Who Can Stand before the Lord?

         The “ark narrative,” from 1 Samuel 4:1b - 7:2, communicates much about the God we confess. What transpires in the account inevitably leads to the question posed by unnamed Israelites, “Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God?”

After losing a battle against the Philistines, the Israelites make the decision to bring into their camp the Ark of the Covenant. This was the box, made according to God’s specific directions, that suggested, in the words of one commentator, God’s “rulership,” the “revelation” of his will, and the “reconciliation” he offered through the ministry of the high priest. The ark was at the center of Israel’s worship and, as such, was closely related to God himself. But the Israelites decision smacked more of sorcery than it did of piety. God showed that he would not be controlled by the schemes of men and the Israelites suffered defeat.

Though the Philistines conquered the Israelites and captured the ark, God declared in no uncertain terms that he would not be conquered. He made a mockery of Dagon, the Philistine’s god, he plagued the people of the Philistine cites, and, finally, he confirmed that, far from being conquered, he was their conqueror by causing the ark to be returned to the Israelites in a manner that proved he was the source of their troubles.

But the return of the Ark to the Israelites revealed one more truth: God is not to be profaned. Several scores of men are struck down for looking upon the ark, something only the priesthood was allowed to do.

It is no wonder, then, that someone would voice the question, desperate in its tone, “Who can stand before the Lord?

The truth of the matter is, no one can. God is holy and not to be trifled with. This is why we desperately need the gospel. The righteousness we lack is revealed in the message that tells of a heaven-sent Savior who propitiates God’s wrath through his loving obedience for all who place their trust in him. Only if we are found to be in Christ are we able to stand before this holy God.

Let Our Eyes Be Opened

This was the request of two blind men as Jesus, pursuing the consummation of his divine mission of redemption, passed by them on his way to Jerusalem. They heard he was approaching and from what they had learned about him prior to this moment they were persuaded that this was their opportunity to be released from lives of living death.

They were determined to get his attention. Nothing would dissuade them. When people tried to silence them, they cried out all the more. Their pleading cut through the cacophony of the crowd and caught the ear of Jesus. He stopped and called, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” With pity the Savior goes to them and, touching their eyes, grants their request. Now seeing, they follow him.

This takes place on Palm Sunday and given the context of this miracle, it is meant to demonstrate more than the power of Jesus to heal. It’s, rather, a living parable teaching the dangers of spiritual blindness. Everyone else around these two beggars was able to see Jesus, but they alone perceived who he was.

This is the great need of fallen humanity; to see Jesus for who he is. Blinded by agenda, pride, ignorance, or some other impairment from a long list of spiritual disabilities, people read or hear of him but are unable to process what is actually before them. Such blindness is not benign. It has eternal consequences. This Easter season, when the mercy, grace, and love of God are on display, call to Jesus with your own petition, “Lord, let my eyes be opened.” Perhaps, in pity, he will stop and grant your request.

God Hears

The Bible tells the grand story, the meta-narrative, if you will, of God’s restoring work. The plan was conceived in eternity, set in motion with creation, and will continue to unfold until the new heavens and the new earth descend. There are some familiar characters in it: Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and, of course, Jesus. In fact, one could say that the particular characters just mentioned mark the significant developments of the plot. These are not the only figures that help carry the plan forward, however. There are a host of “minor” characters that are used by God. One such character is Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel.

The book of 1 Samuel, where we find the story of Hannah, follows the period of the Judges (a particularly dark period in Israel’s history). Judges ends with the familiar line, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” This anticipates what is about to take place. Both the book of Ruth and the beginning of 1 Samuel recount how God was using two women, Ruth and Hannah, to keep his plan of redemption moving forward, despite what was taking place in the rest of Israel. The offspring of these women figure significantly into the establishment of the monarchy in Israel.

What we want to focus on for our purposes, however, is the reality of Hannah’s life, which must have seemed to her far removed from God’s grand story. Due to her barrenness, her life was one of pain and shame. How could she know as she cried out to God for a child that the answer would result in David being anointed king of Israel? She couldn’t know.

In truth, we often don’t know how our lives factor into God’s meta-narrative. But what we learn from Hannah is that there are no insignificant characters in the drama. Each of us has a part to play. And though our lives, with their struggles and sorrows, triumphs and joys, may never be recorded for posterity, they are nonetheless important to God. He uses each of his people to move the plot forward to its glorious conclusion.

Don’t lose heart. We are told that God “remembered” Hannah, he will remember each of his children.

