"And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?" [2 Sam 6:9]

In Numbers, The LORD instructed the Israelites to “put in the staves” of the Ark “when[ever] the camp setteth forward” in order to transport it. [Num 4:5-12] This was no accident; in fact, the usage of oxen was expressly forbidden. In a later chapter of Numbers, it is written, “And Moses took wagons and the oxen, and gave them unto the Levites…but unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders.” [Num 7:6, 9] The Kohathites were not to use oxen to transport the Ark, for to them was the ministry given of bearing the most holy things [Num 4:4-15]. Instead, they were to bear these holy things upon their shoulders. The Apostle John tells us, “for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.” [1 Jn 5:3] It is not of The LORD to provide us with burdens above what He has empowered us for; because regarding testing, the Spirit comforts us saying,

“No trial has laid hold of you except [that which is] suited to man: but God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tested above which you are being given strength [for]; but will with the trial also manufacture the way out, that you may be empowered to endure [through it].” [1 Cor 10:13]

Therefore, if we ever feel grieved or desirous to disregard God’s laws, as perhaps David did when he oversaw the Ark’s transportation, wherein “they set the Ark of God upon a new cart,” [2 Sam 6:3] then we must reevaluate and test our reasoning; for The LORD never commanded David nor Israel such a thing, but this was learnt from the Philistines, God’s enemies, who when sending the Ark back from captivity said, “now therefore make a new cart…and take the Ark of The LORD, and lay it upon the cart.” [1 Sam 6:7, 8] We cannot tell the motive of David’s heart, nor Israel, who set the Ark upon a new cart like the Philistines had done years before. However, we may speculate they had thoughts of ease or fleshly lust within their heart: that is, setting the Ark upon the cart looked better to them, it was easier and less of a burden, it was quicker, and all-in-all it was far less odious of a thing to them, rather than to transport the Ark with much labor. And so in that fashion they set forth. But their ease of travel and joy were short-lived, for we are told, “and when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the Ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen kicked. And the anger of The LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the Ark of God.” [2 Sam 6:6-7]

After being witness to these events, “David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of The LORD come to me?” [2 Sam 6:9] David saw there the holiness, gravity, and power of God, for The LORD struck Uzzah in awesome fashion, making His holiness and judgment known. David rightly feared, and very consciously spoke, saying, “how shall the Ark of The LORD come to me?” His words show us a fearful and stark truth: we cannot dwell with God nor be near to Him, for we are sinful and He is not. As it is written, “who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” [Isa 33:14] and again, “our God is a consuming fire.” [Heb 12:29] In his natural state, man cannot dwell with God, cannot be near to God, nor can serve God. For The LORD is holy and man is not; for The LORD abhors sin and those who practice sin, and natural man “drinketh iniquity like water.” [Job 15:16] Thus, the natural man cannot perceive The LORD nor His Christ, nor can the man in that regenerate state experience any fellowship with God; for again The Spirit tells us through the prophet, “thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.” [Hab 1:13]

Joshua was knowledgeable of this fact; he said to the Israelites, after they had said “therefore will we also serve The LORD; for He is our God…’Ye cannot serve The LORD: for He is an holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.” [Josh 24:18, 19] What Joshua said is truth: we, on our own, cannot serve The LORD, nor will we be forgiven of Him, for He is both holy and a righteous judge, and of the latter He testifies Himself, saying, “The LORD…will by no means acquit the guilty.” [Ex 34:6, 7] Since this is true, we are presented with quite a fearful problem. How shall we escape judgment? How shall we escape the wrath to come? How shall we be united in fellowship with our God and be granted access into His presence and of the knowledge of Him?

The answer to this problem is of course Jesus Christ, God’s Son. It is because of Jesus, our Lord and The Lamb of God, the Bright and Morning Star, that we can be forgiven and obtain access to God. Because of Jesus, and Jesus alone we may serve God without fear of being condemned or consumed “for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” [Acts 4:12] For Christ our Lord came that we might be “delivered out of the hand of our enemies” and “serve [God] without fear;” [Lk 1:74-75] and, “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” [Rom 8:1] Therefore, because of Jesus’ great sacrifice for our sins and resurrection from the dead, we need not lament as Isaiah, “woe is me!” in God’s presence, but as Hebrews admonishes, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” [Isa 6:5, Heb 10:22]

What a glorious thing that our God, Jesus Christ, says to us “come unto Me,” and not as it was warned of Moses, “take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death.” [Mt 11:28, Ex 19:12] And this is because of Jesus’ blood which was shed for us, with which we are covered, and because of His resurrection – by reason of which we are now, if we continue to believe in Him, presented to The Father as holy and blameless. Regarding this, it is written for our encouragement in Hebrews,

“For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest…But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” [Heb 12:18, 22-24]

May it always be for us a great encouragement to know that without Jesus we may never approach God nor serve Him, but with Jesus we may freely do such as dear children. We are beloved of God; just as it was said to Jesus, “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” [Mt 3:17] so too it can be said of us. What glorious righteousness has been imputed to us, that God would see fit to make us sinners acceptable in His sight and worthy of friendship. May we ever give to Christ Jesus our adoration and praise for His salvation.

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