What kind of God is among us?

I love this quote from children’s book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. It's from the scene where Mr and Mrs Beaver are trying to describe the lion Aslan (who represents God) to the children:

Mrs Beaver said: "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly.""Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy."Safe?" said Mr Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.

And, in a sense, that’s the big message of 2 Samuel 6 in a nutshell; God isn’t safe. But he is wonderfully good! Last week we began this series in 2 Samuel by looking at 2 Samuel 5. We saw how David was finally accepted as King of God’s people Israel by all of Israel. God has been faithful to his promises, made generations earlier to Abraham. God was making a people for himself and now they’re in God’s place, ruled by God’s king. As the chapter reached its climax; The Philistines, the age-old enemies of God’s people, are dramatically defeated. Make no mistake, God rules! Now in 2 Samuel 6 the Ark of the Covenant is moved to Jerusalem. God is present with his people after years! What will that be like? So, 2 Samuel 5 is about Israel asking “Who is against us?” And 2 Samuel 6 is Israel asking “What kind of God is among us?” That’s what we’re going to discover tonight. Before we get stuck in, let’s pray:

Father, please show us more of yourself tonight, that we might know you better and respond to you rightly. In Jesus' name, Amen.

1. The holy presence of God is a fearful thing (2 Samuel 6.1-10)

To understand 2 Samuel 6, you need to know a little a bit about the ark in the Old Testament. It was box, made of wood and covered in gold. Most important for our passage, the ark symbolised the presence of God. It was saying in capital letters “God lives with his people”. So moving the Ark into Jerusalem meant establishing God's presence in God's city where God's King ruled over God's people. So, onto the action! Let me read 2 Samuel 6.1-4:

David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. [That’s the army, and the top leaders of the country] And David arose and went with all the people [a big crowd had now developed] 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. 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, with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.

So, Rolls Royce are commissioned to provide a brand new cart for the ark – the paint work is polished, its tyres are painted to be perfectly black. And there’s a huge celebration! 2 Samuel 6.5:

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…

Picture the scene: Every member of music group is playing. All the instruments are out. Apparently castanets are those clicky things you use with your hands. The people are praising God, the ark was coming to Jerusalem! It’s a picture: God is going to dwell with his people in his city! Isn’t it all going so well? Back to 2 Samuel 6.6:

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.

Phew, he’s grabbed the ark before it falls to the ground! On with the celebration, right? 2 Samuel 6.7:

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…

What!? Uzzah collapses. Everyone rushes to him – but it’s too late. What’s your reaction to that? Anger? Disbelief? Here’s how David reacted, 2 Samuel 6.8-9:

And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah [literally that means “outbreak-of-Uzzah”] to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”

We came across that term broken out last week. In 2 Samuel 5 David praised God because he’d broken out against the Philistines, his enemies. This chapter always reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. I’m sure lots of us have seen it. If you haven’t, let me spoil it for you! Towards the end of the film, the “bad guys” finally have their hands on the ark they’ve been searching for. They open it up. And…Bang! Dodgy 1980s CGI. They get fried. (I watched the scene back on YouTube and clocked it under “sermon research”)! But here’s the thing, in 2 Samuel 6 it’s one of God’s people that gets it. Uzzah was only trying to help wasn’t he?! Was he just meant to let the ark slide off the cart onto the filthy road? Why was God so severe? Seriously, what on earth is God doing here? Well, many years before this God had given some very clear “no nos” as far as the ark was concerned. We read about those in Numbers 4. The rules were:

• No touch. Those carrying the ark must not touch it lest they die.
• No look. The ark was to be covered as it was transported.
• No cart. When the ark was moved it was to be carried using wooden poles.

Why? Because God is holy. That is, he is absolute morally pure. He is the source and standard of goodness. The ark symbolised that a holy God wanted to be present with his people. But the people of Israel were like all of us; sinful, flawed, broken. So someone couldn’t just wander into the presence of the holy God. Because a holy God cannot have unpaid-for and un-dealt with sin near him. In his mercy, God had given very clear instructions when it came to how the ark should be transported. Despite the joy and pageantry, David and his men hadn’t taken God seriously enough, because they hadn’t done what he’d said.

We might be thinkin, “Ok, that’s the Old Testament, but surely God doesn’t treat New Testament believers in Jesus the same way?” Well, In Acts 5, two Christians called Ananias and Sapphira lie to the church about the proportion of money from a house sale they had given to God’s work. The result? They both fall dead. This is the effect of their death on the early church (Acts 5.11):

And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

There’s a big house near where I’m from back home. It’s got multiple signs on the driveway saying “Dog! Dangerous! Beware!” I’ve often wondered, what kind of hideous wolf lives up there? Is God like how I imagine that dog? Biting at you any moment you stray from the path? Fear as defined in the Bible isn’t like this at all. In the Bible, fear for God means a respectful recognition of who he is. It’s always a positive. It’s the right foundation for human life. We should never be frightened of God. But we should be full of reverent fear, down to our very bones. He’s not a tame lion!

