God Untamed - 1 Chronicles 13:1-14

Introduction

(Show pic of chameleon) I’ve always been fascinated by chameleons. There’s something about the ability to change colors so that you become invisible that is appealing to introverts like me. They’re able to change how they look so that it adapts to their surroundings and circumstances. If they need to absorb more sun, they can be darker. If they need less, they can be lighter. If they need to blend in with the brown tree bark, they can be brown, or if they need to blend in with the green leaves, they can be green. They’re totally adaptable so that they can optimize their survival in any situation and environment.

Many of us have mastered that same art, haven’t we? We’re able to adapt our personality, appearance, and language so that we can blend in anywhere, regardless of where we are. We’re able to optimize our survival in whatever environment we find ourselves. I think that’s one of the reasons why it’s not uncommon for married couples to meet with me and feel like they hardly even know one another. One or both people have been trying constantly to put their best foot forward, their best performance possible, their best face in whatever circumstance for so long that they don’t know how to turn it off. And, here’s what happens: They end up not feeling loved because they aren’t really known. Their thinking is always: if you really knew what I was thinking, if you really knew what I was like, if you really knew how I looked, if you really knew what I liked, you would be repulsed by me. So, we become experts at creating the image we want to be known by, and many of us end up living in superficial relationships where none of us really know one another.

God’s Word

And, here’s the relevance to what we’re talking about today: We become so accustomed to superficial relationships over which we adjust our image and other adjust their image for us that we attempt to have the same type of relationship with God himself. With God, we attempt to put our best foot and face forward so that he will be impressed with our religious piety and flowery language. Why? Because we think that’s what God expects, and so we’re adapting for him. And more dangerous yet, we expect that God himself will come to us that way that we want him to and expect him to. We expect that God will be what we want him to be and that He will hold back from us the parts of himself that we may find frightening or uncomfortable or unfamiliar. But, God doesn’t do superficial relationships. He can see past your religious activity and your flowery language. He can see past your church clothes and your sparkling presentation. And, God doesn’t adapt himself for any person or situation. So, this passage is insisting that we know God and approach God and relate to God as He really is, not as we want or expect Him to be.

We see three different experiences with God from three different characters, and they teach us how we relate to God (headline):

There are no “casual” relationships with a “holy” God.

13:6-7 And David and all Israel went up to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim that belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord who sits enthroned above the cherubim. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart, from the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio were driving the cart.

A Throne, not Furniture

(Show pic of Ark) As the new king of Israel, David is bringing much needed reforms from the time of Saul. Saul had placed the weight of leading Israel upon his own shoulders. He neglected the counsel of his elders, and he treated the Ark of the Covenant like it was a piece of furniture. What we see here is David reversing both of those policies. He inquires of all of Israel to see what was his wise course of action, and he endeavors to bring the Ark of the Covenant out of exile. The Ark was God’s throne within Israel. It was supposed to be in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle where it would be approached cautiously only once per year by the High Priest alone. But, that must’ve seemed like a long time ago. Now, it was in an obscure house in an obscure town collecting dust. It had gotten there because the Lord had given Saul over to the Philistines, and the Philistines captured it. They put it in the Temple of Dagon beside their wooden god, seemingly showing how their god was greater and YWHW was now subject to him. Well, when they reenter the temple, Dagon has fallen over, and his head, arms, and legs have been removed. They begin to shift the Ark around the cities of the Philistines like a hot potato, but plagues of tumors and mice break out everywhere that it is until the Philistines send it back to Israel. So, it ends up in Kiriath-jearim in the house of Abinadab for twenty years. So, David is sending for it that he might show that Isreal is going to be led by YWHW, not David. David is not Israel’s ultimate hope; the LORD is.

“they carried the ark of God on a new cart” There were very specific instructions laid out for the handling of the Ark. It was only to be handled by a specific clan of the Levite tribe — the Kohathites. That’s probably how the Ark ended up in Abinadab’s house. He and his sons were likely Kohathites. They had been trained all of their lives on how to carry the Ark. It was to be carried by two poles that slid through its rings, and it was to never be touched. God had said through Moses that whoever touched the Ark would surely die. Why? Because God is holy, and sinful creatures cannot withstand the awesome holiness of God. God’s holiness is lethal to sinners. Holiness means “separateness”. It’s the word that encompasses all of the attributes of God into the human vernacular. It’s the word that we use to describe what we cannot otherwise articulate. God is pure, but his purity is inexpressible. God is majestic, but his majesty is indescribable. God is sovereign, but his sovereignty is incomprehensible. His greatness and other-ness and divinity so far transcends our thoughts and reason that we had to have a word to use that encompasses all of his wonder that is beyond our comprehension, all of his transcendence that separates him from anything else that’s been created, and that word is “holy.”

“Holy, Holy, Holy”

In fact, this is the song of heaven. The only thrice repeated characteristic that’s used to describe God is found in Isaiah 6. It’s when God gives Isaiah a vision of heaven, and there are the seraphs shielding their faces from the radiant glory of God declaring over and over the three-peated phraise: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty.” And, do you remember Isaiah’s response? “Woe is me, for I am ruined.” That’s the response of humans in the face of the holiness of God. “I can’t stand it.” Isaiah sees the holiness of God and immediately is confronted with how unholy and impure he has, and he says that it’s going to unravel him. On the day of atonement, the Jews had so many High Priests die in the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was that they began to tie a scarlet rope around his foot to drag him out if he was struck dead. Sinners are vanquished by the holiness of God, and that holiness is what is represented and manifested upon the mercy seat of the Ark. You can’t understand what’s happening here without understanding that.

