showing zeal for the Lord. It is a national event, it is an important event, so he gathers 30,000 choice men of Israel. From the parallel accounts in 1 Chronicles 13, this included especially the priests and the Levites, but no doubt other dignitaries of the land, other important people of Israel. Likewise, from 1 Chronicles 13, we read that the entirety of Israel was invited to come to this event. This is an important national event, a procession to Jerusalem to place the Ark of God where it ought to be. And so David was very zealous for this work and wanted it to be a public and clear work of great glory to God and great importance to the nation. so that the ark is called, or God is called. You see there is some ambiguity here. As we read on, David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Bala, Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. There is, again, this connection between the ark itself and the Lord, such that it is hard to know even whether he's speaking of the Lord of hosts or the title of the ark was the Lord of hosts. Often we find this as well, don't we? In the New Testament, the Word of God is referring to the scriptures written down or to Christ the person. or the elements of the supper, this is my body, this is my blood. Is it the elements as a figure or they are connected and bound to Christ such that they're connected intimately and are not to be severed apart. And so to hear the Ark of God is declared to be that of the Lord of hosts. And it has been so long neglected. Remember, the last time we consider the Ark in any significance was in 1 Samuel 4, when it was seized by the Philistines, and then because God ravaged them with plagues and so many of them died, they would get rid of the Ark, and so they sent it away. And it first went to Beth Shemesh, and there in Beth Shemesh the Israelites received it, were glad, but they mishandled it themselves, and they were struck down. so that it was sent on to Kiriath-Durim, to the house of one individual, Abinadab. And therefore, when we read here, Bela is the name Bela Judah, in the parallel account it makes clear that this is another name for Kiriath-Durim. We recognize from 1 Chronicles 13, 6 in particular, these two names are used interchangeably. And so for 60 years, it had remained there. In 1 Samuel 7, 2, we are told it remained there 20 years. And then the rule of Saul, which was 40 years. And so at least 60 years it remained in this obscure town, in the home of one man. because Israel had profaned the Ark and mishandled it, and therefore they had set it aside for so long. But now it was time for it to come back into prominence. This object so connected to God, this object which represented His presence amongst His people, His throne in the heart of Israel, this Ark is connected to the Lord of Hosts, the God who leads the angelic host to victory on behalf of Israel. We saw that previously when the marching was sounded in the tops of the trees and the Lord himself was leading this great host of heaven in battle against the Philistines. The Israelites were finally under David's command, recognizing the significance of the Lord and His presence amongst them as the King of Kings, the true ruler over Israel, over David himself, the true man who led them into battle. This is the recognition, finally, that they are giving to the Lord as they bring this Ark, the Lord of Hosts, thrown to the heart of the kingdom. But notice, amidst this joyful time, amidst all of the fanfare and the rejoicing we see here in our passage, they make a very fatal mistake. We have no reason to believe that this zeal for the Lord and this joy in the honor of God and bringing God into prominence once again in Israel, we have no reason to believe it's anything but sincere, that this is the desire of the heart of God's people to honor Him and to rejoice that He is coming to rule in the heart of their nation. And yet, though it was zealous, though it was joyful, they made a very significant mistake. The difference between life and death, the difference between joy and terror. And it is found there in verse 3. And the sons of Abinadab, the ark of God, was put on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which is on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahijo, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. They put the ark on a new cart, and that was their great and fatal mistake. But you might say, well, that doesn't seem so bad. What's the big deal about that? History and God's Word had made it explicitly and abundantly clear how the Ark was to be transported upon pain of death. Remember their experience. When men of Beth Shemesh mishandled the Ark, they were struck down, as were the Philistines before them, were struck down because they mishandled the Ark. This is their history. This is the reality that God has impressed upon them. If you mishandle the ark, you will die. Likewise, he gave them explicit instruction in terms of how to handle this cart. In Numbers 4, verse 4 and verse 15, he gives them this instruction. When the camp prepares to journey, Aaron and his son shall come and they shall take down the covering veil and cover the Ark of the Testimony with it. And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then the sons of Kohath shall come and carry them, but they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die. For this reason, the Lord prepared poles and rings attached to the ark through which those poles would be inserted, that they could carry the ark by the poles, only the priests, but never to touch it lest they die. God had made very clear his will on this matter. God had provided ways to transport it without dying, without