(The Path of the Ark #5) Touching Christ Through Revelation — Ed Miller

Beautiful, and he's fragrant, and we just ask by thy Holy Spirit that we would not destroy him by analysis. And they ask to appreciate him and to admire him, and turn our eyes this evening again unto him.

Thank you for the Word of God, every part of it. Thank you for all of these scriptures on the Ark, and we pray that we might see the counterpart of that Ark, and just see our Lord Jesus. We'd ask thee, Lord, to take the very reality and enable us to see beyond just the letter.

And may we hear your voice and be sensitive to your Spirit. Thank you now that you're going to over-answer this prayer, because we claim it in the all-prevailing known of our Lord Jesus. Amen. Well, welcome again.

The Ark as a Picture of Christ’s Presence

I'll ask you to open to 2 Samuel 6, please. Welcome again to our little study on God coming to rest in the heart of his temple. A big portion of the Bible of spiritual reality in the Old Testament revolved around tabernacle truth, revolved around temple truth.

It would appear that more than any other picture in the Old Testament, probably with the exception of marriage, that God put more care into instituting the tabernacle and then the temple, which was just the tabernacle grown up, than any other picture.

There's so much of our Lord Jesus that he wanted us to see in this marvelous picture of the tabernacle. So much he wanted us to believe. So much of him he wanted us to enjoy. We've only focused in this little series on one teeny, weeny piece of that glorious picture in the tabernacle.

In the tabernacle, God ordained six pieces of furniture. Each one would show a different aspect of the beauty of our Lord Jesus. And the very first piece that God talked about was the Ark of the Covenant.

It was in the shape of a king's throne, and it symbolized the presence of the king, the invisible presence of the king. Now that precious Ark led them into battle and victory. That precious Ark was encamped in the center of their camp as they camped together.

That precious Ark marched before them to show them the way and to lead them. And all the way through the story, there's no question about it, this isn't one of the things we wonder about, because God has spelled this out, the Ark was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And especially in terms of his kinship. Through the Ark we see his heart, his desires. Through looking inside the Ark, we see all we have in Christ. Because all these things were pictures, and we have them in Him.

Well, it's important to realize that the Ark, picture of Christ, was on the move for quite a long period of time. It moved from point A to point B, from here to there, one place to another. And it's not an accident that God the Holy Spirit has traced the path of the Ark.

He tells us when it started. He tells us as it stops. He tells us where it went, how long it stayed, and why. And what God had accomplished in those various places. And that's really what this little series is all about.

We're following the path of the Ark. We're following the trail of the Ark, because the path of the Ark is the path of Christ. It's exactly the same path. Now of course, it's in picture form. And we're trusting God to give us the reality.

But it's the same path. And the Ark had a goal. The Ark had a destination. The Ark wasn't just moving arbitrarily and randomly around the wilderness. It was heading some place. It was deliberate. It was persistent.

It was alive. And the Ark was moving toward a goal. And the Bible calls the goal of the Ark, the resting place. Interestingly enough, the Ark wanted to set it off. The Ark wanted to rest. The Ark wanted a home, a dwelling place, settled down.

And from this chosen place, the Ark would rest. From this chosen place, the Ark would reign. Christ would reign. And from that place, God would release His glory. Now in the picture, where was the goal of the Ark?

Where was that resting place? Where would the Ark rest? And from there, would the Ark release the glory? And the answer is the heart of the temple. The Ark was looking for the holy of holies, in the holy temple of God.

And you'll look next time on when the Ark finally arrives there, in the temple, and in the heart of the temple, in the holy of holies. And then God released His glory. And from that time on, the glory of God would govern the temple.

And actually, the priests were driven out by the glory of God. Now obviously, I'm spending time sketching the picture because of its wonderful spiritual counterpart. It has a reality in your life, and in my life.

I don't need to feel a truckload of proof texts at you, for you to realize you're the temple, and I'm the temple. And you have a heart to your temple, just like the holy of holies was the heart of that temple.

And you have the holy of holies in your temple as well. And we're so accustomed to looking at things in a man-centered way, from man up to God, rather than God guiding the man, as He sees them. And one of the things we constantly emphasize, and I'm one that emphasizes it as much as anyone else, and that is, rest in the Lord.

