2 Samuel 6:1-15: Uzzah, the Ark, and Unexpected Grace

good morning I too would like to extend a heartfelt and grateful welcome to all of the students and families who are here we are we are so grateful to be with us this morning also a quick announcement we've been talking about it but dr. Keith Garris is going to have a lunch table reserved today in the Great Hall for anybody who would like to continue the public discourse on global warming and climate change that we started a little bit life a little bit back so yep that's table set up in the Great Hall gonna tell you a story about grace and I was just gonna say gonna start with story about grace but then I was thinking about Grace and how I'm how unique it I think I think it is to the human experience that grace is one of the things that we so deeply longed for and we so acutely feel when we experience it and how often grace we is something we find in unexpected places dr. Eames has asked me if I would in the near next couple of weeks join his addictions class and share my personal story with the class so I've been reflecting on that a little bit and as I did so I started thinking about an instance in my past were found graves in an unexpected place and our passage this morning is a passage where we find an unexpected grace as well but one that points to much greater and deeper grace but my grace that doesn't start off like a very graceful story sophomore year of college fall of my sophomore year and I had been at a party and I was incredibly drunk I was the DRI I was the designated driver that day so I started driving back to our dormitory and as we're driving to the dorm I got pulled over by a policeman not the beginning of a good graceful story but let me throw in a few extra pieces there were 11 people in my Honda Accord one girl in the trunk and let me tell you how and why I got pulled over because as we driving up the two-way street behind my dorm a hill the car in front of me I deemed going too slow I decided to pass going up and it was the cop coming towards me in the other lane so he whips around and comes up we pull in front of the dorm and ten people in nine people pile out of my car Mike stays in the passenger seat next to me and Sharon is in the trunk and we tell Sharon to be quiet they can feel the grace losing right but the police officer walks up to the window I rolled down the window he says license and registration please I give him both and he kind of stands there any looks at me and he looks in the car and then he walks back to his car and at that point I knew a few things here's what I knew I knew that I was very drunk I knew that he knew I was very drunk and I knew that I was going to jail I also knew that I deserved it so we sit there for what seems like an eternity and the police officer walks back he hands me my license he says mr. Lowe I don't know if you're drunk and I don't want to know but I want to tell you one thing any time you get behind the wheel of a car you take the life of every single person in that car into your hands have a good night I don't remember much after that I don't remember how the car got parked I don't remember what took place but I'll never forget those words he extended a grace to me that was just a mere foreshadowing of the deeper and greater grace that I would experience in just a couple of short months when I met Jesus Christ but that grace set a foreshadowing of a future Grace in the passage we're going to look at this morning he's going to set the foreshadowing of an even deeper and more beautiful grace so let's frame it just a little bit King David it's a fiercely loyal King to his God Yahweh he trusted him with the situation with Goliath with his relationships with Jonathan and Saul and so after he had led the nation of Israel as a young king from the city of Hebron for seven years he eventually takes the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites and there begins to build it up and it becomes the capital of Israel the nation and the people of God and David desired to have the presence of their God the presence of the Living God in the midst of the people in the heart of Jerusalem so he sets off to bring the Ark of the Covenant the very throne seat of the Living God where the Shekinah glory would come down and rest and God would speak to his people to bring it back to Jerusalem so the King assembles his troops they serve as a military escort for the Ark of God to be brought back to Jerusalem and a crazy story of grace takes place would you please stand as we read second samuel chapter 6 David again brought together out of Israel chosen men thirty thousand in all he and all his men set out from bela of judah to bring up from there the ark of god which is called by the name the name of the lord almighty who was enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark they set the ark on a new cart and brought it from the house for been adapt which was on the hill who'sa and akio sons of AB in adapt were guiding the new cart with the Ark of God on it and akio was walking in front of it David in the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord with songs and with harps liars tambourine sistrums and cymbals when it came to the threshing floor of nake on who'sa reached out and took hold of the ark of god because the oxen stumbled the Lord's anger burned