David and the Ark Chapter 23 2 Sam. 6:1-15

Return To Lowell F. Johnson Master Menu Return To Lowell F. Johnson Sermons on David Menu David and the Ark Chapter 23 2 Sam. 6:1-15 I have entitled the message David and the Ark. You may be thinking, Preacher, aren't you a little mixed up? It was Noah who built the Ark and saved his family and all the animals when the flood came. -Well, David's ark was not a boat and there was no water involved. It was a different kind of ark. -2 Sam. 6 is all about the ark. This ark was prepared by Moses and was placed in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle. This ark was used in worship and represented the presence of God. -This ark was 45 inches long and 27 inches wide and 27 inches tall with a led on top of it. Inside the Ark that was covered with gold were three precious tokens of Israel's relationship with God: a pot of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of stone upon which were written the Ten Commandments. Two golden cherubim facing each other were on top of the lid and was called the mercy seat. God's visible, glorious presence dwelt on the mercy seat between the cherubim. It was here that God promised to meet with His people. God gave the Ark of the Covenant to Israel as a symbol of His presence, but Israel had not possessed the Ark for over 70 years. -Back in I Sam. 4, While Eli was still priest, the Philistines came against Israel and the Philistines killed about 4,000 of Israel's soldiers. The people of Israel asked, Why has God allowed the Philistines to defeat us? The elders of Israel called for the Ark of the Lord. They used it as a kind of good luck charm. They thought its very presence in battle would bring Victory. Israel went again against the Philistines and this time the Philistines killed 30,000 of Israel's foot soldiers AND captured the Ark of God. -Of course, the Philistines didn't know what they had and that it represented the holy, all Powerful Jehovah God. They thought their god, Dagon, had given the victory over Israel's God and they put the Ark in the temple of Dagon. The next morning when they looked in the temple, Dagon had fallen on its face to the earth. They pick Dagon up and put him in his place, but the next morning Dagon had fallen again before the Ark of the Lord, but this time the head and both hands of Dagon were broken off. -The Bible says that the men of Ashdod were struck with sores and boils caused by the bubonic plague (I Sam. 5). -All the people said, Get the Ark out of here. Take it to Gath. God must have a sense of humor because when the Ark got to Gath and the city of Ekron, God brought upon the people an infection of emerods, it's what we call hemorrhoids for seven months. The people there said, Get that thing out of here, it's going to kill all our people. And there was no Preparation H in that day. -They sent the Ark back to Israel to a place called Beth Shemesh. These were Jews who should have known better because the Lord warned them not to look inside the Ark. Seventy men did and God killed all 70 on the spot. (I Sam. 6-7) -They then sent the Ark to the house of Abinadab and there it stayed for 20 years. Now, why have I gone through all of that? I wanted you to see the importance God placed on the Ark of the Lord. -Here's the interesting thing: Abinadab's house was only 10 miles from Jerusalem. In all the years that Saul was King of Israel, he never one time made an attempt to bring the Ark to his capitol city. Why? Because Saul did not have a heart for God. Saul was not interested in developing a spiritual center for his

people. One of the first things, David wanted to do when he made Jerusalem his capitol city, was to bring the Ark there. The whole focus of this chapter is worship. David was a man after God's own heart and a man after God's own heart loves God and wants to worship Him. Four things I would share with you: I. Worship Desired 6:1-2 80 David had conquered Jerusalem and made it his capitol. But, he not only wanted Jerusalem to be know as the city of David, he wanted it to be known as the city of God. -David had made Jerusalem his Political Capitol; Now by bringing the Ark of the covenant there, it was his desire to make Jerusalem the center of worship; the religious capital. God was EVERYTHING to David. Let me show you how David felt about God. Ps.42:1-2 This is how you and I should feel about God. -David's main desire was to worship God. The word worship has in it the idea of weight or worth. We, by worship, express the great worth of God in our lives. David was right to want his political capitol as the religious capital. -He was saying, O God, I cannot rule without you. I cannot make right decisions without you. I cannot win victories without you. -Don't we need that in our nation today? Don't we need the oval office to be a holy place where our President looks to God for guidance and power? -But as you know, we have the opposite in Washington and look where we are as a nation. -Immorality, dishonesty and drunkenness is a way of life for our leaders. God only knows how many votes are programed by blackmail because leaders know what other leaders are doing and they'll tell it if they get mad. Israel had lost her reverence, respect and fear of God. David wanted to bring it all back to Israel. II. Worship Desecrated 6:1-11 I want you to understand that David's motives in worship were right and pure and good, but his methods were wrong. -David was going to bring the Ark of God, the visible symbol of the Presence of God, to Jerusalem and he was going to do it right. He had planned an elaborate celebration. -David got 30,000 choice men together. They were singers, musicians, and dancers and they were going to bring the Ark to Jerusalem. It was going to be a time of gaiety, festivity and happiness. They were going to sing and dance and shout and play loud instruments like cymbals and tambourines. -When they got to Abinadab's house where the Ark had been for 20 years, they loaded the Ark onto a new ox cart. Two of Abinadab's sons, who had lived with the Ark all that time, accompanied the Ark. Ahio was out in front of the Ark and Uzzah was walking beside the Ark. -Many scholars believe they were singing Ps. 24:7-10 as they drove the cart along (read). -Then suddenly, the ox that was pulling the cart stumbled. Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark and when he touched the Ark, it was like touching a live wire! Uzzah was dead.