Rest in the Lord. He wants you to rest in Him. He's called you to rest in Him. But there's a more foundational truth than resting in Jesus. And that is, the Lord wants to rest in you. The Lord wants to rest in His temple.

The Lord wants to come to the holy of holies. There's a place in your life where He will find and set it up, where He will be happy, where He will be satisfied, where He will rest, where He will release His glory and fill your life.

And from that point on, where He will raise His King from you as His throne, and to the entire world. Now toward that, in your life, God is ever moving. He's always heading in that direction. That's His goal.

That's His destination. And so you see, now it's exciting to study the path of the ark. Because to follow the path of the ark, is to follow the path the Lord takes, as He moves through your life, to finally come to that place where He can rest.

Now we've concentrated our study, we've really picked up at the end of the story. The ark's been around for 400 years. We've been following the early trail of the ark. That's instructive too. Now we've actually picked it up in about the 400th year, when the ark started to move again.

Now the reason we're studying this course, is because I was meditating this afternoon. If I wanted to show you a beautiful flower, and probably the worst thing I could do, is take six weeks, like I'm doing on this ark, take six weeks, and every week show you a piece of the flower.

Show you the root, one week, and then show you the stem, and then show you the stamen, and show you the petal, and show you the pistil, and so on. And at the end of the time, say, well now that is a beautiful flower.

I've destroyed it. You might know a lot about the flower. You might be an expert on the flower. But you know the flower belongs to the artist, not the botanist. The flower belongs to the one who can just enjoy its beauty, who can stand back and just smell it, and feel its tenderness, and enjoy the flower.

And I'm afraid, as an instructor of the truth, I don't want to destroy the very thing I want you to enjoy. And sometimes by analysis, I will look at step one, step two, this principle, the next stage, and so on.

And sometimes that can get so cold. And by breaking it down into steps, and stages, and principles, and points, we can lose something. But quite honestly, I don't know how else to do it. And so pray for me.

And trust in the Holy Spirit to keep the beauty of Christ and the fragrance of Christ alive, as we have to analyze. We break it down just so that we can, God has given us analytical knowledge. And so we need to look at it that way.

So what we've done is we've actually tried to trace out the steps that the Ark has taken. And God has, I think He's made them quite clear. I remind you once again, that all of the movement of the Ark in the history, as God moved in physical geography, that's all in the picture of your life.

You see, you have an Israel in your heart. You have a Philistine territory in your heart. There's an Ashdod there. There's a Gath there. There's an Ekron there. You have in your life a Beth-shemesh and a Kiriath-Jerim.

You have an Obed-Edom. You have an Abinadab, and so on, as you have a Temple and a Holy of Holies. And so it's all in there. So when you follow the Ark around the landscape, and all over the lot, you can understand that God's all over the lot in your life too.

And He has to go to these places in order to get to His place of rest. And one other thing I'd like to point out, and then we'll pick up where we left off. God moves in your life, life moves in your life, more like a moving pilgrim than a track star.

He's not just running through your life on His way to the Temple, and just going flying through. The fact is, as you can see in the record, God seems to take His time. And He doesn't seem to be in a great hurry.

And He comes to one territory in your life, like the Philistine territory, and He sets up camp. And He stays there some time for years, until you finally learn that great truth, and then He picks up His baggage and says, now you move to the next place.

And then He sets up His camp again. And sometimes it's a long, hard hustle, as God begins to move through these areas in our life, heading for that place where He can rest. We've worked that four steps so far.

It would take up all of our teaching time if I just reviewed everything. Let me just mention the four steps, and the principle connected with it, and then we'll pick up the new step. Step number one. What started the ark moving again?

After 350 years of just sitting there, all of a sudden it started to move again. And the answer is hunger. Desire. Appetite. You see, the story begins in the first three chapters of 1 Samuel. It begins with the cry of a barren womb.

Hannah crying out for fruit from God. Fruit from God that she can carry on and give back to God. Fruit from God. Fruit of all. After they had hunger, and desire, and wanted issue, and life, and fruit, then God began to build a wall with what He saw as public enemy number one.

They thought He would rule with the Philistines, but He had to rule with the correct priesthood. The Philistines represent the carnal man, the flesh side, that which I do. But before God ever deals with the Philistines, He's got to deal with the correct priesthood, which is what He does.

