It is good to be together tonight again. Praise the Lord for His precious Word to us.
Let us turn again to the Word in 1 Chronicles 13. We will read the whole chapter.
And David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader.
And David said unto all the assembly of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and if it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad everywhere unto our brethren that are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us:
And let us bring again the ark of our God to us; for we sought it not in the days of Saul.
And all the assembly said that they would do so; for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor, the brook of Egypt, even unto the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.
And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, the Lord, that sitteth above the cherubim, that is called by the Name.
And they carried the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab; and Uzza 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.
And when they came unto the threshing-floor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and He smote him because he put forth his hand to the ark; and there he died before God.
And David was displeased because the Lord had broken forth upon Uzza; and he called that place Perez-uzza unto this day.
And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?
So David removed not the ark unto him into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months; and the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had.
Let us look to the Lord for His blessing on His Word.
Lord, we thank You for Your holy Word. We pray that we may profit much from it. Apply it to our hearts, and give us a spirit of revelation tonight, that we may see Your Word in the light of our lives and in the light of Your testimony.
Work in our hearts. Cause the Word to become life and power to us. Lord, we give ourselves to You; we give You our hearts. We ask for Your blessing on Your Word, and may You be glorified tonight. We ask in Your holy name. Amen.
Now, I heard a couple of reports from some of the special fellowship meetings that some of the young people were not clear from our speaking last time: What is Zion? So I thought, at the beginning, I might say a few words to make this matter clearer.
In the Old Testament, Zion was a place. You could go there, and David did go there. He took the stronghold of Zion. But we know that the things in the Old Testament are all types and figures of the spiritual reality that we may enjoy today in New Testament times.
So we have to know that Zion, brothers and sisters, is a spiritual reality for us to enter into today.
In the heavens, the Scripture seems to indicate that there is Mount Zion. In Revelation 14:1, we read that there are one hundred and forty-four thousand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. We believe that this is Mount Zion in the heavens.
But Mount Zion today is a spiritual reality, a sphere for us to enter into. Hebrews 12:22 tells us that we have come to Mount Zion. It does not say that we shall come. It says that we have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
In that context, Mount Zion is contrasted with Sinai. We have not come to Mount Sinai, but we have come to Mount Zion. We attain entrance into that sphere by overcoming, based upon the victory of Christ.
Christ overcame the enemy and all the evil things, and He attained to that heavenly Zion. On the basis of His victory, and by following Him through death and resurrection into ascension, we may enjoy the reality of that Zion today. It is open to us.
In Revelation 14, concerning those one hundred and forty-four thousand with the Lamb on Mount Zion, it says that they are those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
We know that He has gone through death and resurrection into glory. Thank God, brothers and sisters, we can follow Him. He has already taken us with Him into death and resurrection. We can allow the power of His death and resurrection to work within us and be with Him today, where He is, in the Spirit.
This Mount Zion, as we see in Hebrews 12, is contrasted with the law, with Sinai. It is a place of grace, where God pours out His grace upon us based upon the completed and victorious work of Christ.
So, if we follow Him, oh, the grace we will know—amazing, surpassing grace poured out upon us. Amen. This is our portion, brothers and sisters. David took it, and we can take it in Christ and follow Him into that sphere. It is a spiritual reality for us today.
Now tonight, we want to speak about bringing up the ark. This is one of the great works of David. David did a great work when he brought up the ark.
Brothers and sisters, I feel this is a very timely word for us today in our present situation.
The ark, we know, speaks of Christ as the testimony and full declaration of God. This Christ is the centre and reality of the house of God. Without bringing up the ark, we cannot really have the house of God.
We need the content of the house: Christ. We need the reality of the house: Christ. So the ark needs to be brought up.
David was very burdened for this. First, he consulted with the captains of thousands, the captains of hundreds, and then with all Israel. He did not want to do it by himself. He realized that all the people needed to be with him in doing this.
This was something for all the people of God. So he consulted with them all, and we read that they felt it was right and that they should do it. It surely was the right thing to do. It should be done.
The ark had been wandering. David was very concerned that the ark should have a place, a dwelling, a home. I think this had been in his heart for some time.
Soon after he took the stronghold of Zion, which was called the city of David, he consulted with all Israel to bring the ark up to Zion, to Jerusalem.
During Saul’s reign, there seemed to be no interest in the ark at all. There was no desire to go after the ark and bring it up, because Saul was a man according to the flesh.
