Raiders of the Lost Ark [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. It seems as though God is genuinely surprised. But how could God, who knows all things, how can an omniscient being be surprised? Well, he can't be.

But what we want to see here is that in a sense, he was surprised. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Remade, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program today, I sure want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer.

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Here is Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news? We are small in number but mighty and we can have a better response than that. Are you ready for some good news? Amen. Everything that the Ark of the Covenant represented that was so precious to Israel, to the people of God, has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. So that's why we're not craving to be around the Ark, just as Jeremiah prophesied. I want to show you how important the Ark of the Covenant was so that you can see how magnificent Jesus is. We are in a new series on Jeremiah.

I've called it Remade because with God restoration doesn't just mean that you can go back to the way something was, be restored in that sense. No, God does something better than that. He's like a potter who's working on clay and then notices an impediment in the clay.

And instead of throwing it away, he lumps it again, removes the impediment and spins the wheel once more in order to make the vessel into what he had in mind in the first place. That's what God does. And I just think that we can look forward to, as we think about what does the world look like after a pandemic, I think we can look forward to a restoration from God, not in the sense of let's just get things back to the way they were, but let's get things back to something that's better than what we ever imagined according to the design and the handiwork of our Potter. So we're in a series on Jeremiah, and today we come to chapter three, and I'm going to read it verse 15. Jeremiah 3.15, I'll give you shepherds after my own heart, the Lord says through Jeremiah, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say the arc of the covenant of the Lord. It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed.

It shall not be made again. At that time, Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord and all nations gathered to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem. And they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. In those days, the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage. I said how I would set you among my sons and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations.

And I thought you would call me, my father, and would not turn from following me. Surely as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so you've been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the Lord. A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons because they have perverted their way. They've forgotten their Lord, their God. Return, O faithless sons. I will heal your faithlessness. I will heal your faithlessness.

Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord, our God. The 1981 adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark, starring Harrison Ford, an archeologist who is heroic in his quest to out-duel and out-race the Nazis set in the 1930s in order to find the mysterious ancient lost Ark of the Covenant that was purported to have such great powers that if an army could attain it, they would become invincible. And it became the highest grossing film of 1981 and is now considered one of the greatest films of all time. Three more movies were made in the franchise of Indiana Jones. And I thought it was interesting as I was looking it up that the original working title of the movie was The Adventures of Indiana Smith.

Well, that was a great change in a title wasn't it? Indiana Smith, that just went. And guess who they originally targeted for the role of Indiana Jones, but he could not fulfill the invitation because of a contract he had for a series he was doing with CBS. They originally targeted Tom Selleck, but he was doing Magnum P.I.

I don't know, Selleck might have been an okay Indiana Jones. And the most important thing you need to know about the Raiders of the Lost Ark is it's a joke in our house because I suppose it is of the swashbuckling type of adventure films and favorite movie. And so every time that we think about getting ready to watch something, I'll say, what would you like? She said, how about Raiders of the Lost Ark? I said, well, we've seen that 15 times. And it just became a joke over the years that what she's saying is I want something not too gory, a little bit playful, but adventurous and swashbuckling with a real hero and real evil and real good and good winds.

And that's what she's saying. It symbolizes to us. Interestingly, the movie, if you really kind of think about deeper meaning behind it, the movie in 1981, I mean, you're less than 40 years from the time that the Nazis were exterminating millions of Jews. And it was kind of good to have a movie where good winds and the power of God was on the right side and all that might be underlying it Raiders of the Lost Ark. And if it were not for the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie, then nobody would be talking about the Ark of the Covenant just as Jeremiah prophesied. Chapters three and four, like much of Jeremiah contain a lot of judgment oracles. The people of God had been unfaithful to God.

They'd become idolatrous. And so the exile that they are going to experience when Nebuchadnezzar comes with his army in 587 in Sacks, Jerusalem, and many of them will be deported to Babylon where they will spend years, 50 years in exile. And so there's a lot of judgment and discipline and warnings in Jeremiah. And we won't spend obviously a lot of time in those texts that really don't apply to us in Christ at all. But what we learn from them is something about the nature of the heart of God and the truth of God. And I want to just show you this because in the context of this astonishing prophecy about how one day they'll no longer remember the Ark or talk about it, the context of this is God's own broken heart at the faithlessness and idolatry of his people. Look at a few verses to help describe this image that God uses. Verse one of Jeremiah three, if a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her?

