Holy, Holy, Holy
is the Lord God Almighty
Scripture Reading: Numbers 4, 2nd Samuel 6
The Levites were divided into three clans: The Gershonites, the Kohathites, and the Merarites. Each clan was assigned very specific responsibilities in caring for the Tabernacle. The Kohathites were to be the furnishings of the Sanctuary as the Israelites journeyed through the wilderness. God gave them detailed instructions. Their lives depended on getting it right.
Not only did each clan have to take personal responsibility for the way they did their jobs, but Moses and Aaron were told the priests were to guard the Kohathites by making sure things were done properly and in order (4:17). Though the Kohathites were to carry the Ark, the Lampstand, the Table, and the Altar; they were never to look upon or touch any of these things. The penalty for violating these commands was death.
Years later, not following these instructions would come back to haunt King David. David had recovered the Ark from the Philistines and was bringing it back to Jerusalem. He, along with everyone else, was in a celebratory and festive mood. They placed the Ark on an oxcart (their first mistake). Then, when the oxen pulling the cart stumbled, Uzzah, who was walking alongside the oxcart, fearing the Ark might fall to the ground, reached out to steady it and touched it with his hand (the second mistake). God immediately struck Uzzah dead (2nd Samuel 6).
Many read this account and conclude God too harsh. They view Uzzah as a nice man, a guy who cared about the things of God, a person who merely reacted to and tried to prevent a potentially disastrous calamity. But, as RC Sproul noted, the error of Uzzah was in believing his hand was holier than the ground on which the Ark might have landed.
When we say, “God is holy,” we are saying much more than, “God is a little better than us.” But I fear that’s how we often subconsciously think about Him. When we say, “God is holy,” we are saying that he is infinitely better than us. God is like the Sun, being its own source of blazing, hot light which we look directly upon at our own peril. We, on the other hand, are, at best, mere moons, having no personal source of light but only the possibility of reflecting his light if and when we are properly aligned with him.
When we understand the true nature of his holiness, we can only respond as Isaiah did, “Woe is me,” (Isaiah 6). This knowledge humbles us. It brings us to repentance. It stirs in us a healthy fear of the Lord. And it makes us wonder in amazement at what Jesus has accomplished for us. He, and he alone, makes it possible for us to enter the Holy Place, and look upon his glory and yet live.