With such a man in power, it is impossible to bring up the ark of God. But David was a man according to the Spirit, a man according to God’s heart. He went after it. His heart was set on this. It was a heart matter with him.
He felt, “We need the ark. The ark needs to be in Jerusalem.” In the chapter we read, he spoke of bringing the ark home to us. I like that.
David had the best of intentions. He was doing the right thing, no doubt. God wanted him to do that. He was full of zeal, love, and devotion.
They all went down after the ark. After the ark had travelled through Philistine country, it had been sent back to Israel on a new cart and placed in the house of Abinadab. The Bible tells us that the ark stayed there a long time, even twenty years.
But this was the time when David took action to go after it. All Israel went with him. They had cymbals, trumpets, and all the musical instruments. They were full of love for the Lord.
We sang tonight, “I’ve found the One of peerless worth; oh, what a Christ have I!” I feel something like this about the ark. They were full of joy, love, and zeal. The ark represented Christ for them, and they wanted to bring Him home—to bring Him where He belonged, in Jerusalem, in Zion.
So they went to Abinadab’s house and, as we read, put the ark upon a new cart. They did this with the best of intentions, with heart, devotion, zeal, and love.
They had two of Abinadab’s sons to drive the cart, pulled by oxen. But when they came to a certain point, something happened. Even with all the singing, shouting, and rejoicing, the oxen stumbled.
David was dancing with all his might. He was full of energy for God—priestly energy. But when the ark on that new cart came to a certain point, the oxen stumbled.
Uzza stretched out his hand to steady the ark because it looked as though it might fall over. He put out his hand upon the ark, and God smote him. He died on the spot.
Now consider what severe judgment that was in such an atmosphere. What a shock that must have been to David and all the people.
We read that David was displeased with God. He was not happy with God. I do not know what the current American English word would be. I thought of one word: he was piqued with God. You may have another word. He was miffed, or something like that.
But anyway, David was not happy. He was saying, “Look, we are doing the right thing. We are rejoicing. We are happy. We want to do this. God wants us to do this. How could this happen?”
They carried the ark aside to the home of Obed-edom the Gittite. He was a Gittite, apparently from Gath, a city in Philistine country.
And the Lord blessed the home of Obed-edom and all that he had. Thank God, the chapter ends with grace.
Now I would like us to look a little at this matter of a new cart and what it means.
The Philistines sent the ark back on a new cart, and they did not have any problem. No death was brought in. I think that was because the Philistines knew very little of God. God accepted it from them, but He would not accept that from His own people, who should have known better.
All the Israelites were following David; he took the lead. We have a saying in English: “The end justifies the means.” Many people think that, and perhaps many Christians feel that as well.
But that is not true, especially before God. The end does not justify the means. Of course, God must justify the end; the end must be of Him. But God needs to justify the means as well. The means need to match the end.
The end should be holy, and the means also should be holy.
A new cart meant that the Israelites were simply following what the Philistines had done. It signifies, brothers and sisters, that something of our natural life, fleshly energy, or worldly ways is brought into the things of God.
We use these things to carry out God’s work. But God will never bless that, and it will always bring in death of some kind.
This is what the church in Corinth did. They were handling the things of God, but not in a holy way or a spiritual way. Paul wrote to them:
The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
The result in Corinth was that some died, and a number were sick. God’s judgment came upon the church in Corinth because of that.
Now, in my background, brothers and sisters, I do not think I designed very many new carts or fabricated them. But I must admit, to my shame, that I helped to pull them.
I regret that, and I have repented about that. I helped to pull the new cart. So what does that make me? A dumb ox, I am sorry to say. And I stumbled too.
Since that time, I believe I have gained a kind of phobia for new carts—new-cart phobia.
When I see something coming up—“Let us do it this way; this is the best technique, the best method”—I say, “Whoa.” That brings back some bitter memories. I really want to run for my life.
But I consider, brothers and sisters, that among Christians today there are too many new carts.
In my background years ago, we did not call them new carts, of course. We used to call them “the flow.” “This is this year’s flow.” Then next year we had another kind of flow. “Are you with the flow?”
Well, it was not really a flow. Then we called it a move—a new move. That was really a new cart.
The result does not bring in Christ. The result is not the house of God being built. No, no, no. I can surely testify that all these kinds of new carts damaged the people of God. They tore down the house of God. They were not profitable at all.
