Our Response to the Holy Presence of the Lord of Hosts

I want to find out how many of you guys got to take advantage of our summer advance where you read through the book of 2 Samuel. OK, a few of us. All right. And out of those people, how many of you use the commentary by Dale Davis on 2 Samuel?

OK, a couple. All right. our family, went through a big portion of 2 Samuel, and we love the Dale Davis commentaries. I really highly recommend them to you.

He's got 1 Samuel, he's got Judges, 2 Samuel. And he hits some of the technical issues in a real quick way but just very applicational, very devotional, and so, if after this message you go read the chapter on 2 Samuel and Dale Davis, you'll realize what I've been reading this week. Using a lot of quotes from Dale Davis. Also, just want to remind you guys to be in prayer for our transition team as we head to Bourne Center.

we're moving from this location. Hey, there's Ada. Hey, let's welcome Ada back. From Zimbabwe.

All right, we're praying for Ada, looking forward to a report. You wanna come on up? No, I'm joking. We'll let you prepare., you guys, we're praying, we're moving out of this facility, hopefully towards Bourne Center.

Pray for our facility team, pray for Pastor Carlos Cuellar, our elder Jonathan Jones. we know that the leadership here at EFC who owns this property, they want to go to Concurrent Services starting in February. So they're already making their plans. We're hoping that we're gonna be Out of here, Lord willing, by the end of spring, so you can pray for the team as we try to get all of the paperwork done for the city.

We also would just ask you to be praying about just giving towards the Capital Growth Fund. And if you've been waiting for a special moment, a special meeting of the spirit on when to give the Capital Growth Fund, that is now. because it's going to require quite a bit of cash to get from here to there, and so we would just commend that to you. Maybe you were a part of our evening service back at Bourne's several months ago where Justin led us in worship and Pastor Milton and some of our leaders got up and gave a presentation.

And one of the things that stands out to me about that evening is after Pastor Milton had spoke for a little while, he went to find a place to sit down and he went over to a chair where Amanda Yen's violin was draped across the top of the chair. And he picked the violin up and he sat down and he had something else in his hand and so he had the violin with one hand and after a while he just was no handing the violin, balancing it on his knee. Those of us that were aware of the price of that violin, lost all concentration on the speaker, and were riveted on Milton.

And he just had no idea.

He just had no idea the cost of this instrument that was balancing on his knee. If he had known the cost of that instrument, he would have grabbed it. And maybe I think he would have decided I'm not sitting there. I won't look at it.

I won't touch it. I won't go near it. And this morning we're going to be looking at a very interesting passage we're going to be talking about this little 3 3/4 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 box. Happens to be made of acacia wood covered with gold, and it, if you didn't know the significance of this box, you would just think, what's the big deal about a little box?

But this box is called the Ark of the Covenant, and this box has great significance if you understand the import and how God is revealing His presence in the midst of the cherubim above this box. And so we're going to be talking about this innocent little box called the Ark of the Covenant this morning. The title of the message is our response to the holy presence of the Lord of hosts. And we're gonna see the holy presence revealed here at this time in redemptive history, at the location of this box called the Ark of the Covenant.

As we look at this chapter, 2 Samuel chapter 6, you can open there if you wish. we're gonna be dividing up the message or the chapter into 4 parts. There's a preface that tells us, here's what leads up to a time of worship around the ark. Then we're going to talk about two different responses to the presence of God's holy person around the ark, and then we're going to have an afterword, contrasting David's response versus his wife's response, Michael.

And so let's move into this preface portion. And just talk for a moment about what the ark signifies and read with me in verse 1. Verse 1 and 2. Again, David gathered all the choice men of Israel, 30,000, and David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Ba'ala, Judah.

To bring up the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. So here we have this simple box. And we see here that God or David is excited to bring up this ark to the city of David. He's gathered together a whole host of, of people.

And we see here that it's this box is where the Lord of hosts dwells between the cherubim or these, these angels, these, these carvings of heavenly beings are on the top of the box, and God's presence dwells there. It signifies the holy presence of Yahweh among his people at this time in redemptive history. now we know that God is everywhere, right? With this whole being, and God's special presence is in heaven.

