[0:00] Good afternoon church family. It's good to see each and every one of you. I wish we could be getting personal with weather and things that have moved in.
[0:12] We made a decision to not have services tonight just because of the possibility there may be ice on the roads on an ongoing basis. So I wanted to jump on here and just kind of meet with you a little bit tonight if we could do a little Bible study.
[0:29] Pick up where we've left off in 1 Chronicles. So this video will be going out. Hopefully you'll have an opportunity to look at it and to watch it. And you can kind of stay up to date. We'll be picking up 1 Chronicles chapter 15.
[0:42] Again, it's a portion of scripture which we may be familiar with because we see its parallel account given to us in the book of 2 Samuel.
[0:53] But we're going to pick it up. We're going to read it again because it is one of those instrumental periods during the time of Israel in which the chronicler decides to repeat for us as the nation of Israel is coming out of Babylonian captivity.
[1:10] If you remember, 1 and 2 Kings is written before or as the nation of Israel is going into the Babylonian captivity. And it is there to reinforce for us why the nation went into captivity.
[1:22] 1 and 2 Chronicles is written after that Babylonian captivity. And it is there to remind the nation who they are. They're distinct people called for the glory of God with a distinct purpose.
[1:34] They're awaiting a coming king. They know who they're looking for. They have an order of worship. All these things are really just setting the scene for when Christ comes onto the scene for us in the gospel message, at least among the Hebrew people.
[1:52] But we study it looking at the character of God, the character of God's people, and also the expectations we can have. Before we get into the Word, let's spend a moment in prayer. Father, we thank you for this day.
[2:03] We thank you for your faithfulness and goodness. We thank you for your many blessings that are upon us. And we pray, Lord, you keep your hand upon those who are going to be affected by this cold weather.
[2:15] We pray that you be with those who may be without adequate heat. And those around us that are standing in great need, Lord, help us to have eyes to see and arms and hands to be willing to help.
[2:29] We pray, Lord, that you also be with us as we open up your Word with one another. We pray that you help us to understand it. We pray that you give us comprehension of it. And, Lord, that it would be with clarity and certainty that we would understand who you are.
[2:43] We would understand your greatness and your goodness and who you call your people to be. And we ask it all in Christ's name. Amen. Again, we're in 1 Chronicles 15.
[2:54] We're going to be picking up. The account here really is the follow-up to 1 Chronicles 13. 1 Chronicles 13 is when David decides, hey, we need to move the ark back.
[3:07] We need to bring the ark back. So he consults with the leaders and the elders of the nation. They say, yes, let's go get the ark. We haven't consulted it. It hasn't been consulted during the whole time of Saul's reign.
[3:18] And even before that, the ark had been removed from the presence of God's people for over 20 years. So they go and they put it on the cart. And if you remember, Uzzah reaches out his hand to stabilize the ark.
[3:30] And the Lord strikes him because of a lack of reverence. And then David says, wait a minute. I don't know who am I that I can move this back. So in that day, David learned to fear the presence of the Lord.
[3:42] So now three months have passed. We come to the 15th chapter and we see the completion of that. So 1 Chronicles 15 says, Now David built houses for himself in the city of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.
[3:59] Then David said, No one is to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for the Lord chose them to carry the ark of God and to minister to him forever. And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to its place, which he had prepared for it.
[4:13] David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites, of the sons of Kohath, Uriel, the chief, and 120 of his relatives, of the sons of Merari, Asaiah, the chief, and 220 of his relatives, of the sons of Gershom, Joel, the chief, and 130 of his relatives, of the sons of Elzaphon, Shemaiah, the chief, and 200 of his relatives, and of the sons of Hebron, Elel, the chief, and 80 of his relatives, of the sons of Uziel, Amminadab, the chief, and 112 of his relatives.
[4:44] Then David called for Zadok and Abiathar, the priest, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Elel, and Amminadab, and said to them, You are the heads of the fathers' households of the Levites.