David was displeased with the Lord. Here is a danger, and perhaps this is where some have faltered and failed. It would have been easy for David simply to decide, “All right then, we will leave the ark there. Let it go. Maybe God does not want us to bring up the ark.”
Sometimes we do that when God disciplines us or judges us. We do not learn anything; we just stop right there. But thank God, David was not like that.
David learned something very precious. When he heard of the blessing in Obed-edom’s house, I think that had an influence on him as well. Perhaps he was a little envious.
Anyway, he wanted this blessing in Jerusalem. He wanted all God’s people to enjoy this blessing, not just some house church, as someone might call it.
Now let us turn to 1 Chronicles 15 and read some more verses.
And David made him houses in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.
Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto Him for ever.
And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord unto its place, which he had prepared for it.
And David gathered together the sons of Aaron, and the Levites.
And said unto them, Ye are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have prepared for it.
For because ye bare it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought Him not according to the ordinance.
So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.
And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord.
So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obed-edom with joy.
And they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before God.
And when David had made an end of offering the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.
And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a portion of flesh, and a cake of raisins.
And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to celebrate, and to thank and praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
So he left there, before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required.
The ark was at Obed-edom’s house for three months. During that time, no doubt David was very exercised and sought the Lord to learn the lesson from all this. He is a very good example to us.
No doubt he prayed diligently, “Lord, what is the meaning of this? Why did You cause this to happen?” The Lord helped him and led him to see what the problem was.
I do not know whether Zadok the priest helped him, or whether he had fellowship with some Levites and priests. Perhaps they went back and studied the Word of God. The Bible does not tell us exactly how he became clear, but it tells us that he became very clear.
He realized that the problem was that they did not follow the ordinance of the Lord. Numbers 4 tells us that all the holy things in the tabernacle were to be carried by the Levites upon their shoulders.
They did not do that, and because they erred, they made a fatal mistake. They did not give due attention to the Word of God. The judgment of the Lord came upon them.
So they did it over again. They went to Obed-edom’s house, thank God. This time David had fellowship with the Levites. He told them to sanctify themselves and get ready to bear the ark on their shoulders, as they should have done at the beginning.
They went down again with joy, praise, and rejoicing before the Lord. It says that God helped them. God did not judge them this time; God helped them.
They bore the ark upon their shoulders. At a certain point, they stopped and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings to the Lord. Finally, they delivered the ark to the tent that David had pitched for it in Jerusalem.
Thank God, David failed, but he learned from his failure. Brothers and sisters, we fail many times. Do we learn from our failures? I hope so.
This was a big lesson for David. He learned, I would say, very well.
Many times we may feel that we are led of the Lord to do a certain thing—for example, to preach the gospel. But sometimes we use a new cart to carry it out.
What does it mean for the Levites to bear the ark upon their shoulders? It means that these are spiritual men. This matter of bringing up the ark is done according to the Spirit and according to the Word of God.
Many times we are not careful. We go ahead and do what we feel we should do in a loose or careless way, without seeking the Lord, without seeking His Word, and without paying attention to His truth. It does not come out well.
But thank God, we can learn. We should always be growing in spiritual intelligence with the Lord. We should become more intelligent concerning the things of God.
For many years in the past twenty centuries, no one paid much attention to the ark. It has been wandering a lot. But I believe, brothers and sisters, that during the last two hundred years there has been a real movement among God’s people to bring up the ark.
There has been serious attention given to this Christ of peerless worth—to bring Him up.
Now we all need to be exercised about this, brothers and sisters, individually and corporately: to bring up the ark of God to our meeting, to the congregation. To bring up Christ.
We need to bring up the Christ whom we have apprehended, enjoyed, and experienced. We need to bring Him up with holy hands for all God’s people to enjoy together.
There is nothing so unifying as bringing up the ark of the Lord. When the ark was being brought up, it unified all Israel.
After it was deposited in Jerusalem, David distributed bread, wine, and a cake of raisins to all the people. They all had great enjoyment together.
God’s need was met, and the need of God’s people was met as well.
I pray that the Lord will apply this Word to our hearts for this present day in which we live. Amen.
We need to bring up this ark again, even afresh. When we meet with God’s people, we need to bring up this precious Christ, who satisfies God and who satisfies us.
May the Lord sanctify us and touch us, that we may do this in a holy way. Then it will be to God’s satisfaction and for our great rejoicing. Amen.
Soon after David brought up the ark, he was burdened to build a house for it. He was sitting in his own house, and it seemed the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies.
