Who Is Able to Stand?

   

Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, 

“Who is able to stand before the LORD, 

this holy God? 

1 Samuel 6:20a 

During the time of the judges, the Philistines captured the Ark of God and took it to the city of Ashdod, placing it in their temple alongside Dagon, their god.  Dagon would fall over seemingly unaided, and the people began to become sick with tumors.  They could think of nothing besides getting this Ark of God out of their territory.  They took it to several cities, all of whose residents were cursed with tumors or died.  After seven months they decided to send it back to Israel.  At the border of Beth-Shemesh they left the Ark.  The Scripture account says,    "And he [God] struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the LORD. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great blow." (1 Samuel 6:19)  It was at this point that the question was asked, "Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God?"

That is a question that all of us must ask.  And the answer is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Only through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf are we able to stand justified before God.  Only by receiving His finished work on the cross are we able to say,

 "I stand amazed in the presence

 of Jesus the Nazarene,

 and wonder how He could love me,

 a sinner, condemned, unclean."

Interestingly, we will all stand before this Holy God at the day of Judgment.  Some will recoil at His judgment, and others will rejoice.  I pray that each who reads this will be rejoicing in the presence of the Lord on Judgment Day.

Oh, how marvelous, Oh, how wonderful!

Gloria