Generally speaking, Arthur W. Pink is a useful guide into the study and application of the Scriptures. Here is one of his quotable statements – “The god of this 20th Century no more resembles the supreme sovereign of Holy writ than does the dim flickering of a candle the glory of the mid-day sun. The god who is now talked about in the average pulpit, spoken of in the ordinary Sunday School, mentioned in much in the religious literature the day and preached in most of the so-called Bible conferences is just the figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin human mentality. The heathen out-side the pale of Christendom fashioned their god’s out of wood and stone, while the millions of heathen inside Christendom fashion god out of their own carnal minds. In reality they are but atheists, for there is no other possible alternative between an ABSOLUTELY SUPREME God and no God at all. A God whose will is resisted, whose designs are frustrated, whose purposes are check-mated possesses no title to deity. And so far from being a fit object of worship, merits naught but contempt.”
Bringing David to stand before A. W. Pink, we see that even the king’s estimate of God was less than Biblical. In this light we must conclude that we, ourselves, are in danger of misunderstanding or forgetting the divine essence. And this doesn’t even touch upon the “heathen outside of Christendom” of whom Pink was speaking. We cannot have correct, Biblical, and God-honoring worship without possessing a correct, and Biblical and God-based theology. Or as my pastor used to often say – “Without orthodoxy there can never be orthopraxy.” Let’s make a handful of comparisons this evening.
Let’s begin by comparing Jehovah and something called SINCERITY.
“Sincerity” is a perfectly good word when used properly – BUT it is highly over-rated these days. “Sincere,” and “sincerity” are words found less than a dozen times in the Bible. But as you hear them used today, you’d think these words were found hundreds of times. In the Bible they come from original words meaning “genuine, pure, perfect and unsullied.” These are admirable qualities which I wish people could use to describe me. But in today’s dictionary these words were listed with the paragraph described as “archaic.” A part of the current definition – the non-archaic definition – includes the word “earnestness.” But “earnestness” is not a part of the Biblical use of “sincerity.”
After David had been established as King over the nation of Israel he had a religious thought. The old Tabernacle of Witness, the focal point of Jehovah’s worship in the days of Moses was in tatters and various components were scattered about the country. The Ark of Covenant for example, was in a man’s house in Kirjath-Jearim. It had been removed from Tabernacle and transported into an epic battle. And when that battle was lost, the Ark of the Covenant was taken as a prize by the Philistines. I hope you are familiar with the miraculous way in which God brought it back to Israel. The Ark was kept for a short time in Bethshemesh and finally brought to Kirjath-jearrm. Years later, David, with admirable sincerity, wanted to give the Ark a more honorable resting place. So he consulted with his peers – verse 1. He didn’t talk to any of the prophets of the Lord, like Nathan or Gad. He didn’t discuss this with the priests or the leaders of the Levites. He didn’t turn to the scrolls of written Word, to the explicit instructions from Moses. David consulted with his military captains and political advisors. Everyone patted the king on the back and told him that he was doing a good thing.
Like so many sincere people today, David made society the means of determining the mind of God. This will get us into trouble more than 99 percent of the time. God is not an elected official, nor does He act as determined by human plebiscite or referendum. Morality is not a nebulous or fluctuating idea that changes between centuries and continents. God doesn’t mind that you have opinions about things, so long as they agree explicitly with Him. Therefore don’t place anyone’s SINCERE opinion above the Word of God. How many sincere people think that christening babies is a Divine precept? How many sincere people think that sincerity is more important than truth? Sincerity is a leaky pail when it comes a man’s relationship to Jehovah.
Moving on, notice what is taught here about the Lord and Obscurity.
The Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat upon it was the focal point of the yearly Day of Atonement. That Ark was used to remind Israel of the presence of the Lord among His people. Over time it falsely came to be understood as the actual presence of Lord among His people. So to some when the Ark was in the obscurity of Kirjath-jearim, God was absent from His throne. This reminds us of the importance of proper theology. God is not confined to a box, or a church, or to the Bible, or to a priest. Verse 3 – “Let us bring again the ark of our God to us; for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul.” Does this mean that no one had ever prayed during the tumultuous days of the reign of King Saul? They not only prayed often, but some of the sweetest Psalms and prayers of David came from that time period.
Israel had not enquired at it in the days of Saul? Oh? I don’t recall Moses instructing Israel to enquire of the Lord through the Ark. The Ark was supposed to be hidden within the inner veil of the Holy of Holies. The Ark was supposed to be visited only once a year on the Day of Atonement. Its ministry was not one of intercession, but of propitiation. If this was David’s thought in verse 3, he certainly didn’t use the right language.
