WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.919 Well, we're continuing to work through our series on the life of David tonight, and we're 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:11.880 going to focus on the first story of this passage, and we'll come back to David and 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:18.800 Jerusalem in a couple weeks' time, which means that we won't discuss tonight why we don't 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:19.800 dance and worship. 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:24.320 That'll be in a couple weeks, so come back for that. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:27.560 This is actually as difficult as that conversation is. 00:00:27.559 --> 00:00:30.000 This is a strange passage, the first half. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:32.920 It's a difficult passage for us as modern people to read. 00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:34.759 A couple reasons for that. 00:00:34.759 --> 00:00:43.840 One, is that the central character in 2 Samuel 6 is a 3 3 quarter by 2 1 quarter by 2 1 quarter 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:47.039 foot box. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:53.679 What to do with that is difficult for us as we look back at something so foreign, so old 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:54.679 it seems like. 00:00:54.679 --> 00:01:00.320 The second reason that this is even more difficult passage, that's because when Uzzah touches 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.519 the box, he dies. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:09.640 We're talking about, of course, the ark, the ark of the Lord here. 00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:10.840 Let's focus on the ark. 00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:16.159 We'll look at the ark and we'll look at particularly David's relationship to it. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:17.439 There's three things to see. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:20.560 The first is the nature of the ark. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:27.280 Secondly, the danger of the ark and finally, the final ark. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:28.280 Let's do that. 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:30.680 First, the nature of the ark. 00:01:30.680 --> 00:01:35.400 The ark of the covenant is this box I'm talking about. 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:36.719 It's plated in gold. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:42.320 It's got two cherubim, two angels with wings spread across the front of it. 00:01:42.320 --> 00:01:49.599 Then inside is the Ten Commandments, some of the manna that God gave during the Israelite 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:55.759 wanderings in the wilderness and also Aaron, the first high priest staff all inside the 00:01:55.759 --> 00:01:57.919 box. 00:01:57.919 --> 00:02:02.679 One of the difficult things is that in the ancient Near East, the time of the Old Testament, 00:02:02.679 --> 00:02:09.240 every single culture often would have a religion where they would carry some type of image 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:17.000 before them as they paraded, whether that was the army or a processional into a city. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:22.800 This image would be the image of their God that they worshiped. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:28.360 Some people in the past have come to this and said, look, Israel is like the nations. 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:35.479 They carry their God in a box and they parade their God around like the other nations do. 00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:38.560 That's exactly the opposite of what's happening here. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:45.039 It's so important as modern people who don't have the familiarity of something like this 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:47.919 to really understand the nature of the ark. 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:52.280 What is the ark and what is it doing and what does it mean? 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:53.919 It's not an image of God. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:59.919 It is instead what we in the New Testament call a sacrament. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:05.399 In our Westminster Confession, the confession that your elders subscribe to here tells us 00:03:05.399 --> 00:03:06.399 what a sacrament is. 00:03:06.399 --> 00:03:11.719 It says the sacrament is a sign and a seal of God's covenant. 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:12.840 Two things, a sign and a seal. 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:16.960 A sign means that it's a symbol of God's covenant. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:21.719 The ark is first a symbol and what does it symbolize? 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:25.360 Every time the ark is present, it tells Israel God is present. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:27.640 It is a symbol of God's present. 00:03:27.640 --> 00:03:33.560 God cannot be contained in a box and there is no image of God on the ark. 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:36.199 The ark is the sacrament of God's presence. 00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:39.280 When it's there, God promises to be there. 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:43.159 Not because he has to be, but because he's willing to, because he's covenanted to be. 00:03:43.159 --> 00:03:44.319 It's a sacrament. 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:49.879 So much so that in Numbers chapter 10, Moses lifts up the ark. 00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:55.639 The priest do and Moses says, advance, oh Lord, and they march. 00:03:55.639 --> 00:04:00.199 That means that Moses thought that when the ark moves, God is moving with us. 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:03.599 That's how closely associated the ark was with God's presence. 00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:13.439 It's not only a sign, it's also a seal, not like the animal, but a seal is when a king 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:20.040 would take wax and stamp his signet ring, his seal, onto a letter. 00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:23.680 And when you get that letter, you know this is from the king. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:25.159 And that's what is meant by a sign. 00:04:25.159 --> 00:04:30.040 And so it's a symbol and also a very sure promise. 