being struck down. But instead of listening to the historical experience they had, instead of recognizing the precept God had given to them, they transported the Ark as the pagans had done. This was how the Philistines transported the Ark from their camp to Israel. They had a new cart, and they put the ark on the cart, and it was driven by cows, and it was brought to Israel. This was the pagan procedure of handling the ark. And though the Israelites had the precept of God, though they had the clear historical example of God's seriousness about it, Yet they decided that they would follow the Philistines' example, the Philistine method of transporting the Ark, the pagan way of doing it. You can begin to see then why God was so angered by what they have done here. Perhaps the reasoning was, well, the Philistines had done it that way and nothing happened to them besides being struck down before their mishandling of the Ark, and so we'll adopt the pagan procedure. You begin to see why this is such a significant offense against God. In fact, they are greatly rejoicing, and they seem to be quite sincere in what they are doing, but they simply are not obeying the command of God. They're not bringing the Ark as He has commanded. Yes, they are seeking to honor Him. They seem sincere, they're joyful in it. They are bringing the Ark to its rightful place and its prominence and its leadership over the entire nation. The Lord who sits on His throne there. So long neglected, now David and all the people are honoring God with joy. Surely, then, even though they made that one mistake, this joyful procession will come to its end and will be pleasing to the Lord, won't it?" Well, we know the answer to that as we come to our second point, verses 6-8, provoking God's wrath. Could anything ruin such a joyful event as this? The Philistines? No, they have already been dealt with. So we could imagine some enemy perhaps coming and trying to ruin this procession and trying to demoralize Israel. But it is not an enemy who abruptly ends this joy. It is the Lord Himself. Why? Because Uzzah touched the ark. Because the ark was on the cart. When the oxen stumbled, the ark began to totter and might have fallen off to the ground. And so Uzzah reached up his hand to steady it. Now how terrible would it have been if the ark, the symbol of God, fell to the ground. That was what Dagon did, the Philistine god, when the ark was brought into his temple. And he was found the next morning fallen down on his face before the ark. How dishonoring to the Lord would it be if his ark now fell down to the ground. Perhaps it would have broken as Dagon broke into pieces before the ark, or even burst open and the holy contents strewn out upon the dirt and the mud. It would have been deeply dishonoring to the Lord, surely, if something like that had happened. And so Uzzah, who seems to have every good intention in what he does to prevent that dishonor to God with great respect and care, makes sure that the ark does not totter and does not fall down. And yet the problem is this is an error, a deadly error, an error that the Lord has warned against, an error that comes with a death penalty according to God's explicit precept, do not touch it lest you die. Why does he die? Not for a conscious evil intention, but for his action that profaned the ark and so profaned God himself, doing what God forbade upon pain of death. He was trying to help. But as R.C. Sproul notes, his fatal mistake was that he thought his hand touching the ark was less profane than the dirt touching it. The dirt is not a sinner. The dirt is not as offensive as the hand of a sinner to touch the Holy God, to touch His ark. This is the problem in view, that he does not recognize the true holiness of God, that if a man should dare to touch God, His holiness, the ark representing that, if a man should dare to touch the Lord, he deserves to be struck down for that defiling touch, that mishandling of God and His holiness. It is right that God should be angered by this defiling of himself. And he did exactly what he said he would do, exactly what he has done in the past. He put Uzzah to death, which angered David. Notice that in verse 8, and David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah. And he called the name of the place Peres Uzza, to this day. Is it right to be angry against God? It's never right to be angry against God. Anger is only rightly directed against that which is sinful, that which is wrong. Therefore it is always wrong to be angry with God because he does no wrong. He never does. But David is angry with God here. He is angry because God has broken out against Uzzah. He's put him to death and ended abruptly the joy of this procession. We recognize that this word, break out, Perez, is the same one used in the previous passage, Baal-Perezim, when the Lord broke out against the Philistines. And now David is saying, you broke out against our enemies, but now you're breaking out against us in anger? How can that be? That's not right. It's right against our enemies, but it's not right against us. How dare you do such a thing? And he is angry with them for destroying their sincere intention and their desire to honor him and the joyful procession that would put God in his proper place, so to speak, in the nation. And so he is angry that the Lord has done this and destroyed all of that. But we must recognize that our feelings and intentions do not determine what is right or wrong, what pleases God or angers God. God will be honored as he commands, according to his revealed will. If our joy is in conflict with God's glory, then His glory will come to pass. He will be glorified. If our joy is superficial, if our