But he's pleased to reveal Himself in special ways on earth, at different times in different places in different ways. And at this particular time in redemptive history, God is manifesting, he's making known his special presence between the cherubim. And this box called the Ark or the Ark of the Covenant. So what God is being revealed here?

And how is this God related to this ark or this box? Well, in Numbers, we see that Yahweh and the ark are so closely connected that to speak of the movement of the ark is actually to speak of the movement of Yahweh himself. It says in verse 35, when the ark was to set out, Moses would say, Advance, O Lord, may your enemies be scattered, and may your foes flee before you. And when it halted, he would say, Return, O Lord, you are Israel's myriads of thousands.

Wasn't that the ark was an image or something that was to be worshiped. But God's presence was manifested at that place. And it was so closely connected to the presence of Yahweh. That actually to speak of dancing before the ark as we'll see later can be spoken of as dancing before Yahweh or when the ark would advance, Yahweh would advance.

When the ark would rest, Yahweh would rest. What God is revealing Himself or dwelling between the cherubim? What we see as we research information in the Old Testament about the ark, we see that this ark represents God as a ruling God. As a reconciling God, and as a revealing God.

For instance, in 1 Chronicles, chapter 28, the arch is of the Covenant is spoken of as the footstool of God. That's a term of kingship and rulership. In Leviticus chapter 16, we see that it's on the mercy seat where the blood is sprinkled on the Day of Atonement, and the Holy of Holies, the high priest would come in and sprinkle blood so that Israel could stay in covenant relationship with God Almighty. And so there's this, this reconciliation that's going on between Israel and, and God, this holy, holy being.

And then also in Exodudus 25 we see that it's the ark where the testimony was placed. God had written on stones. The first set of stones were broken by Moses. God had written on another set of stones, and these stones were set inside of the ark, these 10 Commandments.

In verse 22 of chapter 25 of Exodus, God says, And I will meet with you, Moses, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim. which are on the Ark of the testimony about everything which I give you in commandment to the children of Israel. So God would actually meet with Moses, and reveal himself to Moses, and then Moses would go and communicate to the people of Israel. So we see that the ark is a very significant piece of furniture.

It's not just a piece of furniture. It's the place, the locale where God and His Holiness is pleased to reveal Himself. This is a God who is King. This is a God who wants to reconcile his people, bring them close to Himself, that he may be their God and they may be His people.

And this is a God that wants to reveal Himself and to reveal information through Moses and the priests to his people. So the answer to this question, why does David want to bring the ark to the city of David? It should be obvious, right? If this is where God is manifesting his special presence, then why would David not want to bring the ark to his own city where he is ruling?

begs the question, why didn't Saul want to bring the ark to the place of his rulership? Why, why do we not see Saul even caring about the ark? David, After he's defeated his enemies in chapter 5, the Gibeonites and the Philistines, he turns his attention to the presence in the worship of God. He says, I want to bring the ark to the place where I dwell.

We see that in David's kingdom worship is central. Worship is a central feature of the Davidic kingdom. And so he wants that central figure of God that that signifies the presence of God to be there for worship. We also see that God's people from this do not thrive by knocking off Philistines, but by seeking God's face.

One of the lessons that we can learn just comparing chapter 5 to chapter 6 is it's great to defeat the Gibeonites, it's great to defeat the Philistines. God inquired, David inquired of the Lord, how should I go up and attack them the first time, go straight on, the second time come from around. But in chapter 6 we see the emphasis is on worship. There's a message here, I think, for God's people that as David Dale Davis says in his commentary, quote, the church must never lose, never look to the latest cause for her life.

We cannot ignore the enemies outside the city of God, but we must not be absorbed by them. War must not efface worship. The real question is not who is against us, but who is among us. On this side of heaven, there are many battles and many enemies that we need to fight.

And there's things as Christians that we need to do both by way of prayer, and by speaking up in our culture, by voting and whatnot. But the main thing that God has come to do with his people is to create a people for his own name's sake, that they may be his people and he may be their God, and that there'd be this worship relationship between us and, and the Holy God. And that will outlast, outlast all wars and all conflicts, all political things, all social issues will all fade away as we worship God Almighty.