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:31.040 It's certain. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:33.120 It's definitely from the king's hand. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:37.160 Meaning that God, when the ark is present, God has signed it and sealed it. 00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:38.759 He is going to be there. 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:42.600 He's going to be among his people wherever the ark might be. 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:48.000 Now Ralph Davis, who's one American commentator, he says this further. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.280 He says that the ark can tell you then three things. 00:04:51.280 --> 00:04:55.439 There's three things that every Israelite saw when they looked at the ark. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:57.840 The first, rulership. 00:04:57.840 --> 00:04:59.840 That's what they would think of. 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:04.679 First Chronicles 28, 2 says the ark of the Lord is the footstool of God. 00:05:04.679 --> 00:05:08.719 In our passage in the first couple of verses, it talks about it as God's throne. 00:05:08.719 --> 00:05:13.959 But the picture is that every king sits on a throne and has props his feet up. 00:05:13.959 --> 00:05:18.839 And the ark on earth is God in heaven propping his feet up with his people. 00:05:18.839 --> 00:05:19.839 He's condescended. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:21.839 He's putting his, he's there. 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:25.399 And so you see, when you see the ark, God's here and he's the king. 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:26.399 He's the king. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:33.759 And so this reconciliation, once a year, the high priest would go into the holy of holies 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:38.879 where the ark sat in the tabernacle and he would sprinkle the blood of a lamb onto the 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:40.919 lid of the ark. 00:05:40.919 --> 00:05:47.879 And what that was saying is that nobody is fit to be in the presence of God, but God 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:49.959 has come down anyway. 00:05:49.959 --> 00:05:54.359 And so every time an Israelite should see it, they should say, God is king and he has decided 00:05:54.360 --> 00:05:57.439 to be with us and we don't deserve it. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:05:58.439 That's the first thing. 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:03.740 And then the third thing is this, not only rulership, reconciliation, but revelation. 00:06:03.740 --> 00:06:08.160 Inside the ark, remember, stone tablets, the Ten Commandments, the manna that came down 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:12.160 from heaven, Aaron's bud, the high priest bud, meaning you can get to God through the high 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:15.480 priest, the staff that budded. 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:19.920 And that means that God has not only come down, he's come down and told you exactly 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:21.560 how to live. 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:24.360 So those are the three things that every Israelite would see. 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:29.120 God's king, God's come to me when I didn't deserve it, and God's told me how to live 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:32.720 life every time they look at the ark. 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:37.920 Now that's the immediate context, what the ark is, but there's a wider context you've 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:43.319 got to have to understand what's happening here in this passage. 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:47.199 And that's really the whole biblical story, but part of it is that the ark has been in 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:52.360 the house of Abinadab, we're told at the beginning, for more than 20 years. 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:59.920 And Abinadab lived right on the border of Israel, of the Promised Land, in Kyriath Jareem, 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:05.560 meaning that when Saul was king, Saul was totally okay with the presence of God being 00:07:05.560 --> 00:07:10.279 right on the border, not quite yet crossing the border. 00:07:10.279 --> 00:07:13.879 And it shows you Saul's ambivalent relationship to the Lord. 00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:18.219 He wouldn't bring the ark all the way through, even when Philistia didn't have it. 00:07:18.219 --> 00:07:25.519 But now they've taken it back, David has, and David longs, David, David, we read from 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:33.439 the Psalms, David lusts for the presence of God to be in the city of God, in Jerusalem. 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:38.439 And he's gathered 30,000 people together, and this is not to go fight, the fighting 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:41.339 is over, they've defeated Philistia. 00:07:41.339 --> 00:07:43.240 This is a party. 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:49.400 This is a processional ancient party, a parade, that's going to go many, many, many miles, 00:07:49.400 --> 00:07:55.240 and they're going to sing, and they're going to hit cymbals together, dance the whole way, 00:07:55.240 --> 00:08:00.680 celebrating what almost, if you read the whole Old Testament, this almost feels like the 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:03.879 climax of the Old Testament so far. 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:10.639 Like God is about to finish the Abrahamic covenant, everything that he's promised. 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:14.560 In the Abrahamic covenant, God said, I'm going to give you a people, and a land, and I'm 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:20.680 going to give you a king, and we've got David just made king the chapter before. 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:24.599 The Israelites have defeated all God's enemies, and now God's presence is about to go to the 00:08:24.599 --> 00:08:26.519 city of God's eye on. 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:32.639 And so this feels like this is it, this is the moment where we're finally having every, 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:34.480 the new creation could come down. 00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:39.039 I mean, this could be it, and there's actually a hint about that. