Uzzah's (Un)surprising Death (1 Chronicles 13)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.879 --> 00:00:05.879 Let us remain standing. And here are king's words from first chronicles, chapter 2 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:22.300 thirteen, first chronicles thirteen. Here the word of the Lord. David consulted 3 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:27.219 with the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, with every leader, and David 4 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:31.420 said to all the assembly of Israel, if it seems good to you and 5 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:35.890 from the and from Jehovah, our God, let us send abroad to our 6 00:00:35.969 --> 00:00:39.289 brothers who remain in all the lands of Israel, as well as to the 7 00:00:39.409 --> 00:00:43.810 priests and Levites in the cities that have pasture lands, that they may be 8 00:00:43.929 --> 00:00:49.170 gathered to us. Then let us bring again the Ark of our God to 9 00:00:49.329 --> 00:00:54.759 us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul. All 10 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:58.600 of the assembly agreed to do so, for the thing was right and all 11 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:03.759 in the eyes of all the people. So David assembled all Israel, from 12 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:08.349 the Nile of Egypt to Libo Hamof to bring the Ark of God from Kiriaf 13 00:01:08.590 --> 00:01:15.829 Je Jerim, and David and all Israel went up to Bah Allah, that 14 00:01:15.069 --> 00:01:19.859 is to Curryaf Jerreim, that belongs to Judah, to bring up from there 15 00:01:21.019 --> 00:01:23.340 the Ark of God, which is called by the name of Jehovah, who 16 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:29.939 sits enthroned above the Cherubim and they carried the Ark of God on a new 17 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:34.569 cart from the house of a Mindab, and Zah and Ahio were driving the 18 00:01:34.689 --> 00:01:40.650 cart and David and all Israel were rejoicing before God with all their might, 19 00:01:41.170 --> 00:01:49.280 with songs and liars and Harps and tambourines and symbols and trumpets. And when 20 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:56.599 they came to the threshing floor of Chidam Zah put out his hand to take 21 00:01:56.680 --> 00:02:00.799 hold of the Ark, for the oxen stumbled and the anger of Jehovah was 22 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:05.790 kindled against USA and he struck him down because he put out his hand to 23 00:02:05.870 --> 00:02:10.710 the Ark and he died there before God. And David was angry with Jehovah, 24 00:02:10.990 --> 00:02:16.939 or in David was angry because Jehovah had broken out against Uza, and 25 00:02:17.099 --> 00:02:23.379 the place is called Perez Azah to this day. And David was afraid of 26 00:02:23.500 --> 00:02:25.300 God that day and he said, how can I bring the Ark of God 27 00:02:25.379 --> 00:02:30.289 home to me? So David did not take the Ark of Ark home into 28 00:02:30.370 --> 00:02:35.289 the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed Edom 29 00:02:35.370 --> 00:02:39.849 the Gittite, and the Ark of God remained with the household of Obed Edom 30 00:02:40.090 --> 00:02:46.599 in his house three months and Jehovah blessed the House of Obed Edom and all 31 00:02:46.680 --> 00:03:14.379 that he had. You may be seated on the Bible. We have these 32 00:03:14.819 --> 00:03:22.539 great stories of heroes of the faith, men of Valor, men of integrity, 33 00:03:22.939 --> 00:03:27.099 of righteousness. David is certainly one of them, and one whom we 34 00:03:27.210 --> 00:03:31.729 have seen in a very positive light thus far, a one who has been 35 00:03:32.330 --> 00:03:38.289 contrasted with Saul, and even is here as well. But here we are 36 00:03:38.370 --> 00:03:45.960 reminded that men are always men, that no one is perfect. No, 37 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:53.039 not one, not even David. David ends this story angry at God and 38 00:03:54.599 --> 00:04:03.270 refusing unknowing, confused about what to do with the ARC. David has a 39 00:04:03.349 --> 00:04:06.550 lesson that he needs to learn, and he will learn it, as we 40 00:04:06.629 --> 00:04:12.620 will see in the coming chapters. But right now we see that David, 41 00:04:13.340 --> 00:04:18.300 on the one hand, has this really good intention, but ultimately it fails 42 00:04:18.500 --> 00:04:27.170 and one of the men of his kingdom, Aza even, dies for these 43 00:04:27.250 --> 00:04:33.370 failures. If you want to understand first chronicles thirteen, you have to