Former Blackout Artist

“It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:31

When Moses saw the flames coming from the burning bush but noticed that it wasn’t being consumed by the fire, he went over to investigate. Suddenly God’s voice called from the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am,” Moses replied. “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you’re standing is holy ground.” The Bible then tells us that as God continued to speak to him, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

If only his own nephews had displayed the same fear and reverence in God’s presence that day in front of the altar of incense. Perhaps they, like the burning bush, wouldn’t have been consumed by fire themselves. But God found Nadab’s and Abihu’s blatant disregard for His holiness unacceptable, and as a result it cost them their lives.

We again see a similar pattern of total disregard later on in the second book of Samuel, as David and his men are attempting to transport the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. But because of their utter negligence with transporting this sacred ark that represented God’s holy presence, one of David’s men, Uzzah, died as a result.

What occurred that day was a harsh reminder to David that no man, not even God-appointed David himself, was exempt from approaching the holy and righteous God with an attitude of indifference.

The late American theologian and pastor R.C. Sproul put it this way:

“Once we refuse to honor God as God, our whole view of life and the world becomes distorted. Our thinking goes like this: If there is a God at all, He is certainly not holy. If He is perchance holy, He is not just. Even if He is both holy and just, we need not fear because His love and mercy override His holy justice. If we can stomach His holy and just character, we can rest in one thing: He cannot possess wrath.

“But if we think soberly for five seconds, we must see our error. If God is holy at all, if God has an ounce of justice in His character, indeed if God exists as God, how could He possibly be anything else but angry with us? We violate His holiness; we insult His justice; we make light of His grace. These things can hardly please Him.”

I think the church today could stand to gain from some of the fear and reverence that was displayed in God’s presence back in Moses’ time. Not that we don’t need to hear about the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness; but we also need to be reminded that to approach God’s holiness and righteousness with a flippant attitude is a major affront to Him. When we do this, as Sproul notes above, our view of everything becomes distorted. We attempt to bring God down to our level of thinking and doing, feeling that He should take off his sandals in our presence and conform to us.

Imagine us saying that to God! “What a dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God.”