Ark

David Brings Back The Ark 

This can be found in 1 Chronicles 13 and it’s a pretty amazing
picture of the Return of the Ark, no not the Raiders of the Lost Ark, or
the Return of the King, this is something a little different. 1
Chronicles 13 only has 14 verses in it so read through it out loud. 

David conferred with each of his
officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. He
then said to the whole assembly of Israel, ‘If it seems good to you and
if it is the will of the Lord our God, let us send word far and wide to
the rest of our people throughout the territories of Israel, and also to
the priests and Levites who are with them in their towns and
pasture-lands, to come and join us. Let us bring the ark of our God
back to us, for we did not enquire of it during the reign of Saul.’ The
whole assembly agreed to do this, because it seemed right to all the
people.

So David assembled all Israel, from the River Shihor in
Egypt to Lebo Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim. David
and all Israel went to Baalah of Judah (Kiriath Jearim) to bring up
from there the ark of God the Lord, who is enthroned between the
cherubim – the ark that is called by the Name.

They moved the ark
of God from Abinadab’s house on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding
it. David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might
before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and
trumpets.

When they came to the threshing-floor of Kidon, Uzzah
reached out his hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. The
Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had
put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God.

Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.

David
was afraid of God that day and asked, ‘How can I ever bring the ark of
God to me?’ He did not take the ark to be with him in the City of David.
Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The ark of
God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house for three months,
and the Lord blessed his household and everything he had.

Good job on reading all that. You’ll also need to read chapters 15 and 16 a bit too! Sorry!

Leadership

David was a good leader. His military exploits had already proved
this. In verses 1 and 2 we see there is a distinct hierarchy in David’s
decision making. In the church today people claim access to all
decisions at times. But this is not Biblical. We learn that God runs a
theocracy where he alone makes decisions. On the human level David
consulted his top military chiefs then his secondary military chiefs.
Some people claim ownership of decision making that God has appointed to
his leadership teams in churches. 

Then David presented the idea of bringing the ark back to the people.
Again, some churches present decisions without many people involved
(only exclusive church meetings etc) but here we see David assembling
all the people of Israel (def more than the average church!) So our
lesson is that the whole church is involved in hearing about church
plans. Some churches have a meeting as another layer of order. But
ultimately the whole church should hear of plans, and be involved! In 1
Chronicles 13 the people believed it was a good thing to do and agreed
with David.

Did David consult his boss – the Lord God at all? We’ll come back to that question later.

Gathering of the people

So David went ahead and gathered all the people from across Israel.
What a massive task. But the Ark had such significance that this was
essential. Again we see leadership quality often not seen in churches
today with ministers and pastors not always showing capable leadership.
Training up young people effectively as youth workers has never been so
important as we release a well trained, experienced, holy and Godly
future leaders.

Carrying the Ark

We read in verse 7 that God’s people of Israel carried the Ark on a
new cart. We see that some thought went into carrying the ark with a new
cart possibly built for the purpose. We see that 2 men guided the Ark.
We also find the whole of the people shouting, dancing and musically
praising God en masse with real life and passion – ‘with all their
strength they were singing and playing lyres, harps, tambourines,
cymbals and trumpets.’

Bruce Almighty – is a movie where we see a successful TV presenter
see his life fall apart in front of him. Who does he blame for this
mess? God. Yet Bruce cannot see that it is within him that the problems
and solutions lie. Within him, via the guidance and help of God.

Back to 1 Chronicles 13 we see that all of a sudden the oxen
stumbled, the Ark slipped and Uzzah reached out a hand to stop the Ark
falling. We then read in verse 10 that the Lord was angry with Uzzah
because he did this and killed him. Seems pretty harsh doesn’t it? The
guy was only trying to stop the Ark hitting the floor and God kills him…

Next we find that David was angry with God because God had killed
Uzzah. David then named the place where Uzzah was killed ‘The Punishment
of Uzzah.’

Fear Of The Lord

We’ve done a talk on this subject (Talks > Fear Of God) but in
Chronicles, we find that the death of Uzzah causes David to feel
understandable fear and awe of the Lord. I know I would and I do fear
God. Do you?

The result of this fear was to leave the Ark with a family
(Obed-Edom) and not take it back to Jerusalem. This must have been quite
a humbling and embarrassing experience for David. After all the
celebrations and big noise he would have had to stand in front of people
and admit that they weren’t taking back the Ark to Jerusalem just now
after all. He may even have had to explain Uzzah’s death to Uzzah’s wife
and family. Who knows. But what it did do is get a right perspective of
God.

The Power of the Ark or the Power of God

In the famous Harrison Ford – Indiana Jones movie, ‘Raiders of the
Lost Ark’ we see Indiana try to find the Ark, along with a group of
Nazis. In the movie, the Ark is accorded a special kind of power but
this just isn’t true.

The Ark was a representation of God’s saving power on earth. The
people of Israel were made right with God through the complicated
sacrifices and God-ordained rituals made by the priests on behalf of the
people. The Ark was ‘the house of God’ among the Israelites. The source
of power did not lie with the Ark but with God himself. The same is
true today.