Parsing the Language

This past Sunday, in both services, we took up the very current topic of same-sex marriage. This was prompted by our President's endorsement of same-sex marriage and my being forwarded an email in which a fellow believer was asking many thoughtful and timely questions. This subject is important and is particularly important to him as he is involved in the theater and, as a result, has many good friends, whom he dearly loves, who are gay or are supportive of gay marriage. I attempted to respond to his comments and questions, hoping to shed some biblical light on a contentious topic. The audio file of the sermon and a PDF file of the email with my interspersed responses is available at sermonaudio.com/ncgv.

For the purposes of this post I would like to stress just one point. I have read several articles in which opinions from within the pale of Christianity are offered either for or against same-sex marriage. On the supportive side are sentiments that express Jesus' love for people who were on the "outside." In fact, similar notions were hinted at by President Obama, who self-identified as a Christian in making his remarks. I concur that Jesus' love for those whom the religious leaders deemed unrighteous is evident in numerous ways, from the sitting at table with "tax collectors and sinners," to expressing deep approval for a "sinful woman" who was unabashedly offering worship at his feet. Time after time he stepped into the midst of sinners and affirmed their humanity and worth. But we should not mistake his willingness to love such people as approval for their sin. He says to the sinful woman spoken of above, "Your sins are forgiven." To the thieving Zacchaeus he announces that "salvation has come to your house." To the woman caught in adultery he assures and warns: "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more."

Jesus declared that he came to heal the unrighteous. He preached about sin and the need for repentance. He promised that he would shed his blood for the remission of sins. In these, and numerous other ways, he made his mission clear: he had come to be the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. One gets the impression from advocates for same-sex marriage, however, that the only thing that needs to be done by the church in the name of Jesus is to welcome people in the door with open arms. The expectation of repentance is never expressed. Such indifference to sin is not honoring of the person and work of Jesus nor of the gospel that he preached. Homosexuals are not any more sinful than others, but neither are they any less sinful. We all need, through the power of Christ, to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus that we might be saved.

An Imbalance of Power

What transpires in a believer’s life is never disconnected from the purposes of God. Consequently, if a person takes time to reflect on how God has worked in his life he might discover how God is works in the world around him. Furthermore, as he meditates upon how God has delivered him, he might just gain confidence that God’s good purposes will, in the end, triumph – not just over the evil in the believer’s own life but also over all evil. One writer calls this line of reasoning on the part of the believer causes him to move from a "micro" to a "macro" view of salvation. That this was the experience of Hannah is evident in her song (1 Samuel 2:1-10). Between the day that she gave birth to Samuel till the day she brought him to serve at the tabernacle, she appears to have meditated upon her experience and made the logical connections suggested above. She had experienced God’s salvation through his lifting her up from a position of weakness to one of strength, from one of shame to one of honor. She appears to have concluded that what Yahweh had done for her must be consistent with how he always work. He did not allow injustice and human arrogance to go unanswered in her life and, therefore, he would not allow it to go unanswered in the world. And, ultimately, his just rule would bring down even the mightiest from their self-important positions for as she sang, “The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.”

It is remarkable that, centuries later, Mary, as she anticipates the birth of the King who was the fulfillment of the promises made to the one whom Samuel would anoint king, would sing a song that reflects sentiments identical to Hannah’s.  Could it be that the reversing of roles that Hannah and Mary sing about is the way God rules the world? Under God’s dominion, “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength . . . the barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.” The birth of Samuel, the birth of Jesus, proves this to be so. May the Lord give us eyes to see that our small "salvations" are like down payments on our ultimate salvation. And may we then add our voices to Hannah’s and Mary’s as they sing God’s praises.

Honoring God

Eli, the high priest in the days of Samuel, heard this terrifying pronouncement from God: “I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.” Eli and his family had been cut off – forever -- from the grace of God. What had provoked God’s anger?

Eli had enjoyed much favor from God: 1) He was of the people of Israel, the nation that had been chosen by God and delivered from the bondage of Pharaoh; 2), he was of the line of Aaron, the ones whom God set apart to serve at the altar, to mediate between God and God’s people; and 3) as the one serving as priest, God had promised he would forever provide for Eli and his descendants from the sacrifices that the people of God brought for him to administer. Eli, however, had scorned God’s grace. By allowing his wicked sons to make a mockery of the priesthood, he honored them more than the Lord. As a result, the Lord said he would cut him and his family off for, “those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”

What does it mean to honor God? I offered the following quote from J. Stuart Holden: “To honor God does not necessarily imply doing great things for Him. It is rather the consistently maintained attitude of the heart which refers every choice to His judgment, measures every value by His standard, and endeavors to make every incident of life contribute towards the glorifying of His Name.” Read through that quote again. It is wonderfully concise and enormously helpful. This is the kind of whole-life devotion that God deserves. When we consider that he “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” and from that we can have confidence that he will “also with him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32), we should honor God by keeping his person and purposes preeminent in our lives, something Eli had forgotten to do.