Lesson 6: God's Holiness Creates a Removal of People, part 3

The second way the Bible describes God's zero tolerance for sin is in the removal of Achan.

Joshua 7:1,24-26 - "But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the LORD burned against the people of Israel…And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, ‘Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today.’ And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger..."

This is the incredible account of the removal of Achan from the walk of life. He was one of God’s people. One day he decides to acquire something new. The orders from God were very clear: "Take nothing from these people. You get the land but do not touch their possessions." Achan thought that a little compromise here and there was no big deal. Do we Christians today also think it is not important if we just change a little here and there? Everybody is entitled to a few mistakes now and then. Besides, God knows we are only human. Why were Achan and his whole family immediately stoned to death? Was that nothing more than to quench the anger of God?


According to the Word of God, the Holiness of God shows us that God absolutely does not tolerate even the slightest bit of sin, not even a tiny bit of compromise. We must take sin as seriously as He does. Remember that God only calls something sin because of that action’s effect on us – not on Him!

The third way the Bible describes God's zero tolerance for sin is in the removal of Uzzah.

2 Samuel 6:6-7 - "And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God."

Here was a man privileged enough to be walking beside the ark of God which was now being brought to the city of David. It was a great day of celebration. Uzzah decides to help God out. The orders from God were very clear. If there was one thing you never ever did, it was to touch the ark of God, because it represented the actual Holy Presence of God. Uzzah was only trying to keep the ark from falling – what was wrong with that?

According to the Word of God, the Holiness of God shows us that God absolutely does not tolerate even the slightest bit of sin, not even a small deviation from His will. That includes things we do to try to help God.

* How have you ever tried to help God out? What happened?