Will you please turn to Psalm 132. We will read the whole song.
The Lord, remember for David
All his affliction;
How he sware 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 Ephrathah:
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 David’s sake
Turn not away the face of Thine anointed.The Lord hath sworn unto David in truth;
He will not turn from it:
Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
If thy children will keep My covenant
And My testimony that I shall teach them,
Their children also shall sit upon thy throne for evermore.
For the Lord hath chosen Zion;
He hath desired it for His habitation.
This is My resting-place for ever:
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.
Second Samuel 6. We will read from verse 1 through verse 17.
And David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him, from Baale-judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, which is called by the Name, even the name of the Lord of hosts that sitteth above 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 the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart.
And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was in the hill, with the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark.
And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord with all manner of instruments made of fir wood, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with castanets, and with cymbals.And when they came to the threshing-floor of Nacon, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen stumbled.
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 broken forth upon Uzzah: and he called that place Perez-uzzah, to this day.
And David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, How shall the ark of the Lord come unto 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 Gittite.
And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obed-edom, and all his house.And it was told king David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God.
And David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with joy.
And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.
And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.
So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.
And it was so, as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.
And they brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.
And then finally, 2 Timothy 2. We will begin with verse 19 through verse 22.
Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His: and, Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.
Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some unto honour, and some unto dishonour.
If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, meet for the Master’s use, prepared unto every good work.
But flee youthful lusts, and follow after righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, how we do thank Thee that by Thy grace we are able to gather together in the name of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus. We know that now we are in Thy presence. Thou art here with us.
Lord, our desire is that we want to hear Thee. We want to see the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ, that we may be transformed, that we may know where to go. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
During these morning sessions, we fellowship together on this matter of the ark. We find that the ark is a type of Christ.
The ark is the center of the tabernacle. The ark is the center of God’s people. The ark is the center of the nation. It is the center of the universe. So there we see a very important principle: in the eternal purpose of God, Christ, God’s Son, is to be the center of everything. He is to have the preeminent place in all things. All things are to be summed up in Him, and it is the will of God that He should be all and in all.
It is very important, brothers and sisters, that we are purpose-oriented and not just need-oriented. It is true that when we first came to the Lord, we were motivated by our own needs. We are so fallen and corrupted that we are all self-centered, without doubt. So we came to the Lord because of our needs, and thank God, He committed Himself to meet our needs.
But after we are saved, there needs to be a shift from need-oriented to purpose-oriented. We need to be delivered from being self-centered to become Christ-centered. In other words, we need to live for the purpose of God. We need to live for Christ. And I think this is very basic, very important, and this will set the direction of our Christian life.
We mentioned that the children of Israel, as they came out, became a nation of people, a possession of God. They were not just scattered individuals. They were one: one nation, one kingdom, one household of God.
Because of this, you find there is a corporateness of God’s people. After we are saved, this is another thing that we need to come to understand. Even though we are saved individually, yet the will of God is that after we are saved, we are called out of every nation, every tribe, every tongue, every people; but after we have been called out, we are assembled into one—one church under one Head.
So the corporateness of God’s people is something that we need to realize. We are not each on our own, but we are together as God’s people, as one body under one Head.
Now, how can we really be united together into one? How can all the members be united organically into one? The secret is holding fast the Head. If we hold fast Christ as our Head, if we submit ourselves under His authority, then you will find all the members of the body will be fitly framed and joined together. There will be an organic unity and oneness, and this will be our testimony to the world.
So you find when the children of Israel encamped, they encamped around the tabernacle—that is, around the ark. It is the ark that united them into one nation, one people. And it is Christ, our Head, who unites us into one, that we may be a testimony to the world that God has sent Christ into the world.
Again, we find that when the children of Israel journeyed, they journeyed under the leadership of the ark. The ark would go before them, and they would follow the ark, the ark finding a resting place for them. They were under the leadership of the ark, so they would not go astray.
Now, brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is not only the Head of the church, but He is also the Leader of the church. We need to follow our Leader. He is the only Leader. If we follow Him, we will not go astray.
Furthermore, we find that in the wilderness, among God’s people, there were problems. All the problems were solved by the ark. Bring every problem to the ark, and then you will find all these problems were solved.