In the third step, the ark actually moved into Philistine territory. And God set up camp there for seven months. And during that time, God taught His people that He would never be satisfied, He would never rest in any part of the Philistine territory.

The Philistines kept trying to make God comfortable and saying, rest here, rest there, and put them in a place. And God rejected everything until finally, by a miracle, they were convinced that God had rejected the flesh.

And every time they tried to make God comfortable, He blasted them with mice and hemorrhoids. And convinced them convincingly that He'll not settle in the flesh. Last week we looked at step number four, when the ark went to Beth-shemesh, the city of the priests, 1 Samuel chapter 6.

And there it is in the land of Beth-shemesh. That's where it took them twenty years to learn it. And that is that the Lord Jesus Christ must be preeminent. Not prominent, one among many, but preeminent of one and only.

Looking unto Christ means nothing if I don't look away from everything that is not Christ. And you remember the story with the discovery that Christ was all. While they worshipped Him, while they prayed, while they looked to the Lord, suddenly they were attacked by the Philistines.

God fended on them. And for the first time in their experience, they realized the way to be delivered from the Philistines is through worship. And the more they worshipped, the more God fought the Philistines.

Well, that's where the ark's been so far. It begins its move toward rest with hunger. First He comes against the corrupt priesthood. Then He teaches the Philistine part of me that He's rejected it all.

Then He shows me He will not rest and I will not have victory until Christ is all in all. Until He's in one and only. Now there's one more big truth that we need to see and that we want to look at tonight.

Spiritual Progress Requires More Than One Lesson

God help in us. And then God will rest in His temple. I'd like us to look at that final principle. And then more than next week we'll follow the ark to its destination and see what happens when He finally reaches that wonderful place.

Now don't read these truths la la la. As it was in the history of Israel, it's in the history of every Christian. Each time God taught them a principle, they thought they were right. Each time God taught them anything, they thought God taught them everything.

And with each lesson they said, I see it. That's it. I'm alive and now I'm there. That's it. That's all we need. We are humble after we are through. We've arrived. And the first thing they did, 1 Samuel chapter 4 and on, they attacked the Philistines.

Because they thought they had it. They just had it. And as soon as they attacked the Philistines, verse 2, Israel was defeated before the Philistines. And so finally God taught them step 2. And then the beautiful corrupt priesthood.

And they said, oh yes, of course. I see it. I've arrived. And they fanned very sadly to their head, but they hadn't arrived. Do you remember in real life? Don't answer just then. Do you remember in real life when God taught you it's not by the works of the flesh.

God will never settle in the Philistine part of you. He'll not settle in that next to your favorite God. He'll not, no, not that. What's the first one? I forgot. That one? I don't know. He'll not settle where David was.

He'll not settle where the Jordan's are. He's not going to settle there. I remember when God showed me that it's not by works. And my response was, okay, I'll quit everything. And I did. I threw down everything.

I even quit Bible reading. I quit everything. So nothing's going to get in the way between me and Christ. It's not by works. Not what I do. In fact, the president of the Bible school I was at had to talk me into not quitting the school.

Because I wouldn't quit school. Paul never would. She went through all of this. And I just said, that's it. It's not going to be settled. I still didn't know what to do with the ark. But I was so free because I knew what it wasn't.

And I thought I lied. Well, every time God told them, they thought they lied. They left off last week. God had taught them when he's preeminent, when they look away from their gods and to Christ, that he brings a great victory.

And they say, aha, that's it. No, I said, it's not just hunger. It's not just dealing with the priesthood part of me. It's not just rejection of the Philistine part. It's Christ preeminent. And then the Philistines are defeated.

First Samuel 7 .12. That's there. Samuel took a stone, set it between Mizpah and Shem, and he named it Ebenezer. Saying, thus far the Lord helped us. You got to remember in the story, that was their first real taste of victory.

After this time, they were bumped back and forth and didn't really have a taste of victory. And now they've moved from hunger to purification, away from legalism, and now onto the preeminence of Christ.

And they said, where can we go from here? And we arrived. It's just priest. The next step, they had to learn. May God help us. Now this step I'm going to show you tonight must be very important in the eyes of God, simply because he gives so much inspired space to the story.

