Participants: Gordon Kainer
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000327
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00:31 I want to welcome you to Faith
00:35 Chapel. I am Gordon Kainer, retired academy Bible teacher, 00:38 living in Santa Rosa, California. The title of my 00:42 presentation today is "Only a Touch." 00:46 I invite you to pray with me. 00:50 "Our heavenly Father, our world is filled with people 00:53 that become skeptical about you and your existence, 00:56 who've become distressful of your word and I pray today 01:01 as we open that word. Restore in us a faith, 01:05 a trust in your word, is my prayer in Jesus name. Amen." 01:14 I grew up in a farm in South Dakota. 01:17 And when I was about 10 years old, 01:22 I distinctly remember a time when my father 01:24 came home from working all day in the field. 01:27 And he approached the front of the home or a house, 01:32 and he noticed that our hired man was sitting 01:36 on the front porch and as my father got a closer look. 01:41 He noticed he was doing something here and he said, 01:44 Sam, what's the problem? And Sam said, 01:47 Gordon knocked my tooth loose today, 01:49 and I am trying to pull it out. Well, 01:52 on hearing this, of course, 01:54 my father got a little bit nervous about that to say 01:58 at least and so he came up to my room he said, 02:03 Gordon what did you do to Sam today? 02:07 And I said, I don't know what you talking about? 02:10 He said, well, Sam said he knocked his tooth loose. 02:13 I said, I know nothing about it. Well, I don't know, 02:18 I think my father believed me. So we went downstairs 02:22 and the three of us got together and this 02:24 story emerged. Earlier that day, 02:28 when I was about 10 years old at that time, 02:30 earlier that day, I was driving our little Ford tractor 02:33 around the farm yard and I was probably being 02:36 very reckless. And just kind of goofing 02:39 around and enjoying myself and Sam noticed that 02:42 and he was looking at what I was doing 02:45 and he was walking through the yard. 02:49 And he did look where he was walking 02:50 and he ran to a huge machinery right down the yard 02:53 and he nearly busted out his tooth. 02:57 Well, a few additional details changed the whole complexion 03:03 of that story. And not only 03:06 did we not have the complete story but I think 03:09 I escaped some severe discipline from my father. 03:14 Now I shared that story with you because all of us 03:18 have heard things of other people that have surprised us. 03:21 Now we might hear somebody have done something 03:24 and we say how could they do that? 03:27 Well, how could she say that? But then we make a wise 03:32 decision to withhold judgment until we hear as Paul Harvey 03:37 would say the rest of the story. 03:41 It is essential that we have all the pieces of the puzzle. 03:47 All the pieces of the story, it will undoubtedly save us 03:51 from unreasonable or unnecessary problems 03:56 and concerns. Now, the same principle 04:00 applies when we study the Bible, no story, no text, 04:08 no parable should stand alone to be interpreted by itself. 04:14 Now, the Bible tells us that there is no scripture of, 04:18 is of private interpretation and we need to get the 04:21 whole picture when we interpret it. 04:25 So, every troubling text, every story that, 04:30 that is perplexing to us, every difficult situation 04:34 that we read about in the Bible must be studied 04:37 within the immediate setting or context, 04:41 but more in that it must agree with the overall teachings 04:46 of the Bible. If allowed to stand alone 04:50 it will create problems, it will cause doubts, 04:55 and most importantly it will probably present God 04:59 in a bad light. There are numerous 05:04 Old Testament stories that at first glance don't present 05:10 a very complementary picture of God. 05:14 There are some stories there that when I read them I say, 05:16 why did God chose to put this story in the Old Testament, 05:20 but the truth is that almost in every case if we take 05:27 a closer look, a more thorough study 05:30 of that text or of the story, misconceptions, 05:35 misunderstanding'll disappear, and we can go on our way. 05:42 This brings us today to the perplexing story of Uzzah. 