[4:59] So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the Ark of the Lord God of Israel.
[5:21] The sons of the Levites carried the Ark of God on their shoulders with the poles their own, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord. Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.
[5:41] So the Levites appointed Heman, the son of Joel, and from his relatives Asaph, the son of Berechiah, and from the sons of Merariah, their relatives Ethan, the son of Cushiah, and with him their relatives of the sons of Rank, Zechariah, Ben, Jaziel, Shemiramoth, Jahil, Una, Eliab, Benaniah, Messiah, Mattathiah, Alephalehu, Mekaniah, Obed-Edom, and Jael, the gatekeepers.
[6:08] So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed to sound aloud cymbals of bronze, and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jahil, Una, Eliab, Messiah, and Benaniah with harps, tuned to Alamoth, and Mattathiah, Elphalehu, Mekaniah, Obed-Edom, Jael, and Azaziah to lead with lyres, tuned to Shemineth.
[6:34] So it was David with the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, who went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom with joy, because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
[7:15] They sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. Now David was clothed with the robe of fine linen, with all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers, and Tenaniah, the leader of the singing, with the singers.
[7:27] David also wore an ephod of linen. Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps and lyres.
[7:41] It happened when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, that Michael, the daughter of Saul, looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.
[7:53] 1 Chronicles 15. Again, in the book of Chronicles, there are two major important people. One would be David, and the second one would be the Levites and the priests. It is why we have this repetition of these names, just to reinforce for us the importance of the Levitical priesthood, and of those who serve within the order of worship in the nation.
[8:15] Again, coming out of captivity, people weren't familiar with how they should worship, the order that God has given. So the chronicler is reestablishing that, and part of that reestablishment is to raise up the order, and the proper order in which God had given them to the Levitical priesthood.
[8:33] We'll see this even here when we look at 1 Chronicles 15. This evening, I want us to see the presence restored. The presence restored. If the first instance of moving the ark, or attempting to move the ark of the Lord back to Jerusalem, led to the recognized fear of the Lord, now we see the presence of the Lord being restored among His people.
[8:57] After 20 years of being out of the land of Israel, after three more months of waiting since the death of Uzzah, now we have the presence of the Lord finally restored to a central location.
[9:10] Not only do we have the king of Israel in a central location, we also have the presence of the Lord in a central location among His people. This, by the way, was the will and the desire of the Lord God, Yahweh, who had entered into this covenant relationship with His people.
[9:26] From the very beginning, He had longed that His people would establish a central location, that everyone in the nation would have access to be able to come and to worship together. If you remember, all the way back to the book of Deuteronomy, and even in the forerunners of that in the book of Exodus, when God is declaring to Moses how they ought to build a tabernacle, and how that tabernacle needs to be set up within the land in which He chooses, He does so so that the people could worship together corporately.
[9:54] It was never the intention or the desire of God for people to worship independently, for them to be separated or set apart from one another, but rather there was to be a place where they could come and they could worship together.
[10:07] They could meet before the presence of the Lord in a location that was accessible to all within the nation. Jerusalem makes a great place for the presence of the king, since it was neither in the tribe of Benjamin, nor was it in the tribe of Judah, but it was right there on the border.
[10:25] And Jerusalem makes a great place for the presence of the Lord God to be, because now it's centrally located in which people can come. This is something in a location which we saw really foreshadowed very early in the pages of Scripture, all the way back to the book of Genesis, where it says, In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.
[10:46] So now, all of a sudden, God's presence is being made known. This is the place that David buys after. This is the place where David will eventually purchase the land, which will become the Temple Mount there in the city of Jerusalem.
[11:00] But before any of that can happen, the presence of the ark must come back. So here we see the presence being restored. The first thing that we notice before this restoration of presence is that there is first the preparation that goes into the presence.
[11:18] The preparation really starts at the very beginning where it says, Now David built houses for himself in the city of David. If you go back to the 14th chapter, you know that Hiram, king of Tyre, sent messengers to David with all the materials and all the resources in order to help him build houses.
