Bringing up the Ark of Yahweh (Part B)

I mean, if we're going to have music, we're going to have the Word of God. If we're going to have a baby dedication, the Word of God's going to be there for everything we do, because they're inseparable, the presence of God with the Word of God.

And that's one of the lessons that's coming from this. Here you have the chest with the mercy seat, and the only thing in it is God's Word. And thus the nation was to continue steadfastly in the doctrine of God as handed to the people through the hands of Moses. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of First Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick will continue teaching through his message called Bringing Up the Ark of Yahweh in First Kings Chapter 8. The very stones that Moses had are still with them. They were taken to God blank, nothing on them, the second said. And God returned the stones to man full of his will. The originals were God-cut and God-engraved. So let's pick it up back at Exodus 31. And when he had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Well, these are still written with the finger of God. Exodus 32 16, now the tablets were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. Now, duplicates had to be made, of course, because Moses comes down with these stones engraved by God, and don't get chalt and hested in your head, some of you.

And the people are in debauchery. They're dancing, they're sinning, they've got their idol out, and Moses comes infuriated. And he throws these stones down and breaks them.

Well, Moses had a temper problem, and that's clear in the scripture that he had issues with his temper. Exodus 34 verse 1, then Yahweh said to Moses, cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Now, Moses got to cut the stones.

Last time God provided them. And I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. You got to love that. You got to love that God told Moses that, and Moses said, I better write that down.

You know, I may not sweep that one under the rug. And how much precedence did that lay out before us, because we're going to get Jonah saying, let me tell you what I did. And then we get Elijah, the great prophet of God, saying I'm the only one. And then in chapter 18 of 1 Kings, then you get to chapter 19, he's still saying it, I'm the only one.

This was something he was bitter about. I'm the faithful one. Everybody else is running from God. And then, of course, God says, by the way, you're not the only one. Only Elijah could have known this. So that's how we know it. Elijah says, I better write this down.

And he's not self-deprecating, he's just the facts. God put me in my place and you need to know this. So here's Moses, and then Exodus 34, so he was with Yahweh 40 days and 40 nights.

He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he, that's God, wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, that the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain.

These are those two tablets from that second episode that began in verse 1 of Exodus 34. Go get some stones, and 34 tells us that he's up there, 40 days with God, and they are re-issued. So the presence of God accompanies the word of God. I don't know of an exception to that, because the word of God is the will of God.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and he became flesh and dwelt under the serious stuff, from God's perspective. We try not to have any event without the word of God. I mean, if we're going to have music, we're going to have the word of God. If we're going to have a baby dedication, the word of God's going to be there for everything we do, because they're inseparable, the presence of God with the word of God.

And that's one of the lessons that's coming from this. Here you have the chest with the mercy seat, and the only thing in it is God's word. And thus the nation was to continue steadfastly in the doctrine of God as handed to the people through the hands of Moses. Originally in the ark, as I mentioned, the manna, the rod, and the tablets, we get that officially. It's in Exodus 16, tells us about the manna being brought before the ark of the testimony, and then Numbers 17 tells us about the rod, and then Exodus 40 tells us about the tablets, all of these being brought to the ark. Well, Hebrews chapter nine sums it all up for us. The ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Well, the manna is, of course, the bread given from God to men, the bread of life. Jesus is the bread of life, of course. God is the sustainer of life.

He is the provider. Exodus 16 32 is where the manna and the ark is recorded. The rod, that was a stick.

It's just a stick, you know, probably a six-foot staff that was dead and saved down and used for walking. Well, God breathed life into that, and it butted almonds, ripe almonds, and it was the authority given from God to his spiritual leader against rebels. It was Korah and his band, and there were others that said, who do you think you are, Moses, you and your brother, Aaron, taking all this authority. Well, we're not people of God, too. You get distilled with Christianity, or he's my savior, too, kind of an attitude like, well, then, there's the keys to my car.