05:49 The man who dies just for touching the Ark. 05:55 It sounds a lot like Lot's wife who apparently died 05:58 just for looking back, just a glance, only a touch, 06:06 but it can often be misunderstood to the point 06:09 where some people just ignore it, they don't, 06:12 they don't want to even look at it anymore, 06:16 and the reason for the misunderstanding 06:18 is they don't have all the facts. 06:19 They don't fully understand what has happened? 06:22 How often we may struggle with a disturbing story 06:26 or a troublesome text to the point where we just don't 06:32 want to read about it anymore. So today, we are going 06:36 to discover what caused Uzzah's death. 06:42 And we're going to find out that it must not be seen 06:46 as an unsolved mystery or a dark dilemma, 06:50 but instead we will see that it teaches something 06:54 very important about the gospel, the necessity 06:58 and the complete sufficiency of Jesus. 07:03 So let's begin our study. When the Israelists 07:07 first took over the land of Canaan the sanctuary 07:10 was set up in a small little town called Shiloh. 07:15 It remained there for almost the entire time period 07:18 of the Judges. Now the Judges was a time period 07:20 of about 300 years. That's how long the 07:23 sanctuary remained in that little town. 07:25 All of this changed however. During a particular battle 07:30 that occurred during the childhood days of Samuel 07:34 who was the last judge of Israel. Now in this battle 07:40 the Israelites found themselves losing to the 07:43 Philistines and then someone got a bright idea; 07:48 let's get the Ark and let's bring it here 07:51 to the battle field. There is no way we can lose 07:55 this battle if we have the Ten Commandments 07:59 in our midst. But you know, having the Ten Commandments 08:04 in your midst is not the same as having 08:07 it in your heart. In some way that illustrates today 08:13 a problem that we are facing in our country today. 08:19 There are many people who believe that having the 08:21 Ten Commandments edged in some cement slab 08:25 in front of a court house or posted on a public school wall 08:29 or on a street legislature wall will turn the tide of 08:34 the battle. But the answer is not found 08:39 in a state directive, but rather in the Spirit's 08:43 power implant God's laws on the fleshy tables 08:48 of our heart. Sure evidence that religious deterioration 08:53 has taken place is when people turn to things 08:56 which are tangible, things that they can touch 08:58 and see and hear, rather than to live by faith alone. 09:04 Well, what happened in that ancient battle 09:07 when they got the Ark? Let's read about it 09:10 in First Samuel chapter 4, verse 10 and 11. 09:16 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated 09:20 and every man fled to his tent. 09:22 There was a very great slaughter, and there fell 09:26 of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. 09:29 Also the Ark of God was captured; and the 09:32 two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. 09:38 Now Eli was the judge of Israel and he was 98 years old 09:43 about at this particular time. And when he hears 09:47 what has happened, he is so jolted by it, 09:51 he falls off the chair, breaks his neck and he dies. 09:56 The wife of Phinehas was pregnant and then she hears 10:00 her husband has died and the Ark has been captured, 10:03 she goes into labor immediately. She dies in the ordeal, 10:10 but just before she dies she names her little boy Ichabod, 10:15 which means "The glory has departed 10:18 from Israel." It truly was a dark day 10:21 for God's people. Well, the Ark of the Covenant 10:28 is taken by the Philistines and taken into their own land, 10:33 but it turned out to be a real headache for those people. 10:38 When they put the Ark into their own temple, 10:40 the temple of Dagon the next morning they discovered 10:44 the Dagon had fallen off its porch 10:46 and had fallen apart. When it happened 10:49 the second day they have had enough 10:52 and so they took the Ark and took it to a town 10:56 after town after town and why the different places 11:00 because every time they went into a new town 11:02 the people became deadly sick. 11:06 Well, finally, the people had enough, I mean they decided 11:10 to get rid of the Ark and they confirmed 11:13 with their wise men as to what they should do? 11:17 Well, here is the advice the Philistines 11:20 got from their wise men. We'll read about it 11:22 in First Samuel 6, verse 7. Now therefore make a new cart, 11:29 take two milk cows which have never been yoked, 11:32 and hitch the cows to the cart; and take 11:36 their calves home, away from them. 11:41 Well the Philistines put the Ark into this cart 11:47 and watched to see what would happen. 