Let me make one note before we move into the main or the first response, and that is As you look at the ark, realize that the arc really has a pointer to Christ, and Jesus fulfills all that the ark signifies.

While the ark represents the footstool of God, Jesus is the one who reigns. While the ark represents the reconciliation of God's people to himself, Jesus is the one that comes and dies and reconciles his people to himself. And Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God. He is the one who in John 1:18 actually declares God and in Colossians 1:15, he is the image of God himself.

And so our main point, the main thing that we want you guys to get. And this is the thing that we'll be hammering in our, in our care groups later, is that the experience of God's holiness should result in two things, biblical fear and biblical joy. And these are not conflicting responses. As we experience God's holiness, here in this part of the history of redemption, as we see God's holiness revealed between the cherubim and the Ark of the Covenant, we're going to see David and his people respond in two different ways.

There's fear, and then fear gives way to joy. And as children of Zion, as as people of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, these are not conflicting responses. In fact, fear must come to have true joy. That's what we're proposing this morning.

Let's let's take a look at our first response. So we're going to read starting in verse 3, and I believe what we'll derive from this section is that we respond by trembling before Yahweh's holiness, tremble before Yahweh's holiness. Read with me in verse 3. So they set the ark of God on a new cart.

And brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uza and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. There's some foreshadowing going on here on the hill, on the hill, new cart, the emperor's new cart.

You get a feeling that something bad is about to happen, right? Accompanying the ark of God and Ohio, Ohio, I'm sorry, he. A heel went before the ark. Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of fur, wood, and harps, stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cistrums, on cymbals.

These guys were having an incredible worship service. All types of music rejoicing. But then something strange happened near the threshing floor of Nkon for 6, and when they came to Nkon's threshing floor, that's a place where grain, it's a flat part of the hill where grain could be trampled out by oxen. They get to this part of the hill.

And the oxen stumbled. Uza put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uza, and God struck him there for his heir. The new American Standard Version says struck him for his irreverence, NIV struck him for his irreverent act.

And he died by the ark of God. This is a crazy passage. I don't know about you. the first time you read this, what is, what is this?

Uzer reaches out, touches a box, and he dies. Everybody's having fun. They're partying, they're having a great time before the Lord. Before it, I don't know if there's some noise or sound.

People look, look over. Uza is like writhing on the ground and he dies. Somebody calls 911, party's over. That's the end.

And people are not happy. I don't know about you, but this is These are the passages that you just skip over, right? You definitely don't take a new, somebody who doesn't know the Lord, you're trying to do it, talk to an unbeliever who doesn't really believe in Christ, and they've got all kinds of questions about aliens and dinosaurs and evolution stuff. Let's turn to 2 Samuel 6.

I'd like to talk to you about Uza. This is one of those passages that, it's, it's just a little bit strange, right? What do we say about this stuff? Well, I wanna give you a couple, oh, that's a threshing floor with a donkey.

Let's skip over to, I want to give you some definitions that I think explain why this happens. You're not going to see the word holiness in this chapter, but holiness is all over this chapter. And holiness does occur in some of the parallel passages. What is, what do we mean by the holiness of God?

Definition from Wayne Gruden, he says this God, we talk about holiness. God is totally separate from his creation, relational quality. He is untouched and unstained by evil in the world. He is absolutely pure and perfect.

God is completely other in all of his attributes. There are spiritual laws in the universe, and one of those spiritual laws is God is holy, and he cannot and will not be touched or approached by sin at all. He is so holy that the sinless angels fear to come into his presence. And so what must sinners do if they come into his presence?

But we see what happens when somebody touches the very presence of Almighty God here with Uza, they die. John MacArthur says this of all the attributes of God, holiness is the one that most uniquely describes him. And in reality, is a summarization of all his other attributes. The word holiness refers to his separateness, his otherness, the fact that he is unlike any other being.

It indicates his complete and infinite perfection. Holiness is the attribute of God that binds all the others together properly understood. It will revolutionize the quality of our worship. Well, what did it do to David's worship?

Well, first, how does David react? At first, David is angry. Look at verse 8. And David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uza, and he called the name of that place Perez Uza to this day.

Some commentators try to argue that David's angry at himself for not knowing better. But I don't know, the way I'm reading this is David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak. I think he's angry at God. God, I understand when you break out against my enemies in chapter 5, and you destroy my enemies.