So it is the same thing with us today. In the church, there are bound to be many problems—many people, many problems. But thank God, if we bring these problems to the Lord, we find that they will not only be settled, but through the experience we will be enriched. We will be blessed.
And finally, yesterday morning we talked about how the ark led them into battle. Our Lord Jesus had already won a decisive battle on Calvary’s cross, and today we are just following Him into victory, from victory into victory.
Now this morning we would like to share together on the ark in the heart of David. We will continue with the history of the ark.
After the children of Israel entered into the promised land, you remember how they fought many battles. They had campaigns against the nations of the south, then another campaign against the nations of the north. When you come to Joshua 18, you find that the children of Israel gathered together in Shiloh, and there they set up the tent. In other words, the ark rested in Shiloh, and the Bible says the land came into rest.
But after Joshua died, there were still seven tribes that had not entered into their possession yet. So they began to try to possess their possession. As a matter of fact, God had already given them the whole land. All they needed to do was to step upon it, and when they stepped upon it, it became theirs. The enemies were there, but the enemies were already defeated. No one could stand before them.
But strangely, as you read the book of Judges, you find that when they tried to possess their possession, they were not able to fully possess it. They were not able to dislodge all their enemies, and time and again their enemies had the upper hand over them.
Now why is it so? Is it because the arm of the Lord is too short, that He cannot deliver them? Is it because the Lord has not promised them the land? No.
If they followed the ark, if their heart was with the ark—in other words, if they really loved God, kept His commandments and His covenant—no enemy could stand in their way, and they would surely possess all their possessions.
The reason is because, when they were in the promised land, their hearts began to drift away from God. They began to commit abominations, and because of that, they were not able to drive out the enemy. God allowed the enemies, time and again, to have control over them, and they suffered under oppression.
In the whole book of Judges, you find the ark is only mentioned once. Now, by the way, I need to correct myself. I understand that in the questions I gave, I gave a question that in the book of Deuteronomy there is only one mention of the ark, and it caused some confusion among brothers and sisters.
Now, I inadvertently—I shall qualify it. Instead of saying that in Deuteronomy there is only one mention of the ark, as a matter of fact, in the early chapters of Deuteronomy you find that the ark was mentioned. What I mean is that after the restating of the law, after the law was restated and written into a book, this book was placed at the side of the ark. That is in Deuteronomy 31:26.
But the book that was deposited by the side of the ark was to serve as a testimony, as a witness against the people. In other words, the ark was there, but the ark seemed to serve another purpose. Instead of being the justification, the righteousness, the life, the ministry to the people, you find the ark was in their midst, but the ark became something that witnessed against the people, because the people did not live according to God.
So that is the occasion you find in the book of Deuteronomy. Now, in the book of Judges, you find the ark is only mentioned once. That is in Judges 20:27-28.
It shows that during those four hundred years, the hearts of God’s people were far away from God. They neglected the ark. They despised the ark, because the presence of the Lord was on the ark. Their hearts were not in love with God. They did not care about the presence of God. They just lived on their own, and because of that there was such weakness, incompleteness, suffering, and oppression.
So the comment of the Holy Spirit at the very end of the book of Judges is:
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
God was their King, but they did not recognize Him. They ignored Him. So you find everyone just did whatever seemed right to him. The people were scattered; they were not one people. And when you are not one people, the enemy can finish you one by one. That is what happened, and they did not enter into their full possession.
Now, brothers and sisters, there is a lesson for us. If we do not treasure the presence of the Lord, if we do not have a heart of love toward the Lord, if we despise Him and do not treasure Him, as if we put Him aside, you know what will happen? We will be scattered. We will not be united as one, and we will be prey to the enemies. We will not fully possess our possession.
You know, God has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. The inheritance is ours. But if our heart is not toward the Lord, if we do not treasure His presence, we are on our own, and we discover that we will not be able to fully possess. That is the situation you find in the book of Judges.
Eli was the second-to-last of the judges. When you come to the time of Eli, as you find in 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel 3:1 says that in those days the word of God was rare, and vision was infrequent.
Now, that sentence shows us the spiritual condition of the people at that time. The children of Israel were in the promised land. They did not totally possess it, but they were there. The tabernacle, the tent of meeting that Moses built, was in Shiloh. The ark was in Shiloh. Eli was there, who was also the priest.