against who'sa because of his irreverent act therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the Ark of God then David was angry because the Lord's wrath had broken out against who'sa and to this day that place is called Perez Musa David was afraid of the Lord that day and said how can the Ark of the Lord ever come to me he was not willing to take the ark the Lord to be with him in the City of David instead he took it aside to the house of obed-edom to get tight the Ark of the Lord remained in the house of obed-edom to get tight for three months and the Lord blessed him his entire household now King David was told the Lord has blessed the household of obed-edom and everything he has because of the Ark of God so David went down and brought up the Ark of God from the house of obed-edom to the City of David with rejoicing when those who were carrying the Ark of God Ark of the Lord had taken six steps he sacrificed a bowl and a fattened calf David wearing a linen ephod danced before the Lord with all his might this is the word of the Lord let's pray gracious God thank you for your Living Word thank you Father that you have revealed yourself to us in it and thank you for the grace that we see extended from creation to consummation thank you for this story I pray Lord that your spirit would guide the words that are spoken we pray in Jesus name Amen please be seated so David again brought together all the able young men of Israel 30,000 he and all his men went to bail on Judah to bring up from there the Ark of God which is called by the name the name of the Lord Almighty who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark so we didn't want to know what the Ark is right the Ark of God exists 25 God gives Moses directions to have a tabernacle bill and have an ark built so the Ark was literally a box made of acacia wood overlaid with gold both inside and out and there are specific directions given as to how this is to be made there's to be an atonement cover that's put on top and the atonement cover made of pure gold is to have these two cherubim two angels whose wings come together and reach and touch in the middle and that's where the Shekinah glory the very presence of God will come and sit as his throne as he speaks to indirects the people there are also to be four golden rings made that are attached to the feet of the Ark and there are two poles made of acacia wood that are covered in gold and those poles are to be set through those rings that sit on the feet so that when the Ark of God is move it is picked up and it's carried by the acacia poles the acacia poles are to always stay inside the rings on the Ark of the Covenant this is called the name because it was the throne of the Most High God the creator of the universe the Living God reached down to breathe breath into his image bearers he was going to actually in his Shekinah glory come and be present there on the throne so thirty thousand men head off to get the Ark and bring it home several miles from a been a dad's house to Jerusalem and we get the story they set the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of abinadab which was on the hill who'sa and akio sons of abinadab were guiding the new cart with Ark of God on it and akio was walking in front of it David in all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord with castanets harps lyres timbrels systems and cymbals and you get a picture and you sense that this should be a joyous occasion something delightful and amazing is happening here the arc of God is being restored to the people of God in the capital of the people of God but there are a few things here that should set off some alarm bells for us the first is they set the the Ark of God on a new cart as they brought it from the house of abinadab which was on the hill who's an akio sons of abinadab were guiding the new cart for a movie there'd be that sense of foreboding you'd start to see things maybe not quite right and we know it so we want to know though what is it that's not quite right what's happening here and the first question that we want to ask is why isn't the Ark with David in the first place why isn't the Ark in Jerusalem in 1st Samuel chapter 4 before David is ever anointed king we find out the Philistines have captured the Ark they capture the Ark and they take it to the temple of their primary God Dagon so they take it to the temple of Dagon and they said it before Dagon and and over a course of a couple of days the temple of the Statue of Dagon falls down prostrate before it and then come they set him back up it falls down again this time his head falls off this false God will bow down before the Living God even as his ark is there so the Philistines then send the ark to different cities in Philistine country and in every place that it goes it wreaks unspeakable havoc on the people scripture talks about boils in nether regions which never sounds pleasant and the Philistines get to the point where they've had enough so what do they do they're going to send the cart back to the Israelites so they put it on a cart that's pulled by two milk cows that have never been yoked and they just send it away and it ends up going back and it goes to the house of abinadab who's a priest where it's going to sit and it's going to wait for its restoration to the people of Israel but when we