Day 80 - 1 Samuel 3-7

ONE-YEAR JOURNEY OF THE BIBLE
Day 80 - 1 Samuel 3-7 (The Awesome God)
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"Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter.  And the men of Beth Shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God?  (1 Samuel 6:19-20)

The word awesome can mean inspiring great admiration or great fear - God is both.  He inspires great admiration because of all the qualities people generally like about Him such as His love and mercy.  But God also inspires great fear because of the terrible judgments He had done and will do in the future.  Our text above is one such example of God's terrible judgment.

At first glance, it seems that God acted severely in His judgment of the people of Beth Shemesh.  But who can judge God?  God is The Judge of the universe which He created.  Instead of questioning God's fairness, we ought to learn the lesson from the mistake of those who took for granted God's warning of sinful men approaching His holy presence.

Those who know God through His Word and through the Holy Spirit who gives them understanding of truth will discover by reading the Bible that God does not exclude humans at all from His presence.  In fact, God is all about drawing humans unto Him ever since the first man and woman decided to cut their fellowship with Him by disobeying Him in the Garden of Eden.

How does God draw sinful man unto Him?  In the Old Testament, God instituted the animal sacrifice which meant that the life of the animal was killed in place of man who desires to approach Him.  Also, He instituted the Levitical priesthood and annointed (set apart as holy unto God) the lineage of Aaron, Moses' brother, as priests to mediate between God and man.

In the New Testament, God sent His own Son, Jesus, who was the Perfect Lamb sacrificed in our place once for all so that all those who put their trust in Him as Lord and Savior may approach God's presence forever.  God also made Jesus to be the High Priest forever to mediate or intervene between sinful man and holy God.

If you can understand God's love for you and His consuming desire for you to dwell in His presence forever through Christ, you will no longer question His fairness in judging so severely those who despise Him life the people of Beth Shemesh who thought they could look in the Ark and see God.  Rather, you will have no other response but to praise His holiness.