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Psalm 99:8-9  LORD our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds.  Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.

The ‘them’ to whom the Psalmist is referring, the ones whom ‘the LORD our God’ ‘answered’, are Moses and Aaron, and Samuel (verse 6).

Throughout the Psalm he has been grappling with the tension between the fact that God is holy and just on the one hand, and compassionate and forgiving on the other.  For Moses and Aaron, these two sides of the LORD’s character were shown in the architecture of the Tabernacle.  On the one hand it had a ‘Most Holy Place’ containing the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ guarding the Sacred Law that had been given in the midst of awesome fire, smoke and thunder on Mount Sinai.  The people were were never allowed access to this part of the Tabernacle, but were kept separate from it by a thick curtain.

The Most Holy Place (or ‘Holy of Holies’), on the other hand, contained a ‘Mercy Seat’ to cover the Ark, and the High Priest was given access to it, behind the curtain, once a year on the Day of Atonement, through an elaborate system of sacrifices involving the shedding of blood for the people’s sin and the sending away of a ‘scapegoat’, vicariously and symbolically bearing away their sins into the desert.

As for Samuel, he was constantly pleading with the LORD and offering sacrifices on account of the sins of the people.  An example of this, that fits in with the message of today’s Psalm, was when they sinned by asking for a King, and God’s answer included these Words: “Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights …”, which was followed by a long list of very unwelcome natural consequences of having a king! (1 Samuel 8:9)  Yes, our God is both holy and forgiving.

For us today, the Good News is that Jesus, the Perfect Lamb of God, has already suffered, in our place, all the punishment we deserve, and, in him, all our sins are forgiven:  “[Jesus] did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:10-14)  We rejoice in the new relationship with him thus obtained, by grace alone.  Nevertheless, as with his ancient Covenant People, our Sovereign God loves us so much that, although we are fully forgiven in Christ, he still disciplines/teaches us sometimes by allowing us to suffer the natural consequences of our disobedience, or sometimes just in the outworking of his Providence for our sanctification (see Hebrews 12:5-6).  Suffering is usually a much more effective ’tool’ for producing spiritual maturity than is prosperity.

– Bruce Christian