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:45.599 In fact, if you were reading carefully, maybe you started to notice this, there are seven 00:08:45.599 --> 00:08:50.639 references in this chapter to quote the Ark of God. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:56.240 And then there are seven references in this chapter to the Ark of the Lord. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:01.279 And when you take seven and you add seven, you get fourteen. 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:02.679 And you know that? 00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:06.919 And that's very important, because what is it said? 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:07.919 Why? 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:11.759 The writer here construct that so carefully, to where there are seven references to the 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:15.519 Ark of God, seven references to the Ark of Yahweh, because it was trying to make you think 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:17.959 about creation. 00:09:17.959 --> 00:09:20.519 Seven days God created, and what is the final day? 00:09:20.519 --> 00:09:22.000 What is the seventh day? 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:27.679 God's creation is very good, and he enters into Sabbath, eternal Sabbath. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:32.639 And now we've got double seven, and every time there's a double seven, you know where 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:33.679 else there's a double seven? 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:38.759 The genealogy of Jesus, we're meant to think about new creation. 00:09:38.759 --> 00:09:41.799 Could this be the final Sabbath? 00:09:41.799 --> 00:09:44.079 The new creation being brought about all over again. 00:09:44.079 --> 00:09:47.559 Okay, that's the image that the reader's being given. 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:52.719 Could this be the ultimate fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant? 00:09:52.719 --> 00:09:59.120 And secondly, the nature of the Ark, secondly, the danger of the Ark, immediately you find 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:02.639 out, no, this is not it. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:03.879 This is not the new Sabbath. 00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:05.879 This is not the fulfillment of the Covenant. 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:08.600 This is not the defeat of all that is bad. 00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:11.840 This is not everything sad becoming untrue. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:21.159 And because all of a sudden, when they reach the threshing floor of Nikon, the music stops, 00:10:21.159 --> 00:10:30.720 and there's no more clashing symbols, there's no more flutes or trumpets, the dancing ceases. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:37.720 And that's because they look down and there's a Benadab son, the boy, the young man who 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:43.240 had been a son of the household where the Ark had been kept for 20 plus years. 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:44.240 There he is. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:47.560 He's dead and he's lying on the floor. 00:10:47.560 --> 00:10:53.560 And instead of symbols, probably there were screams and there are 30,000 people in this 00:10:53.560 --> 00:10:57.160 parade and it just halts. 00:10:57.159 --> 00:11:01.480 And Uzzah was his name, he was struck down. 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:04.919 And David, we're told, at the end, is afraid. 00:11:04.919 --> 00:11:07.279 He was afraid. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:08.600 And what had Uzzah done? 00:11:08.600 --> 00:11:12.120 Uzzah had touched the Ark of God. 00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:20.240 Now every single one of you, I think, looks at this and gets offended by it. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:21.240 Do you? 00:11:21.240 --> 00:11:22.240 Are you offended? 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:25.879 I mean, is this offensive? 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:33.500 Because you say, did God want the Ark to touch the ground? 00:11:33.500 --> 00:11:34.500 Because what happened? 00:11:34.500 --> 00:11:39.360 The oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out his hand at the back to catch the Ark, because 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:43.720 the Ark was headed straight to the mud in the filth and the manure that the oxen had 00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:46.360 left behind. 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:51.279 And you say, Uzzah's heart was in the right place. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:57.799 And God immediately strikes him down. 00:11:57.799 --> 00:11:59.919 One commentator says this. 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:07.439 The first thing that you have to say about this is that this is the testimony, this story 00:12:07.439 --> 00:12:14.519 is a great testimony to the reality of the history of sacred Scripture. 00:12:14.519 --> 00:12:20.120 You know, if you were the author of Second Samuel, why write this story? 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:26.279 If you were writing a generation later and trying to convince the nations that Yahweh, 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:31.960 the God of Israel is truly the God of love and mercy, and that all the nations should 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:35.919 come to Him, why would you put a story like this into the Bible? 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:36.919 And this is what he says. 00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:39.560 He says, why use this to persuade the nations? 00:12:39.560 --> 00:12:40.560 It's offensive. 00:12:40.560 --> 00:12:41.840 It's unsettling. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:43.080 Why? 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:46.919 The only possible reason that you would ever, even an ancient writer, even an ancient 00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:52.719 writer, you know why? because we have tons of text, religious text from the ancient Near 00:12:52.719 --> 00:12:53.719 East. 00:12:53.719 --> 00:13:01.559 And when you read about them, every single one of the gods comes out off easy and clean. 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:03.079 And here this is unsettling. 00:13:03.079 --> 00:13:04.240 And why do you put it in? 