After months of disorienting spiritual and physical affliction, the Philistines are at their wits’ end. They want the ark of the covenant out of their possession. Repentance was not at the forefront of their minds; rather, putting an end to the death and relentless tumors that accompanied the presence of the ark. But how? Diviners are sought to devise a plan, one that will include cows, a cart, and odd golden images. God divinely uses these feeble efforts to show his sovereignty as he directs two very unhappy, lowing cows directly toward the Levitical city of Beth-shemesh. Here God’s people receive the ark with joy and sacrifices. The glory of the Lord has returned to Israel!

Yet, in Philistine fashion, some of the men of Beth-shemesh treat the ark with contempt by inappropriately gazing upon it. God, in his righteous judgment, brings a great blow of death upon them. They cry out in response with the question, “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God?”

The one true God is sovereign and holy, holy, holy. No one, not the Philistines, not the Israelites, can stand before him – because sin separates God and man. A mediator is needed. In this moment, the house of Israel is focused on fear, so much so they drive away the LORD and his presence by sending the ark to another city. It’s as if they got their playbook from the Philistines.

From this text, let us both rejoice and be warned. We rejoice that we know Jesus Christ, the true and better mediator, our prophet, priest, and king who laid down his life that we might live free in the presence of the LORD. Because of the cross of Christ we can draw near to a holy God and find safety and comfort in his presence. As we stand in the grace of Christ, let us be warned not to presume upon God, not to contrive our own conceptions of acceptable worship. Our sinful flesh lures us toward idolatry and sacramentalism as substitutes for the sufficient work of Christ.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28)