People still went to Shiloh to offer sacrifices unto the Lord, and yet in those days the word of God was rare. In other words, God did not speak much.
You know, our God is the God who speaks. When He keeps silent, then we are lost. We will not know Him unless He reveals Himself to us. God is a mystery. He is beyond our thoughts. He has to reveal Himself, and the way He reveals Himself is to speak to us.
In a sense, you find that God loves to speak to His people, just like parents love to speak to their children. That is the heart of God. But in those days the word of God was rare, not because He did not want to talk to His children.
The ark was there, and God would speak on the mercy seat, between the cherubim. There He would speak to His people. But He was not speaking much. It was not because He did not want to speak; it was because the people were not hearing. They had no desire to hear God.
The Bible says that the appearing of God was infrequent. God did not appear to them. He could not appear to them because of their spiritual condition. The spiritual condition of the people is well represented by Eli and his family.
Eli knew God. Eli loved God. He really had a concern for the ark. But he was old and feeble. He could hardly see; he was dim. God was not speaking to him. Why? Because he honored his children more than God.
His two sons were sons of Belial—wicked men—and yet they still served as priests in the tabernacle. You know, God gave the priests a portion of all the peace offerings that the people offered. It was their portion. But these two sons of Eli had no respect for God, and they had no respect for the offerings.
When people began to offer, even before they burned the fat, even before they boiled the meat, their servants would come and demand fresh meat. They would take the best for themselves. Because of what they did, they made the people despise the offerings to God.
That was the situation at that time. Brothers and sisters, the ark was there. The service was going on. But God was not speaking, and He did not appear to them.
There was a battle between the children of Israel and the Philistines, and the children of Israel were badly beaten. So in 1 Samuel 4, when they were beaten, they said, “Why did the Lord smite us before our enemies?” Good question. But they found the wrong answer.
They said, “We were beaten because the ark was not with us.” Now they remembered how the ark led them into victory. So they said, “Well, let us fetch the ark.” They fetched the ark from Shiloh to the battlefield, and how they shouted, because they thought, “Now the victory is ours.” Superstition.
When the condition of God’s people is contradictory to the meaning of the ark, you will find it becomes a religion, a tradition, a superstition. They thought that because they brought the ark to their midst, therefore the Philistines would be defeated.
But you find the ark would not defend them. God would have nothing to do with them. God even allowed His ark to be captured by the Philistines. The people of God could not keep the ark. The ark was captured. But thank God, the ark knew how to protect itself. So God vindicated Himself in spite of these people.
The ark was in captivity for seven months. They moved it from one city to another city, and in every city the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them. Finally, they had to send it back.
So they sent back the ark. They put the ark on a new cart and offered some offerings. The ark was drawn by two milch cows, and they left the little ones at home and just let the cows go. They said, “Now, if these milch cows carry the ark straight to the border of Israel, then we know it is God.”
Of course, if you keep the young ones back, the milch cows will go back to their little ones. But instead of that, you find they went straight forward, lowing as they went. In other words, they really mourned the loss of their little ones, and yet they were under the power of God. They went straight to Beth-shemesh, and there they were killed and offered. The ark came back on its own.
The people of Beth-shemesh were so happy that they got the ark, and they began to look into it. You know, nobody can look into the ark. The ark is holy. God is there. So you remember how God smote them, and people died. They became afraid and said, “We cannot have the ark.”
So they asked people from Kiriath-jearim to come and bring it to their place. So the ark stayed in the house of Abinadab.
Brothers and sisters, when the ark left the tabernacle, it never returned. The ark came back from captivity. It returned to Israel, but it never returned to Shiloh.
If you read Psalm 78, you will find that because the children of Israel committed sin and rebelled against God, God forsook them, and He allowed His glory to be taken into captivity. After the ark left Shiloh, the tent of meeting, it never returned to it.
It stayed in a private house, in the house of Abinadab, in Kiriath-jearim—the forest—hidden in the hills. During all these years, it was just hidden there.
So you find for twenty years, twenty years, the ark was hidden in the forest of the wood.