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:06.079 Because it's true. 00:13:06.079 --> 00:13:09.319 And the truth here is stranger than fiction. 00:13:09.319 --> 00:13:13.879 And that's evidence of its reality. 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:18.320 Now this is not just a modern problem because we know that David here doesn't know what 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:19.919 to do with this. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:24.960 David reacts and he's afraid and he sends the ark away. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:27.639 He says, I don't want to get near it. 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:33.240 And it's proof that this is not just a modern person's response, but every single person 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:34.480 was shocked. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:38.639 They did not know what to do with this in this moment. 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:50.279 Now I have to expect that if the real God, if God is real and the real God were to come 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:57.240 down and confront me, that I would be shocked by his reality. 00:13:57.240 --> 00:14:04.039 You know, in other words, if we expect to open the Bible and find a God that a 21st century 00:14:04.039 --> 00:14:11.480 person really expects the God that you expect to be there, the God that's there in every 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:17.799 single way you would think, then it's probably the case that we're chasing after an idol. 00:14:17.799 --> 00:14:22.839 We want a God that looks like a 21st century Western person. 00:14:22.839 --> 00:14:24.399 And that's not what we have here. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:26.719 Instead we've got reality. 00:14:26.719 --> 00:14:29.879 We've got the fact that we can't create an image of God that we've got to listen to the 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:32.919 God who's come down and confronted us. 00:14:32.919 --> 00:14:36.479 Nevertheless, still, what do you do with this? 00:14:36.479 --> 00:14:39.159 What do you do with this scene? 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:43.039 Now let me try to make some sense of it. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:48.839 The processional, the party of the parade was doomed from the start. 00:14:48.839 --> 00:14:50.399 Something bad was going to happen. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:56.039 And that's because one key word, and that word is in verse three, it's the word cart. 00:14:56.039 --> 00:14:57.279 Okay? 00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:59.240 The cart. 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:00.240 Why? 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:08.560 In Numbers chapter seven, God gives very specific instructions about how to handle the Ark of 00:15:08.560 --> 00:15:10.060 the Covenant. 00:15:10.060 --> 00:15:16.200 You were to take golden rings and attach them on the four corners of the Ark and then slide 00:15:16.200 --> 00:15:18.080 poles. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:21.720 And the poles were never to be removed. 00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:25.080 And the Ark was never to be touched. 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:28.680 And anytime the Ark didn't need to be moved, the Tabernacle did need to be moved from place 00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:30.519 to place. 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:37.079 Very specific priests that came from Aaron himself, a group called the Coethites, were 00:15:37.079 --> 00:15:42.159 to carry the Ark upon their shoulders by way of the poles and set the poles down in the 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:44.679 Holy of Holies and never touch. 00:15:44.679 --> 00:15:49.239 The high priest who came into the Holy of Holies once a year does not touch the Ark of the 00:15:49.239 --> 00:15:50.239 Covenant. 00:15:50.239 --> 00:15:51.239 No one does. 00:15:51.239 --> 00:15:53.679 The Ark is never touched. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:59.159 And here we learn in verse three that they put the Ark first on a new cart. 00:15:59.159 --> 00:16:01.319 Now they probably thought, this is a new cart. 00:16:01.319 --> 00:16:02.319 It's fresh. 00:16:02.319 --> 00:16:03.319 It's nice. 00:16:03.319 --> 00:16:05.079 But that still violated the basics. 00:16:05.079 --> 00:16:10.319 Do not put the Ark on a cart is to be carried, but it's not to touch anything that has touched 00:16:10.319 --> 00:16:11.319 anything else. 00:16:11.319 --> 00:16:12.319 You see? 00:16:12.319 --> 00:16:17.259 It's not to touch anything that's rolling along the ground, anything. 00:16:17.259 --> 00:16:23.399 And then we learn that Uzza and Ahio were carrying, were driving, steering the cart. 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:26.919 And Uzza and Ahio are not Coethites. 00:16:26.919 --> 00:16:29.039 They're not supposed to be doing this. 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:33.159 Only Coethites could carry the Ark and only through the poles. 00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:40.959 And so already before Uzza ever touches the Ark, two of God's rules have been broken here. 00:16:40.959 --> 00:16:49.279 Now I say, you say tonight, his heart was in the right place. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:51.079 And it was. 00:16:51.079 --> 00:16:52.079 It really was. 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:57.000 And so Uzza and the, this is what you have to see. 00:16:57.000 --> 00:16:59.879 It's not actually about the rules. 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:04.720 Uzza does not die here because he broke a rule. 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:07.519 That is not the situation because you know what? 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:09.759 He should have never started on this venture. 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:12.880 He should have never put the Ark on a cart. 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:15.440 It's not really about the rules at all. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:21.880 Instead, you've got to actually see what the rules are about, what the rules are for. 00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:25.240 And here's the presupposition that every single one of us have got to have tonight to approach 00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:27.240 this passage. 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:34.640 And it's this God is saying here, you are not fit to be in my presence. