Holy Unto the Lord

2 Samuel 6:1-8 ESV

1 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. 3 And they carried 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 Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, 4 with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. 5 And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. 6 And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. 8 And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day.

In our series of messages that we will be working through here in the month of May, we will be examining a narrative that records one of the most joyous occasions in Israel’s history. And that occasion was bringing the ark of God into the city of Jerusalem.

But though this was such a joyous occasion, it wasn’t very easy getting there, and that was because of some mistakes that those who bore the ark made along the way.

The Ark of God, or what is also called, the Ark of the Covenant was a pure gold-covered wooden chest with an elaborate lid called, the Mercy Seat.

Inside the Ark were the two stone tablets in which the Ten Commandments were written on by God Himself, there was also Aaron, the high priest’s rod, and a jar of manna.

But ultimately, the reality that the Ark of the Covenant represented is that it was indeed the Ark of God, that is, God was literally present with the Ark. It was the place in which God had chosen to dwell amongst His people on earth. Because of this, the Scriptures tell us that when one was in the presence of the Ark of God, that one was in fact in the holiest place on earth.

Well, several years before the events that are taking place in the narrative that we will be working through this month, the Ark of God was actually captured by Israel’s worst enemies, the Philistines.

Well, after a few instances of God’s power, the Philistines willingly returned the Ark to Israel, and it was kept in the house of a man named Abinadab in Kiriath-jearim.

Well, like I said, by the time that the events in this narrative take place, several years have passed, and by this time, there is a king in Israel whom you may have heard of, his name was David.

And David, as is recorded in the Scriptures, was a man after God’s own heart. This means that David desired to love and serve His God above all else. But even though David had good intentions in bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, even though he wanted to do what seemed to be the good and godly thing to do, as we will shortly see, he didn’t go about it the right way, and he and the people of Israel paid for it.

Now, like I said, the Ark of God represented the literal presence of God, so, the godly thought that David had here was that the best place for the Ark of God, the presence of God to be, was in the capital city of Israel, Jerusalem.

And so, we see in the first two verses of our reading, how King David prepared to retrieve this most precious object, where we read:

*2 Samuel 6:1-2 ESV

1 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim.

David gathers the 30,000 chosen men. These chosen men were fighting men, the very best of Israel’s military force. So, this means that David views transporting the ark from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem as a military operation.

This is interesting because at the end of verse 2, it speaks of God as the Lord of hosts. You see, God reigns over a vast well-ordered fighting host in the heavenlies, which is what the name, Lord of hosts signifies. So, David transporting the ark, the presence of God with a force of fighting men reflects this reality which is in Heaven.

This is wonderful, extremely godly symbolism, a very godly act on David’s part… but in the next two verses, we see where the trouble begins, where it says:

*2 Samuel 6:3-4 ESV

3 And they carried 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 Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, 4 with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.

Now, this is something that most everyone would read, not really think anything about it, and just keep on reading along to see what happens next. But if we look closely, we will see the error that David and the men transporting the ark made here.

Look here at the beginning of verse 3, what does it say the ark of God was transported on? A new cart. And right there we see the first big mistake because over in the book of Exodus, and in the book of Numbers, God commanded that the ark be transported using poles which would be inserted through the rings on the sides of the ark.

Now, some of us might look at something like that and say, “Big deal! David was trying something bigger and better than what God prescribed!”

But you see, that is the problem with modern Christianity. We so often think that we know more than what God knows; we think we know better than God, we think this so much that we tell God how He ought to be worshipped and then we expect Him to act accordingly.

You see, David probably felt as though he was doing God a service by transporting the ark on a new cart rather than carrying it on the poles as God prescribed, but regardless of what David thought, there is a reason why God commands what He commands and the worship of God is not negotiable, what He commands and how He prescribes us to worship Him is the way that He is to be worshiped, period, regardless of what we may think.

And though David and the people did the opposite of what God prescribed, still at first, everything was going great, as we see in verse 5:

*2 Samuel 6:5 ESV

5 And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

Everything seemed to be going just the way it was supposed to be going. They retrieved the ark, the presence of God, and now they were on their way to Jerusalem! They said, “It’s time to celebrate!”.

Well, in the same way, many times when we find a way to worship God that is contrary to what He prescribes and commands, initially it seems like everything is going great, better than ever before… but it isn’t long until the judgment of God is made manifest.

And we will see how God made His judgment known to David and the people of Israel in verses 6 and 7, where it says:

*2 Samuel 6:6-7 ESV

6 And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.

While the Ark of God, the presence of God was being transported on this new cart, one of the oxen that was carrying the cart stumbled.

Now, when that happened, the ark naturally moved around in the cart. Then Uzzah, who was following behind the cart, when he saw that this was happening, he reached his hand out to keep the ark steady.

Now, this seems like an innocent, even thoughtful thing to do. But when Uzzah touch the ark, right then and there, God struck him down, and he died beside the Ark of God.

Now, we may wonder why that happened. In fact, we may even think that God was being overly harsh here.

But what we have to recognize here is what the Ark of God is, and why this happened. As we’ve said, the Ark of God is the literal presence of God amongst His people. And so, because a human, who of course is not holy, touched the ark, it violated the holiness of God.

And so, while Uzzah most certainly had good intentions here, nonetheless, he violated the holiness of God, and therefore he deserved to be struck down by God.

And like I said, when we attempt to alter the worship of God, we may have good intentions, we may legitimately feel as though we are doing the right thing, and at first, things may even be going well, but because we are not worshipping God the way that He truly deserves to be worshipped, there will be judgment… and like Uzzah, we will deserve that judgment.

And beloved, the reality is that for the most part, churches in America have strayed far from worshipping God the way that He prescribes and commands to be worshipped. And the effects, the judgment that has come upon the churches has been painfully obvious.

So, what should be our response to this indisputable fact? Well, let’s look at what David’s response was:

*2 Samuel 6:8a ESV

8a And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah.

David was angry… but why? Why was David angry here? Well, he could have thought that God was being too harsh here. Maybe he was angry because this special event that would gain him a lot of political support has just turned into a tragic fiasco.

But at any rate, anger is not what David should have felt here. No, what he should have felt here was sorrow and repentance. What he should have felt was sorrow that what he orchestrated was most dishonoring God. And he should have repented by obediently worshipping God the way that He commands to be worshipped, and to do so immediately.

But instead, he got angry because things weren’t going the way he wanted them to go.

Well, you know, God’s judgment has come upon many, many churches all across our country because we have not revered God, we have not obeyed God, we have tweaked the way that we should worship God, and more times than not, the response has not been sorrow, it has not been repentance… rather, the response has typically been anger.

We say, “We come to church every week, we love God to the best of our ability, why isn’t our church growing?!” in short, we’ve been angry with God for our own faults.

Now, you may say, “What do you mean my own faults?!”

Well, let me ask you, what should describe our worship of God? The same thing that describes God Himself. And the best way that we can describe God is holy. Therefore, our worship of God should be holy.

Now, let me ask you, when is the last time that you have attended a church service and felt that it was holy, consecrated, truly glorifying to God? When is the last time that you have legitimately been able to describe a worship service as holy unto the Lord?

When is the last time you have felt hearts that were holy, directed solely towards God when you gathered to worship? When is the last time that you have heard words that were holy, directed solely towards God?

We think that we should come here to be fed, to have a good time, to hear something that we like, when in reality we should come here to worship God… the way He commands us to worship Him: In spirit and in truth, with hearts completely given over to Him.

Beloved, let us stop getting angry, instead, let us sorrow that we have not treated God as holy, and let us repent by treating Him the way He deserves!

Amen?