In our churches, services and spiritual life we must not forget that
the true power of God comes from God himself and the Spirit of Jesus in
us. It does not come from our rules, rituals, plans, ideas, words or
weird clothing, buildings and ornaments. These should NEVER be used to
claim the power of God. Old-fashioned and charismatic churches fall into
this trap in different ways. Let’s make it clear that we recognize God
as the power and authority and God alone. Anything less is sinful and
idolatry. Period.

So why did Uzzah die?

Number 1.50 – ‘..appoint the
Levites to be in charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony-over all its
furnishings and everything belonging to it. They are to carry the
tabernacle and all its furnishings; they are to take care of it and
encamp around it.’

One thing David hadn’t done was consult God – or even look back to
the Law to find out how the Ark should have been carried. Disobedience,
not following God’s way, is always a recipe for problems – for us today
as much as back then.

In Chapter 15 verses 11-13 we find
David asking the Levites to carry the Ark. This is what David said, “It
was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that
the LORD our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of
him about how to do it in the prescribed way.”

God’s way is always best!

Noah’s Ark and The Power of the Ark

We read that while the Ark was in Obed-Edom’s house, ‘the Lord
blessed Obed-Edom’s family and everything he owned.’ What an awesome
picture of God. We also see that God’s presence brings blessing. Which
Christian can truly say that God has not brought them blessing through
his Spirit in us. We also learn that the place of true happiness is the
place where God is in the centre of our being, family, life and home.
Awesome huh? 

As I wrote this, God revealed a fresh picture to me – comparing
Noah’s Ark found in and around Genesis 7 – and the Ark of the Covenant
we’re looking at in this talk.

What was Noah’s ark and why was it built? In Genesis 6 we find God
saddened and pained deeply about the corruption, evil and violence of
man he had created. But we find that Noah was a righteous man (right
with God) and not evil like the other people.

Genesis 7:1 – The LORD then said
to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have
found you righteous in this generation.”

So God offered Noah a rescue plan, a way out from the destruction God
was going to bring on the earth through a flood. This was God’s saving
plan. 

In Noah’s ark we find that God put his righteous people – the
representation of his power and his holy name. Let’s repeat that to make
it clear. God’s earthly representatives of his righteousness were found
in Noah and family alone. It was them alone that God saved through the
ark that they had built. So we see God’s people and power represented in
that ark.

We also note that Noah and family had built the ark. Our spiritual
life is dependent on Jesus in us yes, but it takes work and commitment,
obedience on our part. 

What a crystal clear depiction of the Ark of the Covenant we’re
looking at in Chronicles. In both we find the earthly presence of God in
an ark.

The modern day equivalent is found in the power of God’s Spirit through his body – God’s people who make up the church. 

Chapter 15 – the Ark returns to Jerusalem

David firstly made a place for the Ark to rest. Our hearts are
prepared by God for worship. Even before we were born, Jesus appointed
us to be part of his kingdom. Just as the Spirit hovered over the waters
in Genesis 1, so the Spirit of God works in people’s lives today. 1
Corinthians 3.7 says, “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is
anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” Even in our spiritual
lives, God is shaping us and working to make us more like Christ.

We find in verse 14 that the Levites, who were to carry the Ark,
‘prepared themselves for service to the Lord..’ How this is true for us
today? Ever wondered why churches are generally so ineffective right
now? Well, guess what, it’s got a lot to do with you and me and our lack
of preparation of service for the Lord. That means being prepared to
grow, step out in faith, our prayer and Bible life, our personal
holiness.

Worship of God

The final point I want to look at here is the impact the return of
the Ark had on the people. David had assembled the people from all over
Israel, no doubt delegating the work (another lesson for church leaders
and youth workers here!)

The people went nuts. I don’t know about you but often I look back to
my pre-Christian days and I had a load more laughs and fun than right
now. There may as well be a sign outside some churches saying, ‘Be
miserable. Be a Christian.’ It’s not what God wants – he loves a
celebration and came to give us life (see John 10.10)! The people in
Chronicles went ballistic. It was like VE-Day back in 1945 when Hitler
had been defeated and there were parties all over.

We have a full-on choir and loud musical accompaniment. There’s
cymbals, lyres, harps, horns, trumpets and loads of SHOUTING!! There’s a
whole bunch of people breakdancing, doing the conga – OK, maybe
Israelite dances – but you get the point. And where’s my boy David?
What’s he doing? The guy’s off his head, going mad for God. We hear the
phrase, ‘mad for God’ but David invented this phrase. No holding back.
His heart was full of joy and he praised God openly and unashamed. What a
party.

We even find that David’s wife, Michal hated him because of his
dancing. Maybe he was plain a really bad dancer but it was probably more
than that – she probably thought he was going too wild. But David
couldn’t’ help himself as he was so happy and full of God. With full-on
worship of God and when we are a true disciple of Jesus, it brings 2
reactions – people are drawn in or turned away. It forces people to make
a decision.

Is there something that God wants you to make a decision about today?