understand 44 00:04:33.610 --> 00:04:40.000 something about the ARC. You have to have understand the ARC. Understanding the 45 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:45.199 ARC is key to understanding why David was right to want to bring it back 46 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:50.519 to Jerusalem. It took into Jerusalem. Understanding the ARC as the key to 47 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:57.189 understanding why saul was wrongful in neglecting it, why as it was wrong to 48 00:04:57.310 --> 00:05:02.629 touch it, why God was right to put us a to death. But 49 00:05:02.750 --> 00:05:08.660 understanding the ARC does more than help us explain the characters in this story. 50 00:05:08.699 --> 00:05:15.139 Understanding the ARC does more than help us to understand David and as a Saul 51 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:23.009 Israel. Understanding the ARC helps us to understand God. The ARC is one 52 00:05:23.050 --> 00:05:28.850 of God's ways that he teaches us about himself all throughout the Old Testament and 53 00:05:28.930 --> 00:05:32.889 this is one of its important places. God uses the Ark, for else, 54 00:05:32.970 --> 00:05:36.319 to for us, as a way to know him, to fear him, 55 00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:42.000 to love him, to trust him. He also uses the ARC as 56 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:46.120 a way to teach us about Jesus, his presence among us, the kinds 57 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:50.870 of things that God does for us in saving us. So we're going to 58 00:05:50.990 --> 00:05:57.910 consider the Ark this evening so that we can perhaps be not so surprised as 59 00:05:57.949 --> 00:06:00.470 I think most of us are when we first read this story or hear it 60 00:06:00.870 --> 00:06:04.740 about us as death. My hope is that by the time we get to 61 00:06:04.779 --> 00:06:10.740 the end, US as death is something that you might have even expected, 62 00:06:11.100 --> 00:06:15.379 or will expect the next time you read it, to understand that God is 63 00:06:15.459 --> 00:06:20.329 not being irrational or emotional or something like that, but that God is acting 64 00:06:21.370 --> 00:06:30.449 righteously and well in putting us a to death. So let's consider the Ark. 65 00:06:31.170 --> 00:06:33.959 First of all, when we talk about the Ark, you have to 66 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:39.839 understand that this is not the normal arc that I think most people know and 67 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:43.839 are is famous. This is not Noah's Ark. You don't want to be 68 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:48.829 confused between those two things. It's also not the ARC that Moses was put 69 00:06:48.910 --> 00:06:53.829 in. Sometimes, the basket that his mother put him in and sent him 70 00:06:53.870 --> 00:06:59.110 down the water is called an arc. It's not that arc either. This 71 00:06:59.430 --> 00:07:02.980 arc is called the Ark of God or the Ark of the Covenant or the 72 00:07:03.139 --> 00:07:09.060 Arc of testimony, of the testimony. I'll give you a description of it. 73 00:07:09.459 --> 00:07:12.420 I'm not only so you can picture it, but you'll see that in 74 00:07:12.579 --> 00:07:16.449 the description of it, I'm we begin to understand what it is, what 75 00:07:16.649 --> 00:07:24.850 God intends to communicate to us through the ARC. The ARC is about what 76 00:07:25.009 --> 00:07:30.800 I was about four feet long, about three and three quarters feet I'm so 77 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:35.000 not a huge thing, but you know like so it was about two and 78 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:43.319 a half or two and in a quarter feet wide and also deep. It's 79 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:48.269 essentially a box, a box made out of ACACIA. Would I have a 80 00:07:48.350 --> 00:07:53.670 salad bowl made out of ACACIA? Would I see other kinchin utensils made out 81 00:07:53.670 --> 00:07:57.870 of this wood? It's very pretty, it's got beautiful patterns and it's somewhat 82 00:07:58.430 --> 00:08:01.660 expensive kind of wood, at least it can be. So you have this 83 00:08:01.779 --> 00:08:09.339 beautiful box of good size, large box made out of Acacia Wood. But 84 00:08:09.500 --> 00:08:13.050 then the box, the ARC, is overlaid with gold. These instructions, 85 00:08:13.170 --> 00:08:16.689 by the way, are found in exodus twenty five and I believe, at 86 00:08:16.689 --> 00:08:22.290 least one other place as well. You have this box and it's it's covered 87 00:08:22.329 --> 00:08:28.040 with gold on on all sides and then each