11:49 Under normal circumstances you can expect 11:53 a couple of things, one these two cows 11:56 have never been yoked together and they just get wild 11:58 and starting running over the place or since 12:01 they had just left their calves behind that 12:03 they would sort of amble around in that area, 12:06 not wanting to leave their calves. 12:10 But instead what happened. These two cows yoked 12:14 to this cart walked straight down the road 12:17 to the first Israelite town. Well, that convinced 12:20 the Philistines that the bad things that have happened 12:23 to them was not a coincidence, 12:26 but it was definitely connected to the Ark. 12:31 Well, the Ark was eventually placed 12:33 in the house of Abinadab. A man, we know nothing 12:36 about nor do we know why his home was chosen. 12:42 But the Ark stayed in that home for 50 years. 12:45 Well, when David was crowned King over the land 12:49 one of the first major battles over 12:53 which he led out was to capture of Jerusalem 12:58 from the Jebusites. And David now made plans 13:02 to make Jerusalem the capital and he wants the Ark 13:07 brought there. And this brings us 13:11 now to Uzzah. Well, David consults 13:15 with the leaders. They talk about it. 13:18 He gets their approval and then plans were made 13:21 to transport the Ark from Abinadab's home 13:25 where it had been for 50 years to Jerusalem, 13:28 which is probably about 9 or 10 miles. 13:34 This event is described in Second Samuel 13:37 chapter 6 and verse 3. So they set the Ark of God 13:43 on a new cart, and brought it out of the house 13:46 of Abinadab, which was on the hill; 13:48 and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, 13:51 drove the new cart. Now, let me ask you a question. 13:57 Where did the Israelites get the idea to transport the Ark 14:03 in a new cart? They got it from the Philistines. 14:07 They remembered 50 years earlier that's how 14:10 the Philistines had transported it 14:12 and they chose to do the same thing. 14:14 Now nothing happened to the Philistines 14:18 when they transported the Ark contrary 14:21 to God's instructions because you see 14:23 they were unaware of what God had said about 14:27 transporting the Ark. They were not held accountable 14:30 for something they didn't know. 14:33 It reminds me of the Apostle Paul when he was speaking 14:35 to the listeners on Mars Hill. 14:40 And he says, in chapter 17 of Acts he said, 14:44 in times of ignorance God overlooked, 14:47 or winked at the evil that was sometimes done 14:51 by people. Now just because the unbelieving world 14:57 does not recognized something as sin does not 15:00 excuse God's people. The Bible tells us 15:04 to whom much is given much is expected. 15:13 Well, what were the directions that God gave 15:15 to the Israelites regarding the moving of the Ark? 15:20 After the sanctuary was first built in the wilderness 15:24 they moved it from place to place and God 15:28 commanded only the high priest could enter 15:32 the most holy place to cover the Ark. 15:35 And then the Levites were to lift the Ark 15:38 by the staves put that on the shoulders and that's how 15:42 the Ark was to be transported. And God give this warning. 15:47 In Numbers 4:15, and when Aaron 15:53 and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary 15:56 and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, 16:00 when the camp is set to go, then the sons of Kohath 16:03 shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch 16:07 any holy thing, lest they die. Well, now let's go back 16:13 to the story of the transporting of the Ark 16:17 in the wrong way that we have talked about 16:18 a little earlier. Let's read about 16:21 that in First Chronicles chapter 13, 16:25 and we're gonna read from verse 7 through 10, 16:31 so they carried the Ark of God on a new cart 16:33 from the house of Abinadab, 16:36 and Uzzah drove the cart. Then David and all Israel 16:40 played music before God with all their might, 16:44 with singing, on harps, on stringed instruments, 16:47 on tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets. 16:51 And when they came to Chidon's threshing floor, 16:54 Uzzah put out his hand to hold the Ark, 16:58 for the oxen had stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord 17:01 was aroused against Uzzah, and he struck him 17:04 because he put his hand to the Ark; 17:06 and he died there before God. 17:12 This was to be a very festive and joyous occasion. 