Samuel was raised up, and through his ministry, after twenty years, the people began to long for the Lord. They began to have a desire for the Lord. Samuel was able to gather them together, have them repent before God, and God delivered them from the Philistines.
And yet Samuel was not able to bring back the ark. He was not able to bring the ark back to Shiloh, to the tent of meeting. He used to be there. He served there as a little boy, but he was unable to bring it back. In other words, he was not able to bring the ark back to be the very center of the life of God’s people.
They desired a king, so God gave them according to what they wanted. Saul became their king. But during the forty years of the reign of Saul, they never inquired once before the ark.
So you see how many years had gone by: twenty years, then forty years again. They never inquired before the ark. The ark was just neglected. It shows that the heart of the people was not concerned with the presence of God. They could live without God’s presence.
During those years, the tabernacle was in Shiloh. No doubt, people still went there and offered sacrifices. The services were going on, and yet the ark was not in their heart. That was the situation you find there.
Brothers and sisters, when you come to the history of the church, do you not see the same thing happen?
In the original design of God, the tabernacle was built for the ark. Every piece of furniture in the tabernacle leads to the ark. The tabernacle and the ark should never be separated. If they are separated, then the tabernacle loses its meaning.
You can offer at the brazen altar. You can wash at the brazen laver. You can enter into the holy place to put on the showbread, light the lampstand, and offer incense. But who is receiving them? There is no ark in the holy of holies. It is empty. It is meaningless.
At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came, and the one hundred and twenty were baptized in one Spirit into one body. On the same day three thousand were added, and then you find that they were added daily. They became the tabernacle of God.
The Lord, by His Spirit, was there. It is evident. That gives meaning—meaning to the people, meaning to their gathering together, meaning to all the things that they did.
But brothers and sisters, as you read church history, you find that gradually the heart of God’s people began to grow cold toward Him.
Even when you read at the end of the first century, in the book of Revelation, John, the last of the twelve, received a revelation, and he was told to write to the seven churches in Asia. The first one is Ephesus.
In the letter to Ephesus, you find that everything went on as usual. They had everything. They had knowledge. They had service. They had discernment. As a matter of fact, they had much more than many churches today. And yet the Lord said, “I have this against thee.”
“You have labor. You have work. But you have left your first love.” The love for the Lord was gone. Because the love was gone, the Lord said, “Unless you repent, I will remove the lampstand.”
And you read on, and you find Laodicea. They boasted that they had everything. They were rich. They lacked nothing. And yet they were poor, wretched, naked, and blind. If they did not repent, they would be spewed out of His mouth.
In other words, you find in church history, even at the end of the first century, there was the beginning of a question. It is mainly the love. All the services are going on. All the works are going on. But the love is gone.
When that thing happens, brothers and sisters, it is almost like the ark has been left. The church is in captivity.
But the Lord knows how to defend Himself. Even though you find Christianity has become a religion, a tradition, a system, and it continues, yet the presence of the Lord is not there.
But thank God, He has not left His people altogether. He may be in the house of Abinadab, or later on He may be in the house of Obed-edom, but He never returns to the tent at Shiloh.
Brothers and sisters, once a living thing that comes from God becomes a system, a tradition, a religion, this will go on, but the presence of the Lord will not be there. You cannot find the ark there. The ark is somewhere in a hidden place, in a house of Abinadab.
This is something for us to really consider before the Lord.
Now, thank God, when David was raised up, you find David was a man after God’s own heart. In other words, he had a heart for God. His heart and God’s heart were one.
He knew how God desired to dwell among His people, how God wanted His presence to be known. He wanted to be present with His people. David knew God’s heart.
So you find in Psalm 132, it is a beautiful psalm. It shows the heart of David, how he was afflicted. He was afflicted by the very fact that God did not have a resting place.
You know, as he was persecuted by Saul, he wandered here and there, hidden in caves and in strongholds. Wherever he was, in his wandering, he could not forget God. He thought of God. He thought of the ark. “Where is the ark? Where is the presence of God?”
He could not rest. He said, “I will not go to bed. I will not close my eyelids. I will not allow myself to sleep until I find a place, a resting place, for the ark, for God.”
That expresses his heart’s desire. He had a heart for God. He wanted to see the ark returned to be the center of all the life of the nation of Israel.