corner of the arc there are 88 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:33.320 these rings that are made through which a pull is to go through. The 89 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:37.080 reason for that is that the ARC is to be carried in a very specific 90 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:43.590 way. It is not to be touched by anyone when it is carried and 91 00:08:43.710 --> 00:08:48.830 moved around, which itself was to end when the temple was made, but 92 00:08:48.950 --> 00:08:50.870 as long, but for a while, the arc was on the move, 93 00:08:52.429 --> 00:08:54.110 and when it was on the move it was to not be touched but to 94 00:08:54.190 --> 00:09:00.820 be carried by these poles that would go through those rings on either side. 95 00:09:01.299 --> 00:09:05.700 One way you might picture the arc or the caring of the ARC, is 96 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:11.049 like you see, and maybe you've seen in a movie, where you have 97 00:09:11.250 --> 00:09:16.850 servants carrying someone through the streets, like a king, for example, people 98 00:09:18.009 --> 00:09:22.289 walking with long poles with a kind of platform on which the king sits. 99 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:30.080 This is not an inappropriate analogy for the ARC, because indeed it is called 100 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:35.480 the footstool of God. It is described in scripture as his throne. In 101 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:41.669 a sense, he is said to have his presence there. With the ARC, 102 00:09:41.230 --> 00:09:46.549 this is part of his place where he sits and rules and dwells. 103 00:09:46.909 --> 00:09:52.789 And so not only was it beautiful, but it was also holy, and 104 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:56.539 that is why it was to not be touched. You approach a king in 105 00:09:56.659 --> 00:10:01.220 a particular way. You don't come around from the back and tap him on 106 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:03.980 the shoulders Ay Hey, can we talk? You come from the front, 107 00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:09.889 you come low, you come according to Proto Call, you come to respect 108 00:10:09.009 --> 00:10:15.210 and honor the king. You don't just touch his throne, you don't just 109 00:10:15.409 --> 00:10:20.720 touch him or his robes. You give reverence and awe to the king. 110 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:26.679 If this is true of human kings, how much more so with the King 111 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:33.159 of Heaven and earth, the King of the world, even God himself. 112 00:10:35.350 --> 00:10:41.350 Well, not only is the ARC described in this way as God's Footstool, 113 00:10:41.509 --> 00:10:46.429 with the Tabernacle and the temple being his his house and his throne room, 114 00:10:48.830 --> 00:10:52.659 but we also see it pictured in the Ark. Thus far I've described a 115 00:10:52.860 --> 00:10:56.620 box, a gold box or a wood box overlaid with gold, these poles 116 00:10:56.740 --> 00:11:01.340 on the sides, but I haven't described to you yet the top. The 117 00:11:01.539 --> 00:11:07.090 top of the ARC was a piece of gold that went across the top and 118 00:11:07.289 --> 00:11:16.649 on either ends were two angels, Cherubu. These angels stretched out their wings 119 00:11:16.169 --> 00:11:22.919 so that the tips of the wings nearly touched one another and they're the gaze 120 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:30.360 of the angels was downwards, so toward the ARC. Why would these angels 121 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:33.750 be there? Well, there are a number of places in scripture that God 122 00:11:33.990 --> 00:11:41.669 describe God's relationship to the angels in this way. So second kings one thousand 123 00:11:41.669 --> 00:11:45.909 nine hundred and fifteen, for example, says that God is enthroned above the 124 00:11:46.029 --> 00:11:52.139 Cherubean there's the sense in which he rests his throne on them, or are 125 00:11:52.299 --> 00:11:58.580 they are around him? On very close in revelation, for we have these 126 00:11:58.899 --> 00:12:05.809 these kinds of pictures. The Throne Room of God has this is great clouds 127 00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:09.769 surrounding it. There as these the sense of gleaming metal and flashes of lightning. 