Good evening, brothers and sisters. Every time I come and meet with you, I find myself in a different place. I think you must be the children of Israel going through the wilderness. Where will we meet next time? I do not know.
I would like us to begin this evening by looking at an Old Testament story. Would you please turn to 1 Chronicles 13? We want to read the whole chapter together.
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 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 drave 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 he died there 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.
May the Lord speak to us tonight. Let us pray.
Our Father, we come in weakness, boasting of Your strength. We pray that Your Spirit would quicken our mortal bodies tonight and stir up our hearts to hear the Word of God. Help us to speak forth Your Word, and help us to receive Your Word implanted in our hearts.
We thank You for the Lord Jesus. May He be seen among us. We commit this time to You in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
We are looking at this tragic story, as Uzzah touched the ark of God. But this story has a very important message for us.
The testimony is of great importance to God. Now, to many Christians, that sounds like a strange statement. Here is the ark of the testimony, and it is very important to God.
But we have to begin tonight by asking two questions: Who is burdened for the ark of the testimony? And secondly, who is able to bear the ark of the testimony?
Does anybody care today about the ark of the testimony?
Now we see a tragedy before us as we read this story. But actually, David is trying to correct a greater tragedy. The children of Israel had been in their country, and they had not had the ark in their midst.
You remember when the children of Israel crossed over the Jordan and entered the promised land. Eventually, they established the tabernacle at a city called Shiloh. It was in the days of Eli the high priest that the Philistines came to battle against Israel.
The priests, Eli’s sons, took the ark out into battle and lost it to the Philistines. Now, that is a tragedy.
Here they had Shiloh, the tabernacle, with all of its furniture. But there was no ark of the testimony. And you know something? The children of Israel did not care.
We read in 1 Chronicles 13:3:
Let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we sought it not in the days of Saul.
Now Saul was the king before David. All during his reign, there was no ark. Nobody knew where it was. Nobody inquired of it. Isn’t that strange? Why is that?
It is because God’s people become satisfied with Shiloh.
Now, Shiloh is a wonderful place. When they had their feasts, they used to gather in Shiloh. There was the whole tabernacle. They would offer their sacrifices. The priests were all there. They had the great brazen altar, the laver, the lampstand, the table of showbread, and the altar of incense.
They were busy singing, worshipping, and sacrificing. That is enough. There was only one little thing missing: the ark of the testimony.
Did anybody care? Did anybody have a burden?
Well, thank God, David had such a burden. When David became king, he immediately did two things.
Now, here in America, we had a lot of talking about the first hundred days of Obama’s presidency. He was making many amazing changes very quickly. But when David became king, he did two immediate actions even greater than Obama’s.
As soon as he became king of all Israel, he immediately said, “We must take Jerusalem for the city of God.” Israel had been in the land four hundred years, and there was no city of God. Did anybody care?
The priests, I guess, thought Shiloh was the city of God. If you ask most people, “Where is the city of God?” they may name a town near where they live.
But God says, “When you enter the land, I have a city where I want You to rest, and where My people may come and offer their sacrifices to Me.” David somehow knew the will of God, and he said, “Jerusalem is God’s city.”
As soon as he took Jerusalem for God’s city, God could say, “Now I can rest there and bless My people out of Zion.” But no sooner had he taken the city from the Jebusites than he said, “Now we must take up the ark of God, if it is the will of God.”
David had a burden for the ark of the testimony. In his mind, he thought to himself, “How can you have the city of God without the ark of the testimony? How can you have the tabernacle of God without the ark of the testimony? How can we live without the ark of the testimony?”
So he gathered all the people together. “Is it God’s will that we bring up the ark?” Everybody said, “Amen. God’s will.” Oh, what a wonderful heart.
This story rings a bell with church history as well. Through the centuries, there have been men and women raised up by God with a burden for the testimony of the Lord. They were willing to sacrifice their lives to recover that testimony of the Lord.
Yet we also see in church history that most of the time they met with the same tragedy we see in this chapter. David had a burden for the ark of the testimony, but the people were ignorant of who was able to bear the ark of the testimony.
This was the issue. Nobody knew how to carry that ark up to Jerusalem. They knew God’s will, but they tried to do the will of God by man’s way.