So after he became king, the first thing he did was to take Jerusalem. Somehow, by revelation, he knew that it was the place God had chosen to put His name there. The next thing to do was to bring the ark.
In Psalm 132, he said, “We heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of the wood.” When he was in Bethlehem-judah—that was his birthplace—he was thinking of the ark. Then he heard that the ark was hidden in the field of the wood. He said, “We found it. We found the ark.”
So he gathered the children of Israel together to bring the ark back to Zion.
Now, unfortunately, instead of consulting with the priests, he consulted with his generals. So they said, “Well, let us go and get it.” They went to the house of Abinadab, took the ark out, and put the ark on a new cart drawn by oxen.
In other words, they followed the ways of the Philistines to bring the ark back.
From the human standpoint, it was an improvement, because the ark had to be borne on the shoulders of the priests. Well, it is a little bit heavy and burdensome. So the Philistines were very clever. They built a new cart, drawn by oxen, and brought the ark back to the land of Israel.
So David’s people took over that ingenious invention. It made it so much easier. They adopted the way of the Philistines to bring the ark back.
In the beginning it went all right. But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon—the threshing floor is a place where you divide the chaff from the wheat—it typifies the cross. The cross is the place where the soul and the spirit are divided.
So when they came to the threshing floor, the oxen stumbled, and the ark began to fall. Uzzah stretched out his arm and tried to hold it up. Good intentions. But God smote him there, because God is holy.
When David saw this, he was indignant. Why was he angry? He was angry at God. Why? Because he thought he was doing God a good service, and God did not appreciate it.
Then the second thought was that he was afraid. “God is holy. I dare not bring it into my house.” So instead they carried the ark to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite, and it stayed there for three months. God blessed Obed-edom and his house.
When David heard about it, he understood. He learned the lesson. He consulted the priests, and he understood that the ark had to be borne on the shoulders of the priests. So again they went and brought the ark out of the household of Obed-edom and brought it into Zion, to the tent that David had prepared for it.
Brothers and sisters, to bring the ark back is God’s will, but God’s will has to be done in God’s way. If God’s will is not done in God’s way, God will not own it.
This is a very important lesson that we need to learn. Oftentimes we have the desire to bring back God, to bring back His presence, to exalt Him. The heart is right. The desire is right. But how are we going to do it?
You find Christianity throughout the centuries has tried to serve God by adopting worldly ways. They seem to be clever, ingenious, convenient, quicker. But, brothers and sisters, God’s will has to be done in God’s way.
The ark has to be borne on the shoulders of the priests. In other words, it is not something mechanical; it is something spiritual. You cannot bring back the presence of God using technical, mechanical ways. It has to have spirituality, that burden, that spiritual burden, to bring that to God.
But anyway, the ark came back. It did not return to the tent Moses built. It rested temporarily in the tent of David.
It was not until Solomon built the temple that the ark and the temple were united. Now, if you turn again to the history of the ark at that time, you find that when Solomon became king, he loved the Lord, so he went to Gibeon.
In 1 Chronicles, I think it is chapter 21, you find that the tabernacle, the tent of meeting that used to be in Shiloh, was removed to Gibeon. So the great altar was in Gibeon. The tabernacle was in Gibeon.
When Solomon became king, he loved the Lord. So he and his people went to Gibeon, and there he offered thousands of sacrifices to God to show his love for God.
That night God appeared, and God said, “Solomon, you can ask anything you want, and I promise to give it to you.” Solomon asked for one thing: wisdom, an understanding heart. He wanted a heart that could hear God, so that he might be able to judge God’s people rightly.
God was pleased with him. God said, “I will give you riches, I will give you honor, I will give you everything, aside from wisdom.” Now, the beautiful thing is that Solomon came back, and he went to offer a burnt offering and peace offerings before the ark in the tent of David.
The tent of David was absolutely no comparison with the tabernacle in Gibeon. All the other furniture in the tabernacle was in Gibeon: the brazen altar, the brazen laver, the golden lampstand, the table of showbread, the golden altar of incense. All these were still there in Gibeon, and people went there. That was their custom.
