What Does I Samuel 6:20 Mean?

Standing amidst the carnage of their own brothers, the survivors of Bethshemesh cry out in theological panic, asking who can survive in the presence of this holy Lord God. They have correctly diagnosed the fundamental crisis of the universe; the unshielded, burning purity of Yahweh is fundamentally incompatible with sinful, careless humanity, creating a deadly proximity that no human action can survive. Tragically, instead of collapsing in repentant worship to seek an atoning sacrifice, their immediate response is the same as the pagan Philistines: they ask to whom He should go up from them, desperate to push the holy presence of God as far away from their city as possible.

The undeniable reality of God's holiness will either drive a man to the desperate, weeping need for a Savior, or it will cause him to deliberately reject the presence of the Lord altogether. When the Holy Spirit brings searing conviction of sin into a church or a human heart, many individuals immediately attempt to push that conviction away, preferring the comfortable, numb reality of spiritual darkness over the painful, exposing light of truth. Believers must run toward the holy, convicting fire of God, wholly trusting that while His holiness destroys arrogant rebellion, it is the just force capable of producing genuine, transformative sanctification.

This desperate, terrified question from the men of Bethshemesh asking who is able to stand is gloriously and answered by the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. While these sinful Israelites were wholly unable to endure the unshielded presence of a holy God, Jesus entered the very throne room of heaven with His own blood, flawlessly securing eternal redemption and allowing us to powerfully stand in grace (Romans 5:2). He is our supreme, righteous Advocate whose record is freely imputed to us, guaranteeing that we will never be cast out from the burning purity of the Father's presence.