128 00:12:11.009 --> 00:12:18.960 Than there are these angels, angels surrounding His throne. These throne is 129 00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:24.759 sometimes described as a chariot. I'm it's described in various ways in these visions 130 00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:30.029 that God gives to the Prophets. Sometimes it seems to be pictured as a 131 00:12:30.110 --> 00:12:35.230 somewhat stationary thing, other times it's on the move, and there is this 132 00:12:35.629 --> 00:12:43.029 sort of conglomeration of images of fire and angels and wheels, all moving forward 133 00:12:43.110 --> 00:12:50.340 as God rides in His Majesty and judgment. The images are terrifying. The 134 00:12:50.460 --> 00:13:00.970 images are unbelievable in a sense, they are difficult to imagine and full of 135 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:07.129 power or and mystery. Psalm sixty eight seventeen says the chariots of God are 136 00:13:07.250 --> 00:13:13.000 twice ten thousand thousands. The Lord is among them and goes on to describe 137 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:22.120 his angels as ministers of fire, flaming fire. We also have these pictures 138 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:28.830 in Ezekiel with these wheels upon wheels turning and spinning as God sits on His 139 00:13:28.309 --> 00:13:35.269 throne. Well, all of this, these images that come and are. 140 00:13:35.590 --> 00:13:41.580 God expresses to us through various visions that he gives his prophets are here pictured 141 00:13:41.179 --> 00:13:46.980 in a very physical form in the Ark, with these two angels described in 142 00:13:48.059 --> 00:13:52.059 a similar way that we see in these visions, reaching out their wings, 143 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:58.970 casting their gaze downward in humility, as the Lord God sits between them and 144 00:14:01.129 --> 00:14:09.720 he rules as in his presence there. The last thing to mention about what 145 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:16.879 the ARC looked like was what was inside the box. What was inside the 146 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:20.480 arc? Not only was it beautiful, not with the only was it holy 147 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:26.470 and symbolizing all of these things, picturing this throne of God, but inside 148 00:14:26.669 --> 00:14:33.950 we're placed the ten commandments, very significant because God is known to us in 149 00:14:35.149 --> 00:14:39.340 his word. It debt that ten commandments being placed in the arc shows that 150 00:14:39.580 --> 00:14:46.659 the shows how connected the word is with God's rule. They are not to 151 00:14:46.740 --> 00:14:52.100 be separated, they are not to be, I'm seen as a part. 152 00:14:52.809 --> 00:14:56.529 I'll just mention that. It other there seems to be a suggestion in Hebrews 153 00:14:56.610 --> 00:15:03.129 Nine, the errands Rod, which blossomed in numbers, a testimony to Arran's 154 00:15:03.169 --> 00:15:07.960 priesthood and also a jar of manner, were perhaps in the arc at some 155 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:13.519 point or beside it or near it. So this is the description of the 156 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:16.360 ARC, and I hope that as you hear this, you get a real 157 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:24.509 sense of the Majesty and Power of God, and God rules his people in 158 00:15:24.669 --> 00:15:28.789 this particular way. Now, not only do you see this in the design 159 00:15:28.830 --> 00:15:33.190 of the ARC, but you also see it in the movement of the Ark. 160 00:15:33.029 --> 00:15:37.220 You remember, I told you that, as the visions of God's prophets 161 00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:43.019 describe the throne of God, it is sometimes seems to be stationary and sometimes 162 00:15:43.139 --> 00:15:46.220 on the move. This was, of the true of the ARC as well. 163 00:15:46.220 --> 00:15:50.809 You've can to consider its placement in Israel. God had very specific commands 164 00:15:52.289 --> 00:15:56.570 when the ARC was placed in Israel. It is to be put in the 165 00:15:56.690 --> 00:16:02.610 center. God was to be in the center of his people. The ARC 166 00:16:02.730 --> 00:16:06.840 and the Tabernacle that surrounded it was to be in the center of the camp, 167 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:12.120 with the tribes of Israel spreading out in every cardinal direction. It was 168 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:18.549 a way of showing God again, God's importance and his centrality, but sometimes 169 00:16:18.629 --> 00:16:23.909 it was on the move. The ARC was to be the the thing which 170 00:16:23.990 --> 00:16:30.389 led God's people into battle, and in this way we see that God is 171 00:16:30.429 --> 00:16:33.820 not only to be at their center, but he is also their divine warrior. 