joy is not tempered with trembling and a proper knowledge of God's will, then it will abruptly end. that we may know God and truly honor Him as the true and living God, that we may acknowledge Him and serve Him according to His will, according to what He desires. good intention, zeal for the Lord is not sufficient to please the Lord. At times perhaps he's gracious and he receives it as such, but at other times, such as here, he makes clear that is not sufficient. That is not what pleases him. What he desires, what he demands is that we follow his will from our hearts, doing what he has commanded. We might say again, okay, maybe they weren't following the letter of the law, but they had the spirit of the law right. They were joyfully honoring God. Is that not technically correct? Even if they're not technically correct, isn't that okay? Remember what Paul said of the Pharisaic Jews in Romans 10-2. They had zeal for God, but without knowledge. They were people who were zealous for God, but they did not know God. They did not know Him truly. They did not serve Him according to His will. They were not pleasing to God. We must know God and humbly seek to follow His will if we would truly please Him. True knowledge of God is what we need. And when we truly know God, we are careful only to do that which He commands us to do to honor Him. It makes us diligent to study and know how to honor Him. David and Israel did not do that. Is that a small thing? No. Is God overreacting? No, of course not. This is what God commands. We must not mishandle His holy things upon pain of death. He had proved this in their historical past. He had declared it in precept. And yet they decided instead to do what they thought was better, what was easier, the more, the better facilitative way to move the ark from one place to another. So what is the objection that anyone would have with what God has done? He did what he said, what he has done in the past. He simply kept his word. He was faithful to all that he said. And therefore he did again what he had done in the past and what he declared he would do. He was simply faithful to his word. And we must study then how to please and honor God. We must know his word. Do we know the scriptures? We might say, but that command was in Leviticus somewhere. That command was in Numbers. That command was in some obscure place. Do you know the Word, the whole Word of God? Do you know that which pleases Him? But I have good intentions. I am zealous in my honor of God. The worshipers of Baal on Mount Carmel were zealous and sincere in their worship of Baal, cutting themselves with lances until their blood flowed, dancing around in a frenzy until they were exhausted. But they knew not God and could not please God in the least, but provoked Him to anger. We must love and serve God according to His character revealed in His law. This means many different things, doesn't it? If you're zealous to honor God by doing what is good for the poor and having mercy and compassion on the poor, that's great. But do you do that according to what God has commanded and revealed in His Word? If it is simply your zeal to do something and you do it your own way, is it truly honoring and pleasing to the Lord? Or you want to evangelize others, wonderful. But do you evangelize according to what God says in His Word, according to what pleases Him, or just adopt your own methods and decide what the best way is to do it? Is it really pleasing to God if you have but good intentions and zeal, but do not follow His will? Or we're going to worship God. Great, you ought to worship God, but how? What is God's will in that worship? How does He direct us in the worship of Himself? Or you want to turn others from sin. A brother or sister is wandering and sinning. You say, I want to turn them from that. I want to help them. I want to love them. I want to bring them back. Great. But what is the biblical method? What has God commanded us to do in order to help others in that way? What are His means? What are His methods? What is His will? God is not obligated to accept the good intentions of a man breaking his law and defiling his holy name. No, that is provoking God to anger, and rightly so. This is the reality that the Lord impresses upon his people here, particularly upon Uzzah, in striking him down dead on the spot. This is the Lord we serve. He is great and glorious beyond compare, and we must approach carefully according to his will, according to his way, to honor him, the holy, holy, holy Lord of hosts. He will be honored as holy by those who draw near to him. Notice then finally in verse 9, our final point, the blessing that is seen, that David's sinful anger against God turns soon to fear. David was afraid of the Lord that day and he said, how can the ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the city of David, but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. Is it right to fear the Lord? Surely that's right. But what kind of fear is this? The Philistines also feared the ark when it came into their midst and ravaged them with disease and struck them down so that they sent it away from themselves as well. The men of Beth Shemesh also feared the ark when they mishandled it and they were struck down by the Lord and sent it away to Kiriath-Jerim. But the man of Kiriath-Jerim accepted the ark, and it dwelt among them for some time. Who truly feared the Lord? It is not those who fear Him so that they want to be distant from Him, want Him to be far away, lest they be struck down by Him. That is not a true biblical, proper fear of God. Godly fear draws near to the Lord with reverence. Sinful fear puts distance between you and the Lord. And that is a type