But Uzo was my friend. Why did you break out against my friend? Have you ever been angry at God, not understanding why certain things have happened in your life, or in this life? I think we can understand David's reaction.

It's very human, isn't it, that his first reaction is to be angry. And I think as this story is unfolding for us, as underneath the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the authors bring forward this story. We're meant to go through these emotions, we see what happens to Uza, we should be shocked just like everybody else is shocked. And David gets angry, and there should be part of us that says, What is going on here, Lord?

But then David's next reaction once he stands back and begins to think, And maybe some of his theology starts to settle in. David, was afraid of the Lord that day. And he said, How can the ark of the Lord come to me? Who else is going to die?

And so David would not move the Ark of the Lord with him to the city of David, but David took it aside into the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite, and the Ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite, 3 months. Doesn't this move you? And you can understand David's anger, and then his fear. What, what else will God do in this situation?

And he separates himself from the representation of God's presence for three months. it's passages like this. that I believe are really evidence of the supernatural origin and trustworthiness of the Bible. That makes, does that make sense?

Who would create a God like this? If I were sitting down writing a gospel tract to unbelievers, or I'm writing something that I want to present, I'm going to avoid any topic like this, right? I want, I want to put a good face on God. I want people to see that God is out there ready to help people with their problems.

He wants to help them with every issue that they have in their life. He's the kinder, gentler God, right? But the Bible comes along and just presents God who He is, in all of His majesty, in His Holiness. Dale Davis says we would never have invented a God like this, nor not if we wanted to win converts and influence people.

This God is not very marketable. Anyone who says the God of the Bible is merely a projection of our wish fulfillment has not read the Bible. I don't know about you, but I've had friends over the years that have told me that, Christianity is just a crutch. It's just for people who need something to hold on to.

Excuse me, this is not a crutch. This doesn't give me a whole lot to hold on to. What this does is it reminds me that God is very other and very different and very holy. And we dare not enter into his presence willy nilly.

God is the one that upholds all things by the word of his power. He keeps your heart beating and my heart beating. And he has appointed a day on which he will judge the earth is appointed for men to die once. And after this, the judgment.

And guess who determines your death and my death? God Almighty. He is the one who rings the bell that tolls for thee. And when that bell rings, there's nothing you or I can do about it.

So why did Uza die? Well, God had previously revealed how the ark was to be transported. It was no secret. Numbers chapter 4 and 7 and 1 Chronicles, tell us about how that it was Aaron and his sons, the priests were to come in to the Holy of Holies by themselves, and they were to cover up the ark with gopher skins, or I'm sorry, badger skins.

And that the Koathites, these are the ones who were supposed to carry the ark. They're a sub subset of the Levites. The Kathites were the ones that were to put the poles into the circles and carry on their shoulders, and there's a whole procedure on how God wanted His manifestation of His holy presence treated and transported. And you could basically summarize all these rules with no touch.

No look, no cart, right? This is God's manifest presence on the earth. And God, because he didn't want people to die. told them these things.

And he says, lest they die, that they may live and not die, lest they die. God knows that he is holy, that sinners cannot enter into his presence. There are spiritual laws, just like there are physical laws. If I walk off a 50 story building, guess what?

I die, and you can get mad at gravity, but you can't change the reality. And God is a holy God. And if we think we can just walk up to the manifest presence of His Holiness and just touch the ark, guess what? You die.

But God, because He is merciful, reveals to us, I'm holy. Here's what you do. Here's how we can maintain a relationship. Follow these rules, and we'll be in a good place.

I found this picture on the internet. I didn't drop it myself. let's ask this question, will these guys live or die? What do you think?

Well, if you look at their haircuts, I don't know. Well, they're carrying, it's, I'm guessing these are Coathites of the Levite tribe. And they've got the Poles, right? But guess what?

Ark's not covered. Right, this is bad theology right up here. Those, those dudes would be toast. Aaron and his sons had to go in and cover the ark.

The Coathites were not to look upon the ark lest they die. Even to look upon the ark, they would die. And so God has given us these, these instructions for our own good. by the way, Uza hadn't been the first to die.