My point here is this: “obscurity” is not a word that readily applies to the Lord. Even if there is a reason that the Lord is not known, it is not because He is obscure. If there is a reason that the sun is not seen, it is because we are blind. Not only are we blind, because even a blindman knows when the sun is shining. To deny the sun requires living in our cave, withdrawing from its heat. God is omnipresent – He is everywhere present all at the same time. The opposite to OMNIPRESENCE is total ABSENCE.. David you need not worry about the absence of the Lord, He is never really absent.
But that doesn’t mean that the Lord and FAMILIARITY go together.
“Familiarity” can mean “closeness, friendship and intimacy.” But for my use there are some other synonyms – “Informality, disrespect, impropriety and intrusiveness.”
David ordered the golden Ark of the Covenant to be flung onto the bed of a new cart. I don’t know what that cart looked like, but it was probably solidly built. And it probably was decked out in what David sincerely believed was appropriate for its cargo. It was pulled by at least two oxen, probably matching in size and color. Then there was a brass band and plenty of stringed instruments with singers, soldiers, priests and politicians. I wish that I knew whether or not the Ark was properly covered as commanded by God. I doubt that it was, but wonder why God didn’t judge Israel for even looking upon it.
Again, I point out that David followed the example of the idolatrous Philistines in his treatment of God’s Ark. They used a cart, because they had never been instructed about the proper procedure. But to the credit of Philistines, they showed more respect for this instrument of the Lord than Israel did. The Philistines honored God by exercising a kind of faith in sending the Ark home. Their cart was pulled by cows which had never been yoked, and with calves bawling for their mothers. It was a miracle that the Ark made it from Philistia to Bethshemesh. David’s transportation was just a notch below that the of Philistines – disobedience and a lack of faith. But God is gracious and patient and didn’t destroy Israel or her new king.
And then the oxen pulled that cart over a particularly rough stretch of road. The potholes were especially bad. At least one of the oxen stumbled, and a man named Uzza stretched out his hand to steady the Ark. He was dead before he could feel the warmth of the gold at his fingertips.
God’s holiness is the foundational characteristic of all His being. He is holy, undefiled and separate from sinners. He will not have the hands of sinners laid upon Him, no matter how sincere they may be. He will not have hands of sinners laid upon the things which represent Him. There is that man using the name of the Saviour to curse and swear, blaspheming the Lord somewhere in every conversation. And he sincerely thinks that the holy God will overlook his indiscretions. He is a dead man where he stands and as he opens his mouth. There is that preacher laughing at the clear declaration of the Bible. Is he denying the existence of Hell, or the reality of the virgin birth, or the atonement? Keep your hands off the holy things of God if you value your life.
The word “familiarity” brings up another image – Begin not to say within yourselves that you KNOW the Lord. Yes, there is much we can know and should know about the Lord and His will. But the infinitude of the Lord places most of the things of God beyond us. “Canst thou by searching find out God?” The more we learn about the Lord, the more we learn there is more to learn. David learned that there was no room for familiarity with God.
But before that he had to deal with the Lord in the context of HOSTILITY and ANXIETY.
Verse 12 – “And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me? So David brought not the ark home to himself to the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite.”
When I was having trouble with my cable internet service, several technicians came to work on the problem. They had to get into boxes on the side of the house and under the fake rocks in the yard. In both places wasps had built their homes, and they decided to defend them. Those technicians brought their own cans of wasp spray augmenting that which Judy and I had. And let’s say that there were piles of dead wasps in our yard.
Those wasps had more right to be angry with us than any man has a right to be angry with the Lord even if He should open up the earth and swallow every man, woman and child in Kootenai and Spokane counties. The Lord, He is God, over Heaven above and over earth beneath. The world is HIS sandbox, and if we want to play in it, it will have be by His rules. Uzza, “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.” SHOULD David be anxious about bringing the Ark of the Lord into Jerusalem? There is a sense in which, Yes, he should be afraid. The omnipotence, justice and holiness of the Almighty should make us all afraid.
Where is Uzza today? Is he in hell/sheol awaiting the resurrection of the wicked and his final condemnation into eternal flame? Or is he with the Savior awaiting the day of the rapture/translation of the living saints? I wouldn’t be surprised to find that Uzza was as much a saint of God as was David. Just because the Lord judged the man with physical death doesn’t mean that he experienced the second death as well. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” even for the saints of God.
Our sincerity is not a sufficient shield to protect us from the anger or the wrath of God. The unsaved shall face the WRATH of the Lord – but the righteous may face His ANGER. Was David wrong to want the Lord close to him? He went about things incorrectly, but he was not wrong! You and I, and the King of Israel need the Lord like we’ve never needed anything else. But we need the Lord on His terms, not our own. If we are not careful and Biblically circumspect, we’ll meet the Lord a little prematurely – as did Uzzah.