[11:37] So David built houses. We know that was an ongoing process. But we notice it says that he also prepared a place for the ark of God. Now this is so much different than we find in the 13th chapter, because in the 13th chapter, David says, Hey, we need to bring the ark back.
[11:53] In the 13th chapter, he consults with the elders and the leaders and says, Okay, let's go get the ark. But there seems to be no forward preparation. No preparation for where we're bringing the ark.
[12:04] No, understand, we're just going to go get it. We're going to welcome it back. We're going to get it here. But now, three months later, David has prepared a place. He has prepared a tent. We see this repeated throughout this passage.
[12:16] He wants to bring it to the tent, which he has prepared. There is a unique place prepared for the presence of the Lord God and for the ark that represents that presence. Why this preparation?
[12:27] Well, probably because of the realized fear of God. God's presence can't just dwell anywhere. So now we're going to prepare a place, a sanctified place, a set-apart place in which the ark of the covenant would sit.
[12:44] This, again, going back to what God had declared to his people, is fitting for God wants there to be a centralized place. Now, we know that very quickly we will read, and when we get into the 17th chapter, that David will say, Well, I live in a house of cedar, and the ark of the covenant dwells within a tent, and he wants to build a permanent place.
[13:06] But here we see that God has a place prepared. David is making the preparations. The preparations are made in advance. Now there seems to be a reverence and a respect and a desire for who it is they're welcoming back into their presence.
[13:23] Rather than taking lightly, Let's go put the ark on a cart. Let's bring the cart back. And, oh, okay, we welcome God's presence. Now there's preparation in advance for the reality that Holy God is coming to dwell among his people.
[13:38] He not only prepares a place, but he also prepares the people because he declares to these Levites, which we'll get to in just a moment, he calls their leaders and he says, Consecrate yourself.
[13:48] That literally means to cleanse yourself, to set yourself apart, to be prepared for what you're about to do. Again, go back to the 13th chapter. There's no preparation of the people.
[14:00] It's just like, hey, should we go get it? Yeah, let's go get it. Okay, so they go and they throw it on a cart and they're really not prepared for encountering the presence of Holy God.
[14:11] So now, now is there a place prepared? Now the people that are going to do the work that are prepared, David himself is prepared. We'll get to that in just a moment. But what I want you to see is that now David seems to have this respect and the people have this respect.
[14:28] That this is Holy God. This is Yahweh, covenant God, sure. But it is the representative or the representation of the presence of Holy God to dwell among us.
[14:40] So they prepare the place. They prepare the people. They make every effort possible. You know, Scripture tells us this is what the whole end of the book of Psalms is about, what we call the Psalms of Ascent.
[14:54] That we ought to prepare our hearts and to prepare our minds to go into the presence of God. We can go boldly before Him through the blood of the Lamb, sure.
[15:06] But that preparation through the blood of the Lamb is what leads us into the presence of this Holy God. So we see that to welcome the presence, to have the presence restored, first, there had to be preparation.
[15:22] Number two, not only was there preparation, but there's the people, the right people. Go back to the 13th chapter and you see David. He's consulting with the leaders and the elders and everyone that makes political and military decisions.
[15:35] And he's getting kind of the desire of the multitudes, if you will. And they're like, yeah, let's go get it. And so they all get together and every man's doing what they think is right.
[15:45] And it is right to have the presence of God. But there's one distinct group of people that seems to be missing in the 13th chapter. And it's the people that play such a central role in the 15th chapter, namely it's the Levites.
[15:59] Much of the 15th chapter is given to us declaring the names and who the leaders are and how many of the Levites are involved in this. So now, not only is David preparing a place and really setting the people apart and asking them to consecrate themselves, but he's got the right people in place.
[16:19] God had declared from the very beginning in the book of Exodus where he is commanding Moses how to build the Ark of the Covenant and how the tent and the tabernacle should be built.