of fear here that David demonstrates, a sinful fear. Let the Lord go far from me, lest he somehow hurt me, lest he somehow lash out against me as well. And so he sent it to Obed-Edom. And even though Uzzah was struck down, Obed-Edom welcomes the ark into his house. He, as the men of Kiriath-Jerim, rightly fears the Lord, rightly would honor him and draw near to him. And to those who rightly honor the Lord and draw near to Him with reverence and awe, the Lord blesses. And so He blesses Obed-Edom and all his household. The Lord demonstrates that He is not simply there to lash out and to strike down those who sin. He is full of generosity and goodness to those who reverently draw near to Him according to His will, Those who honor Him, He will honor. He intends and desires to bless those who truly honor Him. And so he shows that here with Obed-Edom, he demonstrates his generosity and his goodness to the man and to the household that wanted God as it were near them and would honor him as he commands. Those he blesses and is glad to bless. What are the lessons then of this passage? Some might think that the clear lesson here is that we should be grateful we don't live in Old Testament times, how mean-spirited the Lord was back then. The problem is that God does the exact same things in New Testament times. In Acts chapter 5, He struck down Ananias and Sapphira because they lied to the Holy Spirit. And in 1 Corinthians 11, with regard to mishandling the Lord's Supper, likewise He said God has killed some of them. He struck them down because they mishandled the Holy God. It is the same God in the New Testament and the Old Testament, the same procedure, that we are to come to the Lord with reverence according to His will. We are to handle Him carefully and to draw near to Him carefully according to what He commands. If the Holy God bursts forth in wrath against those who mishandled Him, then, some might say, perhaps we should be far from Him. That's the best place to be, far from Him. Yet only those who draw near to Him are blessed by Him. So we either try to escape God's wrath for a moment, perhaps, or we draw near to Him as those who honor Him according to His will and are blessed by Him, therefore. We must draw near with reverence, humbly seeking how He would be honored according to His own will. This means, first and foremost, that we approach God in Christ. That is how God has revealed we may draw near to Him only through the blood that cleanses sinners such as we are and makes us acceptable to God. We always come to God through Christ and in the Beloved to be accepted by God first and foremost. This means also that we study God's Word and how God commands us to honor Him. We do not give Him our own ideas, our own ways, or pick up the procedures of pagans and say, this is how we'll serve God. No. What does God require of us in His Word? How do we honor Him according to His Word? And we do not do this primarily to avoid being struck down. but primarily because we genuinely love the God who first loved us and sincerely would honor and please him, which we know we cannot do except by his revealed will, except by following what he has revealed is pleasing to him in his word. This is how we must rightly honor our Lord. the Lord makes clear at times, especially at important epochs of redemptive history here, David is becoming king, he's establishing God as the king over kings in his kingdom, and so it is at this point, this outset immediately, that the Lord makes this clear to his people in a dramatic fashion, so that they'd learn right at this moment, this inception of the ark being brought into Jerusalem. This is not to be mishandled. The Lord is to be considered holy. He did the same thing with Ananias and Sapphira. When there's a revival in the New Testament church and there's joy and people are giving generously to others. And he said right at this moment, yes, but you must honor me. At this moment, he set a standard that was to follow in the years to come. And so we are to recognize while He does not do this always, and this is not the hallmark of God's dealings with us, that He always strikes us down all the time, but rather He demonstrates that this is a reality that we must draw near to Him with reverent obedience to His will if we would please Him. And the reason we want to please Him is not simply because He strikes people down, but especially because we love him who has opened the way in the flesh of Jesus Christ that we may draw near to him. He has opened the way through the rent veil of Christ's body that we may draw near with reverence and holy fear and obedience to his will. We honor him because he is the Lord and because he is our Lord and because we desire to please the Lord who has drawn near to us in Christ. Let's pray. Our fathers, we draw near to you in prayer. We would recognize, we draw near in Christ through him. And we would praise your name as you've commanded, declaring that you are the Lord of hosts, the holy, holy, holy Lord of hosts, that you are God and there is no other, the great I am, upon whom everything is dependent and you dependent upon nothing. We come, Lord, humbled before you in recognizing that we have nothing to offer you. And yet, Lord, by your Spirit, help us to be pleasing to you, that from genuine good intentions, from sincerity of heart, with true joy and reverence mixed together, we might come before you always according to your revealed will, and that you might be pleased in the service that we render to you. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.
God's Wrath Against Zeal Without Knowledge
讲道编号 | 6925135424744 |
期间 | 38:31 |
日期 | |
类别 | 周日 - 下午 |
圣经文本 | 撒母以勒之第二書 6:1-11 |
语言 | 英语 |