Ha ha, I don't own a car. Anyway, so they rebelled, and of course, God dealt with them, and these two items were included in the ark, and God was saying, I provide, and I oversee my church. I rule over my church, and I use men to do it, and then the tablets, the word given from God to men, the enduring item of the three, because the other two are captured in this one.

Obey the word of God. Now, verse 10, and it came to pass when the priest came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of Yahweh, verse 11, so that the priest could not continue ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of the Lord. Well, bringing up the ark of the covenant into the house of God made all the difference until that presence of God came there was just a building, just a structure. The presence of God is the game changer we would say in today's vernacular. God filled the house with Yahweh, his presence with himself. The house of God, the temple of God is to be filled with his presence. That is the idea. Is there a believer that would protest this? Ephesians 5, 18, do not be drunk with wine, in which is overindulgence, but be filled with the Spirit.

That's the same idea. There's nothing lost in this. Ephesians 3, 19, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. That goes back to that pet statement I made. It's okay to love pets. It's just not acceptable to love, have a heart more for animals than it is for lost souls. And this is the love of Christ, which passes knowledge.

We accept it by face. He continues in 3, 19 of Ephesians, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. We would call that overflowing with the Spirit. Now, in chapter 5 of 2 Chronicles, we have more information about what's happening at this event right now. The priests, they place the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy Place, and they withdraw to come out and join the sacrifices in the music. And the Levites are there, and they've got their instruments, and they're singing songs to the Lord. And this is what we know they were singing, because we're told in 2 Chronicles 5, 13, to God they were singing, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. And then Christ, or the Spirit of God, of course, the cloud, which is symbolic presence of God, overwhelms everybody. So everything has to stop.

It's so intense. He does this twice at this one occasion, at the bringing of the Ark and at the end of Solomon's prayer. God does this. But this first one, as the priests exited the Holy Place and Levites were singing, at the start of worship in song, right before Solomon was supposed to preach, the song, and then he would preach. We follow that pattern, that God fills the place so the priests could not minister, could not engage in what they were supposed to do in preparation for these sacrifices. And then, 2 Chronicles 7, verses 1 through 3, tells us as Solomon finished praying, again the cloud came and overwhelmed them. God would say, I'm very into this. I am totally into this. This is a holy God of the universe. It's, well, you know, if I overdo it, I've hurt you, but I'm not going to do that.

I'm going to downsize it for you. As Christ, when Christ came in a manger, I mean, he could have come in all of his glory, and that would have been it. So God led the nation in the wilderness with the same cloud, the Shekinah, numbers 9. And here, it's sort of like he's assuming the pulpit.

He's taking center place in his house. This is a theophany. He's ordaining and consecrating Israel's first temple service.

This should have been the ultimate motivator or inspiration. He is officially now residing at the temple. Ritual and celebration had to bow to the presence of God. What mattered was his presence. Same thing happened with Moses in Exodus chapter 40. Moses could not enter the holy place of the tabernacle when the cloud descended.

It was so overwhelming. We want these experiences, but we're in the age of faith, and we go, the just shall live by faith. Once said in the Old Testament, thrice repeated in the new for emphasis, upheld and expected. God expects us to know these things, that I don't have to have a cloud of glory to send for me to have my faith validated.

I know the Spirit of the living God in my heart, which matches his word. Verse 12, then Solomon spoke. Here's the sermon part. The Lord, Yahweh, Yahweh said he would dwell in the dark cloud. So he takes up, has his theme, the experience that they were all sharing.

The dark cloud. It probably wasn't in his notes. And he begins his prayer facing the temple. He's talking, the people behind him, he's facing the temple.

We know that from verse 14 when he turns around and addresses the people. He is standing on this bronze platform according to 2 Chronicles 6 verse 13, because there's that super abundance. They had so much bronze left over.

What are they doing? How about we make a platform? It's four and a half feet high and seven feet square. This bronze, as I mentioned, was this emblem of judgment. The altar was made of bronze. Bronze is resistant to heat, more so than other metals.

If you cut with an acetylene torch, you know the torch tips are not made of iron, but they're alloys of course now, but they're bronze copper kind of thing. And here, the dark cloud. Well, he's connecting, Solomon is, the events that they're sharing with the experiences at Mount Sinai. Exodus 19, 9. Yahweh said to Moses, behold, I come to you in the thick cloud.

