The Ark of the Covenant – Bearing the Ark

[00:00:00] If we could turn to psalm 132. Psalm 132. [00:00:08] Psalm 132. Lord, remember for David all his affliction how he swear unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty one of Jacob. Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed. I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eyelids until I find out a place for the lord. A tabernacle for the mighty one of Jacob. Lo, we heard of it in Ephrata. We found it in the field of the wood. We will go into his tabernacles. We will worship at his footstool. Arise, o Lord, into thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy for thy servant Davids sake. Turn not away the face of thine anointed. Verse 13 for the Lord hath chosen Zion. He hath desired it for his habitation. This is my resting place forever. Here will I dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread. Her priests also will I clothe with salvation. And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud. I have ordained a lamp for mine. Anointed his enemies will I clothe with shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish. [00:01:55] It's a wonderful psalm, this psalm, and it's a psalm all. It is a psalm written in the midst and out of a situation of ruin, a situation when somehow or other, God's purpose for his people was not being fulfilled. [00:02:15] For some reason, the ark of the Lord and the tabernacle of God, the dwelling place of the Lord, was not in its right place. [00:02:26] And that's why the psalmist, somehow by divine revelation, has come to see the thing that is on the heart of the Lord. [00:02:39] And he realizes that everything is bound up with getting that ark into its place, that ark of the covenant into its place, getting the house of God rebuilt or built, if you like, and in order. [00:02:56] We don't exactly know when this psalm was written. Some believe it was written in the days of Hezekiah. [00:03:05] Others believe that it was written earlier than that. But whenever it was written, it was written in a time when the house of God was in ruins or at least closed. Something had happened. And the verse I want particularly to underline is verse eight. Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place. Thou and the ark of thy strength. [00:03:40] Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place. There's quite a lot about the resting place of God in the word. What is the resting place of God. Well, I think we all know it's not a place built with bricks and mortar. And we all know it is not a religious system or organization, however greatly used of God that organizational system might be, or even, however sound. It is not a denomination of any particular kind, even a non denominational denomination. It is no kind of system or organization which can be the resting place of God. The resting place of God is none other than Jesus Christ himself. [00:04:40] That is the resting place of God. Ah, but just wait. Not just Jesus Christ himself personally, but Jesus Christ and his body, head and body, the resting place of God. You get this, I think, rather wonderfully put in Ephesians and chapter two. [00:05:06] Ephesians and chapter two. [00:05:09] We will read just from verse eleven and then a few verses at the end. Wherefore remember that once ye the gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands, that ye were at that time separate from Messiah or Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Now that's a dreadful condition, surely to be in. But now listen. In Christ Jesus. [00:05:55] But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who made both one and break down the middle wall of petition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances that he might create of him in himself. Now note it again, that he might create in himself of the two one new men, so making peace, and might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. [00:06:45] And he came and preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to them that were nigh. [00:06:51] For through him we both have our access in one spirit unto the Father. Now listen to this. Here's the glorious little doxology with which he ends the first part of this. So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but y are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom each several building fitly framed together, groweth into an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together, thought a habitation of God in the spirit. Now, I like the word instead of habitation, which is rather sort of ecclesiastical sounding, I prefer the word home. Here we've got it? You also are builded together for a home in the spirit, the resting place of God. Home is a resting place or ought to be. [00:08:00] Home is a resting place. That's the whole idea behind a home. You can go to a guest house. It needn't necessarily be a rest. You can go to your relatives, but it needn't necessarily be a rest. It's supposed to be arrest. It's at home where you ought to be yourself. You can put on your old slippers, let your hair down. Just be absolutely yourself. You don't have to mind your p's and Q's. You're just yourself. You relax completely in your home. It's a resting place. Now, God has sought all, all down through the centuries of time for a resting place. Indeed, behind the whole creation of the universe, behind the creation of man, is this great purpose of God, to find a resting place in human being. [00:08:49] Living stones quarried out of Christ, brought together and built together upon him together. Now that's the resting place. Here, listen now to the cry of the psalmist. Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place. What a battle there has been over the redeeming of those living stones. What a battle there has been over the quarrying out of those living stones, the quarrying of the mount of Christ. What a battle there has been over the building of those living stones together. The whole of church history is the story, not of physical combat. Unfortunately, in some sections it is very much a story of physical bloodshed, much to the disgrace and dishonor of the name of Christ. But we're not talking about that. We're talking about it from the divine state. It's been a history of conflict, a history of battle. [00:09:57] So this psalm is not a relic, an antique from past centuries. It is something which has a living message for us today. Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place. The psalmist knew that once the Lord could come right into his resting place, that was the central and focal thing. Once that was right, everything else would start to fall into place. [00:10:31] But it's not the resting place I want to talk about. It's the ark, the ark of thy strength. [00:10:42] Why on earth did the psalmist put so much upon the ark? [00:10:46] Did he sort of worship a box of wood overlaid with gold? [00:10:53] Did he have some superstitious reverence for some religious sacred object? [00:11:05] I don't think so at all. If you read the psalm, you'll find that the psalmist has a very real spiritual character and quality. [00:11:14] He knew as well as you and I that the ark in itself was nothing. [00:11:19] That's why he says, arise, thou, and the ark are thy strength. The ark was the symbol of the presence of God committed to the resting place. [00:11:33] A symbol of the presence of God committed to the resting place. Remember in Exodus that when they set up the tabernacle and the ark was put in its place, then the glory of God filled the whole tabernacle. Or again, when they once built the temple, the glory of God filled the temple when the ark was in its place, so that the priests couldn't even stand to minister. [00:12:06] I want to suggest that in these days when we may be much nearer to the coming of the Lord than we realize any of us, and when the key to every single thing that is happening spiritually is the preparation of the, the completion of God's spiritual house, if our eyes have not been open to doubt, we are going to be found putting it very colloquially and rather in a slang way, barking up the wrong tree. [00:12:50] God is seeking, seeking to bring us to an understanding of exactly what it is that is his main objective, to which everything else is related. [00:13:06] It doesnt matter what it is, what experience youve had, what blessing youve had, what work youre doing, the Lord, in his mind, would relate it all to this one great objective in the end. [00:13:22] But, you know, we can talk and talk and talk about the resting place, and some do. [00:13:28] We can get so church conscious. [00:13:31] We can talk about the pattern of the church, the structure of the church, church positions, functions, body, life, and everything else that goes with it. We can be all bound up with the resting place and forget that the key to it all is the ark. [00:13:58] Now then, this ark. [00:14:03] It seems to me that in church history as we know it now, we are in very much the same position as they once were in the Old Testament when the Ark of the Covenant and the tint of meeting got parted. [00:14:20] Do you understand what I mean? In other words, I mean, look at our, just look at our situation today in Christendom. We've got all kinds of structures. We've got the hangings, we've got the roof, we've got the boards, we've got the furniture. We've got quite a lot. We've got, to a certain extent, a kind of priesthood, even if it's not fully functioning and all the rest of it. But somehow we are all aware that something's gone wrong. [00:14:54] The cry on every side in evangelical circles, the great cry, of course, is for revival revolvers. But what do we mean? [00:15:04] What do we mean by revival? [00:15:08] Do we understand what we pray for revival is nothing less than the ark of the covenant