Again, David gathered together
all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000, and David arose and went
with all the people that were with him from Baal of Judah to
bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called
by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubim. And they set the ark of God upon
a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, that
was in Gebeah. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons
of Abinadab, drove the new cart, and they brought it out of the
house of Abinadab, which was at Gebeah, accompanying the ark
of God. And Ahio went before the ark,
and David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord
on all manner of instruments made of firwood, even on harps,
and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. And when they came to Nechon
threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the Ark of God and
took hold of it, for the oxen shook it, and the anger of the
Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his
error, and there he died by the Ark of God. And David was displeased
because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, and he called the
name of the place Perez-Uzzah to this day. And David was afraid
of the Lord that day and said, how shall the ark of the Lord
come to me? So David would not remove the
ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David, but David
carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gedite. This same sad incident is recorded
in First Chronicles chapter 13. We're not going to turn there
right now and read that, but as we go through these verses
tonight, I will mention some things that are written there
that we don't see here in this account. But first, the first
thing we see is that the Ark of God was in the house of Abinadab. We see that in verse 3. That
begs the question, first of all, what was the Ark of God? And
why was it in the house of Abinadab? What was the Ark of God? And
why was it in the house of Abinadab? We know that when God delivered
the nation of Israel out of Egypt and they came into the wilderness
that God gave Moses the pattern, the instructions to build a tabernacle. And that tabernacle showed how
men may approach unto God and live and how God may dwell among
us. And the very first part of that
tabernacle that God gave Moses instructions for concern the
ark. Now the ark pictured the Lord
Jesus Christ as every part of the tabernacle did in some way. It's so easy to see that the
ark was made out of incorruptible wood, and that speaks to us of
his humanity, his sinless humanity. It was overlaid with gold, which
speaks to us of his deity. And then on top of the ark was
the mercy seat of pure gold with the cherubim. And then, God said,
as he was giving the instructions to Moses, the first piece of
furniture that he spoke to Moses about was the Ark of the Covenant
with the mercy seat and the cherubim. And then God said this, this
is in Exodus 25, there, speaking of the mercy seat, there I will
meet with thee and I will commune with thee from the mercy seat,
from between the two cherubim, which are upon the Ark of the
the testimony. When the tabernacle was finished,
when it was erected, the Shekinah glory of God dwelt between the
cherubim above the mercy seat. It was a manifestation of God
in that tabernacle upon the Ark of the Covenant. So that tells
us just briefly what the Ark of the Covenant is, or the Ark
of God is, but how As I've already said, God gave Moses instructions
for the tabernacle and how the Ark of the Covenant would be
in the tabernacle, in the most holy place. Remember, there was
two compartments to the tabernacle, and one compartment was called
the Holy of Holies, and only the high priest went into that
area once a year on the great day of atonement. That's where
the Ark of the Covenant was. Well, what is it doing now? We
read here in our text tonight that it's in the house of Abinadab. Well, when we were studying through
1 Samuel, we may not remember this, but in the days of the
high priest Eli, you remember Samuel, his mother Hannah prayed
for her son and God gave her Samuel, and she gave him to the
Lord, and he served Eli the priest in the temple there. And Eli the priest had two wicked
sons. That's what the scripture says
about them. They were evil, they were wicked sons, and Eli did
not restrain them. He did not restrain them. His two sons then, in a battle
between the Philistines and Israel, they brought the Ark of the Covenant
from Shiloh. That's where the tabernacle was
set up, in a place called Shiloh. when they came into the land
of Canaan. And these two wicked sons, they
brought the Ark of the Covenant into the camp of the Israelites.
And you know, the Israelites, they just shouted and the earth
shook, the scripture says. They were so excited because
they just knew they were going to win the battle. But they didn't
win the battle because They didn't repent. They didn't turn from
their wickedness, from their evil. They just thought that
that ark was going to bring them success. Well, we know the Philistines
defeated the Israelites in the battle and they took the ark.
They took the ark into their territory, into their country.
And they tried to house it in the house of their God, Dagon. And, of course, that didn't work.
Dagon got the worst out of that. He fell over one night, and the
next night his hands were gone, and off his body, you know, just
an idol. But anyway, not only did God smite their
God, but he smote the Philistines, too, with disease. And so they decided, we've got
to send this back. And they sent it back by two
milk cows, remember, pulling a cart, a new cart. And it comes
to a city in the land of Kenyon by the name of Beth Shemesh. And the men of Beth Shemesh made
an awful, awful mistake, because they opened up the lid, the mercy
seat, evidently, and looked in into that ark. You know what
was in the ark, don't you? God's law. God's law. And God killed many of those
men right there. And the same thing would happen
to you and I, if we were to come into the presence of God Almighty,
apart from a mediator, apart from the Savior, from Christ.
Well, they called there a town that was close by, by the name
of Kirjathjerim. called the men of that town to
come and take the ark. And they took it and they put
it in the house of this man by the name of Ahinadab. And he consecrated some of his
sons, I believe, these two men that we read about here, Ahio
and Uzah, to be priests. Well, it remained there all through
the time that Saul was the king. Now David, we see he's on the
throne, he's established a king over all Israel. And David being
a godly man, he wanted the ark near. He wanted it near where
he could inquire at the ark, where he could worship there.
