The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

 

1 Chronicle 15:1-15

 

March 12, 2023

 

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

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.  Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord 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.  And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites: of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, with 120 of his brothers;  of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, with 220 of his brothers;  of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, with 130 of his brothers;  of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, with 200 of his brothers;  of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, with 80 of his brothers;  of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, with 112 of his brothers.  Then David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab,  and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.  Because you did not carry it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule.”  So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.  And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.

We serve an all-knowing Master, who needs nothing, is merciful and loving, but also is holy and righteous.  He created all that is or will be, and he desires to have fellowship with His masterpiece mankind.  He gave Moses His servant laws and commandments to follow and the first time the ark was moved David nor the priest did so in the way God had instructed Moses.  

God has now sent His Son, His only Son as a baby, born of a woman, and the Holy Spirit of God places Him in the young girl Mary who had never known a man sexually and she gave birth to our Lord.  He came to expose the truth; in fact, He is the Truth.  He came to redeem all mankind by taking our sins and shedding His blood.  

He is referred to in Scripture as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.  You will find in the book of Hebrews 9:22, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”  Our Lord and my Master had this insight for you and me, and you can find it in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”  The Bible is His roadmap or GPS to life on planet Earth, we find the Truth, and the peace we long for only in Christ.

Back to David, his first time to move the ark cost the life of one of his best men, but this time David is doing it God’s way and bringing it into the tent David had made for it.  Did you know that our Master has rules, and when we ignore them as the priest and David did it comes with a high price, for He finds no delight in fools?

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice