Who's Touching The Ark - Part 1

2 Samuel 6, we read from verse 1, again David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from the valley of Judah to bring up from the fence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah, and Uzur and Ahio, that's not a snake, that's the name of a man. The sons of Abinadab drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord and all manner of instruments made of firwood, even on hearths and psalteries, on timbers, on cornets and cymbals. And when they came to Macon's threshing floor, Uzur put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzur. And God smote him there for his error, and there he died by the ark of God. Let's look a minute here in the 25th chapter of Exodus, Exodus chapter 25. Remember the beginning of this chapter is where the Lord is selecting, he's going to do what I think must have been very strange to Israel. They had never had any covering in the sense of a tabernacle. They'd been nomads, they'd had no priests, they'd had the heavens for the ceiling of their church, if you like. And now suddenly, instead of being enlarged, they're contracted to a small space that has been called again a tabernacle in the wilderness. And God gives specific instructions to this amazing man Moses about the building. It's very interesting that he had no choice in this, he obeyed every commandment God gave to him. He had no more choice in the colors of the thing any more than Noah had a choice of what kind of a rainbow he wanted. You ever wondered what kind of a rainbow he might have chosen? If the Lord said, you choose the colors, it would have been a mess. If he'd asked me, I wouldn't know the colors. But he just did as he was commanded. And it says in verse 8 of the 21st chapter of Exodus, "...let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." Okay, come down to verse 17, "...thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, a beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on one end, and the other cherub on the other. Even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another. Towards the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above, upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee, and there will I meet with thee." Now that's the first piece of furniture mentioned as regards the tabernacle. It was roughly 54 inches long, this ark. It was three feet high and three feet wide. And it was a visible presence of an invisible power. It was a kind of an earthly resting place where God put his power between those awesome cherubims. Remember how often the Psalmist cries, O thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Psalm 80 particularly, before Ephraim and Manasseh, stir up thy strength and come and save us. If you talk about the ark, usually people think you mean the ark where, you know, the children play with at home, they have little animals, and they go into Noah's ark. Well, that was an ark all right. Now do you remember another ark beside that? Well, it was a little thing a woman made to put a baby in. She made an ark of bulrushes. And thirdly, you have this ark. Now the ark, actually the word really means, if you get right to the bottom of it, it means a place to preserve something intact. It has complete coverage. You know, I've said so often that faith does three things. It reckons, it risks, and it rests. I think the mother of Moses must have been, well, she sure was a wonderful woman. And she put that baby in that little ark and pushed it out onto the waters of the Nile. I think it was a horrible risk. How did she know a crocodile wouldn't eat it before she had hardly turned her back? Or the lid could have blown off and the sun might have scorched the baby crisp. Or it could have been carried away on the flood, or somebody could have stolen it. But you see, when you get a word from God, you're not going to be shaken by the Philistines or anybody else outside. God had told her what to do and she obeyed. And again, that's the key, that's the anchorage of spiritual success, spiritual maturity, is obedience. To obey is better than sacrifice. Remember King Saul filled the whole of that valley with beasts and yet he retained a few of the prized stock. And when Samuel came up to him and spoke to him, he said, well, I've done as you said. And the little sheep gave the story away, you know. Wonderful what little animals have taken important parts in the Bible, isn't it? And Samuel said, if you've done what you said you've done, what meaneth this bleating of the sheep? And the lowing of the oxen which are here. To obey is better than sacrifice. There is no substitute for obedience, none. Not there, not now, not ever. Again, trust and obey, there's no other way, there's no other outlet. You either do as God says, all right, then you begin to shrink, you begin to wither. Now here is the ark. And the measurements are given to us. Verse 22 says, there will I meet with thee. And that was a supreme desire of God. It's the supreme desire of God today that when we come together we meet with him. As I usually ask people when, somewhere in a meeting, did you come here, or did you come here tonight to meet God or did you come to hear a sermon about him? I talked with somebody today, an internationally known figure who said, you know, I'm realizing how little I know of God. And I had offered somebody a sermon that is the most profound thing I've ever heard. And this person said, I feel as though I don't want to preach anymore. I said, well, that's how I felt when I heard the depth that this man has. Talking about Jesus laying his glory by and being wrapped in our clay. Oh, God pity us, we're so commercialized, we're so regulated by circumstances, we get up with the clock, the clock runs our lives, we lose sight of eternity, we lose sight of the wonder of God's salvation. And the chief concern is about the whole of the building of this marvelous, if you want to call it, kind of a private area that was to be roped off. And again, when you think of all the linen that was put round and every thread, billions of them were put in there by hand. Rather staggering, isn't it? And then there's to be a place, a holy place. And then, not only a holy place, but the holy of holies. And this ark was put not in the holy place, it's put in the holy of holies. And it has the chief place in the holy of holies. And inside of it you have the rod that budded and you have a stamp of the manna that fell from heaven. It didn't get worms in it either. And there you have the tables of stone. This testimony of...