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:37.960 Period. 00:17:37.960 --> 00:17:42.360 Nobody is fit to be in the presence of God. 00:17:42.360 --> 00:17:50.200 And the rules exist simply to try and teach the people that. 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:55.080 You know, your heart can be in the right place and you're not fit to be in the presence 00:17:55.080 --> 00:17:59.039 of God. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:03.840 Because of our sin and our rebellion and our corruption, no one is fit. 00:18:03.840 --> 00:18:07.279 Exodus 33, no one can see God and live. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:13.120 No one can approach the holy God and live. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:23.039 And what we have here is 30,000 hearts turned to God, parading in God's name, celebrating 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:24.839 what God has done. 00:18:24.839 --> 00:18:28.399 All the hearts, all the hearts are in a good place. 00:18:28.399 --> 00:18:30.839 All of them, 30,000 of them. 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:34.119 And Uzzah dies. 00:18:34.119 --> 00:18:41.319 And God is saying this, your parade can't save you from the holy presence of God. 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:45.119 And your works cannot save you from the holy presence of God. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:50.919 And your heart being in the right place can't save you in the holy presence of God. 00:18:50.919 --> 00:18:56.759 You see, what this text says is we all have a justice problem. 00:18:56.759 --> 00:18:57.759 All of us. 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:01.279 Uzzah, David, everybody. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:08.200 And the problem is the justice of God in the presence of a sinner. 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:15.559 And that means that Uzzah missed premise number one of Christianity, of being a believer, 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:17.400 Old Testament or New Testament. 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:24.840 And premise one is this, you are utterly sinful and your sin is very serious. 00:19:24.840 --> 00:19:28.240 And that's what Uzzah misses here. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:32.720 And let me say a little more about that, because when you look at the wider picture, it becomes 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:35.200 even clearer. 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:39.279 If you go back, let's widen out all the way to the very beginning, like we did with the 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:43.519 children, to Adam and Eve, Genesis one to three, the beginning of history. 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:49.840 God said, Adam Eve, you disobey me and you shall surely die. 00:19:49.840 --> 00:19:53.519 And in the Hebrew text, it repeats the verb to die twice. 00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:55.720 You shall die, die. 00:19:55.720 --> 00:20:00.480 And in English, we say surely die, meaning you will die a whole lot, double die. 00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:02.559 Meaning you're going to lose everything. 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:09.240 If you disobey your unfit to be in my presence, and at the time God's presence occupied all 00:20:09.240 --> 00:20:13.799 of existence, His holiness had condescended into the garden. 00:20:13.799 --> 00:20:15.919 And what happens? 00:20:15.919 --> 00:20:20.399 Adam and Eve sin against God and they do not die, die. 00:20:20.399 --> 00:20:21.399 Have you ever noticed that? 00:20:21.399 --> 00:20:22.679 They don't die, die. 00:20:22.679 --> 00:20:26.039 Instead, God says, I'm going to let you live. 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:31.679 And yes, your sin has corrupted the world, but I'm going to leave space in history. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:37.680 That one day, the son of this woman might crush the head of the serpent. 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:43.640 And you see, in the midst of every single judgment that you read in the Old Testament, 00:20:43.640 --> 00:20:46.400 every single one, Uzzah touches the art. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:50.360 Adam and Eve, whatever it might be, you've got to understand that every single judgment 00:20:50.360 --> 00:20:54.200 is in the context of utter mercy. 00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:55.200 Utter mercy. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:57.799 No one has ever gotten what they deserved. 00:20:57.799 --> 00:20:58.799 Nobody. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:03.200 You know, if you've ever drawn a breath, you've not gotten what you deserved. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:08.559 If you've ever eaten a good meal, we've not gotten what we deserved. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:11.799 And Uzzah broke the rules. 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:14.359 He did two things wrong before the third thing. 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:19.200 It's not about the rules, because the context was mercy from the get-go. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:22.039 Uzzah, you say, where's the justice? 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:25.319 Uzzah had never gotten justice until that day. 00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:30.879 He had never gotten, just like anybody, what we deserve in the face of the just and holy 00:21:30.879 --> 00:21:31.879 God. 00:21:31.879 --> 00:21:35.759 Now, three lessons here. 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:37.839 The parade is stopped. 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:43.279 David wants nothing to do with the cart, I mean with the ark, I should say. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:45.119 And so he gets rid of it. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:46.119 And there's three lessons. 00:21:46.119 --> 00:21:48.439 First, three lessons for us tonight. 00:21:48.439 --> 00:21:53.439 First, God's presence is deadly. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:56.480 And God is not being capricious here. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:58.360 God is holy. 00:21:58.360 --> 00:22:04.519 And no matter how good of a fellow you may be, you're unfit for the presence of the living 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:08.039 God. 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:10.559 Our sin, my sin, your sin is more serious than we can imagine. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:12.480 That's what we learn here. