“For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6)
“And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” (Exo. 33:20)
Moses needed to be hid in the cleft of the rock and allowed to see only the backside of the Almighty as He passed by, if he would have looked directly into the face of Glory, he would have died. That same glory is what the Lord Jesus Christ left in heaven when He came to dwell among men, or all who saw Him would have also died.
A truth can be seen from this, that God does not change, but He can easily modify Himself.
Did He walk in that glory in full view of Adam and Eve? When the Lord came to visit Abraham before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah that glory was not present, or Abraham would have died. These few words are only a precursor to what I would ask you to contemplate today, of the Almighty not changing, but, if you will, modifying Himself, and I offer you this verse to do so.
“And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him.” (Gen. 38:7)
We are not told the entire circumstances behind the reason that the Lord killed Judah’s son, but there are many other instances in the Scriptures where the Living God killed people as well, the question is not why, but this, since God does not change, is He still killing people, or has He in these days of nearly two thousand years of grace modified Himself in this regard?
Were Ananias and Sapphira any less a warning of God’s demand for righteousness in those who are called by His name than the thousands He killed for looking into His ark of the covenant?
The Most High does not change, but He has laid aside, so to speak, this part of Him in these days of calling the Gentiles to Himself, but does He still kill people for disobedience to His Word and will, or is it as many seem to believe, that if we sin and do not immediately repent of those sins, the worst that will happen to us within ourselves is a detrimental emotion, a feeling of being out of fellowship with our Father in heaven?
How would you live your life for the Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of the Father if you knew that if you stepped too far off the path and that of your own free will and remained there that God would kill you?
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8)
Are Ananias and Sapphira in heaven, what of all those who died in the wilderness because of the unbelief of eight of those ten men, where are they today?
“And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.” (2nd Sam. 6:6-7)
Where is this man, whose intention was honorable, yet the Lord took his life as well?
Does the Living God kill those who are hid in Christ, who are the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ today, or are those days past?
God does not change, grace is what has always saved a man, but does He kill Christians for disobedience?
“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.” (Psalm 118:1)
If He does not, and He does not change, then these days of grace are unparalleled to any other time in history.
We serve the Almighty solely out of a love for Him, just as those from the Old Testament did who are today beholding His glory, we speak, stand and live our lives for Him, just as all those before us have.
Er was evil, so God killed him, were all those who looked into the ark evil as well, or simply momentarily disobedient, and then made an example of. David’s sin of counting the people cost tens of thousands of them to be killed. Where are they today? Will willful disobedience cause the Almighty to kill you?
As I stated, this is for your contemplation only, again, I have no answer for you.