Who came up with this idea of using a new wooden cart to carry up the ark of the testimony? Those Jewish men with their minds always thinking, thinking, thinking. They thought, “Well, this would really hurt our shoulders if we had to carry this ark all the way to Jerusalem.”
Ah, but we can rent an SUV. An SUV! Man’s idea: a brand-new wooden cart.
You know, whenever I get into a new car, I always love the smell of the new car. These brothers thought, “Well, God must also love the smell of the new wood cart.”
But I ask you a question: can the ark of the testimony be borne on a wooden cart of man’s invention?
Now think about the ark. It is a box covered with gold. On top of the box there is a golden throne, and around the throne there are two golden cherubim. All of that gold, sitting on a wood cart.
Can God’s testimony sit on a cart of wood, which speaks of man?
This is almost always our choice, isn’t it? We find the will of God, and then we try to do it our way.
Let me ask you: was it God’s will to bring the ark to Jerusalem? Yes. But, “Let us do it our way.” There are many elders’ and deacons’ meetings that are just people trying to figure out how to do things our way.
But as we see by the tragedy, that was not God’s way.
Of course, David had a heart of worship and love for the Lord. The fellow worshippers were dancing and singing as loud as they could while walking up the road. Surely they were able to bear the ark of the testimony.
Now, I hear all of you. You sing pretty nice. But we are talking about real worshippers here. They were singing four-part harmony. They had all kinds of instruments, singing loud with all their heart.
This is wonderful praise. Surely this is enough to bear the ark of the testimony to Jerusalem. But we find by the story that it takes more than great emotions to bear this testimony.
All right, it is not the new cart, and it is not David and the worshippers who are able to bear the ark. How about the third option?
David called his mighty men and the princes of the tribes—the best men in the country. Who were these mighty men? These were the men who gathered around David in the days when he was fleeing from King Saul.
These were men of great devotion, men of faith. Surely that is what we need to bear the ark of the testimony to the city of God. But no, they were not able.
And so we see this poor man, Uzzah. He was a servant of God. Uzzah loved the Lord. David and his men hired Uzzah to take the ark on the wood cart up to Jerusalem, and Uzzah had to do it the way man wanted it done.
How many servants of God today, in various churches, are hired by men to do God’s will man’s way?
This is a formula for tragedy, for death. As they were going up the road and the oxen stumbled, Uzzah put his hand on the ark to steady it so that it would not fall. It says that God broke out with fire and killed Uzzah.
They even named that very spot Perez-uzza: God breaks out with fire. Of course, the worship stopped. The taking of the ark stopped in the light of this great tragedy.
Now, many Christians have great trouble with this passage. Why would God strike down a man who was being faithful? It seems so needless. It does not seem typical of what God does.
You see that even David himself was confused by what had happened. He suddenly became paralyzed and did not know what to do.
Now David was a man of God who knew God’s lovingkindness and mercy. He often sang:
O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good;
For His lovingkindness endureth for ever.
David knew by experience how forgiving God is, how patient God is. Oh, God is so full of mercy. So it was baffling to the people of God when God broke out with that sudden judgment.
Now we have to understand: God is indeed patient. He is patient with our carnality and flesh. He knows our foolishness.
But in matters of bearing the testimony, God’s love is very jealous. This breaking out was nothing other than mercy. God was jealously protecting His testimony.
That testimony is the apple of His eye. That testimony is from the very heart of God. He will not allow that testimony, which is a testimony of glory, to be touched by man.
Now, you know the cherubim are always the symbol of God’s jealous love, protecting His glory.
You find the cherubim in the garden of Eden, protecting the way back to the garden. You see on the great curtain before the Holy of Holies the cherubim protecting the testimony of God. And over the ark, again, you find those golden cherubim protecting the glory of God.
But many people do not even know about God’s glory. They handle the testimony in the ways of men, and tragedy is what results.
Man cannot touch the testimony of God. Christians can have right theology, understand the will of God, be worshippers, have a heart, and be men of faith. Yet they can be ignorant of the ark of the testimony and what it is.
Now, I do not know if you realize this, but the children of Israel really never saw the ark of the testimony. When they had it, it was always covered up.
They heard that it was behind the veil, which was behind the veil, which was behind the veil—somewhere in there. If you said, “What does it look like?” They would say, “A little box.”
The high priest only saw it one time a year—one man saw it—and even then, he did not tell anybody what he saw. So that was too mysterious for most of God’s children to worry about.
Especially when God raises up some people to recover His testimony, and then some tragedy strikes and things go wrong, as we see in this story.
David became afraid. He was humiliated. He was trying to do God’s will, and he was responsible for this tragedy. What did the people do? They went back to Shiloh.
Oh, it is so easy at Shiloh. You do not have to have a testimony. You just have to be religious. But they forgot about it.
But David did not. Even though he was humiliated, and though he did not know what to do, he heard a message: Obed-edom’s whole family had been blessed.
And David said, “I know it. I knew the ark of the testimony is essential to the blessing of the people.” Even though David made a mistake, he began to pursue again: “God, how do we bring this ark to the city of God and find its home?”
David asked the right question. David had the burden for the ark of the testimony. He asked, “Who is able to bear the testimony?”
And would you not know, when all else fails, find what the Word of God says. David studied the Word of God, and he saw what it says: “The Levites shall carry the ark of God.”
This is another picture of the irony of our Christian life. Why is this box called the ark of the testimony? There is a great mystery, but there is also a simple answer.
It was the ark that contained the two stones with the Ten Commandments—the stones of testimony. In other words, the box contained the Word of God.
Now here is the irony: here are some men trying to carry a box with the Word of God in it, but not according to the Word of God.
Now why do I share all this? I am glad that I am here and speaking with you tonight, because I think if I asked you the question, “What is the testimony of God?” you could give me an intelligent answer.
Most Christians cannot answer that question. They have no idea: what is the testimony of Jesus?
You know this phrase, the testimony of Jesus, is used several times in the book of Revelation. Some of the more modern, more recent translations of the Bible do not even use this term, testimony of Jesus. They change it to such things as “witnessing about Jesus.”
Do you think the testimony of Jesus means witnessing about Jesus? But I suppose that is what most Christians probably would think.
Who is burdened for the testimony of Jesus? If you live in Shiloh long enough, you think whatever is going on there is the testimony of Jesus.
But when we look at the book of Revelation and see Jesus speaking to the church of Ephesus, Jesus tells them that unless they repent, He will take their testimony of Jesus away—their lampstand, their testimony.
And then Ephesus would just become Shiloh. That is what we have through so much of what is called Christianity today.
Thank God that David pursued and said, “Lord, who is able to bear the testimony?”
Now when we turn to 1 Chronicles 15, we see the story as it continues. Let us read the first couple of 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.
As he gathered the Levites together, he says in 1 Chronicles 15:12-13:
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.
David had the burden for the ark of the testimony, but the Levites were the ones able to bear the testimony. Now the Levites become a significant aspect of the story.
So we must ask: who are the Levites? You know they are one of the twelve tribes, descended from one of the twelve sons of Jacob. But something happened at Mount Sinai that set the Levites apart.
When the children of Israel began to worship the golden calf and to have an orgy, it was the Levites who stood up for God’s holiness.
Because the Levites chose the Lord, the Lord chose the Levites. They drew their swords and slew those who were committing idolatry and immorality. The Levites became those who stood for all Israel in faithfulness.
According to the law in Israel, every family had to take their oldest son and send him to the temple to be a minister unto God. Because the firstborn were spared at the Passover, they were now to be given to God as an offering.
But God chose the Levites in the stead of the firstborn of all the tribes because they were willing to stand for the Lord.
The Levites become for us a picture of the remnant. Who is able to bear the ark of the testimony? Those who have been chosen—the remnant, the chosen, the called, the faithful.
Notice what it says in 1 Chronicles 15:2:
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.
They were a remnant tribe whose lives were given to serve God all their days. They were given no inheritance of land. The Lord was their portion.
They were chosen to carry the furniture of the tabernacle of God. When the tabernacle found its resting place, they were the ones chosen to lead the worship at the house of God.
Now others of the tribes of Israel pursued their farms and various things, but the Levites were a picture of those who have given themselves in absolute surrender to their God.
But we notice it is not just enough to be chosen. The Levites were also consecrated.
We read in 1 Chronicles 15:14-15:
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.
They were chosen to serve the Lord, and they consecrated their lives for the purpose of serving God. Then they carried the ark according to the Word of God.