Now why? That my people may hear when I speak with you. The implication being that God is mysterious. There are mysterious things surrounding God, and as a deterrent to molded images. I mean, if you know, this was something that was an infestation of idolatry in the area of, in the world. And God is totally against idolatry. I mean, he's so big on it in the Old Testament, you wonder how the Roman Catholic Church loses this.

They just kind of write a, okay, I'll give you a pass. Dear Bob, so-and-so is excused from bowing down to statues because we don't call them statues. It's idolatry.

It's nothing short of idolatry. Putting a little figurine, you know, that Saint Christopher or somebody on my dashboard is not going to save you. Why do you need Christ dying if that's all it takes?

Just give me a box of those things. The emphasis at Sinai was on hearing God not seeing him. That's why he's going, I want you to, you know, well, again, Exodus, behold, I come in the thick cloud that my people may hear when I speak with you. And today, God is saying the same thing. Peter would heed the word of God. Are we listening to what the scripture says? Because we have no other means of knowing the will of God except through his word. And God did not want the Jewish people to be tempted to make images of their God and then go worship them because that's what they surely would have done.

They did it anyway. But imagine if God showed up in a, you know, a tuxedo. There would have been little statues of somebody in a tuxedo. Psalm 97 verse 2. Clouds and darkness surround him. Darkness and justice are the foundation of his throne. So there are the mysteries with God and to our benefit.

When we get to heaven, of course, Paul talks about God is going to be sharing so many things with us, resolving so many mysteries. What a thrill. What are they doing in heaven right now?

Shuffleboard. I mean, do they wear helmets when they ride horses? Anyway, there's no OSHA in heaven. All right, back to this. I mean, OSHA's done some good things.

Let's not, I mean, they just get carried away sometimes. And if you're a contractor, a construction contractor, you probably don't like hearing that. Verse 13. I have surely built you an exalted house and a place for you to dwell in forever. Well, one delights that this is finished.

Not like, man, you know, construction. Boy, I thought it would never end. That's not what he's saying here. He said, this is it. This is the quest that we had before us and it is satisfied and it feels so good. Exodus 40 verse 33. So Moses finished the work concerning the tabernacle. And now Solomon is saying that. Of course it was glorious because it was God who inspired David to draw it up. So this, you know, it was glorious among men.

Of course Solomon knew that God was infinitely great. Even before they started, 2 Chronicles 2, in sending to Hiram for materials, he says, who am I then that I should build him a temple, except to burn sacrifice before him? It's just a place where we will follow the ritual and rite given to us that are very emblematic.

But who am I? And then verse 27 of this chapter in 1 Kings. Well, will God indeed dwell on earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you.

How much less this temple which I have built. Again, that's what the polls kind of pushing out of the holy place was saying. You can't contain God to a space.

You'll break out of it. Paul, when he's ministering, remember he's the Jewish man that brought the Gentiles in. There were Gentiles who became Jews who became Christians. They were really Judaized. There were no Gentiles coming to God as Gentiles until Peter gets with Cornelius.

But then they kind of stall. Then Paul comes along and he just rips the lid off the thing so much so everybody's, oh hey, what are we going to do? Can't stop Paul. He said, no more Sabbath day, no more circumcision.

What is wrong with him? Paul said, I didn't yield for a moment to those guys. Acts chapter 17, God who made the world and everything in it. He's preaching to Gentiles who are not yet saved. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Oh, because all of the Gentiles were going around, look how beautiful the temple of Diana. Isn't this marvelous?

Look at the colonnade. And Paul was saying, that's nothing. And that really caused some of them to say thank you because I was thinking that I didn't know how to get out of the box. And others said, let's kill him. Verse 14, then the king turned around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel while all the assembly of Israel was standing.

So that's how we know where he was facing. Verse 15, and he said, blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to my father and with his hand has fulfilled its saying. And before we get to that, when he says he's blessing the Lord, it says praise with appreciation, with gratitude. God, you're worthy and I'm really glad you are worthy.

