Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had worked wonderfully among them, didn't they let the people go, and they departed?
In other words, "We gotta get rid of this thing, who of us can stand before the holiness of God?" Interesting question and one that we should be interested in. We should recognize first of all the holiness of God. That absolute holiness of God is actually deadly for sinful man to approach. We, none of us dare try to stand before a holy God in our own righteousness. We remember on the mount when God gave the law, He said, "Now put a fence around. Don't let anybody approach lest they be slain by the presence of God."Access to God in the Old Testament was not a simple thing. The high priest could only approach once a year, and that after many sacrifices. When he approached God he had bells on the borders of his garments, a rope tied around his ankle. As he was in the Holy of Holies, they would stand without listening for the bells. If the bells would stop ringing they knew that there was some flaw in the priest or in the offering, and they'd been smitten dead before the holiness of God. They'd pull him out with a rope. They wouldn't dare go in to fetch him. The holiness of God was something that they highly respected in those days. Tragically we don't really respect the holiness of God that much today.In the early church when there was such great purity, when Ananias and Sapphira decided that they were going to pull off their little scam and pretend that they were giving everything to God, when in reality they were holding back from God, because of the purity of the early church, there was such purity that this sin could not abide. When Ananias laid it down, Peter says, "That's what you sold it for?"He said, "Yep."He said, "Why have you decided to lie against God?" And, Ananias fell over dead. The holiness of God. He dared to come into the purity of the assembly with this scam. His wife being a party to the whole thing, not knowing what happened to her husband, came in a little later, put down her half, and he said, "Did you sell the property for that much?""Yep."He said, "Look, you and your husband have agreed together to lie against the Holy Spirit. You've not lied to man; you've lied to God. Behold, the feet of those who carried your husband out, are gonna carry you out." She fell over dead.Now some people say, "Oh God, return purity to your church." Well you better be careful how you pray. You might not last if God will return such purity to the church. That holiness of God, something that they highly respected, especially when they saw these guys dropping over dead who dared to presume to look at the ark of God, and so they said, "Who amongst us can dwell amongst this holy God? Who of us can stand amongst this holy God?" You know, "Where are we gonna send this thing? Let's get rid of it." "