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I’ve been reading Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and it’s making me aware of the danger of handling holy things.

Exodus ends on a high note: God dwells among his people. But God’s presence comes with danger. “Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:35).

Leviticus begins with hope. God provides a way for sinful people to live in God’s holy presence. You can feel the buildup to the first time that the priests offer sacrifices to God. Aaron and his sons are anointed, clothed, and instructed on what to do. On day one, though, Aaron’s sons die because they offer strange fire to God (Leviticus 10:1-3). We can’t get out of day one without catastrophe.

Numbers assigns tasks to the various clans among the Levites. The sons of Kothan are assigned the job of carrying holy items from the tabernacle, but they can’t touch them without cloths or even look on the holy things for a moment in case they die (Numbers 4:15-20).

Later, Numbers recounts the death of the entire first generation in the wilderness, except for two people. Not even Moses makes the grade (Numbers 20:10-13). By the time we reach the end of the Pentateuch, we’re sobered by the reality of God’s holiness and the danger it presents to sinful people like us. After reading these books, we shouldn’t be shocked that Uzzah dies when he touches the ark of the covenant (2 Samuel 6:6). We should be shocked that he thought he wouldn’t.

Evidently, it’s dangerous to handle holy things.

Some may think that it’s less dangerous under the new covenant. Unlike Israel in Moses’ day, “we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19).

But we shouldn’t lose sight of the danger of handling holy things. Early in the church’s history, God reminded his people of the seriousness of what’s at stake (Acts 5:11). The author of Hebrews reminds us, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). God’s grace doesn’t negate the need for fear and reverence.

I read the Bible in just over a month a couple of years ago. Reading it at this pace helped me to see themes I’d never seen with as much clarity before. One theme stuck out: Don’t mess with God. Fear him. Don’t take his grace for granted. Never lose sight of the danger of handling holy things.

I praise God for his grace, but I also want to be gripped by a holy fear of who God is. From beginning to end, Scripture reminds us of the danger of handling holy things. A glimpse of God’s holiness would be enough to remind us to fear him even as we approach him with confidence through Jesus. May we never handle Scripture or the things of God with anything less than reverence and fear, because we need the right kind of fear. As God promised through Jeremiah, “I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.”

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