We have the first Samuel, remember, like, the ark was off with the Philistines and you have the whole mad tumor scene and all that and the Dagon God falling on his face, and, but then finally they send it off and the ark comes to Bethhemesh, and somehow they didn't get the memo, right? And in verse 19, because they looked in, it says, then he struck the men of Bethhembes because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, and he struck 5,000,070 men of the people and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.

And the men of Bethhema said, Who is able to stand before this holy God? And to whom shall it go up from us?

So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiirjath Garim. This is actually another name for the same place that we're talking about where the ark's going to reside. They said the Philistines have brought back the Ark of the Lord. Come down and take it with you.

We don't want it. Then the men of Kirjath Jearim came and took the Ark of the Lord, and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill, consecrated Eliezer, his son, to keep the Ark of the Lord. So it was that the ark remained in Kiirjath Jearim a long time. It was there 20 years, and all the house of Israel mourned.

After the Lord. So this is where the ark is before David starts to bring it up is comes from the Philistines, it comes to Bethhemesh. Somehow these guys just, I don't know what they were thinking. They opened up the lid, Raiders of the Lost Ark happens.

These guys are dead. Everybody's mourning. They're like, we don't want this thing. They send it off to Kra Jerem.

And that's where it sits. And then David, Saul doesn't care about the ark, right? He's all concerned about his own thing, wants to establish himself. He's trying to kill David, he's consulting witches.

Who wants the presence of the Lord when you're consulting witches, right? And so, And then David comes on the scene, and his kingdom is going to be all about the worship of Yahweh. He's concerned about the presence of Yahweh. He wants worship to be central in his kingdom.

And so Uza wasn't the first to die. There were rules that have been given by God's grace so that people would know. Let me ask this question. Is this just reflective of the God of the Old Testament?

Is this this a mean God in the Old Testament, but then when you get the New Testament, you got a kind, gentle, grandfatherly figure, who's just really a lot nicer now. It's the same holy God. God's attributes are consistent. He is the same yesterday, today and forever, right?

and it's the same way of salvation that God desires to show mercy in the Old Testament. He wants to show mercy in the New Testament. But just like in the Old Testament, you have people that don't get the memo. You have Ananias and Sapphia, they decide they want to lie and the apostles of Almighty God, and they want to try to sneak things around.

All of a sudden, they're dead. King Herod, he's having some trouble with some people in Caesarea. The people of Tyre and Sidon know that Herod's out to get him. So they all gather around for his oration, and he makes this great speech.

And they all come up and they say the voice of a God and not of a man. They keep saying that over and over. And Harry gets puffed up and verse 23 says, Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. That's not in the Old Testament.

But the word of the Lord grew and multiplied is the footnote. What about 1 Corinthians? This church was not partaking of the Lord's Supper properly. They were partaking in an unworthy manner.

And in verse 30, Paul has to say for this reason, many of you are weak and sick, and many sleep. Many of you are dead because you are partaking of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner. You have the message of judgment to apostates, like in Hebrews chapter 10, where these people who had been naming Christ, are actually now spurning the Son of God, and they're profaning the blood of His covenant. They've outraged the Spirit of grace.

And the final message here in this passage is, is, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. What about Christ when he returns? Christ in his first Advent comes and lives in a man as a man among us, and he heals, and he spreads the kingdom, and then he dies. And then when he comes back, he will take vengeance upon his enemies, upon all of those who do not obey the gospel with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power.

What about Jesus Christ as he comes back, and he's revealed as a little lamb? The little lamb Jesus. Revelation 6 and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, every free man hid themselves in the caves in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand.

This is the New Testament.

If time were to allow, we could read chapter 19 of Revelation, where Jesus Christ comes with a sword out of his mouth, ready to slay his enemies, and then the birds of the air come and feast on the flesh of kings and all those that oppose Jesus Christ. This is our God. He is a mighty, holy warrior. He is, this is not just the God of the Old Testament.

This is the God of the New Testament. Dale Davis says, as readers, we can continue to object if we like, but the application of the text is clear. You dare not trifle with a God who is both real and holy. Yahweh is not your neat, warm, fuzzy friend in the sky.