2 Samuel 6, like Acts 5, was an extraordinary, not-what-happens-everyday, type incident. And we can’t and shouldn’t make direct links between sin and sickness or death in any particular case. But God used those incidents then to shake people into taking him seriously, and that’s exactly what they’re designed to do today. I know this won’t answer every question we might have. And notice, the writer of 2 Samuel doesn’t give us answers. There’s no attempt to explain God’s behaviour. Because, ultimately, God isn’t answerable to us. There’s lots we don’t know about his justice, or about how he works. But we can have certainty that he’s good. Uzzah’s death caused David and the people to stop and think, 2 Samuel 6.9-10:

And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

For David, a wait-and-see period of reflection begins. Do you have the right view of God? God is our loving and forgiving heavenly Father. He’s also a Holy King. What he isn’t is our warm fuzzy friend in the sky. If we don’t trust him as our saviour and King, actually he won’t “just forgive us because, you know, that’s his job”. In what ways are you not be taking God, and his ways, seriously? Just think about that for a minute. Is it something you’re not doing but you know you should? Or is it something you are doing but you know you shouldn’t: a sin you’ve become casual about, and you know you’re making excuses for? These verses says “Wake up! Take God seriously!” Take a deep breath. Consider your ways. The holy presence of God is a fearful thing. In 2 Samuel 6.9, David asks:

How can the ark of the Lord come to me?

Another way of putting that could be: “How can the presence of God be with me?” And in a sense, that question hangs over the whole of the Old Testament. How can a holy God be in relationship with an unholy, sinful, people? And the answer is God is going to take the initiative to make it very clear that he does want to relate to us. That’s incredibly good news! The holy presence of God is a fearful thing, but it’s also a joyful one. So:

2. The holy presence of God is a joyful thing (2 Samuel 6.11-23)

We pick up the story again at 2 Samuel 6.11-12:

And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. [Gittites were non-Israelites, in fact, they were Philistines!] And it was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing.

The ark is moved to the house of the fantastically named Obed-edom. It wasn’t meant to be there. What an anti-climax! What will happen? Reports come back to David – the Lord is blessing Obed-edom’s household! David starts to see – God is holy, he must be approached in the right way and he must be taken seriously. But he is also a good God who blesses people! All types of people. 2 Samuel 6.13 onwards describe attempt number two of moving the ark (2 Samuel 6.13-15):

And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he [David and the priests] sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn.

The ark is carried correctly this time, and the joyful celebration is bigger than ever before! David leads the way. He dances before God! He celebrates, he honours God! He humbles himself – wearing a simple linen robe. This was all about the real King: God’s presence is with God’s people in God’s city. And every six steps an animal is killed. Sacrifices symbolised that a substitute was needed for a sinful, unholy, people to be with a holy God. David has answered his own question in 2 Samuel 6.9: How can the Lord come to me? Answer: only by a sacrifice being made. But yet again, the tone abruptly changes. We meet Michal, daughter of Saul, one of David’s wives. 2 Samuel 6.16:

As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

She’s revolted and embarrassed by David’s passionate display. And, after the festivities die down – it all kicks off. 2 Samuel 6.20:

And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honoured himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”

She’s says “David, you’re a disgrace. You’re meant to be a king! You’ve behaved like a commoner. It’s so vulgar showing off like that in front of the female servants like that. How low can you get?” But David doesn’t let her sarcasm dampen his love for God! 2 Samuel 6.21-23:

And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honour.” And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

David and Michal had a totally different view about their audience. David was only concerned about God. He wanted to celebrate. He wanted to humble himself, because he saw himself as a servant to God, the real King who deserved honour. Michal was totally concerned with other people and what they thought. For David, the presence of God was a joyful thing. For us today, we know God through Jesus – the new and better David. We’re going to see much more of that, particularly in the next few weeks. But doesn’t so much of 2 Samuel 6 ultimately point us to him? David humbled himself in joyful praise to God. Jesus, the glorious son of God, humbled himself by becoming human and then by dying on a cross. So that anyone anywhere could live in relationship with the blazingly holy God. King David led his people in sacrifice. Jesus, King of everything, was the perfect sacrifice – the once-and-for-all substitute for sin. He took on himself the punishment that we deserve for rejecting God and trying to rule our own lives. David longed for his people to know the presence of God. Jesus lives in us now by the Holy Spirit. In Jesus we are not merely pardoned criminals, but love sons and daughters of God.

The ark in Jerusalem is a picture of heaven, the New Jerusalem, where (Revelation 2.13) the dwelling place of God will be with man. One day, we will live with Jesus in his perfect place forever. Look to Jesus, really see what he’s done, and we will be filled with joy. We know that God is good because the holy God has done what it takes for us to live in relationship with him and enjoy his presence forever. Have you discovered the joyful thing that it is to follow Jesus and know this hope? Have you given him your life? If you have, are you full of joy at what he’s done? Are you more passionate about a job well done, or a weekend with friends, or watching a last-minute winner, than you are about Jesus? Has your joy grown cold?

What about church life? Church shouldn’t just be about services, procedures, meetings, and mechanics. Church life needs to be anchored, and full, of joy in Jesus Christ. Maybe, you do love Jesus – but painfully there are people who are close to you who don’t share the same passion. Well, in Luke 7 the Jewish religious leaders were embarrassed by a sinful woman’s lavish display of love for the Lord Jesus. You aren’t the first to suffer for being enthusiastic about the Lord and you won’t be the last. Fully comprehend what Jesus has done, and you will be filled with joy. No attempt to honour God is too extravagant! The perfectly holy God wants to be present (in relationship) with us. He offers us that in Jesus Christ. Get that and you’ll know how it’s possible to be both joyful and full of reverent fear. Is God safe? No. His holy presence is a fearful thing. But is he good? Yes, so good. His holy presence fills our hearts with joy! That’s our God. Let’s pray:

Father God, thank you for reminding us that you are holy and you are good. Help us to be full of reverent fear, and full of joy at what you have done for us. In Jesus’ name we ask it, Amen.