Sometimes it's just four or five verses. But you realize, there are 129 verses connected with this next principle. And I understand that David also wrote some Psalms in connection with this principle.

I'm not even counting the Psalms that he wrote, like Psalm 24 and so on, in connection with this. The chief passages, let me give you those, 2 Samuel 6, 1 Chronicles 13, and then 1 Chronicles 15 and 16, all 72 verses, have to do with this one thing.

David’s Desire to Give God a Resting Place

Now with God helping us, I'd like to take those many, many verses and isolate just the heart of it. Obviously, we've got to jump through the good things. But I want us to see the main direction. And there's so much here, I really had a hard time knowing where to begin and where to leave out.

I'm going to ask you to turn to 2 Samuel 6, please. And if you have a marker of some kind, we're going to be back and forth for a while. 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13. So I'd love to help you if you just put something there.

If you don't have anything, you always have a figure. And so just stick that in there. Psalm sheets. You have the words of Sharon you can put in there. Follow along, please. I'm going to read the first 10 verses of 2 Samuel 6.

This will give you the beginning of the story anyway. Now David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, 30 ,000. David lays in one with all the people who were with him, to build Judah. That's another name for King Jim.

To bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name, the very name of the Lord of Hosts, who is in front above the chair bend. And he placed the ark of God on a new car that they might bring it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill.

Uzzah and Ahai, the son of Abinadab, were leading the new car. And so they brought it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Ahai was walking ahead of the ark. Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of instruments made of silver, with wires and harps, tambourines, cassanets, cymbals.

But when they came to the threshing floor of Nippon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God, took hold of it, and locked him there and upset it. And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah. And God struck him, struck him down there for his irreverence.

He died there by the ark of God. David became angry because of the Lord's outburst against Uzzah in the places called Perezuzzah to this day. And so David was afraid of the Lord that day. And he said, How can the ark of God come to me?

David was unwilling to move the ark of the Lord into the city of David with him. David took it aside to the house of Abed-Edom the Gittite. 1 Chronicles 13 tells the same story. Now let's bring back the ark of our God to us.

For we did not seek it in the days of Saul. That's an important expression. Verse 8. David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all among them, even with songs, wires, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and with trumpets.

Last week we looked at 1 Samuel 6. Tonight we are in 2 Samuel 6. Now that's not many pages, but that's a lot of years. There's a long time has gone by between 1 Samuel 6 and 2 Samuel 6. The ark has been in the house of Abed-Edom now for about 70 or 80 years.

That's what we looked at last week. And they had the crisis after 20 years. They were under Philistine pressure. And then they learned how to deal with the Philistines by dealing with God. And then after that 20 years, they had 40 or 50 years through Samuel and all the days of Saul.

Saul didn't do anything with the ark. He just ignored it. And then when we come to 2 Samuel 6, don't forget David was a fugitive from Sheol for 10 years. And now we're about 10 years deep into Israel.

And so you can see a lot of time has gone by. That counted in 70 or 80 years. Now as far as the spiritual progress of the story is concerned, so far we've learned Christ is preeminent. And when Christ is preeminent, we have victory.

And with that as a burden on David's heart, like in every stage, he thought that was the final step. Now we know. Now he's alive. We know how to have victory. David wrote a psalm about this time, which expresses his heart's desire.

It's Psalm 132. And listen as I read verses 3 to 5. This is what David wrote spiritually. Surely I will not enter my house, nor will I lie. I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob.

He was talking about God. And David said, I'm going to lay aside my rest until God has his rest. And David at this point was saying, I'm going to bring him to Zion. I'm going to bring him to Jerusalem, city of rest.

And I'm going to let God rest. This is what he wanted. This is what he yearned for. And so they went to get the ark because David feels like now they've learned the story. And now they've learned the principles.

They know about hunger. They know about purification. They know about legalism. They know about the commandments of Christ. It's time now for God to rest. First Chronicles 13 .2. David said to every assembly of Israel, if it seems good to you and if it is from the Lord our God, let us send everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in all the land of Israel.

And also to the priests, the Levites who are with them in their cities, pasture lands, that they may meet with us. Let us bring the ark of God to us. Careful at David's heart here. Remember David is just, he said, I'm not going to rest until God rests.