And so he built a tent or put up a tent. And that's where the
Ark of the Covenant, I'm getting ahead of our story here, but
that's where the Ark of the Covenant is going to go. As far as I can
tell, it will never be again in the tabernacle. It will be
in the temple when Solomon builds the temple years later. But David
puts a tent and he's going to bring the Ark of the Covenant
to Jerusalem and put it in that tent that he's placed there. So that's the first thing we
see in our text tonight. The Ark of God was in the house
of Number two, I want you to notice David encouraged many. He encouraged many to join in
bringing this ark to Jerusalem. You notice in verse one, it tells
us that there were 30 chosen men. Now the account, I said
the same account is given in 1 Chronicles 13, but what we
find there is from one end of Canaan to the other end of Canaan,
people came. People joined with David to bring
the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Abinadab to Jerusalem
where David's house was built. But here's something else we
read there in First Chronicles. We don't see it here. It says,
David, in moving the ark, consulted, now listen, he consulted with
the captains of thousands and hundreds and with every leader. He consulted, how are we going
to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem? He consulted with
these Leaders, military men it seemed like, but captains of
thousands and hundreds. How much better would it have
been instead of consulting with man, if he had consulted with
the word of God? Right? How much better this would
have been if he had consulted with the word of God instead
of consulting with these leaders, these captains of hundreds and
thousands. Had he consulted with the Word
of God, he would have seen that there was only men from one family
of the Levites, which were to carry the Ark of the Covenant.
If he had consulted with the Word of God, instead of consulting
with these men. Look back with me to Numbers,
if you will, Numbers chapter four. This is what he would have
found if he had consulted Not with man, but with the word of
God. What a lesson, right? What a
lesson to you and I, my friends. To go to the word of God, that
scripture which tells us in Isaiah chapter eight in verse 20, to
the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, it is because there's no light in them. We need to
consult with the word of God, not man necessarily, but with
the word of God. Had he consulted with the word
of God, this is what he would have seen here in Numbers chapter
four. I hope you've turned here, beginning
with verse five. And when the camp said it forward,
Remember, they're moving through the wilderness, and God's giving
Moses instructions as to what they were to do when the camp
moved. When the camp set it forward,
Aaron shall come, he's a high priest, and his sons, they were
priests also, and they shall take down the covering veil and
cover the ark of testimony with it. You see, they weren't even
going to look on it. They're going to pull down that
veil and they're going to wrap the Ark of the Covenant in the
veil. This is what God said. And shall
put thereon, after they wrap it in the covering veil, shall
put thereon the covering of badger skins, and shall spread over
it a cloth holy of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. And upon the table of showbread
they shall spread a cloth. All these holy things in the
holy place, And in the most holy place, God instructs how they
are to be moved. When the camp broke and they
moved from place to place, take down the tabernacle, God gave
the instruction. Had he consulted with the word
of God. Verse seven, upon the table of
showbread, they shall spread a cloth of blue and put thereon
dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and cover to cover with
all. The continual bread shall be
thereon, and they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet,
and cover the same with a covering of badger skins, and shall put
in the staves thereof. See the table of showbread, the
Ark of the Covenant, And the altar of incense, which were
in the holy place, they were constructed with these staves. They had the golden rings on
the four corners of all of these three pieces of furniture. They
put the staves in, and that's the way it was to be transported. You read on there, The lampstand,
of course it didn't have staves, but they weren't to touch it
either. Let me see if we can find that. Well, let's read verse 11. And
upon the golden altar, that's the altar of incense, they shall
spread a cloth of blue and cover it with a covering of badger
skins and shall put to the staves thereof. And they shall take
all the instruments of ministry wherewith they minister in the
sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with
a covering of badger skins, and shall put them on a bar. And
they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a
purple cloth thereon, and they shall put upon it all the vessels
thereof. wherewith they minister about
it, even the censers, the flesh hooks, and the shovels, and basins,
all the vessels of the altar, they shall spread upon it a covering
of badger skins, and put to the staves of it. And when Aaron
and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, now
here it is, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp
is to set forward, after that, Here are the men who are to carry
these pieces of furniture. The sons of Kohath shall come
to bear it, but look, but they shall not touch any holy thing
lest they die. Lest they die. Had David consulted
with the word of God instead of with those leaders, things
would have been much different. What did he do? What was their
advice? Well, let's transport this cart
from the house of Abinadab to Jerusalem. Let's put it on a
new cart. Now think a minute. Where did
they get that? Where did they get the idea of
putting that Ark of the Covenant on a new cart? Well, obviously,
they got it from the Philistines. That's how the Philistines had
sent the Ark of the Covenant back to the land of Canaan. Here's the third thing. Uzzah
made a fatal mistake. He made a fatal mistake, because
as the oxen were pulling that cart, they stumbled, the oxen
did, or for some reason, the ark may move somewhat, and he