17:16 There was to be much celebrating with music 17:20 and singing and heartfelt rejoicing. This was a high day 17:24 for these people. But it serves as a reminder 17:29 that when we fail to obey God's directions 17:33 in our worship of him all our singing, 17:39 all our celebration, all our whatever 17:43 we are involved in, in that particular moment, 17:47 that it does not correct or compensate for our failure. 17:53 The Bible tells us we have to worship God in Spirit, 17:56 yes, but also in truth. Now the Ark had been 18:02 in the home of Uzzah and his brother 18:04 for a long time. As it said, their parents home 18:08 for 50 years. From the reading of the account 18:11 it seems that Uzzah was sincere in stretching 18:14 forth his hand to steady the Ark 18:17 when the oxen had stumbled. Now is there something 18:20 we aren't aware of that would help us to understand 18:23 why Uzzah died? Let me just grasp 18:25 for just a moment. My students were always 18:28 troubled with this story, and they wondered, 18:31 you know, this is something we don't understand 18:33 here in this situation. Did familiarity 18:36 with the Ark greeted him a spirit 18:38 of a reverence or carelessness. 18:40 Did he cherish some secret sin which we don't know 18:43 anything about? The Bible says 18:45 that David became very angry because he didn't understand 18:49 either why this had all happened. 18:53 So the celebration ended very abruptly and the Ark 18:56 was taken to the house of Obed-Edom. 19:00 Of where it remained for three months. 19:03 Nobody wants to get near that Ark during this time. 19:05 It was a time period of great uncertainty and David 19:09 spent much time searching the scripture 19:11 as well as reflecting on his own soul. 19:13 In his studies he discovered the terrible mistake 19:17 they had made as to the right way to transport the Ark. 19:22 He seriously considered the possibility that his own heart 19:25 may not have been right with God, and that he feared 19:29 God's judgment might also fall on him. 19:33 But there was something else that David thought 19:37 about and that was the people's loud celebration 19:40 and singing and imposing display, in the new plans 19:45 for transporting the Ark a choir was assembled 19:49 and it was accompanied by fewer and more 19:52 subdued instruments. And it's quite likely 19:55 that David himself composed Psalms 24, 19:58 just for this occasion, sung by the choir 20:01 in the processional. Let's read a couple 20:05 of verses from Psalms 24. Verses 3 and 4, 20:12 who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? 20:15 Or who may stand in His holy place? 20:18 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, 20:21 who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, 20:25 nor sworn deceitfully. This Psalm seems 20:29 to suggest us that Uzzah may not have had clean hands 20:34 or a pure heart when that tragedy occurred. 20:39 But in all of this, there is something far 20:42 more series at stake which points I believe 20:45 to the underlying reason why Uzzah died 20:48 for touching the Ark. You see the Ark 20:51 which housed the Ten Commandments 20:53 represented God's government. It was a symbol 20:57 of God's presence in the midst of the people. 21:02 Only the high priest could rightfully stand 21:06 in God's presence in the most holy place and touch the Ark. 21:14 Now a question, who did the high priest represent? 21:19 He was an earthly type of Jesus Christ. 21:23 As our mediator Jesus enters into God's presence for us. 21:27 Only he can touch God in our behalf, 21:34 there's a kind of brightness that rested above the Ark 21:36 represented the glory of God. Sin are so offensive to God 21:41 that no sinful person can stand in God's presence 21:45 or in his glory and live. But more than that, 21:50 in to this world no human hands are ever clean enough. 