coming back into the house. [00:15:20] The Lord coming back into his place as lord and head of his people. Who cannot be gainsaid, who cannot be contradicted. That's the ark of the covenant. Many people want revival on their own terms. They want to see the place filled. They want to see their membership expanded. They want to see some, however, their work successful. [00:15:45] But those are not gods terms for revival. God's terms for revival are nothing less than the submission to the complete and absolute lordship of Jesus Christ. [00:15:59] I say that costs. [00:16:02] There are many of us who say, Lord, Lord, but we're not broken. Broken. [00:16:07] There are many of us who call upon him as Lord, but he is not really Lord. [00:16:14] I say, the lordship of Jesus Christ. The headship of Jesus Christ costs, to put it crudely, we have to have our heads cut off to find him as heads. [00:16:31] Well, none of us like to lose our heads. [00:16:37] We like to be in control of a situation. We like to be able to feel that we're master of it all. We like to be able to be the final committee that decides everything. If the Lord says, I think you ought to do so and so and so and so we like to refer it to the committee. [00:16:54] The committee of self that sits in session all the time. [00:17:01] And if the committee of self passes it generally by a majority or is against it, unanimously or by a majority, then we will either do the will of God or not do the will of God. Because we don't put it quite in those terms. [00:17:22] But that's the root of the matter. [00:17:25] Now, it's not just a question of the personal, though, of course, obvious. It all begins with you and with me. But the fact remains that it is the ark of the covenant. The ark of his strength. [00:17:40] The ark of thy strength. That's the key to it all. Oh, for a heaven sent movement of God that brings his lordship and headship back amongst us. What was in the ark? Well, what does it mean? What does it mean? You know as well as I do, of course. It is a picture of the Lord Jesus. [00:18:06] Wood is humanity. Gold is divinity. But within the ark were three things only. You'll find that in Hebrews, chapter nine, the first verses. Three things only. The word of God. [00:18:19] The word of God. [00:18:21] And then Aaron's. And then the golden pot of manna. [00:18:29] Heavenly life. [00:18:32] And then, what's the third thing? Aaron's robbed bodied divine authority. [00:18:42] Three things in the ark. [00:18:45] The word of God. We all give lip service to the word of God. But how many of us are prepared to be obedient to the word of God to the nth degree. [00:18:54] Are we really prepared for the word of God to touch our dress, to touch our behavior, to touch every part of our life, to touch our pocket, to touch our time, to touch every single aspect and department of our life together as a people and individually? The word of God, I say it costs to have the ark in its place. It means that the word of God is supreme, and the Lord Jesus, of course, is the living word of God. He is the fulfilled law of God. It is the spirit of the law of life in Christ Jesus. There it is to know that word of God in us. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Oh, for a spirit that instead of people who are just heaping to themselves, teachers having itching ears. What a marvelous description of present day evangelicalism. [00:20:08] Itching ears. [00:20:11] Oh, here, here, here. I've got an itching ear. You know the kind of thing, if you've got an itch, you keep on scratching it. Well, when you've got an itching ear, the scripture means you can't stop hearing. [00:20:22] You can't stop hearing. You got here. I can't hear him. I don't hear that. I'll go over here. I'll go to this convention. I'll go to that convention. I'll go to this here, here, here, and here. [00:20:33] Itching ears. Your ears can't stop it. But they don't really hear. [00:20:39] They don't really hear. It's a disease because it's not hearing that goes into the spirit and is translated into practical living. [00:20:52] In other words, the word of God becoming flesh and blood. [00:20:56] But it's just a kind of disease. Well, you know it all, I'm sure, on that line. And that golden pot of manna, oh, what does it mean? All my springs are in thee. No bread outside of him. There was no other bread in the wilderness, you know, and the only bread they could make, everything, cake or anything else, all came from the flour they gathered in the morning. [00:21:21] The divine provision. It's a big lesson for us to learn that all our provision has got to be in him. That's what the ark means. Nothing outside. Nothing stemming from natural resources unless it's come by way of the cross. [00:21:36] It's a big lesson. [00:21:38] And the rod that budded, oh, whenever there is authority, it's always challenged. But thank God, when authority is challenged, it's the Lord that