God’s Wrath and Blessing

Click here for the audio message of 2 Samuel 6 read 1-11

Last time we looked at the range of emotions that David’s men went through when they returned to their hometown only to find it burnt to the ground and all of their belongings including their families was gone.

We saw how they were at first distressed, saddened at the sight. Then they blamed David and wanted to kill him. However, they went to battle the enemy after checking in with God’s plan. They were victorious and happy and celebrating until they got back from battle and didn’t want to share the loot.

After this battle, Saul knows he is finished and David will be king. At the end of 1 Samuel, King Saul is killed in a battle against the Philistines. Not only is Saul killed so is his son Jonathan, David’s buddy.

Some guy gets this great idea to go and tell David that King Saul is dead and he is the one that did it. David listens to this man describe Saul’s death, then David has him executed for killing the King.

All of Israel mourned and fasted at the loss of their King, including David and his men. After this, David is anointed King over Judah and Israel. He also gets his first wife, Michael back and gets the city of Jerusalem. And as I have said before, they all lived happily ever after. Well not really as we see in our scripture this morning.

Everyone is once again happy and excited. God has been good to them. They are finally bringing the ark of God home to Jerusalem. They are singing, dancing, playing music. It is truly an awesome time.

But then suddenly the ox stumbled a little bit and a man by the name of Uzzah reached out and grabbed the ark of God to steady it. God struck him dead right there on the spot. The party was over. No more singing. No more dancing. In fact no more moving the ark of God.

What a shock. Here was a guy that was just trying to help out and God struck him dead. What kind of a God would do that? I’ll tell you. A holy one. A righteous one.

See way back in the book of Numbers God goes into great detail about how the ark was to be moved. The Levities were to use poles and carry the ark, not put it on a cart and have oxen pull it. So David and his men were directly disobeying God.

God also said that no one was to touch the ark. They were to use the poles to lift it. The penalty for touching the ark was death. So no matter how innocently it was done, touching the ark was in direct violation of God’s law and was punishable by death.

This rule of God’s wasn’t just made up for God’s own fun and amusement. This was a means of preserving the sense of God’s holiness and the fear of drawing near to him without proper preparation.

Think about it. How many times do you come into worship and maybe aren’t prepared for it. Or maybe you just go through the motions of the service. This was always one of my disappointments with the Catholic church. While at Saint Francis I would see many people and students just go through the rituals and traditions without actually preparing their hearts for worship.

And you can bet once the mass was over, they went right back to their sinful ways. I’m not picking on the Catholics here, I’m just saying that is what I saw. And it can happen to any of us if we just go through the motions without preparing ourselves for worship of God the way He wants.

God wants us to have a relationship with Him and we need to have that relationship on His terms, not ours.

After Uzzah is struck dead by God, David becomes very angry. At first, probably a little angry at God for killing this man who was helping out. Then David probably realizes he was at fault for not obeying God and is angry with himself.

So David decides to leave the ark of God there for a little while to give God some time to cool off, so to speak. As if that will help. The ark is placed in the house of a Levite there. God blesses this house for the next three months.

David figures God’s wrath has subsided and decides to continue the journey to Jerusalem. This time, however, he follows God’s prescribed methods. In fact, after the first six steps, David sacrifices an ox and another animal to God.

When they finally get the ark to Jerusalem, David is so thrilled that he dances for joy in the street. He also makes an offering to God and gave everyone some food to eat.

So what’s in this story for us today. Well, I mentioned a few things all ready. One of course being the fact that we need to prepare ourselves when we come before the Lord to worship Him. In fact, we need to obey Him throughout our lives.

The main idea though is that our God is a God of wrath and a God of blessing. Most people and preachers talk about God’s love for us all the time, but rarely do they mention His wrath.

The God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. Sure the Old Testament saints were under God’s laws. Today we are under His love, His grace. But jump to the end of the book. In Revelation God’s wrath will be back.

God’s holiness and goodness are most clearly revealed in the cross of Christ. God’s holiness demanded the death of His Son for our sins. But His goodness and love flow out from the cross offering us acceptance, forgiveness and eternal life.

Let us truly worship and thank the God who saves us.

Closing prayer

Lord we thank you for being a God of wrath and of blessing. We sure do enjoy the many blessings that you have given to each and every one of us. However, we know that you would not and could not be a holy and righteous God without wrath upon those who reject you and disobey you.

We ask that you will continue to strengthen us through our journey in life. We ask for your forgiveness when we wrong you by disobeying you. We pray that your will shall be done in and through us.

AMEN.