Would not that land be greatly polluted? There's very strong language here. You've played the whore. This is an image that he's using with many lovers.

And would you return to me? Declares the Lord. So I want you to see here is the heart of God because I think that people greatly misunderstand the concepts of the judgment of God and the jealousy of God and the wrath of God. He is describing himself as one who is like a husband who has a wife who was repeatedly unfaithful and went after many other men. And he wants us to think of the emotions that that husband feels. Because if you're a married man and your wife is running around with every kind of man, going out at night and going to random bars and picking up a man at the bar, going home with him, and then wanting to come home and also be your wife, if that husband isn't jealous about that, if that husband isn't upset about that, if that doesn't bother him, if that doesn't break his heart, then you would question whether the husband loved that wife at all. Because it is the nature of covenantal marital love that it is exclusive. It is the nature, it's the design of marriage.

It's the design of our lives. And so covenantal unfaithfulness, when you just throw away the promises of the covenant and you just run after whatever seems to please you at that time because it feels a little bit better or a little bit more exciting or whatever it might be, it breaks the heart of God. That's what he's saying sin is like. So it's a heart of God that's broken. And listen to this at verse seven. And I thought, God says this, I thought after she's done all this, she'll return to me, but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah, the Southern kingdom, saw it.

Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the horn. You know, there's a number of texts in Jeremiah and several places in the Bible where it doesn't even make sense to say this, but it seems as though God is genuinely surprised. But how could God who knows all things, how can an omniscient being be surprised?

Well, he can't be, but what we want to see here is that in a sense he was surprised because he thought that he's so long suffering and he thought that surely that wouldn't continue. It's like a husband who's seen his wife be unfaithful and he thinks, but I think she would come back. And yet she does that.

She just keeps on with her unfaithfulness. That's what he's saying sin is like. And then at verse 12, listen to this.

This is the beauty of God. Return. This is one of God's most prominent themes that he speaks through Jeremiah. This word in Hebrew, shub, shub, return, turn, turn, return over and over and over and over. In these chapters and all throughout Jeremiah, return. Return, faithless Israel declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger for I'm merciful declares the Lord. I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt that you rebelled against the Lord your God and that you've not obeyed my voice.

Do you see the heart of God? Even when he is the one who has suffered the unrighteous adultery of his people, the one who has been put into the agonizing pain of the idolatry of those who have broken the covenant over and over and over and over again, he is saying to them, listen to him pleading, return, faithless Israel. I am angry about this because I love you and I cannot allow you to be shared with other gods. But I will not stay angry. I am merciful by nature. Return.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Maybe you're like many Christians in America today. You're stunned by how fast a nation's culture has turned away from God. The values of our country have changed. Suddenly, most people don't go to church or have a biblical worldview.

It can make you feel like an alien in your own culture. There's a lot to learn from Daniel when he was exiled to the pagan land of Babylon. Through our special offer this month, you can learn to live under the favor of God in an alien culture the way Daniel did. When you give before the end of the month, we'll send you Pastor Alan's audio series, Daniel, a favored foreigner.

You may feel like a stranger in this world, but as God showed favor to Daniel in his foreign land, God's grace is upon you as well. Your donation will not only help you navigate through these troubling times, but it will also help someone else. Thanks for your partnership with Alan Wright Ministries. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. His teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. His heart's love and forgiveness. Turn back.

Come home. And it's not just that he will forgive when they return. It is he will then help them. Verse 15, I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you. You've been fed the wrong stuff.

You've had wicked leaders. You've had bad teachers, but I'm going to put some people into your life. I will ultimately put a shepherd in your life who will feed you only what is true and nourishing and helpful to you.

Return. That is the context of what's happening in the life of the people of God in the sixth century B.C. And then comes this promise that's what I want you to see today is just how shocking a statement it is, how astonishing it is. He says at verse 16, when you've multiplied and been fruitful in the land in those days, speaking of a future time, declares the Lord, they shall no more say the ark of the covenant of the Lord. It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed.

It shall not be made again. The ark of the covenant. Well, let's put this image up and just leave the image up as I read the description of the mercy seat. The first thing to say of this ark is that it is made of acacia wood and it is overlaid with gold on the inside and the outside. The long poles are made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold, but that cover, that lid of it, which is known as the mercy seat, the ark of the covenant's lid is solid gold and the cherubim are solid gold.