God wants to rest. Let's bring the ark back. This was not an act of selfishness. This was not an act of religion on David's part. It was a sincere desire. David said, I want God to rest. Behind the scenes was, we know all the principles.

Now here, we know our God won't rest. He's already alive. And so he said, I want God to rest. Grant that 2 Samuel 6, men, what a parade you have here as they get the ark and proceed to Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 6, 1 says 40 ,000 chosen men.

Those are soldiers. Those are men of better arms. The Greek translation of the Hebrew, the Septuagint, the Old Testament, doesn't say 30 ,000. That says 70 ,000. There is some discrepancy how many soldiers were actually there.

But you got to add to that number all the multitudes of men, women, and children. 2 Chronicles 13, gives the full account. David consulted with the captains of the thousands and hundreds. Remember here, David said to all the assembly of Israel, if it seems good to you, if it's from the Lord your God, let us send everyone who are kinsmen, who remain in the land of Israel, to the priests, to the Levites, who will lift them in their cities and pasture lands.

If they may meet with us, let us bring back the ark of our God to us. We do not seek it in the days of Saul. Verse 5, David assembled all Israel together, from the shahe of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-Jerim.

Two times we have the record, that's in 2 Samuel 6, 5. They celebrated before the Lord. David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord. This will be a glorious day in the history of Israel.

It's a day of sinning. It's a day of mirth. It's a day of rejoicing. Party time. These people are rejoicing. Actually the Hebrew word for celebrating there is the word of God. They celebrated before the Lord.

They prayed. They enjoyed it. They danced and they sang. 2 Chronicles 13 adds, David and all Israel celebrated before God with one in one. Don't answer this out loud. I know everybody in this room, this room that are listening to me.

I know you've already praised God in your life. No question about it. I hope those listening back home have also praised God. Have you ever praised God with all your might? Just think about that. You ever praised God with all your might?

That's what they did. They praised the Lord with all their might. And it's not that they had the right to. They had the right to sing. They had the right to dance. They had the right to jump. And they had the right to shout.

And they had cymbals and trumpets and all kinds of instruments. Because they finally learned. Honor. The spiritual part. It's not egoism. Praise God in them. That's where they rest. And so they began their little journey with the ark.

Nothing wrong with David's desire. Verse 3. Chapter 6 of 2 Samuel. They placed the ark of God on a new cart that they might visit from the house of Abinadab which was on the hill. 2 Samuel, or 1 Chronicles 13, 7 tells the same thing.

They carried the ark of God on a new cart in the house of Abinadab and Uzzah in Ohio drove the cart. Well, you heard the story as we read it. Something went terribly wrong. The heart was there. The music was there.

The enthusiasm was there. The intentions, the desires were certainly there. The ark of God wasn't mistreated in that sense. It was held in high esteem. Listen to how the ark is described in verse 2. To bring from there the ark of God which is called by the name, the very name of the Lord of hosts who is informed above the children.

It's not like they had a low view of God. But as they went, everything went sour at the threshing floor of Macon. Verse 6. 2 Samuel 6, 6. When they came to the threshing floor of Macon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it.

For the oxen nearly upset it. And the angry Lord burned against Uzzah and God struck him there for his irreverence. He died there by the ark of God. First Chronicles 13 describes it in almost the same words.

Now, I'd be understating this situation if I couldn't communicate to you that this was a spiritual shock to the people of God. They just did not expect this. Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. It got everybody's attention.

30 ,000 ironed surgeons stopped dead in their tracks. Hundreds of thousands of worshippers stopped dead in their tracks. The musicians. We don't hear a trumpet anymore. We don't hear a cymbal. Everything stops.

And everyone looks toward the ark of God and there lands Uzzah dead on the ground. Now, I know it's an interesting study a little off the track to meditate exactly where was it that displeased the Lord in Uzzah's action.

Verse 7 says, God struck him down for irreverence. First Chronicles 13 .10 says, The anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah. He struck him down because he put his hand to the cart. But if you're like me and just want to know what happened, want to know the truth, and you sort of read it, it's a puzzle.

And it actually looks a little more like reverence than irreverence when you think about it. His action was then a precaution. The ox inevitably stumbled in a hole and the ark began to topple and he brought the ark to fall down to the place of dishonor on the ground.