hear here that the Israelites set the Ark of God on a new cart something's wrong they're transporting it the same way that the Philistines transported the are they celebrate and the celebration seems good and joyful and this happy thing is happening but verse six comes when they came to the threshing floor of Nikon Musa reached out his reached out and took hold of the ark of god because the oxen stumbled the Lord's anger burned against loser because of his irreverent act therefore God struck him down and he died beside the Ark of God and without the full story this is this is a an account of Scripture that could seem like the most capricious act of God that you could imagine who'sa who is going there beside the Ark of God on the way to Jerusalem to restore the ark to the City of David as he's going the oxen hit a thing it's tumbling and ooze is simply going to reach out and stay it a good thing right you don't want the Ark of God to fall onto the ground it's reverent it's right it's good and God strikes him dead but to understand what's actually taking place here we need to understand a little bit about loser a little bit about akio a little bit about Abinadab and a little bit about the commands of Lord gave regarding the ark in numbers chapter 4 we have a picture and a description of a group of Levites called the kohathites and the kohathites were responsible for care of the holy articles inside the tabernacle of God let me read you just a little bit from Numbers chapter 4 this is the work of the kohathites at the tent of meeting they are to care for the most holy things and here's what's supposed to happen when it's time for the tabernacle to move and the most holy things need to be moved this is what takes place Aaron and his sons first go into the tabernacle and when they talk about the Ark of God here's what they do they take down the separating curtain and they cover the Ark with it and then after they do that they take a piece of heavy leather and they put the heavy leather over the curtain and then after they've done that they take a blue linen curtain and they put it over the leather so that there are three layers of covering over the Ark of God the kohathites then go in and they're told they're never to touch any of the holy items where God will strike them dead they are to carry it only by the Asherah poles and it's covered with these with the leather and the linen so that it won't be touched it's very likely scripture doesn't ever say it explicitly that have been a dab in his to sends off you and it was a arc of the fights but it's most likely that they are the kohathites and that they are the ones being entrusted to move the Ark of God so when the Ark of God begins to fall and who'sa reaches out and touches it God's striking him dead is not God being a capricious god it's not God simply being unmerciful or unjust but it's God being very just it's the Holy Ark of the Living God being touched by the sinful hand of a human being who's been specifically commanded not to touch it the judgment is right and the judgment is good but David is angry David was angry because the Lord's at wrath had broken out against who's in to that to this day that place is called Perez newsa David was afraid of the Lord that day how can the Ark of the Lord ever come to me very likely that David was not thinking about numbers for in the kohathites laws on the moving of the holy goods from the tabernacle it appeared to him I think that the Lord was acting in a very capricious way perhaps unnecessary perhaps harsh but he also was tempered with fear and a right fear for the holiness of the Living God his right and natural reaction was that reverence and that fear and he has a good question if God is willing to strike who'sa dead for this seemingly innocuous and maybe even unintended act then how on earth can the Ark of God ever come into the nation and into the Capitol where I will live knowing that I'm a sinful man how can we sort of survive in the presence of God if this is how God interacts with his people well I started by saying that this was a story of Grace and it is it's a story of unexpected grace the grace comes not necessarily in what God did but in what God chose not to do so when you read in numbers chapter 4 you read about the kotha it's not touching the Ark of God you read about the coverings that go over the Ark of God but there's a piece here that I didn't read and it gives us great and deep insight and appreciation for the mercy and the grace of God when you come down to the end so that they may live and not die when they come near the hosts most holy things do this for them this is Aaron and his sons for the kohathites Aaron and his sons are to go into the sanctuary and assign to each man his work and what he is to carry but the kohathites must not go in to look at the holy things even for a moment or they will die see the Ark of God is being pulled on a cart the Ark of God is not covered who reaches out and touches it and rightful judgment of God falls upon him but what should have happened is that every man woman and child who set eyes on the Ark of God without it covered should have been struck dead it was simply the grace and the mercy of the Living God who chose not to do that to withhold his judgment but when a sinful hand actually touched the ark his wrath then burns but this