takes up the answer. [00:21:52] The challenge, he answers it. When they all said, who's Aaron? Who's Aaron? Taking too much on himself years, right, said the Lord, lay them up a rod for every one of them. And when they came the next day, they found that Aaron's rod had leafed, blossomed and fruited. [00:22:18] It wasn't just positional authority, it was living authority. [00:22:25] Life was in it. [00:22:28] We don't have authority because we have got some colour or some title. [00:22:35] I often feel that it takes away our authority. Quite honestly. [00:22:40] The word of God says, let no man call you rabbi or master or anything else. [00:22:45] You're all brothers. But that doesn't mean they're not apostles or prophets or pastors or teachers or men and women with authority. [00:22:58] Indeed, that authority can be far, far more tremendous. [00:23:04] Well, there it is, the arc of thy strength. [00:23:09] But still, the point is, I haven't got there yet. [00:23:13] There's all that. Of course, above it there was the cherubim, which speak of mercy. [00:23:21] If the Lord were to come into his place amongst us christians, we would need to see the cherubim of mercy. [00:23:28] My word, my word. Don't think that we could ever have the Lord come into his right place in our midst if it wasn't for the mercy seat. [00:23:42] It was the crowning act of God's love and grace to put a mercy seat on the ark. [00:23:54] So that the first thing you saw, at least the high priest saw when he went in, was mercy. [00:24:01] Before ever he saw the word, before ever he saw the manna, before ever he understood that there was a rod in that golden box. [00:24:11] It was the mercy of God that met him. [00:24:16] The blood stained mercy seat, that's what you and I are committed to. [00:24:24] We're not. We're people, I believe, who are concerned about the resting place of God. [00:24:36] But if we want to get the resting place of God built and finished, it's the ark we must bother about. [00:24:44] Now, I come to the point in closing. [00:24:50] How do we get the ark in? Ah, well, I'll tell you how the world does it. And many Christians, they build a new cart with two milk cows and they send it trundling off. [00:25:13] Now, you find that in one Samuel, chapter six. [00:25:18] One Samuel, chapter six, verse seven. [00:25:26] Now, therefore, take and prepare you a new cart and two milk kine on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart and bring their calves home from them and take the ark of the Lord and lay it upon the cart. [00:25:41] Now that was the Philistines way of dealing with the ark of the covenant. Put it on a new cart. At least they showed some reverence. Didn't they? It was a new cart and an old one. [00:25:50] Put it on a new cart and two milk cows if you turn to one chronicles, chapter 13, youll find that David did the same thing. Now, fancy that. David, with all his spiritual character, he followed the Philistines. [00:26:12] One chronicles 13 seven. And they carried the Ark of God upon a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab. And Uzzar and Ahio drove the cart. And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs and with harps and with psalteries and with timbrels and with cymbals and with trumpets. My word, it was a real spiritual festival. And when they came unto the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah. And he smote him because he put forth his hand to the ark. And there he died before the Lord. And David was displeased because the Lord had broken forth upon Uzzah. I should think so. [00:26:59] And he called that place piriz. Uzzah unto this day the breach of Uzzah. [00:27:06] Poor David. [00:27:08] He just followed the Philistines. Oh, my dear friends, isn't this a commentary on us christians? [00:27:14] You know, we get so far away from God's real thoughts and concepts that the world somehow comes in, and then we are found following worldly methods. Look at our ways of trying to get people reach people, preach to people. Look at our ways of church finance. Look at our ways of appointing people. Look at our committees and boards. Is there any essential difference in many of them? I won't say all, but in many of them, between that and the world, I'll only say one thing. The board of some of the big companies are a good deal better disciplined and know better how to run their businesses. [00:27:53] But is there any difference? It's philistine work. It's a new cart. We're all the time talking about new carts. [00:28:01] We need the Ark of the Lord. We say, let's build a new cart, and we'll take it up. Now we have this terrible situation where Uzzah put forth his hand and died. And many non christian people with more shrewdness than many christian people say, that's wrong. Can the God of mercy do a thing like that? [00:28:23] After all, all he tried to do was stop the ark from getting damaged, and he died. [00:28:28] Now, you