172 00:16:34.740 --> 00:16:38.980 They it is God who leads the charge, it is God who rides 173 00:16:40.019 --> 00:16:45.019 out on his chariot, and this was all pictured as the arc went forward. 174 00:16:48.330 --> 00:16:52.490 So when you think about the arc, you should be thinking about God, 175 00:16:52.690 --> 00:16:59.370 His throne and what and his designs for that. We are to consider 176 00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:04.240 God as holy, as powerful, as majestic, as ruler overall, as 177 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:08.960 center of the people, as one who is to remain, who draws close 178 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:14.680 to us and promises to be with us and yet is always separate, is 179 00:17:14.759 --> 00:17:22.710 never to be touched. And so we see why Saul in Israel failed so 180 00:17:22.910 --> 00:17:30.900 greatly. When, as David says in first chronicles thirteen three, then let 181 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:34.140 us bring again the Ark of God to us, for we did not seek 182 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:41.980 it in the days of Saul. Can you imagine, given all that God 183 00:17:42.019 --> 00:17:48.049 has said and promised to do in connection with the Ark, that you would 184 00:17:48.049 --> 00:17:52.250 ever let it out of your sight, that you would ever simply lose it 185 00:17:52.369 --> 00:18:00.079 or lose or or or do anything that God had commanded or prohibited against it? 186 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:07.240 And yet that's what Saul and the people did. In fact, Saul's 187 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:10.559 whole kingship, as we seen, has been characterized by this kind of thing, 188 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:15.630 neglect of God. He's failed. Oh he failed over and over again 189 00:18:15.750 --> 00:18:21.069 to seek after God. He failed over and over again to let God be 190 00:18:21.109 --> 00:18:23.430 the one who would send him into battle, let God be the one who 191 00:18:23.430 --> 00:18:29.500 would be a divine warrior first people. Instead, Saul was continually saying, 192 00:18:29.539 --> 00:18:32.259 I've got this one, I'll do it, I'll take care of it. 193 00:18:33.579 --> 00:18:37.740 Of course he didn't, though. He hid in caves and stayed in his 194 00:18:37.900 --> 00:18:42.730 palace and was on the run, refused to go into battle. This is 195 00:18:42.769 --> 00:18:48.450 what happens, of course, when we neglect the Lord, when we put 196 00:18:48.529 --> 00:18:52.410 God away from our center, when we don't seek after God, when we 197 00:18:52.529 --> 00:18:56.160 don't desire to lead or, I'm sorry, follow him in his leadership, 198 00:18:56.759 --> 00:19:04.680 we find ourselves, as Saul did, anxious, weak, frustrated scared because 199 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:10.710 we're we are seeking to live and and rule in our own strength and not 200 00:19:10.829 --> 00:19:17.269 the Lord's. So David is very much on the right track here when he 201 00:19:17.509 --> 00:19:21.309 says we did not seek it in the days of the Lord, let's go 202 00:19:21.910 --> 00:19:27.339 get it. Well, you'll have to go and read and read in the 203 00:19:27.500 --> 00:19:33.299 histories what happened to the ARC. I'm all the details of it, but 204 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:37.779 to put it shortly it had wound up in the hands of the Philistines and 205 00:19:37.299 --> 00:19:44.690 basically been moving around their land terrorizing them. It would it would come into 206 00:19:44.730 --> 00:19:48.289 a particular place and all kinds of curses would come upon the people, and 207 00:19:48.410 --> 00:19:52.440 so they'd send it somewhere else and send it somewhere else, until finally they 208 00:19:52.519 --> 00:20:00.839 sent it off and it went to this place to carry off Jerem and landing 209 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:10.349 there, I'm David decides to go get it, but he makes an important 210 00:20:10.470 --> 00:20:18.230 mistake. Maybe it's not even a mistake, because later on, in believe 211 00:20:18.269 --> 00:20:26.500 it's chapter sixteen, he's going to confess that he the knowledge that the Levites 212 00:20:26.539 --> 00:20:29.740 are the ones that are to be carrying the ARC. Eventually he's going to 213 00:20:29.859 --> 00:20:34.930 get this right. But here, for some reason, they decide to put 214 00:20:34.930 --> 00:20:40.529 it in a cart. Now they give it they they put it in a 215 00:20:40.650 --> 00:20:45.769 cart with these animals, these oxen, and what happens? The Oxen Stumble 216 00:20:47.529 --> 00:20:53.160 in. US A puts out his hand and he touches the throne of God. 217 00:20:55.960 --> 00:21:03.480 He reaches out to touch the Ark. Now we're, of course, 218 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:07.869 sympathetic with us a. What would you do? What would be better? 