He said to Nathan the prophet, “Nathan, look. Here I am dwelling in a house of cedar, and the ark of God is in a tent.”
Nathan told David, “Go and do all that is in your heart.” But God stopped Nathan that night and told him to speak again to David.
We can read concerning this in 1 Chronicles 22:7-10.
And David said to Solomon his son, As for me, it was in my heart to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God.
But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build a house unto My name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in My sight.
Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.
He shall build a house for My name; and he shall be My son, and I will be His Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.
The Lord spoke to David and told him that he could not build the house because he was a man of war. He had made great wars and shed much blood. He was not the right person to build God’s house.
David had it in his heart to do this. It was his heart’s desire, perhaps all his life. It was his dream, you may say, to build the house of God. But the Lord said, “No, David. You are not the right one. You are a man of war.”
“Your son Solomon, who will come forth from you, will be a man of rest. He is the one who will build My house.”
Solomon is a man of rest. His name means peaceable. The Lord told David, “You want to build Me a house? I will build you a house.”
I think the Lord surprised David very much. He said wonderful things to David: how his son would build God’s house and how God would establish his kingdom forever.
We know this is fulfilled in the Son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ.
David was overcome by all that was said to him out of God’s heart of love and grace. Let us read 1 Chronicles 17:16-19.
Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord; and he said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that Thou hast brought me thus far?
And this was a small thing in Thine eyes, O God; but Thou hast spoken of Thy servant’s house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God.
What can David say yet more unto Thee concerning the honour which is done to Thy servant? for Thou knowest Thy servant.
David went in and sat before the Lord and worshipped. I was thinking, where did David sit? Perhaps he went into the tent where the ark was and sat before the ark.
The first words out of his mouth were, “Who am I?” Brothers and sisters, this is the spirit we need for God’s house. Who am I? Who are we?
David rejected all self-importance and anything of himself. He realized that he was undeserving. He was nothing. He exalted the Lord and spoke of His greatness and glory. He made everything of God and nothing of himself.
Many times, when we see some vision, we want to rise up right away and do something. We want to get busy. But the Lord wants us to sit down, worship, be quiet before Him, honour Him, reject ourselves, and worship.
What can we do? We can worship. We can humble ourselves. We can give Him His rightful place of glory and let Him do what is in His heart and lead us in all things.
David, up to this point, has been a type of Christ. He is a wonderful type of Christ. Solomon is also a type of Christ.
David is a type of Christ fighting the battles of the Lord as a man of war and preparing the materials for God’s house. Solomon is a type of Christ building the house of God.
In Christ, both David and Solomon are united. Christ is a man of war who fought the great fight and overcame the enemy. He fought and He overcame. He is the antitype of David.
But Christ is also, thank God, a man of rest. He is seated at the right hand of God. As the glorified and ascended Christ, He is building His house today.
So the greater David has His true Son. Thank God for David, thank God for Solomon, and for the greater David and the true Solomon, our Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfils these types in a glorious way.
Tonight, I feel it would be very good for us to consider some verses in the Psalms that speak of David’s longing and appreciation for the house of God.
I do not think we can finish speaking about David without referring to the psalms he wrote concerning the house of God. I have selected fifteen verses in the Psalms which I believe are especially outstanding concerning God’s house.
Most of these are psalms of David. Now, concerning Psalm 84, you may wish to argue with me and point out that it is a psalm of the sons of Korah. I understand that the superscription can also be translated as a psalm for the sons of Korah.
It is my personal feeling that Psalm 84 was written by David for the sons of Korah. Believe it or not—that is my own feeling. I may be wrong. But it really sounds like David’s heart.
The first verse is Psalm 5:7:
But as for me, in the abundance of Thy lovingkindness will I come into Thy house:
In Thy fear will I worship toward Thy holy temple.
This is the first reference to the house of God in the Psalms, I believe. David says, “In the abundance of Thy lovingkindness will I come into Thy house.”
What a mercy it is for us to be able to come into the house of God. It is an abundance of His lovingkindness that such as we, living in such a world as this, can come into the holy house of God and enjoy His presence there and all the grace that fills His house. Amen.
Now we come to Psalm 23. Most all of God’s people who know anything of the Psalms know Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd.”
In California, we recently went through this psalm because we are going through the whole Book of Psalms. We had a fresh enjoyment of it. It is so familiar, but it came to us in a fresh way.