It's just this outpouring of emotion. But he says, God spoke to David with his mouth. Get back to David a little bit. Verse 16, since the day that I brought my people, Israel, out of Egypt, this is what God was saying to David and Solomon is repeating it. I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house.

My name might be there. But I chose David to be over my people, Israel. Now natural Israel chose Saul, but God says he chose David. This is profound. This is why I meant that he's the religious leader, the king.

It's a fact. God chose David as king and David chose Jerusalem as his capital and the center of worship for the nation. God gave David this privilege. There are those that you mentioned, David, and the first thing they think about seems to be some people is his sin. And they sort of think that that reduces David, that somehow David is not this profound figure in scripture.

He is way at the top among men. This text in this chapter repeatedly mentions him in verse 1. It is the city of David.

Here in verse 16, God's choice is king. In verses 15 through 18, verse 20, verse 24 through 26, it is David's covenant with God. In verse 20, the Lord kept his promise with David to build the temple. And then in verse 66, at the end of all of the festivities, with the people rejoicing on the good things God had done for David. And David's dead at this point. And then of course we get to Ezekiel and David comes up again. This is a profound man of God and it is again sad to think that there are those that see his sin instead of beyond the sin to his relationship with God because if you just think of his sin, which is way down on the list actually, not at the bottom but it should not be way up the top either. If you see it that way, then you're ignoring that Satan tried desperately to hurt David, to ruin him, to stop him because of all the promises connected with he and Jesus Christ.

But God didn't let it happen. And that makes, that's attractive to me because I can look at David and say, man, if God can work around sinners and their sin, this is my God. The God that's just looking to clump me on the head, I'd be terrified of. Maybe that's why the Roman Catholics worship those little statues because their understanding of God is not very friendly.

So they bring in all these substitutes like Mary and Peter. You know, I get to heaven and Peter's at the gate and if he's not going to be at the gate, Peter did not die for your sins and he'd pop you upside your head if you suggested that to him. Mary would be next, pop you upside your head. How dare you pray to me? Could you imagine?

If she were alive, she'd be rolling in her grave over such a thought. Verse 17, now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of Yahweh, God of Israel. Again, David was the God-inspired man and had not God done it this way, it likely would not have been done. This is profound. This is how God wanted it to happen and there was no plan B.

If there was, then David would have been disqualified. Verse 18, but Yahweh said to my father David, whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for my name, you did well in that it was in your heart. I mean, you got to love that, right? God says, look, there are things you really want to do that are right, but I'm not going to let you do them. But the fact that you just wanted to do it means a lot to me.

Parents can relate with that. Anyway, verse 20, so Yahweh has fulfilled his word which he spoke and I have filled the position of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel as Yahweh promised and I have built a temple for the name of Yahweh, God of Israel. Now remember, he's just getting started. We've got over 40 verses to go, but this is how he begins. We'll end in verse 21. And there I have made a place for the ark in which is the covenant of Yahweh which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. So this is, you know, the end of the ark part. He's not going to get into the dedication of the temple, at least that's where the emphasis is going to be, but the ark coming into this temple, where did it start?

What is the spark that ignited the keg? 2 Samuel 7, David said to Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains. That started the whole thing. So now Solomon says, there, look again at verse 21, the first clause, there I have made a place for the ark. It's not in tent curtains anymore. The quest is fulfilled. This is incredible stuff.

I mean, you know, just incredible looking at it. And there's a whole heaven to back it up. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We trust that what you've heard today in the book of 1 Kings has had a lasting imprint on your life. If you'd like to listen to more teachings from this series or share it with someone you know, please visit Cross-Reference Radio dot com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast, too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just visit Cross-Reference Radio dot com and follow the links under radio. Again, that's Cross-Reference Radio dot com. Our time with you today is about up, but we hope you'll tune in next time to continue studying the Word of God. Join us again as Pastor Rick covers more in the book of 1 Kings on Cross-Reference Radio.