Oh, then they had a real spiritual outpouring. There was great worship. David led the worshippers as they went up toward Jerusalem. Because of this tragedy, everybody had a deeper worship as they went toward Jerusalem.
David prepared the way. The Levites bore the ark of the testimony, and then Solomon built the temple around that ark.
The way of God is this: there are those who have the burden for the testimony. Like David, they initiate it, but they cannot carry it. There are others who are Levites, who actually can carry the ark of the testimony. Then, when it is brought to the city of God, Solomon can build around that ark.
This is the perfect completion of God’s will.
Now my question is this: are you a Levite? Do you have a burden for the testimony of the Lord? Do you know how to bear this testimony?
Who is the Levite? Every Christian is called to be a Levite. Every Christian is to be consecrated before the Lord.
As Christians, we give our wealth and our strength to the Lord. As Christians, we live for the Lord. Now, that does not mean we do not have a job.
Many of our most precious Levites are working in very responsible jobs, but their hearts are absolutely full of love.
Who can bear the testimony of Jesus? 1 John 5:11 says:
And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
He who has the Son has the life. This is an amazing act of grace. By the grace of our Lord Jesus, those who believe in Him bear the testimony within themselves.
All believers are called to be Levites. How wonderful if we can bear this ark of the testimony together.
But many are called; few are chosen. Why? What does it take to be chosen?
A person has to consecrate himself or herself to the Lord. Many Christians hear the call, but most Christians are too selfish. Despite all of that grace, they have not become Christ-centered.
That is why we see, by the end of the first century in the church of Jesus Christ, that there is a remnant of those who are faithful.
Most Christians are satisfied with Shiloh. But thank God, I do believe even in this place there are people who have a burden for the testimony of the Lord.
There are some people here who care more for God than for themselves. What a wonderful testimony.
In the United States of America, people are totally obsessed with themselves. I suppose it is that way in all countries. But everybody loves to talk about themselves.
“Oh, they are so worried about their job. Oh, my job, my job,” as if a job is important. “Oh, my education. Oh, my health.”
Oh, we are so obsessed with health today that we are all sick. We are so obsessed with health, and we are sick about it.
The only time we stop being obsessed with ourselves is when we are watching American Idol. Then people are obsessed over who is the best baseball player, who is the best singer on American Idol, who dances the best, or whatever.
But there are those Levites who care more about what the Lord wants than even themselves. These are able to bear the ark of the testimony.
I just do not see why we should keep going to Shiloh if God’s presence is not in the middle of it. I hope you ask yourself that question.
Well, I must end with one more tragedy. It turns out the Levites were not faithful.
You know, the Levites bought a little bit of land, did a little bit of farming, and bought themselves a house. A Levite’s life was to be in Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord. But the Levites forsook the Lord to make money.
When we come to the time of Jesus, we find the tragedy repeated again.
When the remnant came back from Babylon and built the house of God, the Lord really blessed. Then for the next four hundred years, they kept building and fixing up that temple until the day of Jesus.
By the day of Jesus, Herod had beautified the temple so that it was more beautiful than in Solomon’s day. Of course, Solomon built it according to God’s plan, but Herod added some things to make it larger.
There were huge lampstands, they said eighteen feet high. They fixed the temple up with so much gold—all kinds of lampstands, all kinds of tables, all kinds of altar incense.
But can you believe, when Jesus came to His temple, there was no ark there? With all of that beautiful outward temple, there was no testimony.
May I jump from the days of Jesus to today? We have some church buildings that are huge, beautiful, expensive, artistic. But is the testimony there? Do the people know what the testimony is?
May the Lord speak to our hearts. We know that in the last days, our Lord Jesus is looking for His testimony. When He comes to look at our lampstand, will He find His lampstand?
You can have a large meeting, a small meeting, a big building, a small building. It does not make any difference.
Does anybody have a burden for the testimony of Jesus? Is anybody here able to bear the testimony of Jesus?
May we be before the Lord about these questions. Let us pray.
Oh, Father, we have such a heart. We want to serve You. We have so many ideas, and yet You jealously guard the testimony.
Forgive us, Lord, if we are ignorant about what that means. Forgive us if we have been called but have not responded with faithfulness and consecration.
May Your testimony be recovered and brought up to the house of God in Zion. This is our prayer. In Jesus’ name, amen.