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:15.400 Secondly, the second lesson. 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:17.920 There's a little more to it than that. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:19.279 There's a bigger message. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:20.799 There's a bigger context. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:29.279 And that's that in verse eight, when it describes how God actually takes Uzzah's life. 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:30.279 You can see it. 00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:33.759 David is angry because the Lord has broken out against Uzzah. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:40.519 And then David names the place Perez Uzzah, meaning the place where God broke out against 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:43.960 Uzzah, the breaking out, literally, or the outbreaking. 00:22:43.960 --> 00:22:48.519 Now this word comes up in the chapter just before this, actually. 00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:50.960 And so the writer wants us to see that and compare it. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:54.799 And in the chapter before this, David is going to war with the Philistines. 00:22:54.799 --> 00:23:01.359 In chapter five, verse 20, David came to the Lord of outbreakings, very literally. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:06.879 Meaning David came before the Lord who had broken out against Philistia and defeated 00:23:06.879 --> 00:23:07.879 Philistia. 00:23:07.879 --> 00:23:08.879 Same word. 00:23:08.879 --> 00:23:15.319 And David struck them down and he said, Yahweh, God, the Lord has broken through my enemies 00:23:15.319 --> 00:23:20.119 before me like an outbreaking of great water, of the water, mighty waters. 00:23:20.119 --> 00:23:26.720 And he called the name of that place, Perez, the Lord of outbreaking, Perez, the same name. 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:29.799 And then we come to chapter six and now it's Perez Uzzah. 00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:31.639 The Lord broke out against Philistia. 00:23:31.639 --> 00:23:35.000 Now the Lord has broken out against Uzzah. 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:36.799 And what do we learn? 00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:38.960 What do we learn? 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:47.960 We learn that before the face of God, Israelites and Philistines are the same. 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:53.039 This tension between Israel and Philistia, God's people, not God's people, before the 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:58.079 Lord, Israel and the Philistines are the same. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:23:59.759 They're both sinners. 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:01.920 They're both unfit for the presence of God. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:09.400 And one commentator says this, God's lethal holiness levels both pagans and churchmen. 00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:16.039 Once again, God has broken loose with a numinous power and an unexpectedness which petrifies 00:24:16.039 --> 00:24:17.039 a human being. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:24.160 And this time, not in favor of David's undertaking, but to its detriment. 00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:28.200 The level filled, the field is level, I should say. 00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:30.320 The playing field is level here. 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:36.919 Thirdly and finally, before we go to our third point, we cannot, the third lesson, we cannot 00:24:36.919 --> 00:24:39.159 approach God on our own terms. 00:24:39.159 --> 00:24:41.960 We cannot approach God on our own terms. 00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:47.119 And this is actually what David finally realizes in verse nine, because who's really to blame 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:48.119 here? 00:24:48.119 --> 00:24:50.839 It's David, the king. 00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:54.319 You know, who is it that got the ark on the new cart? 00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:55.319 Who was in charge? 00:24:55.319 --> 00:24:57.319 It's David. 00:24:57.319 --> 00:25:00.079 David missed all of this. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:03.279 And in verse nine, David is afraid. 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:07.480 And this is what he says, how can the ark of the Lord come to me? 00:25:07.480 --> 00:25:10.639 And you see, David is realizing something in that sentence. 00:25:10.639 --> 00:25:16.000 He's realizing this could happen to me too. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:19.199 Now thirdly and finally, the final arc. 00:25:19.199 --> 00:25:28.519 Now two things again, to just reemphasize here as we start to close, two keys to understand 00:25:28.519 --> 00:25:30.759 the whole of it. 00:25:30.759 --> 00:25:37.119 This passage is calling us simply to be aware of what we deserve, what justice really is 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:38.759 for our sin on the one hand. 00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:44.579 On the other hand, it's calling us to see at the same time how much God holds back his 00:25:44.579 --> 00:25:49.000 justice from Genesis three forward. 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:52.720 He stays his justice over and over again. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:53.720 He did it to Adam. 00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:54.960 He did it to Uzzi. 00:25:54.960 --> 00:26:01.200 Every point of Uzzi's existence and for every one of us, God stays his justice. 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:03.240 He doesn't give us what we deserve. 00:26:03.240 --> 00:26:05.120 He comes in mercy. 00:26:05.120 --> 00:26:08.160 He gives us so many gifts. 00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:15.000 He showed Uzzi mercy every hour, every minute, every day, and he does the same for everybody. 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:18.400 And this is exactly again what David realized. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:20.640 Back to verse nine. 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:23.000 How can I be in the... 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:24.360 How can the ark come to me? 00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:32.879 He says, in other words, he's saying, how could I be David the king, God's man is saying, 00:26:32.879 --> 00:26:36.000 how could I be in the presence of the ark? 