219 00:21:08.230 --> 00:21:11.829 Touching the ARC, doing that thing you're not supposed to do or letting the 220 00:21:12.029 --> 00:21:21.660 Ark of God fall into the dirt. It's a hard call, but the 221 00:21:21.740 --> 00:21:26.579 sin of Uza and of David didn't happen just when he touched it. The 222 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:30.859 sin happened when they put it into the cart. And we do this in 223 00:21:30.980 --> 00:21:37.450 our lives. We put ourselves into these compromised situations where we end up with 224 00:21:37.970 --> 00:21:44.529 two bad options, two options in which we say this is bad and this 225 00:21:44.809 --> 00:21:48.920 is bad, this one is evil and that one is evil. We have 226 00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:52.440 to be careful and guard our hearts and the ways that we move and live 227 00:21:52.599 --> 00:22:00.279 and think and act wisely and follow God's commands from the beginning, not just 228 00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:08.430 when things get difficult down the road. Uzza didn't do that, David didn't 229 00:22:08.470 --> 00:22:15.740 do that, Israel didn't do that. Here we're also reminded of another important 230 00:22:15.779 --> 00:22:22.539 lesson concerning God's law. You have this wonderful picture of the people praising and 231 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:26.900 worshiping God, and the text seems to read in a way that it was 232 00:22:27.059 --> 00:22:32.289 very genuine. David goes out with good motives to get the ARC. They're 233 00:22:32.329 --> 00:22:36.210 coming back for all the right reasons, and then in verse eight we read 234 00:22:36.250 --> 00:22:41.250 that they're rejoicing before God with all their might, with songs and liars and 235 00:22:41.410 --> 00:22:49.039 Harps and tambourines and symbols and trumpets. There's this giant marching band moving along 236 00:22:49.160 --> 00:22:56.640 with the arc, people praising and rejoicing God. Before all disaster happens and 237 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:03.670 they end up leaving the arc and going home. It's a good reminder that, 238 00:23:03.829 --> 00:23:08.309 as good and true as our praise and worship of God might be, 239 00:23:10.470 --> 00:23:18.140 it never is enough to cover up or make up for outright disobedience. You 240 00:23:18.220 --> 00:23:23.420 can't disobey God and the things that he wants and then come to church and 241 00:23:23.539 --> 00:23:27.009 say, well, all praise him with all my heart and somehow these things 242 00:23:27.369 --> 00:23:33.769 will balance each other out. God even says in concerning the sacrifices, even 243 00:23:33.089 --> 00:23:40.529 in particular, it's obedience that I want, obedience from the heart, more 244 00:23:40.609 --> 00:23:48.440 than these things. They had it wrong. They were willing, perhaps honestly 245 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:53.319 and and truly, to rejoice and praise God, and that's good, but 246 00:23:53.440 --> 00:24:00.549 it doesn't make up for disobedience. When God says the Levites, the priests, 247 00:24:00.670 --> 00:24:06.869 shall carry the Ark, to not carry it and when we remember that 248 00:24:07.190 --> 00:24:11.779 this is the throne of God, to put it in a cart, to 249 00:24:11.900 --> 00:24:18.420 say I don't feel like caring it. I'd rather not. Truly, there's 250 00:24:18.420 --> 00:24:22.779 a better way. If the king wants to be carried, you carry the 251 00:24:22.819 --> 00:24:27.450 king. He is the king, and God is our Lord, our God 252 00:24:27.569 --> 00:24:33.049 and our king. We are to do as he pleases and not simply decide 253 00:24:33.170 --> 00:24:38.519 our own ways and then try, I to think that it'll somehow be right 254 00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:45.440 if we praise him hard enough. So these were the sins of David, 255 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:52.720 the sins of Oza. In some ways, they failed to submit to the 256 00:24:52.869 --> 00:24:59.349 truth and the reality that they were to be controlled by God and instead decided 257 00:24:59.390 --> 00:25:06.829 that they they would control him, and that's why this happened in the way 258 00:25:06.910 --> 00:25:11.740 that it did. God wanted to teach Israel a lesson, and indeed he 259 00:25:11.980 --> 00:25:17.380 teaches us a lesson as well. When it comes to God and in his 260 00:25:17.539 --> 00:25:22.730 