This is a holy God. And if we come willy nilly into the presence of a holy God, without some covering, without some sacrifice, we will die. what happened to Uza should have happened to Adam and Eve, right? God said to Adam and Eve, on the day that you eat of the tree of the garden of the of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely die.

You will die. And so when God showed up on the scene after they had eaten of the tree, what were they doing? They were hiding. Why?

Because they knew they were going to die. God says, Where are you? I hid from you. And God does kill on that day, but he kills an animal and he dresses Adam and Eve in skins as a type of Christ, wraps them up in the righteousness of Christ, as it were, and instead of dying themselves, an animal dies to point towards Christ.

You and I would suffer the same fate of Uza if it weren't for Jesus Christ. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. What we deserve for our sin is death, and yet God in His mercy passes over our sins. It gives us an opportunity to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who has been set forth as a propitiation by His blood.

Propitiation means wrath bearer. He bears the wrath of Almighty, holy God, so that we might be in covenant relationship with a merciful God. If we would receive that sacrifice, we can remain in this covenant relationship with a merciful God. If we despise that sacrifice, and propose that somehow we can enter into the presence of God ourselves, or somehow we can somehow save God from an embarrassment, we would all suffer the fate of Uza.

This is our God, and we should respond to such a holy God. With fear, it is appropriate for us to respond to God with fear as David did. But notice the second response, and we must not stop with fear. We must not stop with godly fear.

We must see what The rest of the response is, and that is rejoice in Yahweh's holiness. Let's go ahead and start in verse 11. where we will find that God's presence is actually meant to be a blessing. Verse 11, the Ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom 3 months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

That was told King David, saying, The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to Him because of the ark. David realizes, wow, more people aren't dying. God's true intention is to bless. And so David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with gladness.

David goes from anger to fear to gladness. And so it was when those bearing the Ark of the Lord had gone 6 paces. Notice they're bearing the ark now. We can imply that the ark is covered.

It's Coetites. It's on their shoulders. Everything has been done in order. When they had gone 6 paces.

that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. We see blood, we see sacrifice. And then verse 14. David turned.

To the people that were there, and he said, I don't want anybody dancing. I don't want anybody shouting. I don't want anybody rejoicing, because this is a holy God. And you must stand in quiet awe of this holy God, lest you die.

If that would have happened in this text, it would make sense, wouldn't it? 3 months ago, Uza just got knocked out, right? Everybody had been rejoicing right before Uza's death. They've been playing all kinds of instruments.

We can imply that probably people were jumping and dancing. They're very excited in the Jewish tradition about the ark coming to the city of David and then Uz is dead. And so if David would have said, Hey guys, we don't trifle with such a holy God, let's keep it serious, you guys. That would seem to make sense, but that's not what happens.

is they're doing things right now. They see the mercy of the Lord, they come and they sacrifice as a reminder of that reconciliation that God really wants. And so in verse 14, David danced before the Lord with all his might. David was wearing a linen ephah.

This is a priest garb, priestly garb. He's now taken off the regal garb of the king. And he's now wearing the priestly garb. And so David and all the house of Israel, brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting, with the sound of the trumpet.

So there's rejoicing and worship that's going on in the presence, the holy presence of God. And then in verse 16, now as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael, Saul's daughter, Looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. We're going to come back to that later. Verse 17.

Now they brought the Ark of the Lord and set it in the, in the place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, and distributes bread and everybody's really, really happy now. What do we see here?

We see rejoicing. We see excitement. We see sacrifice. We see blood.

And, This points us to Christ, the Christ who had offered his sacrifice once for sins, sat down at the right hand of the God of God that may that we may come into his presence with boldness. And so, for those that don't have a relationship with Yahweh, or don't understand anything about His Holiness, and yet his desire for relationship, this can seem like a very strange passage. But those of us in this room that have had a taste of God's presence. There's something in your hearts where, this experience, don't you?

You've experienced that sense of shame over your sin. You've experienced that sense of fear that God could take me out. And yet that God has come and poured His blood over you, the blood of the Son, and He draws you close, and the fact that you can come and be intimate with an Abba Father who kills Uzza should be befuddling. This is the amazement of the gospel.