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:40.879 If this happened to Uzzi, what is going to happen to me? 00:26:40.879 --> 00:26:45.119 And he sends the ark away. 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:51.719 And that means that David wakes up here to the great problem of the Old Testament. 00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:57.160 And that's that he knew he's realizing, I think. 00:26:57.160 --> 00:26:59.880 And I don't know if this is the first time, but he makes this clear in the Psalms. 00:26:59.880 --> 00:27:09.480 He knows that his sins had not really been dealt with in the Tabernacle. 00:27:09.480 --> 00:27:11.680 See that's what he's realizing. 00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:18.319 That all the blood of bulls and goats, the lambs that had been sacrificed, they were 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:26.679 actually signs of God's mercy, of God saying, I'm holding back justice for now. 00:27:26.679 --> 00:27:33.159 And David realizes here, none of it had actually really dealt with his sins. 00:27:33.159 --> 00:27:39.480 It hadn't actually met the justice of God. 00:27:39.480 --> 00:27:42.200 And Israel knew this too. 00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:47.720 We mentioned earlier Leviticus 16, the once a year moment where the high priest would 00:27:47.720 --> 00:27:53.799 come in to the Holy of Holies where the ark once a year and once a year only. 00:27:53.799 --> 00:27:59.680 And the way that worked was they would take two lambs and the high priest would put his 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:05.799 hand on the head of one of the lambs as a symbol of casting the unintentional sins of 00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:10.160 the whole nation onto the lamb to be slain. 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:14.720 And that lamb would be slain and the high priest would sprinkle the blood on the lid 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:21.079 of the ark and it was a statement, it was a request, it was really God's pronouncement 00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:26.720 to them that I will stay my justice and I'll be present among you. 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:30.480 And that death is required because of your sin. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:36.279 But the reason Israel knew that that was not enough is because of the second lamb. 00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:39.640 God had built this lesson in that this was not enough. 00:28:39.640 --> 00:28:43.880 The blood of a lamb is not enough. 00:28:43.880 --> 00:28:48.840 And what they would do is he would take his hand and he would put it on the second lamb. 00:28:48.840 --> 00:28:56.920 And he would send that lamb out into the wilderness and that lamb would wander, left to live. 00:28:56.920 --> 00:28:59.680 And that was the waiting lamb, the wandering lamb. 00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:09.480 And that second lamb represented Israel, Israel waiting and wandering, lost in the wilderness 00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:15.360 knowing that we need something more than this. 00:29:15.360 --> 00:29:22.160 The lesson was built right there into the heart of the very sacrificial system. 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:27.519 And Hebrews, Hebrews in the New Testament says it, tells you what David figured out 00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:29.019 in verse nine. 00:29:29.019 --> 00:29:30.019 And this is what Hebrews says. 00:29:30.019 --> 00:29:39.000 It says, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:46.480 therefore Christ came and he said, with burnt offering and sin offering, you are not pleased, 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:52.279 O Lord, but a body you prepared for me. 00:29:52.279 --> 00:29:57.759 And see, all you've got to do to understand this story is open John chapter one and come 00:29:57.759 --> 00:30:00.119 down to verse 29. 00:30:00.119 --> 00:30:08.559 And it says this, Jesus Christ is the lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world. 00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:17.599 And he's no mere lamb, he is the lamb who takes on the sins of Israel, but does it with power. 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:22.200 Meaning the day that Jesus Christ steps into the earth, there will be no more second lamb 00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:27.039 left to wander about in the wilderness, the waiting lamb. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:33.679 Because the lamb who can actually deal with David's sin and Uz's sin and anybody's sin 00:30:33.679 --> 00:30:34.679 has come. 00:30:34.680 --> 00:30:39.279 He's come to take away the sins of the world. 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:43.519 And you say, well, how does he have power to do that? 00:30:43.519 --> 00:30:48.279 How is it that this lamb can do it and the other lambs couldn't? 00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:52.640 Well John one again, John one 14. 00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:59.080 Remember that the ark is the most important piece of furniture in the tabernacle. 00:30:59.080 --> 00:31:02.680 And what does it say about Jesus Christ when he's born? 00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:08.279 He has tabernacled among us. 00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:11.480 Meaning he is the ark. 00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:13.120 Jesus Christ is the ark. 00:31:13.120 --> 00:31:15.960 How can this lamb take away the sins of the world? 00:31:15.960 --> 00:31:20.519 Because he is also the ark, the divine presence itself. 00:31:20.519 --> 00:31:25.920 God, the ark, has become the lamb, the sacrifice. 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:30.600 And so he has power to take on the sins of Israel. 00:31:30.599 --> 00:31:34.039 Remembering that that wandering lamb represented, he can do it. 00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:35.519 He can take it on. 00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:37.799 He can retrofit it. 00:31:37.799 --> 00:31:41.879 He can be enough for Uz and David, even though they've already passed away. 00:31:41.879 --> 00:31:47.000 He can be enough for every person backwards in history and forwards in history. 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:48.000 He has that power. 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:50.839 He is both the lamb and the ark at the very same time. 00:31:50.839 --> 00:31:52.919 And so it's not surprising. 