Uzzah Smitten by G. W. Reaser

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 31, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 13.

Uzzah Smitten

By G. W. Reaser

BIBLE OBJECT LESSONS. No. 4.

(Concluded.)

The time would fail me to review the multitude of object lessons which the Bible gives to demonstrate to the children of men, that “the Lord is true and righteous altogether,” and ever means what He says; so, with the citation of one or two more examples, we will leave the reader to the impressions of the Spirit of God, that each may decide for himself in regard to the importance of rendering unquestioning obedience to all of His commandments.

Uzzah Smitten.

At a certain period in the history of the children of Israel, because of their failure to honor God, and to depend upon Him as their source of strength, God permitted the sacred ark, which contained His holy law, to be taken in war by a heathen nation, the Philistines. But the Lord wrought in a mysterious way for the return of the ark to the land of Israel. He had distinctly told the people that none but certain of the priests were to touch this sacred receptacle of the law, and whenever necessity required that it should be transported from place to place, it was to be borne upon the shoulders of chosen men, by the means of staves, which were passed through rings in the sides of the ark. However, when the Lord had miraculously returned the ark to the borders of the land of Israel, the people, entirely disregarding the instructions of the Lord, pursued their own course in the handling of it, and, devising a more “modern” method of transportation, placed the ark upon a new cart, and with much demonstration set out for Jerusalem. But, en route, they came to a rough place in the roadway, the ark shook, and Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and He smote him, because he put his hand to the ark; and there he died before the Lord.”

Lesson: If the Lord would thus pass sentence, and execute judgment, upon the one who ventured to disregard the plain instruction He had given with reference to the touching of the ark, what will be His sentence, and what the execution of that final decision, upon the one who dares to lay vandal hands upon, or live in open violation of, the thrice sacred law, of which the ark was simply the repository.

The Disobedient Prophet.

Sometimes even a prophet of God has been deceived into thinking that the Lord does not

always speak the same thing, and remain steadfast in regard to what He has spoken. For an example of one who was thus deluded note the results of the disobedience of the “man of God,” as recorded in 1 Kings 13, and let us each apply the lesson to our own life.

Each of these examples should teach us one and the same truth,—that our heavenly Father never talks at random; that He always means exactly what He says; that He requires unquestioning obedience of His people to-day, as of old. In fact, we are distinctly told that “all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” Will we be admonished before final sentence is passed? In view of all that has gone before, we, the last generation, have greater responsibility resting upon us than any members of the race of Adam who have ever been upon the stage of action; even as Christ said to the Jews who rejected Him, “The blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, . . . shall be required of this generation.”

We can not rely on priest or minister to distinguish for us between the sacred and the profane, for the Lord says concerning those who occupy these sacred offices, “Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” Eze. 22:26. God’s people are sanctified through obedience, and our Father gives His Holy Spirit to them that obey Him. (See 1 Peter 1:2 and Acts 5:32.)

Now, in conclusion, let me ask, Has not the Lord spoken as distinctly in regard to Sabbath observance as He has concerning any other Christian duty? Hear Him say, “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.” In the former dispensation, Sabbath-breakers were stoned to death. Why does not the Lord manifest His displeasure now by executing the death penalty upon all of those who violate His law?—Simply because of the many object lessons that He has already given, and from the fact that He “is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” and obedience. But when sentence shall be passed, and judgment executed, how will the Sabbath-breaker fare? Will not the Lord’s decisions be uniform, or parallel with the precedents already established? Reader, are you willing to take the awful risk of being a violator of God’s holy law?

Knowing that the natural tendency of the human heart is to evade duty if possible, and that the deception of Satan would be to make mankind think that God is not particular, the Lord forewarns us in these words, “Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” Deut. 4:2. If we do not follow the Word of the Lord, where will we draw the line?

In view of the fact that the great message of Sabbath reform in the last days is proclaimed to the world as an essential part of the “everlasting Gospel” (see Rev. 14:6–12), the Lord said through the prophet Joel, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision;” and every one to whom this message comes is shut up to a decision of the question, Will I obey the voice of the Lord and keep His holy Sabbath, or will I follow the multitude to do evil, and join in keeping a day that God has never sanctified? To escape the decision is impossible. How will you decide? The judgment of this world is now in session in the courts above. God the Father is Judge. Legal questions are involved. His eternal and unchangeable law forms the basis of that judgment. Dear reader, are you willing that your name should be passed upon by that great tribunal, from whose decisions there is no appeal, and you be found keeping a rival day to God’s holy Sabbath, and trampling His day underfoot? The highest form of worship is obedience.

“The solemn moment is at hand When we who have His name confessed, Each in his lot, must singly stand, And pass the final searching test.”

“See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth; but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, . . . that those things that can not be shaken may remain.” At that time every man-made institution will be removed, but the Sabbath of the Lord will still remain. Having withstood all the assaults of the enemies of God, and the ravages of time, it will endure to all eternity (Isa. 66:22, 23); and likewise those who prove their loyalty to God, will be given lives running parallel with the life of the eternal Father, and, having kept His commandments, will be given an abundant entrance into His everlasting kingdom.

May the reader and writer be found there, with all the blood-washed throng, and join glad hearts and voices in the universal tribute of praise, which shall fill the souls of the redeemed hosts to overflowing, and burst forth from their immortal lips in that triumphant “ALLELUIA: Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God; for true and righteous are His judgments;” and “just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.”

G. W. REASER.