Here's a description. Just leave the image up as I read it. Exodus 25, 17, you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length and a cubit and a half its breadth. And you shall make two cherubim of gold, of hammered work you shall make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat you shall make the cherubim on two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another. Toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark. And in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you.

And there I will meet with you. And from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you. So this centerpiece of anything that's ever been crafted in Israel is completely set apart by God himself for this very, very holy, holy purpose. We should say that inside of this ark, inside the chest, is Aaron's rod that miraculously bloomed. We don't have time to look at that story, but in a time of the rebellion of the people and they were rebelling against Aaron's leadership, he had those would be contenders for leadership essentially place their rod, put their staff, their stick, just a dead stick out.

And he said, one of them is going to bloom. And in the morning they woke up and Aaron's rod was full of flowers. That's in the ark. And a bowl, a container of some of the manna that was somehow preserved from that frosty white substance that God rained down in the desert. And tablets of the law, the 10 commandments were in there. And this ark in the first place, therefore represented to the people the most holy thing they had. It was a picture of the absolute purity of God. It had to be carried on long poles because it was too holy to touch. And one instant Uzzah touched it died.

It is overlaid with gold to symbolize its purity. And there's some fascinating stories about when unholy people got around it. Like the Philistines captured the ark and they took it to their idolatrous God Dagon. But when they took it there before their idol, it caused a plague in their land because you cannot mix the holy with the unholy. You try to mix the holy with the unholy and the unholy cannot stand it in the presence of the holy.

Can't stand it. And so a plague broke out and then this is almost comical in 1 Samuel 5 verse 2, then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord.

I just love that story. They go into their God and it's fallen face down like it's prostrate worshiping the Lord at the ark. And so they took Dagon and put him back in his place. It's funny.

It's funny. But when they rose early on the next morning, behold Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord again. But this time the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold and only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. If you try to keep your unholiness in the presence of this most holy thing in Israel, evidently it would decapitate you. So holy that only one day a year the priest could enter behind the veil and minister on behalf of the people and be in the presence of the ark and sprinkle blood on it. It was the the holiest place of all. Alan Wright today's good news message Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It's from our series Remade and stick with us. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing a parting good news thought for the day for you in just a moment. Maybe you're like many Christians in America today. You're stunned by how fast a nation's culture has turned away from God. The values of our country have changed. Suddenly most people don't go to church or have a biblical world view.

It can make you feel like an alien in your own culture. There's a lot to learn from Daniel when he was exiled to the pagan land of Babylon. Through our special offer this month you can learn to live under the favor of God in an alien culture the way Daniel did. When you give before the end of the month we'll send you Pastor Alan's audio series Daniel a favored foreigner.

You may feel like a stranger in this world but as God showed favor to Daniel and his foreign land God's grace is upon you as well. Your donation will not only help you navigate through these troubling times but it will also help someone else. Thanks for your partnership with Alan Wright Ministries. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks.

Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastoralan.org. Back here with Pastor Alan's parting good news thought for the day in the studio. And Pastor Alan there's a moment where sometimes you have to go back and kind of go deep into history or the details of what scripture is teaching here to really understand the point and I appreciated that with this in the Ark of the Covenant.

Well it's just an astounding thing. I think I just can't get across how what a staggering shocking statement it would be for Jeremiah to prophesy in Jeremiah chapter 3 that they shall no more say the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed. It shall not be made again because the Ark of the Covenant was understood to be the symbol of the very presence of God. It was the place in the Holy of Holies on that mercy seat where God's glory his Shekinah came in all of its weighty power. It was there that the high priest would meet with God. It was the Ark of the Covenant was understood to be a picture of the power of God. So for Jeremiah to say you're not even going to talk about the Ark of the Covenant anymore is so incredible. So in the New Covenant, we don't have an Ark. We don't have a meeting place with God because God by the Holy Spirit is inside every believer. We've got more to learn about that tomorrow. But for now, let's say thank you God that your presence is not in any way limited to an artifact like the Ark but instead you've come and taken up residence and may we know the presence of the Lord every day of our lives. If you only caught part of today's teaching not only can you listen again online but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free find out more about these and other resources at Pastor Alan dot org. That's Pastor Alan dot o RG today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.