1 Samuel 5-6 and Romans 3

"Now the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites, and He ravaged them and smote them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territories." - 1 Sam. 5:6


"[The death and resurrection] was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." - Rm 3:25-26


"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." - Rm 3:28

This morning the Philistines were under several plagues because they stole the Ark, but God forbears from judging us similarly not because of what we've done, but entirely because of His mercy toward us.

Mercy and vengeance don't seem compatible.

1 Samuel 5-6 focus almost entirely on the Lord's vengeance.  It even gives a figure - by the end of chapter 6, "he  struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter." - 6:19b.  A Great Slaughter.  It was really funny reading about the tumor and mice plagues on the Philistines, and how the Ark single-Arkedly tore down and humiliated the statue of Dagon in its own temple, and then going to read about the Lord's abounding mercy for us despite our sin.

God is a God of justice, and His character has not changed despite the mood swing between these two books.  He blighted the Philistines in repayment for their sin, but he forgives us for our sin.  The only difference between sin in the OT and sin in the NT is the sacrifice of Jesus.  The conspicuous absence of violent retribution now and in Paul's time is entirely attributable to Him.  His death placated and placates God's wrath today, and thank God for that.

So to reduce this down to some principles,

1) God is just
2) God is merciful
3) God doesn't like being screwed around with and having his Ark in somebody else's temple
4) Faith in Jesus justifies us because we are incapable of justifying ourselves

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