21:55 No heart is ever pure enough to go into God's presence 22:00 and to approach the almighty God. 22:06 David writes again in psalm 24, verse 7 and 8, 22:11 where he says Lift up your heads, O you gates! 22:15 And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! 22:18 And the King of glory shall come in. 22:21 Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, 22:25 The Lord mighty in battle. Now as we said earlier, 22:32 it seems as though this was a Psalm that David wrote 22:38 for the express purpose of being sung when the Ark 22:41 was taken up to hill, to the place where they wanted 22:46 the Ark to be. Well, we need to remember something else, 22:50 that I think is even more important. This was the song 22:54 that was sung by the Angelic choir when Jesus entered 22:59 the heavens at his ascension. We're told that the choir 23:05 that accompanies Jesus, sang lift up your heads 23:09 O you gates, and be lifted up you everlasting doors 23:14 and the King of glory shall come in. 23:18 And there is another choir surrounding the throne 23:20 and they answered who is this King of glory? 23:26 And the first choir responds, the Lord, 23:28 strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. 23:36 When Jesus enters the presence of God 23:38 at his ascension he waves back the angelic host. 23:42 He accepts no praise, no honor. 23:46 He raises his scarred hands before the Father 23:52 and he tells him I have finished the work 23:56 that you've given me to do. And then the Father 24:00 reaches out and he embraces his son. 24:04 He embraces Jesus and with that embrace 24:09 he embraces all of us who are in Christ, 24:13 in accepting Jesus the Father is accepting us. 24:19 I'm reminded of Daniel 7, where the curtains 24:23 of heaven are pulled back and we're given 24:24 a glimpse of the pre-advent judgment 24:28 and we see the Ancient of Days sitting there, 24:30 that's God and he is surrounded by an angelic host 24:34 and then the books are opened, then its an ominous scene, 24:39 but then everything changes with one event. 24:41 Coming with the clouds of heaven, 24:44 is one like the son of man, that's Jesus. 24:48 Who enters into the presence of God for us, 24:50 thus we can according to Hebrew 4:16 come boldly 24:55 to the throne of grace, where we may obtain mercy 25:00 and find grace in time of need. When Uzzah touches 25:06 the Ark it was a presumptuous attempt to come 25:12 into God's presence apart from Jesus as his mediator. 25:19 In this Act, he was attempting to engage 25:22 in relationship up with God apart from grace, 25:27 apart from Jesus as his divine substitute. 25:33 In the incarnation, Jesus took upon himself 25:36 a divine human nature that serves as a connecting link 25:41 for humanity and divinity. No other religion 25:45 in the world, be it Hinduism, 25:48 Buddhism or Islam believes in a savior 25:52 from sin or a mediator. It is their belief 25:59 that they can approach God directly. 26:03 They can approach him with prayers that apparently 26:07 please him or with good works that will please, 26:13 and I had to emphasize this to my students often that, 26:16 that sets Christianity apart from all other religions, 26:21 that we have a mediator. We have a righteous 26:25 substitute who can approach God. Who can touch God 26:31 in our behalf and that sets apart Christianity 26:35 as a truly redemptive religion. Granted as his touch 26:43 that brought forth death was an act of disobedience 26:49 to the command of God, but more importantly Uzzah 26:52 is a symbol of all those who died rejecting the saving 26:58 work of Jesus. Now Jesus put it this way in John 3:15, 27:03 "For God so loved the world that He gave 27:06 His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 27:10 in Him should not perish." In John 3:15, 27:18 you have a full context that too bad Uzzah was unaware of. 27:25 In contrast to Uzzah, we see the woman reach out 27:28 in faith to touch the helm of Jesus garment 27:31 and it brings her life. It brings her healing 27:38 just a touch. It can either represent 27:41 you're reaching out in disbelief and dying in your sin 27:46 or reaching up in faith and receiving 27:49 the gift of eternal life. The choice is yours. |
Revised 2014-12-17