Plagues Are Not "Good"

And of all the Israelites, I have assigned the Levites to Aaron and his sons. They will serve in the Tabernacle on behalf of the Israelites and make sacrifices to purify the people so no plague will strike them when they approach the sanctuary.” [Numbers 8.19]

I am going to try to understand something from the passage above today. If you are reading this, please just bear with me as I attempt to process the content of the verse above.

To be clear, based on the passage above, sacrifices purify people. Purity is then defined as "no plague." Sacrifices then, prevent plagues.

The mention of plagues above is directly related to approaching the Tabernacle impurely. However, sacrifices are what prevent plagues on those who approach God (approach the sanctuary). In other words, to come before God without a purifying sacrifice is to invoke a plague.

Coming to God unprepared is deadly. It is not something to be taken lightly!

Plagues are mentioned as punishment on unholiness. If that is the case, then plagues are not a random thing, but, in purest form, are precise and holy in their purpose. They are, by design, "barriers" to prevent people from coming to God unworthily. Why would rational, thinking people ever conclude then that plagues were, in any way, random?

Logical thought would produce the following conclusion: if I encounter plagues, then I have not approached God in a worthy fashion.

It amazes me how religion has made the Bible a spiritual "buffet" to pick and choose from. Particularly in the instance of sickness, plagues, loss, and the likes, ...all defined clearly in Deuteronomy 28 as curses for disobedience (unholiness), religion has largely ignored the obvious conclusions to be drawn from these undesirable things (that they are curses upon sin) and instead, in many instances, attributed them as thoughtful gestures from a loving Father God! Are we that stupid?

Bad things are signs that unholiness is afoot. In other words, they are 'red flags' that something is wrong and needs to be corrected.

But Jesus died to redeem us from the curse, right? YES! But not without the accountability of faith on our part! Yes, we are 100% accountable to believe. We are 100% accountable to believe in Jesus. So, if in this 'age of grace' we encounter curses, plagues, loss, then we (again in the age of grace) are not responsible for the sin but the faith that Jesus dealt with it!

So, just as OT people should conclude that troubles were the result of sin to be corrected by sacrifices, we also should conclude that troubles are the result of sin that requires our accountability of faith that Jesus paid for it! Why is this so difficult to perceive? It is difficult to perceive because to do so requires that we admit shortcoming on our part, and, most are simply unwilling to admit it. Our pride prevents us from confessing wrongdoing - including the wrongdoing of  failure to believe (it is pure 'Bible' that "whatsoever is not of faith is SIN" - and that, "without faith it is impossible to please God").

We are like the kid with pudding all over our face denying that we ate the pudding! The kid doesn't realize that the pudding on his face tells exactly what happened. Yes, we experience all the curses defined as rewards for disobedience, and still deny any role their presence in our lives.

Father, help me to arrive at correct conclusions about the circumstances of my life. I do not want to be proud and deny the obvious.