presence and His Majesty and His Holiness, in his divine power as a warrior 261 00:25:22.809 --> 00:25:27.250 king, you are a fool to neglect it, a fool to neglect God 262 00:25:27.490 --> 00:25:33.569 as Saltd but you're also foolish if you think you can somehow control him, 263 00:25:34.329 --> 00:25:37.519 if you think that you can somehow come to him on your own terms or 264 00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:44.279 treat him in your own way. No, God will be as God will 265 00:25:44.359 --> 00:25:51.789 be. He is the Lord and there is no other. This should put 266 00:25:52.869 --> 00:25:57.390 a degree of fear in our hearts, of reverence for our God and King. 267 00:25:59.630 --> 00:26:03.109 We are right to tremble before him, to feel the weight of His 268 00:26:03.269 --> 00:26:10.059 Majesty and as honor and his praise. We do not go before the glory 269 00:26:10.180 --> 00:26:15.220 of the Lord Lightly. We are to worship him in obedience and reverence and 270 00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:23.970 AH. But it is also true that God's coming to us on his own 271 00:26:25.130 --> 00:26:30.289 terms. It is also true that that that fact is our very salvation. 272 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:37.039 This is pictured in the Old Testament by something that happened with the arc, 273 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:42.200 something I haven't yet mentioned. In describing it, I gave you this picture 274 00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:47.869 of of this wooden box covered with gold, with these poles in the angels. 275 00:26:48.630 --> 00:26:53.109 But by this point it wouldn't be quite so pristine, it wouldn't be 276 00:26:53.269 --> 00:27:02.140 so shiny, because there'd be blood all over it. There would be blood 277 00:27:02.180 --> 00:27:06.460 because on the day of Atonement, it was the priest's job, it was 278 00:27:06.619 --> 00:27:12.579 Aaron's job, to go and sacrifice a bowl on the altar and then to 279 00:27:12.700 --> 00:27:18.410 take the blood of that bowl and come in until the holy of holies were 280 00:27:18.450 --> 00:27:22.450 only Aaron could go and that only once a year and he would go into 281 00:27:22.529 --> 00:27:29.049 the Throne Room of God and he would light some incense, couple handfuls of 282 00:27:29.130 --> 00:27:33.759 incense on some five are so that a great cloud of sweet smelling incense would 283 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:38.599 fill the room. The same kind of cloud that is pictured in the visions 284 00:27:38.759 --> 00:27:45.230 that the prophets have is also pictured physically. There in the holy of holies, 285 00:27:45.990 --> 00:27:56.230 a cloud fills the room as God comes in his presence and there Aaron 286 00:27:56.630 --> 00:28:00.579 is to take this sacrifice of a bull, a sin offering it is called, 287 00:28:02.299 --> 00:28:06.740 and he is to dip his finger in the blood and he is to 288 00:28:06.900 --> 00:28:12.609 sprinkle it on the front and on the east side, seven times on the 289 00:28:12.690 --> 00:28:19.809 front. Then he's to do the same with the with a goat, second 290 00:28:19.930 --> 00:28:22.970 sin offering, and again he is to take the blood of the goat and 291 00:28:23.049 --> 00:28:29.400 he's to go into the holy of holies and he's to sprinkle that blood on 292 00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:38.920 the throne of God, on the presence of God. He sprinkles that blood 293 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:42.029 and then he takes that blood and he goes out and then he actually, 294 00:28:42.309 --> 00:28:49.230 I'm sprinkles that blood on the altar itself as a way to purify the altar, 295 00:28:49.910 --> 00:28:52.910 which would then from that point on, for the rest of the year 296 00:28:53.430 --> 00:29:04.500 serve as the but's a pool and which sacrifices were brought. This amazingly pictures 297 00:29:06.539 --> 00:29:10.529 that God, when he comes to his people, he doesn't only come to 298 00:29:10.650 --> 00:29:15.730 them in his holy and His Majesty and His power, but he also comes 299 00:29:15.769 --> 00:29:26.079 to them in His mercy. He takes on himself the blood of Sin. 300 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:34.680 He takes on himself the consequences that we deserve, the sins that we commit, 301 00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:37.630 the ways in which we fail to treat it, to a treat God 302 00:29:37.750 --> 00:29:44.029 properly. He takes this on himself so that the people could be forgiven. 