[16:29] He also declares to Moses who it is that should handle the Ark. That is, there are a set-apart people, the Levites. They're the ones who are to carry it.
[16:41] They're not to put it on a car, but these are the people. So these are the people that were to be used in order to establish the presence. So now, all of a sudden, David has the people that God had set apart.
[16:56] These are the people of God working according to the calling of God for the glory of God and the benefit of everyone else. These are the right people doing the right thing for the right reason and everyone else is benefited.
[17:16] See, David had a good ambition. He wanted to bring the presence back, but he was doing it before with the wrong people. We are reminded again, we can't come however we want into the presence of God.
[17:32] When we get on this side and we're in the covenant with Christ, there is but one person, that is Jesus Christ, who can welcome us into the presence of God.
[17:42] There is but one person who can bear the burden and bring us before the throne of the Father. There is but one person who can call us.
[17:53] He is our priest, he is our king, he is our intercessor. There is but one person. The people matter. So David has the right people and he has these people in place and he has them there and he calls a multitude of them.
[18:10] You see the numbers, right? The numbers are there before us and he calls a multitude of these people and he has them all consecrate themselves. He has them according to the right families, even within the Levitical tribe.
[18:22] He has them consecrate themselves. He has them set apart. It is David who orders the Levites and it is David who establishes their kind of roles and responsibilities that are carried out even by the time we get into the New Testament.
[18:36] It is David who appoints these and we'll find it later on in 1 Chronicles. But it is David with the right people and he's using that to welcome the presence of the Lord back so that all people have access.
[18:53] See the people now that are established in the world that would be those who bring about access to the presence of Holy God to everyone else at the church. We are the church who put before the world the presence of God.
[19:07] We are really the manifested presence. He comes to make his tabernacle or his abode it tells us in the Gospel of John within us. So we manifest the presence of God for the benefit of all people.
[19:23] The people really matter. So not only do we have the preparation we have the people third we have the process. Notice exactly how they do it.
[19:35] David has got a tent prepared now he's ready he gets the right people there and he gets the people prepared they're consecrated so they're going through this this is only three months later it's not like it's an insurmountable amount of time it's just three months later and David realizes he says for the Lord had an outburst against us because last time we didn't carry it according to his commandments right?
[20:00] So now at least in the time from when Uzzah died to now when they're getting ready to bring it back properly they have sought the Lord they have consulted the word of the Lord and he's trying to obey everything that God has commanded there seems to be this repetition as the Lord God has ordained and as the Lord God has proclaimed and we're going to do it that way so the process is this they come and they establish some of these Levites there are those who carry the ark there are those who play the instruments he gives us the name there in 1 Chronicles 15 of those who are playing the instruments right?
[20:39] and then he gives us those that are leading and singing those who are singing and bringing about praise and those who are declaring all these wonderful things of the presence of God and I'm noted that even in it says in verse 22 of that 15th chapter Chennai a chief of the Levites was in charge of singing so here he is he's a chief among the right people the Levites but he's given this job this responsibility he's in charge of the singing why?