Does that seem extreme to you? It was just a reflex from Uzzah; Why would God kill him? -Two powerful lessons are taught in this incident: a. You better do God's work God's way. b. God is Holy. We had better respect Him. We had better respect His ways, His word, and His will. -Thirty thousand folks singing, shouting, and dancing is a lot of folks. I wish I could get that many together to worship the Lord! But, it was all done in sin. A. The Sin of Ignorance Why was God displeased? Because David was doing the right thing in the wrong way. -In Num. 4:7, God gave Moses instructions on how to handle holy things. God told Moses to get some wagons because there was a lot of stuff that needed to be hauled in wagons; like the skins used in the tent, the poles, the tables. But don't put the Ark on a cart or touch it, lest you die. It was to be carried by the Levites on their shoulders. (Num. 4:15,20) 81 -David should have known that. The King was to copy the Law and make a copy for himself. Abinadab's two sons should have known; they were Levites and had lived with the Ark. -God gave very clear and strict instructions about how to handle the Ark. They were to cover the Ark with a covering when moving it so no one would look upon it, touch it, or defile the Ark of God. They were to put poles through the rings on the sides of the Ark and only the priest were to carry the Ark on their shoulders. -Let me mention some new carts I see the world using today to worship God: Christian rock and Christian rap. We are told, Well, the young people listen to rock and rap; So we'll bring the world's way of reaching young people into the church. -Listen: Talking about Christian rock and Christian rap is like talking about a Heavenly Devil. No, it's either Christian or Rock; either Christian or Rap. -God is Holy! He will accept worship when both our motive and our methods are right. - Do nothing until it's right; then do it with all your might. B.The Sin of Imitation Why was the Ark on the new cart in the first place? That's the way the Philistines did it. David thought he could handle the things of God the way the world did and it wouldn't matter. -Hear me: we cannot worship God by bringing the ways of the world into our worship and expect God to bless it. -Does it bother you that most churches today are run like big business and we measure church like it is a business? The all important word is success. How many sales did you make? How much money do you handle? How big is your crowd? -We give the worshipers the world's music. We use sales techniques to get decisions for Christ. It's as if we don't need the Holy Spirit today. -Adrian Rogers says preachers make people feel good on their way to hell. -The result? Most big churches are getting their members from other churches. C.The Sin of Irreverence 6:6-7 For his error means his Irreverence. -That Ark had been in Uzzah's house for 20 years, but it had become common place to him and he failed

to show respect for the holy things of God. -Familiarity breeds contempt, even for the things of God. He had seen the Ark so much, he no longer saw it for what it was. -We can come weekly to the house of God and think about everything but God. Church is commonplace. -The Ark had become just a box to Uzzah. That can happen as far as church is concerned. -This building is not the church. We are the church, and, yet, this building is the house of God and we can show irreverence toward the house of God. -How are some ways we become irreverent to God's house and the things of the Lord? Writing in song books, writing notes, putting candy wrappers in the Lord Supper holders. -A young man in his twenties came to his pastor and said he must confess something that he had done years before. Through tears he said that he and some friends slipped back into church after a baptismal service and swam in the baptistery. The young man was convicted and broken over his irreverence. -On the other side of that, James Dobson said his dad taught him respect for the things of God when the Bible was accidently knocked off a table and, without saying a word, he carefully picked it up and gently put it back in its place. Imagine what it must have been like when Uzzah lay beside the Ark, face down, dead on the ground. All the singing and shouting and playing of the instruments ceased. There was dead silence. -David stopped praising and started pouting. David felt two emotions: Anger 6:8 82 Who was David mad at? (1)Maybe he was mad at God. I've known people who were mad at God. But isn't it kind of silly for somebody to be mad at God? I mean that's like a fly being mad at bull. What difference does it make? A lady told her pastor, Preacher, I'm telling you right now, I'm mad at god. He said, Well, I want to tell you that God is not off fretting about that. (2)Maybe he was mad at Uzzah Have you ever known somebody who was mad at a dead person? I've known widows who were mad at their husbands for dying. One lady let it be known that she was mad at her husband for dying. One day her son told her, Mother, I assure you, this is not bothering daddy one bit and it's doing you no good. (3)Maybe he was mad at himself. Rightly so if he was. David is the one who disobeyed God and was the one responsible for Uzzah's death. Fear 6:9 David allowed his anger and fear to motivate him to seek more insight into the heart of God. -David asked, How can the Ark of the Lord come to me? III. Worship Dedicated 6:10-12 David learned that the Ark of the Lord was not a curse. It was a blessing. -The Ark of God speaks of the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is not a curse; He is a blessing. -But, I tell you, you abuse the Ark, you reject the Ark, you spurn the holiness of the Ark, and you will be cursed. But it won't be the Ark's fault. It will be your fault. -2 Sam. 6:13-15 IV. Worship Despised 6:16,20-23

With excitement, David goes home to tell his wife of the joy and blessing in the Lord he and the 30,000 experienced. -Not everybody gets happy when revival breaks out. Michal became the leader of the cold water committee. David is on a spiritual high and she throws cold water on his joy. -In sarcasm, she says, Well, weren't you something today. I saw you out there making a fool of yourself in front of all the big wheels in Jerusalem. What a glorious presence you were! -I like David! He said, Wife, shut up! What I did, I did before the Lord. I wasn't doing it to please you or the people. I was doing it to please the Lord and I plan to do it again! -Her criticism resulted in her childlessness. Let me leave you with three lessons: Take God seriously Pursue God vigorously Submit to God willingly Return To Lowell F. Johnson Master Menu Return To Lowell F. Johnson Sermons on David Menu