FBC Daily Devotional – September 15, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:06

A good Wednesday morning to you. Today we are reading 1st Samuel chapters 5 through 7 as well as a couple of verses in the book of Proverbs chapter 14.

00:16

But I want to zero in on a particular incident in 1st Samuel chapter 6.

00:22

It's really kind of disturbing when you think about it. A little background to this particular incident.

00:29

The Israelites, remember, had been defeated by the Philistines when the

00:34

Israelites thought there's no way they could lose since they had the Ark of the Covenant with them.

00:39

Well, they lost. The Philistines captured the Ark. But the

00:45

Lord made sure that the Philistines didn't rejoice over that capture of the

00:50

Ark. He created all kinds of problems for the Philistines, sent boils among them and so on and so forth.

00:56

It made them so miserable that they said, we got to get rid of this thing. And they sent the Ark packing.

01:01

They put it on the back of a cart. And remember that? They put it on the back of a cart, sent a couple of calves, attached a couple of calves to that cart and sent them on down the road.

01:12

And they went on and took the Ark into Israelite territory.

01:18

And then the Philistines knew, sure enough, that was God who was doing this to us.

01:24

And so the Ark comes back into Israelite territory and the Israelites are thrilled.

01:30

They're ecstatic. They have the Ark back. Again, there may be a little bit of that good luck charmism with them.

01:39

You know, they have the Ark back. But they could also have legitimate hearts of gratitude and love for the

01:47

Lord and the symbol of His presence and so forth. I'm not going to judge that. But what is poignant in this passage is what we read in verse 19 of chapter 6.

02:02

After they get the Ark back with the gifts from the

02:08

Philistines, the sacrifices from the Philistines, Some of the men of Beth Shemesh, it says, that the

02:16

Lord struck them down. It says, Because the Lord struck the men of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the

02:25

Ark of the Lord. Because they looked into the Ark of the Lord. It says, Now, in our very sensitive age, with our sensibilities about things of this nature, we read that kind of story, that kind of an account.

02:51

And we think, that's overkill, literally. There's no pun intended in that.

02:59

That's overkill. Some guys look into this Ark and the Lord turns around and kills them all?

03:05

Slaughters them all? My goodness, what in the world? What kind of God is this? Well, that question is a legitimate question.

03:13

What kind of God is this? What kind of God is this? It's a

03:20

God who, all the way back at Israel's beginning of their national identity, with Yahweh as their

03:29

God, the Lord made it very clear that the people were not to look upon Him.

03:38

So, remember, when Moses went up to the mountain, the Lord told Moses, Don't let the people come up.

03:44

Don't let them come up and see me, lest they perish. They wouldn't be able to stand it, wouldn't be able to handle it.

03:51

Don't let them come up, lest they perish. And then when the Lord gave all the directions, instructions, for the making of the different furniture pieces of the temple, the tabernacle, and particularly the

04:06

Ark of the Covenant, He told Moses, Make coverings for the

04:11

Ark, lest the people look at it. They're not to look into it. They're not to look at the

04:17

Ark. So, you might remember, Oh, man, when was it?

04:22

20 years ago? I don't know. There was the whole Indiana Jones series of movies.

04:28

And there was one where Indiana Jones supposedly finds the

04:33

Ark of the Covenant. The Raiders of the Lost Ark, I think it was. And at the end of the thing, you know, the bad guys have the

04:43

Ark. And Indiana Jones is captured. And he's, you know, he's there where the bad guys are.

04:50

And then the bad guys decide they want to find out what's in this Ark. What's in this thing that makes it so special?

04:57

And they go and take the lid off of the Ark. And this incredible power, light and power comes out from the presence in the middle of that Ark.

05:06

And it kills all of those guys. And Indiana Jones knows, Don't look at it. Don't look at it.

05:12

And so they go to take the lid off that thing. And he turns away. He makes sure that he doesn't look.

05:18

And so he survives. But all the bad guys, they get killed. Well, the element of truth to that is, this is what

05:26

God had commanded in the Old Testament. Nobody is to look at this Ark. Nobody's to look into it.

05:32

It is that holy because the God who dwells there, it's a symbol of his presence, remember.

05:41

He is holy. He is holy. He is transcendent.

05:47

He is so holy that we cannot, we could not stand to behold his glory if we were to see it in all of his glory.

05:56

And furthermore, his holiness is so perfect and pristine that it would defile his holiness for unclean eyes to gaze upon him.

06:13

So he makes it a very serious offense. And he's warned them, warned

06:18

Israel, warned his people, very clearly, don't do this. These men do it anyway.

06:25

And they pay the price for it. All of this should cause us to ask the question, what is my view of the holiness of God?

06:36

When I read this account, do I think, man, God's not fair.

06:42

That's a terrible thing for God to do. Or do I bow in reverential awe and fear of this

06:51

God who is so powerful and so holy that we can't even look upon him.

07:01

We can't even gaze upon him in all of his glory. What is my view of the holiness of God?

07:08

That's the question that this passage begs. And I hope your view of the holiness of God is one that accurately corresponds to how the

07:20

Bible reveals his glory to us. Our Father and our

07:25

God, may we appreciate who you are, your holiness, your righteousness, your transcendence, and our unworthiness in and of ourselves, even to gaze upon your face.

07:40

We can't even do it. So, Lord, as we encounter a passage like this in the

07:46

Old Testament, I pray that we wouldn't have the arrogant idea that you are just mean to have done such a thing.

07:55

Instead, I pray we would appreciate who you are in an even deeper way, we ask in Jesus' name.

08:03

Amen. All right, well, you have a good rest of your Wednesday over the hump in the week, and go from there.