Treating What is Holy as Common

13:9-10 And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God.

That’s what leads us to verses 9 and 10. The Ark is on the back of a trailer, and it was supposed to be carried on poles. The Ark was being treated like furniture, when it was supposed to be revered as holy. And, the oxen stumbles, the Ark becomes unstable, and Uzzah reacts. And, nothing is left of Uzzah but a pair of smoking sandals. Why? He treated what God had made holy as though it was common. Uzzah entered the presence of God as though he, a sinner, belonged there. Jonathan Edwards points out: Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark as though his hand was less polluted than the ground was. But, the ground has never blasphemed God. The ground has never disobeyed him. The ground has never lived as though He wasn’t the king. The earth obeys the Lord. The waves stop where He says. The sun rises when He commands it. The rain falls when He sends it. We’re the rebellious ones. Uzzah’s hand is what’s impure, and it could not withstand what was holy. Uzzah reached up casually, but sinners don’t “stroll” into the “presence” of a holy God.

Too Familiar with a Holy God

You see, Uzzah had became too familiar, too comfortable with the presence of a holy God. The ark had been in his house, likely without incident for twenty years, and so, he no longer revered it. He’d lost any awe over the holiness of God. He didn’t appreciate the potency of God’s power for what it is. ILL: A few years ago, I was on a safari in Africa. We were able to get within feet of a full-maned, male lion. It’s just an awesome, terrifying, adrenaline pumping experience. I felt so vulnerable and exposed in this open-air vehicle mere feet from such raw power. As we were leaving, I asked our guide if they ever have any attacks. I’m expecting, “Oh no, we do this all the time.” Instead, he said, “Oh yea, all the time!” Then, he went on to tell me about one of their guides who had recently been disemboweled by a leopard. This is what he said, “People see so many of them that they believe that they’re tame, and they don’t fear them. Then, they get too close, and it’s the end for them.” That’s what happened to Uzzah. He believed that God was tame. That He was some superstitious token that could be placed in the corner until you wanted or needed Him. But, listen: God is not “tamed”! He is holy! And, you do not stroll in and out of his presence as though He’s some superstition.

Have you grown too familiar with a holy God? We’ve grown up hearing the stories of Noah and David and Elijah. We’ve had coloring pages of the cross. We’ve heard about God, and we’ve heard the Bible preached, and we’ve seen the Bible abused. And, it’s so easy for us to have become so familiar that it feels like God is just a trunk in the corner. And, it’s lethal. One day, we will stand before the throne of a holy God. The only difference between Uzzah and us is that we have the opportunity to repent. One day, we’re going to stand in the presence of a holy God, and we’re going to be ruined when we glimpse his awesome holiness. Nothing will feel familiar that day. We will see God as He really is, and we will declare with all of heaven, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!”

God’s presence is only “enjoyed” on God’s “terms.”

13:13-14 So David did not take the ark home into the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of God remained with the household of Obed-edom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that he had.

It says that David is both angry and afraid. David is a post-modern. He’s mad when God does exactly what God would say He would do. He’s mad that God is who He is. He’s mad that God won’t capitulate to his own corrupt sense of justice. But, David is no fool. He trembles when he sees what happens when God’s awesome holiness meets man’s utter sinfulness. He trembles because he knows that he could be next and that Uzzah’s death is due in large part to David’s irreverence for God’s word. So, David has the Ark sent to the last place it should have been — to the house of Obed-edom THE GITTITE. That is, he has the Ark sent to a Philistine’s house from Gath.

Shocking Grace in the Light of Potent Holiness

Now, how do you expect this story to go from him? David sends God’s holy presence to live in the house of unclean, uncircumcised man. You’re expecting scorched earth. But, do you see what happens? GRACE. SHOCKING GRACE. God blesses the house of the Philistine so that everyone takes notice. And, do you know what God’s doing? He’s inviting David, by grace, to bring the Ark back, but on His terms. God’s presence isn’t just meant for the “fear” of his people; it’s meant for the “joy” of his people. But, the difference between experiencing God in terror and experiencing him in joy is the difference between coming to God on your terms versus his terms. It’s the difference between loving God as you want him to be and loving God as He truly is. You see, David thought that he could accomplish God’s will apart from obedience to God’s word. But, David’s sincere effort actually only revealed a rebellious heart. He thought he could figure out how to do all this on his own. But, God was teaching him that it’s by his word that David is to lead God’s people, and it’s by his word that David would enjoy God’s presence and its blessings.

You Can Enjoy God’s Presence

I’ve got good news for you this morning. You, a sinner, can enjoy the presence of a holy God. You can enter his presence and not be vanquished. You can enter his presence and find rest and relief. You can enter his presence and find the peace that you’ve been searching for. But, you have to enter God’s presence on God’s terms. You have to enter through his Word. That is, you have to enter God’s presence through the exact “gate” and the exact “path” that He has prescribed, just as they were to carry the Ark only in the way that He had prescribed. That gate and path is Jesus, his Son. You see, Jesus died as a guilty man just like Uzzah did and just like we should. But, He died as the innocent God-man who was able to satisfy the holy wrath of God on our behalf.

2 Cor 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

You see, if we will come to God through the gate that He has prescribed — Jesus — then we can boldly and joyfully enjoy his presence. How? Now, we’ve been made holy too. We’ve been made as holy as Jesus by Jesus. Jesus took our sin away, and Jesus gave us his own holiness. Will you come?