It speaks of the Lord’s shepherding and ends with verse 6:
Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
I think that most Christians understand this to mean that, after we get to heaven, we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. But I do not believe that is the full meaning.
My understanding is that it means: I am dwelling in His house now, and I shall go on dwelling in His house forever.
It is wonderful to see in this psalm that all God’s shepherding of us is in view of His house. He is shepherding us into His house, and He is shepherding us in His house.
There is much wonderful shepherding that takes place in the house of God. The psalm says:
Thou preparest a table before me
In the presence of mine enemies.
The whole psalm is very personal. It uses me, my, and I seventeen times. There is no plural pronoun there; it is all very personal.
Sometimes in California, when we sing hymns, someone suggests changing the pronouns to the plural. Instead of, “I have found the One of peerless worth,” we would say, “We have found the One of peerless worth.”
But sometimes I feel that they spoil it. Some hymns need to remain singular. They were written that way, and they are very personal and precious to us personally. Psalm 23 is entirely personal.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside still waters.
It is very personal. Then it says, “Thou preparest a table before me.” A table is usually in a house, is it not?
It seems that the figure gradually changes from a pasture to a house. I do not think it is speaking about a table somewhere out in the field. I think it is speaking about the house of the Lord.
We come to that table every Lord’s Day. We enjoy that table. Many times we thank Him that He has prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies.
So the psalm is leading to the house, and much of it, I believe, takes place in the house of the Lord. It is our portion to dwell there now and to dwell there forever.
We can say, “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I am dwelling there now, and I will go on dwelling there. I intend to go on dwelling there, do you not? Forever.”
Let us go a little more quickly. Psalm 26:8 says:
Lord, I love the habitation of Thy house,
And the place where Thy glory dwelleth.
In the Psalms, we can read how David loves the Lord. He loves His name, His Word, and His heart. He says, “I love the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thy glory dwelleth.”
His heart was filled with the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord is not something other than the Lord, something beside the Lord, or something in rivalry with the Lord.
The house of the Lord is an extension of the Lord. It is the fullness of the Lord, the fullness of Christ. It is where we meet Him. It is where He is everything. Christ is everything in His house.
Why is the habitation of His house so lovely? Because Christ is there.
Now let us consider Psalm 27:4:
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
One thing have I asked, or desired, of the Lord; that will I seek after. This one thing should impress us.
David was a person of one thing. If we have one object before us, it makes us focused, simple, positive, and clear concerning what we are for.
Paul was like that. He said, “One thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” He was for Christ.
In the home of Mary and Martha in Bethany, Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet, hearing His Word. Martha was busy with many things, anxious about all the kitchen affairs and the many dishes. She wanted Mary to help her.
But the Lord said, “One thing is needful.” Mary had chosen that good part, which would not be taken away from her.
David was a person of one thing. He asked this of the Lord: that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life.
This does not merely speak of dwelling there forever. It speaks of dwelling there all the days of our life—day after day: today, the next day, and the next day. Every day, David wanted to dwell in the house of the Lord.
The house of the Lord today, the house of the Lord tomorrow, all the days of my life. Amen. Does that strike a chord in your heart? We can dwell there all the days of our life.
Then he says, “To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” The house of the Lord is full of beauty because all the saints are there.
How can we behold the beauty of the Lord? We behold His beauty in all the dear saints. The brothers and sisters have Christ in them. How good it is to see Christ in the brothers and sisters—the beauty of the Lord.
They may have some faults too, but forget about that. Do not focus on that. We come to see the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.
There are many things we cannot get the answer to until we come into the house of the Lord among God’s people. Think of Psalm 73. The psalmist was troubled because he could not understand how the wicked could prosper while he was chastened every day.
But he said, “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I.” So, brothers and sisters, thank God, we can inquire in His temple. It is a place not only for our hearts to behold His beauty, but also for our minds to inquire of Him and receive His answer.
Psalm 36:8 says:
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house;
And Thou wilt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.
Some translations render fatness here as fullness: “the fullness of Thy house.” That is not a bad translation.
There is fullness, there is fatness, in God’s house. God’s house is the place where the love of God is manifested in a marvelous way.
God’s house is a place where we can find the wisdom of God. Ephesians 3 tells us that through the church the manifold wisdom of God is made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies.
The wisdom of God is shown and made known in His house. His house is also a place where the grace of God is poured out richly and lavishly.
It is a place of fullness. The love of God is there, the wisdom of God is there, and the grace of God is there. Praise God. Amen.