put forth his hand. Now remember what God said, even
for the family of the Coeths, If they touch it, they're going
to die. He wasn't of that family anyway, but he touched it to
steady the arc of the covenant and God killed him. God killed
him. The fourth thing that I see here
is David. He was both displeased and afraid. He was both displeased and afraid
of the Lord. Notice that in verses eight and
nine. David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon
Uzzah and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this
day and David was afraid of the Lord that day. He was displeased
and he was afraid. John Gill commented on this,
he was displeased, and I quote, he could not easily submit and
be reconciled to the providence. His heart was ready to rise up
against God. He was displeased at what God
had done there. I couldn't help when I read that,
think about Eli, that priest I mentioned earlier. Remember
Samuel, God told Samuel what he was going to do to Eli and
his house. Samuel was a young man at that
time and he had to tell Samuel everything that God had told
him. God's gonna cut your house off, that's what he said. And
Samuel told him. And you remember Eli's response
to that? It's the Lord, let him do what
seemeth him good. He submitted to God's sovereign
purpose. And I thought about Aaron, that
first high priest. On the day they set up the tabernacle,
the first day they set up the tabernacle, you remember two
of his sons, he had four sons, his two oldest sons, they offered
strange fire and God killed them. And Aaron held his peace. That's something, isn't it? I
mean, you see your two sons, God kills them, and you hold
your peace. No, it's right. No, it's right. God did it. Shall not the judge
of all the earth do right? They deserved it. They offered
that strange fire. God had told them that the only
fire that was, they were to put incense on the fire, of course,
was fire that came off that altar. at Brazen Altar. Now, where they
got their fire, we don't know, but it's called Strangefire.
And because of that, they lost their lives that day. Well, David,
not only was he displeased, but he was afraid. He was afraid
to move this ark any further, wasn't he? He takes it into the
house of Obed-Edom. His parade ended that day. That's
what it was, wasn't it? I mean, they had all the musical
instruments that he was playing. All these musicians, they were
playing. You just imagine a parade down
here in Houston. They have the marching bands,
you know, and all the music. And David had a parade going
that day, didn't he? But God reigned on his parade.
God killed that man. And David, now he's afraid. I want to give you four lessons
hurriedly tonight that appear to me from this passage of scripture. Number one, the immutable holiness
of God. The holiness of God. That's what
we see here, isn't it? That this man, he disobeyed God. God is truth. And God said, if
you touch it, you'll die. I see God's immutable holiness
here. The tabernacle testified to the
holiness of God with the Ark of God and the Holy of Holies. There was only a certain way
to go into that Holy of Holies. And this man, when he touched
that Ark of the Covenant, God killed him. I see the immutable
holiness of God. The second thing is I see that
sincerity isn't the answer. This is one of Satan's lies he
uses to deceive men. Well, as long as a person is
sincere, doesn't matter what they believe, doesn't matter
how they worship, as long as a person is sincere, Don't you know David and Uzzah
were sincere in what they were doing? No, that's a lie of Satan
that was exploded here on this passage of scripture. It's not
just being sincere. God has an order. He has a way
to approach unto him. And it's only through his son,
Jesus Christ, the one mediator that man may come to God in peace
and be received. A third thing, the Lord's church
should never copy the world. This new card, this all came
from the Philistines, from the world. And the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ should not be copying the methods of this
world to try to do good. Yes, to do good, but using the
methods of this world. God doesn't change and God's
way doesn't change. He said from the beginning, go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature
whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved. All the inventions
of man, the music, the The plays, all the things, the theaters,
all the things that the church in our day, so-called church,
has tried to bring in. Just like David copying the Philistines,
putting this ark on a new cart. It didn't work. Worked for the
Philistines, yes, it did, but not for God's people. It didn't
work. And the last thing, I want you
now to turn to that passage in 1 Chronicles. We didn't turn
there, but I want you to turn there to 1 Chronicles chapter
13. And hold your place there. And
then I want us to go into the New Testament to Hebrews chapter
two, and we'll hold our place there. First Chronicles chapter 13,
hold your place there, and then go to Hebrews chapter 2 and hold
that place. what I want to point out to us
here in verse two of 1 Chronicles 13. David said unto all the congregation
of Israel, if it seem good unto you, and that it be of the Lord
our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren everywhere. Here's my point, David is the
king. but he sends word to his brethren,
his brethren. They were his subjects, but you
see, he didn't see himself so exalted above them that he doesn't
call them his brethren. Let us send abroad unto our brethren
everywhere. Now look with me in Hebrews chapter
two, beginning with verse 10. For it became him, who are we
talking about here? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. For it became him for whom are
all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons
into glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are
all of one for which cause he He is not ashamed to call them
brethren. Saying, I will declare my name
unto my brethren. Can you imagine that? The Lord
Jesus Christ calling you and me his brethren, his brethren. He's not ashamed to call us his
brethren. What a tremendous thought, what
a tremendous blessing. I trust the Lord will bless these
words tonight to all of us. We'll sing another hymn and then
we'll be dismissed.