begins to point us forward we're told that David wasn't willing to bring the ark into the City of David instead he took it to the house of obed-edom to get type the Ark of the Lord remained in that house of obed-edom the guitar for three months and the Lord blessed him and his entire household so David does the right thing we find out later that obed-edom is actually a codified priest so the ark goes there to rest and I can't help but think that the reality of this situation is David doesn't want the ark in Jerusalem right because he doesn't know what's going to happen so he gives it to obed-edom to get tight a codified priest basically with the ballistic expectation let's put it there see if his family members start to die and if not then maybe we'll come down and bring it up we find out that the Lord did indeed bless obed-edom and his family scripture says that he was blessed from generation to generation upon generation so David went to bring up the Ark of God from the house of obed-edom to the City of David with rejoicing when those who were here this this is so good when those who were carrying the Ark of the Lord had taken six steps he sacrificed a bowl and a fattened calf wearing a linen ephod David was dancing before the Lord with all his might while he and all Israel were bringing up the Ark of the Lord with shouts and the sounds of trumpets once again a great sense of joy and celebration but the sacrifices show a renewed sense of awe a renew sense of reverence and fear for the Living God this time the Ark of God is being carried and if you were to guess what it looked like what would you guess it's being carried by the acacia poles and it's covered it's covered by leather and it's covered by linen and the gracious Living God the presence of God is going to be taken back into the City of David now the same way that the grace of that policeman pointed to a greater grace that I would come to know very soon in meeting Jesus Christ the mercy of God with the Israelites here points to an even greater grace see it was David's desire to bring the ark to Jerusalem and then to build a house for the Lord he wanted to build a temple for the Living God but it was God's intention to build a house for David and to establish a throne that would live forever for all of eternity and in time the king in the line of David would come but the Ark of the presence was gone and it was actually no longer needed because in this King the fullness of God dwelt in bodily form Jesus Christ fully God and fully man who had once a gun again come to live in the midst of his people and in Luke 8 we find a story of another sinful person reaching out to touch this time not the Ark not the throne of God but this time the actual clothing of God she was hoping to be healed from 12 years of bleeding and when she touched him Jesus turned found out who it was and he spoke to her God the Son says daughter your faith has healed you go in peace and then in the same chapter there's a little girl the daughter of a man named Jairus who gets sick and dies a twelve-year-old girl and this time instead of sinful man reaching his hand out it's the Living God who reaches his hand into the hand of this little girl and takes it he says my child get up and she does and she lives but the greater grace was still to come the greater grace comes when Jesus reaches out his hands on the cross and God reaches his hand down with judgment upon the sinless one who would take our place on the tree who would pay the price for our sins that we could never pay and who would do so simply because he loved us buried raised ascended to the right hand of God sending forth the comforter the Holy Spirit of God that we might be in dwell and that we might become the living temple of the holy God so the rejoicing that David and the Israelites experienced the rejoicing that they demonstrated as the Ark of God went forth celebrating with all their might the presence of living God there how much more should we be marked as people of rejoicing despite our circumstances despite what's going on in the world there are always to be people who rejoice and who rejoice in the Lord Paul says it best rejoice in the Lord always I will say it again rejoice let your gentleness be evident to all the Lord is near can you imagine if David could hear this if David would have known exactly what was coming do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus we are to be rejoicing people because we know the Peace of the Living God amen let's pray father God we thank you for your grace that is extended through all of history and will extend through all of what is left of history we thank you Holy Father for loving us we thank you for Jesus thank you Father they heed deigned to become one of us that he might know us know the things that we struggle with he knows our every temptation and He loves us lord please be with us I pray that you would give us hearts that desire you above all else I pray Lord that you would not let us rest unless we are resting in you and I pray father that we find all of our encouragement and all of our identity in you alone we give you all praise and thanks and your mighty name amen please

Channel: Covenant College

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Length: 24min 52sec (1492 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 28 2019