00:31:52.919 --> 00:31:55.279 It's not surprising at all. 00:31:55.279 --> 00:32:01.920 That Noah passed us through the waters of God's judgment on an ark. 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:08.200 It's not surprising because the ark was there with Noah and the ark is there with Israel 00:32:08.200 --> 00:32:09.200 and the ark. 00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:10.559 But they were always waiting. 00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:15.720 They were always waiting for the ark, who would also be the powerful lamb that could 00:32:15.720 --> 00:32:17.799 take away the sins of the world. 00:32:17.799 --> 00:32:24.359 Now, the last thing here, approaching God has not changed. 00:32:24.359 --> 00:32:28.039 We are unfit as sinners to, we've got a justice problem. 00:32:28.039 --> 00:32:34.759 What has changed are the terms of approach. 00:32:34.759 --> 00:32:39.240 In the early church, there was something often that happened in worship. 00:32:39.240 --> 00:32:44.199 All the way, some churches still do it now called the Agnes Dei, the lamb of God saying, 00:32:44.199 --> 00:32:48.039 and they'd say, the lamb of God takes away the sins of the world and the people would 00:32:48.039 --> 00:32:52.479 respond and say, Lord, have mercy. 00:32:52.479 --> 00:32:53.479 And that's it. 00:32:53.480 --> 00:32:55.440 That's the prayer in the face of Uzzi tonight. 00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:56.440 That's Uzzi. 00:32:56.440 --> 00:32:57.440 That's for Uzzi. 00:32:57.440 --> 00:32:58.440 That's for everybody. 00:32:58.440 --> 00:32:59.440 That's for anybody. 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:05.160 The lamb of God has done what the lambs and the Old Testament could not do. 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:08.839 He has taken away the sins of the world because he is the ark. 00:33:08.839 --> 00:33:10.640 He is God. 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:13.559 And so you can pray tonight. 00:33:13.559 --> 00:33:19.960 Anybody, Lord, have mercy and he will give it to you. 00:33:19.960 --> 00:33:22.400 Let me say three things as I close. 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:25.440 Very quick, don't worry. 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:28.280 Jesus coming then for us, Jesus came into the world. 00:33:28.280 --> 00:33:32.360 When Jesus comes into the world, you know what it means? 00:33:32.360 --> 00:33:35.560 It means your sin is worse than you thought it was. 00:33:35.560 --> 00:33:43.160 The very fact that God showed up in history means the problem was bigger than you thought. 00:33:43.160 --> 00:33:44.440 Your sin is worse than you thought. 00:33:44.440 --> 00:33:48.880 Uzzi says this, that, but Jesus, when Jesus came, that's what we're told to. 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:57.200 Secondly, it tells us that God's mercy is greater than our sin. 00:33:57.200 --> 00:34:05.240 One great theologian says Jesus Christ gives more than sin can take away. 00:34:05.240 --> 00:34:07.760 And the ark is a double entendre in that way. 00:34:07.760 --> 00:34:12.880 It says you're not fit to be in the presence of God and God is at the same time saying, 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:16.400 I want to be close to you. 00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:21.680 And so Jesus Christ gives you more than sin could ever take away from you. 00:34:21.680 --> 00:34:28.039 And then thirdly and finally, it says this, you know, I would just imagine that everybody, 00:34:28.039 --> 00:34:31.200 all 30,000 of them, they're that night, they're that day. 00:34:31.200 --> 00:34:38.639 When they saw Uzzi there laying on the floor, had to be asking a question in their head, 00:34:38.639 --> 00:34:47.319 will I ever get to see God or more, could I ever touch God? 00:34:47.319 --> 00:34:54.239 Is there going to be a day where I can touch the sacrament of God? 00:34:54.239 --> 00:34:59.000 And you know, Jesus Easter's coming. 00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:04.839 John 21, he turns to Thomas and says, touch me. 00:35:04.839 --> 00:35:05.839 You can touch me. 00:35:05.839 --> 00:35:06.839 You can touch God. 00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:10.039 You can touch the bread, the sacrament, every time you hold the bread and the wine in your 00:35:10.039 --> 00:35:15.440 hands, it says my body should have been broken, my blood should have been spilled, but his 00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:19.120 was and now this is a testimony to me to you. 00:35:19.120 --> 00:35:25.360 Know that one day you will touch God, Jesus Christ, the ark. 00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:26.960 You will touch the ark. 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:32.360 He will say to you, touch my hands when he comes again. 00:35:32.360 --> 00:35:35.640 And that's an invitation tonight to faith. 00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:43.000 And so one more time, the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world and we say, Lord, 00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:44.000 have mercy. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:45.000 That's our prayer. 00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:46.000 Let's pray. 00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:49.960 Father, we ask for mercy. 00:35:49.960 --> 00:35:57.079 We ask for mercy not in the powerless blood of the animals, but in the powerful blood 00:35:57.079 --> 00:36:02.319 of the ark himself, poured for us, Jesus Christ. 00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:10.559 And so we give thanks that we stand on this side of the gospel, Lord, and we can see what 00:36:10.559 --> 00:36:15.000 you were doing, what you were doing all along in the midst of hard stories like this. 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.400 We know that redemption was at work. 00:36:19.400 --> 00:36:27.320 And so we approach you tonight, God, humbled by this passage, fearful, knowing that we 00:36:27.320 --> 00:36:31.000 approach a God that we could never define. 00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:35.679 And so we do ask, Lord, that you would give us that awareness, that consciousness. 00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:39.280 But then, Lord, we know that you are the God who's come close to us. 00:36:39.280 --> 00:36:40.440 And so we give thanks. 00:36:40.440 --> 00:36:46.000 And we ask, I ask for every one of these people tonight, for me, for them, that we would all 00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:50.880 cry out as we begin our Mondays, Lord, have mercy. 00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:52.119 And we give thanks for that mercy. 00:36:52.119 --> 00:37:01.519 In Jesus' name, amen.