303 00:29:45.549 --> 00:29:51.230 Now we don't have the ARC anymore. It was likely destroyed or lost something 304 00:29:51.430 --> 00:29:59.779 when the temple and Jerusalem were destroyed. But it doesn't really matter, because 305 00:29:59.819 --> 00:30:06.980 we have Jesus. The New Testament tells us that Jesus tabernacled among us, 306 00:30:07.609 --> 00:30:15.529 he tended among US and his body. He came to be present. God 307 00:30:15.690 --> 00:30:22.039 came to be present among his people, to be with us and to lead 308 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:27.599 the way as our divine warrior, and he does this particularly on the cross, 309 00:30:30.039 --> 00:30:33.160 when he goes to the Cross and he acts in this powerful way. 310 00:30:36.349 --> 00:30:41.349 In the Pasta chapters and chronicles we've been considering David in this particular light, 311 00:30:41.710 --> 00:30:47.470 the great king who rides forth with his mighty men to go and destroy God's 312 00:30:47.470 --> 00:30:51.539 enemies, to clear the land, to make a place for his people and 313 00:30:51.819 --> 00:31:00.619 rule over them in righteousness. That's what Jesus does on the Cross as our 314 00:31:00.700 --> 00:31:07.930 king and as our God. This is good news for us to know that 315 00:31:07.130 --> 00:31:11.450 God comes as he will come, and he has decided to come in the 316 00:31:11.769 --> 00:31:18.289 power of His grace, in this saving way. God comes to us in 317 00:31:18.369 --> 00:31:22.720 a way that we can never lose his presence. And the Old Testament there 318 00:31:22.759 --> 00:31:27.599 was this sense in which God could be separated and would be separated from his 319 00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:32.839 people if they didn't obey, if they didn't seek after him, if they 320 00:31:32.839 --> 00:31:37.630 didn't do as they ought to do, he would leave, they would be 321 00:31:37.869 --> 00:31:44.069 kicked out of from the land. Indeed, Ezekiel even has a vision of 322 00:31:44.190 --> 00:31:48.980 the cloud, the glory cloud of God in all of his presence, lifting 323 00:31:48.019 --> 00:31:56.220 up from the Ark and the temple and leaving Jerusalem because of the sins of 324 00:31:56.339 --> 00:32:02.730 the people. But when God comes in Jesus, he comes in a permanent 325 00:32:02.809 --> 00:32:09.930 way. He comes in a way to make us his forever and ever and 326 00:32:10.130 --> 00:32:15.200 ever. He even says that he takes us and makes us a part of 327 00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:22.960 that Tabernacle itself, that Jesus even lives within us, that he is spirit 328 00:32:23.079 --> 00:32:32.309 dwells within us and US in him. Amazing truths. Colossians talks as about 329 00:32:32.349 --> 00:32:38.309 us being seated in the heavenly places where Christ is. The Bible talks about 330 00:32:38.309 --> 00:32:45.140 US ruling and reigning with our Lord and Savior. These pictures tell us that 331 00:32:45.500 --> 00:32:50.539 not only do we come and is his servants, but as servants who will 332 00:32:50.859 --> 00:32:55.259 never be broken away from him, as servants who live and will always live 333 00:32:55.299 --> 00:33:01.609 according to his rule and his pleasure. This comes to us because God perfectly 334 00:33:02.609 --> 00:33:09.369 forgives our sins. Well, this should bring us a great news. It 335 00:33:09.569 --> 00:33:15.759 is great news, it should bring us great joy and it should also make 336 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:21.640 us worship God in reverence and in awe. Because God has come in this 337 00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:27.549 way, we don't have less of an obligation to worship God as he sees 338 00:33:27.670 --> 00:33:32.670 fit, but all the more don't we to come before him as he has 339 00:33:32.829 --> 00:33:37.549 called us, to know that we are those who have been saved from our 340 00:33:37.670 --> 00:33:43.180 sins, to know that he promises to always ride out before us, even 341 00:33:43.220 --> 00:33:47.539 when we fail to trust him as we ought to. Know that when we 342 00:33:47.700 --> 00:33:53.859 are saved in him, we are saved forever. These things should make us 343 00:33:53.900 --> 00:33:58.809 trust him all the more, to love him all the more, to worship 344 00:33:58.849 --> 00:34:02.849 him all the more to seek to draw near to him and be in his 345 00:34:04.049 --> 00:34:15.719 presence forever. When you consider first chronicles thirteen and you think about us, 346 00:34:15.800 --> 00:34:20.960 are reaching out his hand to touch the Ark of God in this way, 347 00:34:22.320 --> 00:34:28.150 consider the sins in it, but also consider the great way in which God 348 00:34:28.309 --> 00:34:34.190 has come to reach and touch us and that when he does that, he 349 00:34:34.309 --> 00:34:42.699 doesn't become unholy, but he makes us holy. Let us pray