see, the whole thing was to teach Israel, David and Israel a tremendous lesson. What was the lesson? The ark must never be put on any mechanical means of transport. The ark must be borne on the shoulders of saved men. [00:28:49] That is the greatest lesson any servant of the Lord can ever learn. [00:28:55] God is not interested in techniques and methods and mechanical means. He needs shoulders. [00:29:03] I've saved men and women. [00:29:06] You read it in deuteronomy. [00:29:15] In chapter ten, verse eight. [00:29:21] At that time, the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord to stand before the Lord, to minister unto him and to bless in his name unto this day. What a lesson. What a lesson. Who will bear the ark of the Lord? [00:29:41] Men chosen by God will bear the ark of the Lord upon their shoulders. There'll be no stumbling of it. It was built with rings on its side and staves that go through it so it couldn't stumble. [00:29:54] Men would hold it either on their shoulders or in their hands. Eight men. [00:30:01] Four in front, four behind. [00:30:08] And those eight men had to keep in step. [00:30:16] There is the lesson. [00:30:19] They had to keep in step because otherwise what happens? You can just imagine the ark going, can't you? And them all out. They're all out of step. You could hear the two tables of stones sliding from side to side. Bonk, bonk. [00:30:38] You could hear the little golden pot rolling backwards and forwards inside. [00:30:45] They had to keep in step. [00:30:48] Sometimes the Lord gets us to see that's what he wants. Men and women who can bear the ark of the Lord upon their shoulders. [00:30:57] But then. [00:31:00] Then we're not in step. [00:31:07] What does it mean to be a levite? It means that you have no inheritance but Christ. [00:31:18] No portion but God. [00:31:24] I say we can pray and pray for revival. We can ask for great, mighty acts of God. But in the end, it all comes down to the Ark of the covenant and whether there are men ready to bear it. I can't help feeling that what happened to other is the explanation of many a premature death of a revival. [00:31:55] For those of you who know anything about church history you know some of the great mysteries of why some revivals which began so tremendously suddenly stopped. [00:32:08] It seems to me that it's a new cart that's been made somewhere along the line. People wanted things cheaply and easily. [00:32:22] They wanted power without the cross. [00:32:27] They wanted gifts without the person. [00:32:32] They wanted authority without brokenness. [00:32:39] And the revival ended. [00:32:43] I am firmly and completely convinced that before the Lord Jesus comes back if only in a small remnant all over this globe the Lord's going to do a mighty work. A mighty work. Maybe it'll be a new work altogether. Maybe he will start raising up. Raising up people from where we for himself where we least expect it. [00:33:09] If our evangelical shibboleths have got too much for him and he can't get through them he'll do it somewhere like in Indonesia. [00:33:20] Muslims with no christian background at all saved in their thousands upon thousands. [00:33:29] May he? Well, he may well do it in the end amongst jewish people. [00:33:35] He may do it amongst others that have no traditional christian background. And then we shall see the resting place of the Lord. Then let's have eyes for it. Let's have ears open to God. Let's be ready to follow him where he leads in this matter. May God give us all grace. We can know these things. And when we know them, there is a solemn responsibility. [00:34:02] The question comes back to you and to me. Are you prepared to bear the arc of his strength? [00:34:15] Think about it. [00:34:17] Count the cost. [00:34:24] I am sure that every one of you would want to be in at the final great phase of God's dealings on this earth. [00:34:31] Are you prepared for the trial? [00:34:34] May God give us all grace. [00:34:48] Dear Lord, we very, very simply commit this word into thy hands. [00:34:53] We all long to see thee working, Lord. And we all above all want to see the end of thy purpose. We want to see it completed, Lord. We want to see the glory of the Lord cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. We want to see that great shout of triumph reverberate through the heavens and the earth. The Lord God the almighty reigneth. [00:35:20] O beloved Lord, we want to be in on that marriage supper of the lamb. We want to be part of the bride. We pray, Lord, that we may not be those bound up with new carts but we may be those, Lord, who can give ourselves to thee. [00:35:40] We are able, Lord, to be built together and disciplined so the Lord, we can bear the ark of thy strength, thy glory, thy authority, thy power the fullness of thy life upon our shoulders. [00:36:01] And we ask it in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. [00:36:07] Amen.