In 2 Samuel 6 we are given the story of King David's first attempt to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem after it had been taken captive by the Philistines. I say first attempt because it was unsuccessful. Something tragic happened on the way. The text says, "But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God." (2 Sam. 6:6-7 NASB).
This passage used to really bother me. Here was Uzzah walking near the Ark as it was on its way to Jerusalem. My guess is that he was probably a very religious man. The reason I say this is because transporting the Ark was a big deal. The Ark of the Covenant signified the very presence of God. I would assume that King David didn't want just anyone to be walking with the Ark. He probably wanted proven men of priestly duty to be the leaders in returning the Ark to the nation of Israel. Now, as they were walking, the oxen that were pulling the Ark stumbled. So Uzzah, it seems out of reflex, put his hand up to stabilize the Ark. This seems like the right thing to do. Here is the Ark of God. It is the most prized possession in all of Israel, and it is about to fall to the ground. Who wouldn't place their hand up to protect this sacred box? But what happens? God's anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down.
Some have said that this passage has more to do with David's sin than with Uzzah's. David wasn't transporting the Ark according to the Law. According to the Law the Ark was to be carried by Levites. The Levites were to place poles through the rings attached to the casing of the Ark, and the Levites were to walk carrying the poles on their shoulders. However, David used oxen and a cart. Following this line of thought, some have concluded that the blame is ultimately on David's shoulders rather than Uzzah's.
It is true that David was wrong, and it may be true that this event would have never taken place had David followed the instruction in the Law. However, it is also clear that all of the blame is not on David. The text says that the LORD's anger burned against Uzzah for his irreverence. And I guess this is the part that always bothered me. Why did God become so angry with Uzzah for keeping the Ark from falling to the ground? It seems like it was just a reflex. Had Uzzah had time to really consider things, he might have thought about God's holiness and his own sinfulness. He might have been able to reason with himself that even touching the Ark would mean death for him. But he didn't have the privilege of thinking through the scenario. The ox stumbled, his hand went up, and he died.
But when this passage stopped bothering me so much was when I realized that Uzzah's hand going up was an indicator of the condition of his heart. Had Uzzah recognized God's holiness; had Uzzah truly understood his own sinfulness, then his reflex would have been to jump out of the way rather than to put up his hand. Through most of our lives we are not given the time to consider the theological and spiritual implications of our actions. We simply act. We act based on our hearts. John Piper has said, "If we are going to do what pleases God, most of the time it will be by reflex, not reflection." And I suspect that our reflex choices are more indicative of our belief system than those based on reflection.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Are We Romans 1?
Bear with me on this one.
Paul's primary purpose in his letter to the Roman church is to demonstrate to them that righteousness, salvation, right standing before God, is a gift and cannot be earned. But before he can present this gift (righteousness that comes from faith in Jesus Christ) he has to convince his readers that they are lacking and in need. So in the first portion of the letter, Paul makes the case that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. To introduce his case, Paul tells the church to simply open their eyes and see that God's wrath is being executed. Paul says that God's wrath is revealed against those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The creation itself testifies not only to God's existence, but also to His character and nature (vs. 20). However, the result of unrighteousness is the supression of the truth. So we see that Atheism is not an intellectual problem. It is a moral problem.
To me, the most interesting and horrific thing about this passage is how Paul defines the wrath of God..."Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them."(Romans 1:24 NASB). So God's wrath in Romans 1 is a giving over. It seems that God's wrath is God giving people over to sin. I don't believe that Paul is telling us that this is the totality of God's wrath. We are given some very graphic imagery in Revelation of the culmination of God's wrath. However, I do think Paul is telling us that this is how we see God's wrath being displayed in this present age.
Now, what is even more interesting is exactly how this "giving over" plays out. In verses 26-28 Paul tells us that the result of God's giving them over is homosexuality. Why is homosexuality the specific sin that is manifested when God gives them over? I think the answer is in verse 28..."And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,". It seems that there is a link (I would say culturally) between the spiritual sin of denying God and the physical manifestation of homosexuality. This makes sense because God sees Himself as a groom, and He sees His people as His Bride. My thought is this: Since marriage was created to be a physical picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church, maybe homosexuality is the physical picture of a people, who were created to love and honor God, turning away from God and worhsipping themselves. In other words, it seems that God's wrath toward idolatry is giving people over to their own depravity, resulting in homosexuality.
This has also made me wonder if God's wrath also has other physical manifestations to correlate to different spiritual sins. I know this might sound a little crazy, and I'm not claiming that it is Truth. It's just something that I have wondered about. Please let me know your thoughts.
Paul's primary purpose in his letter to the Roman church is to demonstrate to them that righteousness, salvation, right standing before God, is a gift and cannot be earned. But before he can present this gift (righteousness that comes from faith in Jesus Christ) he has to convince his readers that they are lacking and in need. So in the first portion of the letter, Paul makes the case that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. To introduce his case, Paul tells the church to simply open their eyes and see that God's wrath is being executed. Paul says that God's wrath is revealed against those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The creation itself testifies not only to God's existence, but also to His character and nature (vs. 20). However, the result of unrighteousness is the supression of the truth. So we see that Atheism is not an intellectual problem. It is a moral problem.