Let us go on to Psalm 52:8:
But as for me, I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God:
I trust in the lovingkindness of God for ever and ever.
David is full of rich feeling and rich thoughts: “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.”
I think this indicates that being in the house of God is to be living. It is a place to be living and growing.
Are we growing? Perhaps, if we are not, the reason is that we are not living in the house of God. It is a place to be living, growing, and becoming a spiritual person—a green olive tree.
Psalm 65:4 says:
Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee,
That he may dwell in Thy courts:
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house,
Thy holy temple.
The house of God is a place of satisfied desire, freedom from care, and continual praise. May the Lord bring us into more of that experience.
Psalm 69:9 says:
For the zeal of Thy house hath eaten me up;
And the reproaches of them that reproach Thee are fallen upon me.
David spoke this prophetically of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is written of Him in John 2:17: “The zeal of Thy house shall eat Me up.”
But I believe that, for David to write this, it was true of him in some measure as well. The zeal of God’s house had consumed him. How about us, brothers and sisters? Can we say, “The zeal of Thy house hath consumed me”?
Psalm 84:4 says:
Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house:
They will be still praising Thee.
Even after they pass through the valley of Baca, the weeping valleys, the hardships, and the trials of life, they will still be praising the Lord. Amen.
Come what may, those who dwell in His house will still be praising. Amen.
Then Psalm 84:10 says:
For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.
I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
It can also be translated, “I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” I like that translation.
A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. That means you get a thousandfold profit. David, or the psalmist, said, “I would rather even stand at the threshold than dwell anyplace else.” Amen.
Psalm 92:13 says:
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
They shall flourish in the courts of our God.
This speaks of certain ones who are planted in the house of the Lord. Is that where we are planted?
It is good to be planted in the house of the Lord. If you are planted there, you cannot come and go so easily. If you manage to leave, you leave your roots there.
Brothers and sisters, stay there. May we be planted there.
Now we go to Psalm 122:1:
I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go unto the house of the Lord.
This is a psalm of David and speaks of those coming up from captivity. These are the Songs of Ascents. They are coming up from Babylon, coming up from captivity, and they are glad to go to the house of the Lord.
David says, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go unto the house of the Lord.”
This is the goal of the remnant. Out of captivity, the goal of the remnant is the house of the Lord—to be in the house of the Lord.
Psalm 127:1 says:
Except the Lord build the house,
They labour in vain that build it:
Except the Lord keep the city,
The watchman waketh but in vain.
The Lord is the Builder of the house. He is the true Solomon. He said, “I will build My church.” He is able to do it. He is doing it. He will finish it.
Do not interfere with Him. Do not take His place. Let Him build His church, His house.
Then we come to Psalm 132. It does not clearly mention the house of God, but it surely refers to it:
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.
David was so intent upon God’s house. This was the one thing in his heart. He wanted to see this fulfilled for the Lord’s sake. He wanted to see that God would be satisfied.
He passed through affliction, many trials, suffering, and trouble, that God might be satisfied.
The psalm says, “Remember for David all his affliction.” The Lord will do that.
Finally, Psalm 134:1 says:
Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord,
That by night stand in the house of the Lord.
This is the last of the Songs of Ascents, and it ends with standing by night in the house of the Lord. Amen.
As far as this world is concerned, it is nighttime. It is a dark time. But thank God, brothers and sisters, in this dark and evil day, we can be those who stand in the house of the Lord and bless the Lord. Amen.
I appreciate all these psalms and verses concerning the house of the Lord. They show David’s longing and appreciation for the Lord’s house.
I pray that we will have this kind of appreciation. If you have written down these passages, I hope you will spend some time in them.
But I do not want us to forget tonight, brothers and sisters, the matter of bringing up the ark. If we long for the house and appreciate the house of the Lord, then we need to bring up the ark.
Bring up this peerless Christ. Bring Him up for the enjoyment of God and of His people in His house.
May the Lord apply this Word to our hearts. May the Lord speak to us. So we pray.
Lord, how we look to You. We feel our words are very short and inadequate. We really need Your speaking. We need You to apply Your living Word.
May it be living to us. May You speak to every one of us. May we be those who can also bring up the ark of the Lord for Your house.
We pray for this, Lord. May You be satisfied in Your house. Give us a fresh vision of Your house, as David had—a longing after Your house.
Oh, that You may be satisfied, and that we also may be satisfied. We pray in Your mighty name. Amen.