And so he reaches out to study the ark. The King James Version says, God smote him for his error. Error indeed. No doubt. Something went wrong. Something went terribly wrong. And it turned this day of shunning and joy and rejoicing into a day of sadness and mourning.

So much for the parade. So much for the celebration. So much for the jubilation. And David became angry because of the Lord's outburst against Uzzah. Once again, there's a temptation to sort of read over that, you know.

This is a spiritual crisis for Israel, for David. He became angry. Angry at what? Angry at the situation? Angry at himself? It was his idea by his friend Uzzah lies dead on the ground. Was he blaming himself for that?

I don't believe it's unfair to say that David was angry at God. I think David was angry at the Lord. Listen to Proverbs 19 .3 in this regard. The foolishness of man subverts his way, and then his heart rages against the Lord.

Now David, uh, King James says, his heart fretteth against the Lord. None blaze it, none burns God. And it's not the kind of anger that curses God. It's not the kind of anger that shakes its fist in God's face and says, you're just unfair.

You're wrong. David's not declaring war on God. Look at verse 9. So David was afraid of the Lord that day. And he said, how can the ark of God come to me? Chronicles says the same thing in verse 12. David was afraid of God that day, saying, how can I bring the ark of God home to me?

Before you look at the principle, try to get into the situation, feeling this. David was angry at the Lord, but it was the kind of anger, not that curses God, but the kind of anger that quits. The kind of anger that throws you in the car.

The kind of anger that says, there's no way, Lord. Give us a break. We tried. And look at heaven. The only place you'll ever be happy is in heaven with the angels that never sin. It's not possible to touch it and live.

There's just no way to do it. David is so close now to a full understanding. He is so close to seeing the final principle, how God will rest in him. He's got another truth to learn, and God is a patient teacher.

God's going to teach him. Don't forget, God is going to the temple. He's not willing for man to bring him to the temple. 2 Samuel 6. David was unwilling to move the ark of the Lord into the city of David.

And I have an idea, David. You trace it out in your own spiritual biography. I think David just said this. I give up. I quit. I can't. Every plan I've ever had has failed. All my desires to make God happy have come to nothing.

It's not working. It's not working. It's a fake. All my own indecision, and all I get from him. Vice. Hamlet. Judgment. And now look. What did we do wrong? Praise. At the top of our lungs, we're all men.

We worship God. Zap. He judges us. David just says, I have had it. I'm not going to try anymore. It's over. It's done. I'm through. And he just gave up. David at this point is completely puzzled. He thought he had had all his principles.

Hold on to God. Deal with the priesthood. Reject mediaism. The preeminence of Christ. What else do I need to know? And so he throws in the towel. Nothing works. And he sends the ark to the home of Obed-Edom, the Gittite.

Obed-Edom and the Hope of Blessing

Just a little background on him. Obed-Edom was a Levite. He was a priest. The family of Morari, Levi's oldest son. He's called a Gittite because he came from Gath women, which was part of the inheritance of Manasseh.

Evidently, he married a Korahite, which was the second of Levi's seven, the priestly family. Anyway, the ark stayed, look at verse 6, and then at verse 11. The ark stayed there for three months. The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite, three months.

And then the Holy Spirit adds this to the sentence, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. I lived out my mind when David released the ark to Obed-Edom, he released it forever. I don't want it.

It's impossible. Forget it. Every time we've tried, we've been judged. I'm done. It's over. Through, finished. Obed-Edom kicked the thing. I don't want it. But in the wisdom of God, something wonderful happened.

Verse 11, the Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom. First Chronicles 15, verse 14 reads,. Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months. The Lord blessed the family of Obed-Edom and all that he had.

Now, if you just read the Samuel account, it's too fast. It doesn't happen that way. You just say, these verses just come together. Looks like it happened in a moment. The Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom, verse 12 and then verse 13, at the end of 12, David brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom.

That's not how it happened. It isn't that way. So you heard about the blessings, ah good, let's try again. That's too fast. You need the Chronicle record to see what's in between. There was a lot of heart searching going on.

David begins to meditate. David did something now as far as the record goes, which he hadn't done before. He went up into his little chambers and he took the Bible and he started reading the Bible. He started looking at the Old Testament because that's what he read and he began to look up some passages about the ark.