They did not go to the tent of David to worship before the ark. Instead, you find the people still went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, and the priests were serving there, lighting the lampstand, and so forth. Because of this, you find that it was natural for Solomon to go there. That was the place to go.
The ark and the tabernacle should not be divided. But when they were divided, it caused a problem: where will you go to worship?
The tent of David was temporary. It was not elaborate at all—small—but there was the ark, the presence of the Lord. The tent of meeting, the tabernacle of Moses, with all the furniture, was in Gibeon. There was the altar, great and impressive. Naturally, you would go to Gibeon. You would not go to the tent of David.
Is it not true with us today? Unfortunately, the presence of the Lord and the so-called church are separated.
Unfortunately, you find the tabernacle, the so-called church today, has become Christianity. For those who do not see God, to those to whom God has not appeared, the natural thing is to go to the big one.
How people today are captivated by what is big! The brazen altar was there. In other words, people are still being saved.
If that tabernacle was empty, completely empty—not only the ark not there, but the altar of incense not there, the golden lampstand not there, the golden table of showbread not there, the laver not there, and the altar not there—it is all empty. Probably nobody would go.
But unfortunately, all these are there except the ark. Well, people do not think of the ark anyway, so whether it is there or not does not matter. What they see is a brazen altar. What the priests see is the lampstand, the showbread, and the incense. That is what is there.
In other words, whether it concerns what we call salvation, or whether it concerns what we call service—Christian service—it is all there. And because it is all there, there you go. That is the natural thing, is it not? Solomon did that before he had wisdom.
That is the truth of all Christianity today. But, brothers and sisters, thank God, God is still blessing. People are getting saved. There are services going on. But the question is: where is He, the Person? Where is the glory?
If the glory of the Lord has departed, to those who have spiritual understanding, all the religious systems fall short.
Is your heart just for the tabernacle, or is your heart for the ark? Is your heart for the work, the works of the Lord, or is your heart for the Lord? Is your heart just for salvation and service, or is your heart to be face to face with God, having His presence as the savor of your life?
Where is your heart? Where will you go? The popular way is to go to Gibeon. People are going there. But will you go to the tent of David?
Do you have a David heart? You cannot rest, even if there is a blessing of the Lord, even if there is the substance of something. It does not satisfy. There is a holy discontent within you. You have to find the Lord.
He is the only One who satisfies. He is the only One that you long for. His presence is everything.
Brothers and sisters, think of history. What does the Lord expect us to do today? If we have the heart of David, He expects us to bring the ark back. It is not big, but the Lord is there.
This will be a preparation for the day when the temple and the ark will be united. You find in Solomon’s temple they are reunited. That speaks of the millennial kingdom.
So, brothers and sisters, today is a day of recovery. Recovery is not something big in outward appearance. Recovery is to bring back the ark. It is small, but it becomes the center.
So this reminds me of 2 Timothy. You know, in 1 Timothy Paul said, “What is the church? The church is the house of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”
But when he comes to 2 Timothy, only a few years later, things have changed. There is a great house, and in that great house you have vessels of honor and vessels to dishonor—gold and silver vessels, and earthen and wooden vessels.
If anyone should purify himself—that is, instead of being content to be a wooden and earthen vessel—the wood represents human nature, and earth represents our flesh, our own work. You purify yourself. You want to be gold, God’s nature; silver, the result of redemption, in order that you may be fit for the Master.
And what do you do? You pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.
Brothers and sisters, we all live in the day of that great house. What God is looking for is a people who are not content just to be wooden and earthen, who are not satisfied with the tabernacle in Gibeon, who want to be gold and silver—not ambitious in themselves, but for the Lord, who is the Ark.
There you will find those of a pure heart. It is a heart matter. With those of a pure heart—what is a pure heart? It is more than a clean heart. It is a pure, single heart.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
With those of a pure heart, call upon the Lord and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace. This is recovery. Oh, may the Lord give us the heart for this. Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, we do pray that Thy Spirit will bring the history of the ark alive to our hearts, that we may see Thy desire, that we may be of one heart with Thee.
Lord, that we may treasure Thee more than anything else; that we may be willing to forsake what is attractive, many activities, but follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
Lord, make us a people who will prepare for that day, when Thou wilt have Thy right place. Amen.