To me, the most interesting and horrific thing about this passage is how Paul defines the wrath of God..."Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them."(Romans 1:24 NASB). So God's wrath in Romans 1 is a giving over. It seems that God's wrath is God giving people over to sin. I don't believe that Paul is telling us that this is the totality of God's wrath. We are given some very graphic imagery in Revelation of the culmination of God's wrath. However, I do think Paul is telling us that this is how we see God's wrath being displayed in this present age.
Now, what is even more interesting is exactly how this "giving over" plays out. In verses 26-28 Paul tells us that the result of God's giving them over is homosexuality. Why is homosexuality the specific sin that is manifested when God gives them over? I think the answer is in verse 28..."And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,". It seems that there is a link (I would say culturally) between the spiritual sin of denying God and the physical manifestation of homosexuality. This makes sense because God sees Himself as a groom, and He sees His people as His Bride. My thought is this: Since marriage was created to be a physical picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church, maybe homosexuality is the physical picture of a people, who were created to love and honor God, turning away from God and worhsipping themselves. In other words, it seems that God's wrath toward idolatry is giving people over to their own depravity, resulting in homosexuality.
This has also made me wonder if God's wrath also has other physical manifestations to correlate to different spiritual sins. I know this might sound a little crazy, and I'm not claiming that it is Truth. It's just something that I have wondered about. Please let me know your thoughts.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Why Can't We Call it What it Is?...Killing Babies
My heart has been especially troubled lately that we kill babies in our country. I have heard that the number is close to 1 million per year. We kill 1 million babies every year. We are not forced to do it. It is our "choice." And I have been guilty, along with the rest of the Church, of being disturbingly silent. In our hearts we feel sorrow. The Spirit of God testifies to our spirit that a great injustice is being done. We know, regardless of what anyone else says, that this is a valuable little child created in the image of God. Yet we still remain silent. We probably think to ourselves, "That's just the way it is." Our culture becomes increasingly confused by words that are designed to mask the truth rather than to reveal it. "Medical procedure," "abortion," "terminating the pregnancy," "sexual privacy," and "civil rights," are a few. Why can't we just call it what it is?...killing babies.
There have been other injustices in our nation's history; things that, looking back, seem absurd. About 150 years ago white American people owned African people as slaves. I'm sure there was some sort of logical argument behind it. I'm sure there was language that made it seem just and right to the culture. Maybe some argued that the slaves weren't really people. Others probably focused on the rights and freedom of the slave owner. I'm sure some argued that it would be too expensive to the nation to allow all of these people to live free lives. And I wonder if some even argued that it would be cruel to let the slaves go free. After all, life as a slave is all they knew. They couldn't possibly make it in a world so difficult.
In the midst of all of the debate and rhetoric, I wonder if there were Christians who looked at slavery with discontent, yet remained silent. Perhaps they read their Bibles and recognized that there was a great injustice taking place. But maybe they said to themselves, "That's just the way it is." Maybe they even talked to each other about how horrible slavery was. And maybe it eased their conscience a little to tell someone, who already agreed with them, that slavery was bad.
But there were other Christians who were bold enough to call slavery what it was to people who needed to hear the truth. They penetrated through the rhetoric and revealed the injustice. They did not let their own comforts and fears render them impotent. Rather, they realized that God had commissioned them to glorify Him by fighting for justice. It was a passion for the Glory of God as displayed in the Justice of God that finally abolished slavery (if not clearly in the U.S. then clearly in Great Britain of whom the U.S. followed suit).
I want to be a disciple of Christ that is not content with saying, "That's just the way it is." I don't want to be ruled by my comforts or fears. I don't want to ease my conscience by just talking about the injustice of abortion to people who already agree with me. And I want to be a believer who will be bold enough to call it what it is...killing babies.
There have been other injustices in our nation's history; things that, looking back, seem absurd. About 150 years ago white American people owned African people as slaves. I'm sure there was some sort of logical argument behind it. I'm sure there was language that made it seem just and right to the culture. Maybe some argued that the slaves weren't really people. Others probably focused on the rights and freedom of the slave owner. I'm sure some argued that it would be too expensive to the nation to allow all of these people to live free lives. And I wonder if some even argued that it would be cruel to let the slaves go free. After all, life as a slave is all they knew. They couldn't possibly make it in a world so difficult.
In the midst of all of the debate and rhetoric, I wonder if there were Christians who looked at slavery with discontent, yet remained silent. Perhaps they read their Bibles and recognized that there was a great injustice taking place. But maybe they said to themselves, "That's just the way it is." Maybe they even talked to each other about how horrible slavery was. And maybe it eased their conscience a little to tell someone, who already agreed with them, that slavery was bad.
But there were other Christians who were bold enough to call slavery what it was to people who needed to hear the truth. They penetrated through the rhetoric and revealed the injustice. They did not let their own comforts and fears render them impotent. Rather, they realized that God had commissioned them to glorify Him by fighting for justice. It was a passion for the Glory of God as displayed in the Justice of God that finally abolished slavery (if not clearly in the U.S. then clearly in Great Britain of whom the U.S. followed suit).
I want to be a disciple of Christ that is not content with saying, "That's just the way it is." I don't want to be ruled by my comforts or fears. I don't want to ease my conscience by just talking about the injustice of abortion to people who already agree with me. And I want to be a believer who will be bold enough to call it what it is...killing babies.
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