[21:06] he gave instruction in singing because he was skillful so we notice in the process that David is using the right people in their giftedness he leads the singing because he's skillful he understands this he knows how to lead others it doesn't matter if he's just excited about it no no he's gifted in this way and in this fashion so he's doing it in the right way we also notice that even David he changes his garments notice what it says that David clothed himself in fine linen now that's unique because if we were to go back and we were to read the garments of the priests that are ordained to Moses when God is declaring to him on Mount Sinai everything they should build the garments of the priests were to be made of linen those who were to go into the presence of God were to be made of linen it was a different it was a unique material it was to be of fine linen it wasn't to be mixed with anything else it was to be pure that is to signify purity and it tells us elsewhere in scripture that it was to be of linen so that they wouldn't sweat so that they would be cool and they would they would be prepared they were the holy garments so David even goes so far as to prepare himself in his dress because there's this reverence and this awe of the presence that they're bringing back so he's got the right place prepared he's got the right people prepared he's even got the people in the right way through this process how they're doing it he's even changed his garments and it says that God was blessing them it says that God was helping in verse 26 because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord they did something since there was this presence already among them the Lord was giving them it says they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams that's something else that's missing from the 13th chapter when they're attempting to bring the ark back it is the sacrifice of blood so now in this process we have the right people who have been consecrated we have the right people in the right places those who are gifted to do this thing those who can play musical instruments are doing that those who are skillful in singing are leading others in singing
[23:24] David is even in the process changed his garments he's wearing different clothing he's not wearing the robe of the king he's wearing the garments of the priest he's wearing linen and now they're also bringing and they're coming before the Lord God with the shedding of blood they're offering a sacrifice it tells us of seven bulls and seven rams they go just a few steps and they make the sacrifice we are told in the parallel passage to this so they're doing everything in the right way why because of the realization that this is the presence of holy God that is coming among them no longer are they taking it lightly no longer are they looking to do it the easiest way they take their time and they do it right so we see the preparation we see the people we see the process and finally number four we see the praise now in the 13th chapter it tells us that they were loudly singing and with all of their might praising that they were doing the best they could and even then as they were doing the best they could they did not revere God and therefore
[24:36] God struck Uzzah as he reached out his hand and he touched the ark the volume of their praise didn't change the reaction of God but here we see again it is the right people the right way and these people are singing they're playing their instruments loudly and what we notice it says so it was with David and the elders of Israel and the captains who went up bringing the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom with joy think about this the last time they had been there David was angry when we looked at that passage in the 13th chapter the reality is he's probably angry with himself because he was afraid of God he knew he had done something wrong but now that he knows that all the right people are in place he knows that all the right actions are being done he says he's doing it with joy and the leaders are there with joy and this joy is shown in the praise that they bring it says so all Israel in verse 28 brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn and with trumpets and with loud sounding cymbals and with harps and with lyres and we know from the parallel passage in 2 Samuel that David is dancing before the Lord there is this genuine praise friend listen to me when we've made the preparations we're connected with the right people and we went through the right process then praise is the natural result right it is a genuine praise of the Lord God for who he is and it is a praise of adoration it is a praise of joy but it's also a praise of reverence because it realizes exactly who it is that we are welcoming into our presence but it is a praise that unfortunately is not always recognized nor accepted by all it tells us it happened that when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David that Michael the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and celebrating and she despised him in her heart but one thing that we do notice is that this is a praise that is unconcerned about what other people think
[26:52] David when we read the passage in 2 Samuel was unmoved by Michael's opinion of his praise he was unmoved by everyone else looking David he said I would be greatly embarrassed just to be able to praise him because he had a right understanding of God true praise is unmoved and unconcerned about the opinions and thought of others but rather is moved by the joy and the overflow of realization that this is the presence of the Lord God that is among us it is genuine praise and when the presence of the Lord is restored not only here physically but in each one of our lives in our communities in our churches when it is realized and renewed then praise is always the outcome we see these matters recorded for us in 1 Chronicles 15 we see there's the right preparations made there's the right people chosen to do what needed to be done there's the right process they went through that people were consecrated people were the garments were changed the blood of the sacrifice was spilled and praise was the result these are the matters that take place when the presence is restored among the people of God
[28:18] I've missed seeing you tonight I've missed the fellowship with you let me pray with you and then we'll be done and we'll be dismissed father thank you thank you for your word thank you for your faithfulness to us thank you for your goodness father I pray for each one for more trace baptists I pray your manifold blessings to rest upon them I pray that we would be a people of praise I pray that we would be a people of adoration I pray that we would be people madly in love with the Savior for the glory of God may we be the people of God responding to the call of God for the glory of God and the good of all father watch over those around us help us to be willing to help any who may stand in need give us a heart and a willingness to be used by you for your glory and your good be with us until we come together once again and we look forward to that day of fellowship and we ask it all in Christ's name amen thank you my brothers and sisters and may God continue to bless you