And it's actually this, this fear, this a fearful sense of God's holiness does not suppress joy in His children, but it stimulates it. Joy can be stimulated as we contemplate the holiness of God, and the wrath of God, and the fact that Jesus Christ propitiates the wrath of God, and we can come into his presence, because his wrath has been appeased in Christ. That's why the psalmist, he gives this command to rejoice with trembling. And the children of Zion and the children of the Lord Jesus Christ, know this by experience.

I don't know about you, but I've had times in my life where I have sensed the presence of the Lord in a not so favorable way. I remember driving on the 395 on my way to Bishop. It was late at night. The moon was out, it was lighting up the Sierras on my left and the White Mountains on my right.

And at that time in my life, my in my college years, I forget, 2nd or 3rd year of college, there was some sin in my life. I was stiff arming the Lord. And this overwhelming sense came over me. In fact, the hair stood up on the back of my neck that God was going to kill me.

And I was just tears started coming down my eyes. I was just pleading with the Lord, Lord. Don't, don't take me out. I will live for you.

I will repent. I will follow you. And after several moments of fear, the sense of relief came over me, the sense of mercy and God's love came over me as I was being reminded of the Lord Jesus Christ and, and just driving there in the 395, just worshiping the Lord was one of the most amazing times of worship I've had in my life. And it came out of this initial sense of fear.

But it moved in to this time of joy as I was comforted by the Holy Spirit. And those are things that we should contemplate this, this part of, of, of the scriptures is not just for Old Testament saints. This is for us to contemplate a holy God, whose presence we dare not enter, were it not for the shed blood of Jesus Christ, but because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we can enter boldly. Let's talk finally about this last section what we're going to call the afterword.

In verse 16, we see Michael's response to David's worship. What does verse 16 say? And the reason why I want to draw attention to verse 16 is this seems to be the narrator's take on Michael. And the narrator is, is given us Holy Spirit inspired interpretation.

Now, as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael, Saul's daughter, We're gonna hear that 3 different times. Look through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord. He's worshiping He's rejoicing before Yahweh, and her response is, she despised him in her heart. She despised this display.

We don't know all of the reasons why she may have despised him. We do know what she says. We don't know how much we can believe what she says because the human heart is deep, right? Haven't you been in situations sometimes where you didn't like something that somebody did, but you didn't want to say the real reasons because it would seem base and so you take a side route and bring up some other issue in order to make yourself look more holy.

I think that might be a little bit of what's going on here with Saul's daughter. Look at verse 20. What does Michael actually say to David? Then David returned to bless the household, and Michael, the daughter of Saul, that's the 2nd time we hear it, came out to meet David and said, How glorious and distinguished was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants.

As one of the base fellows shamefully or shamelessly uncovers himself. This is not how a king is supposed to behave in front of his subjects. There you are running around in a linen yod dancing around. All the girls are checking you out.

And this is, this is shameful, absolutely shameful. David says to Michael, it was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of Israel over people of the Lord over Israel. Therefore, I will play music before the Lord, and I will be even more undignified than this and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.

Now here's The narrator coming back in to tell us the coup de grace. Therefore, OK, what's the therefore? It's therefore to point us back to other stuff, right? What's the therefore, therefore?

Therefore, Michael, the daughter of Saul, that's the 3rd time had no children to the day of her death. Period. The end. Amen.

Let's pray. I don't, I don't know that I would end a story like this or end a gospel tract like this, would you? But this is the way this chapter ends. This chapter ends with basically a pronouncement of curse on the Saul of, on the daughter of Saul.

we don't know why, particularly that she didn't have children, could it be that David had normal relation relations with her? Was there some actually God did not allow her physically to have kids anymore? We don't know. But we do know that to not have children in this context is a curse.

And that her despising of David was not viewed favorably by the author of our text, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit. The author of our text calls her the daughter of Saul 3 times. That's the old guard. Saul could care less about the presence of the Lord.

Saul could care less about the ark. Saul was consulting witches. God took him out and installed David, who is now bringing in the ark. He did it the wrong way the first time, but now he's bringing in the ark and he's rejoicing in the presence of Almighty God, and he's leading Israel to rejoice before Almighty God, and God.

He has been saying from the beginning, I want to call a people to myself that I may be their God, and they may be my people. And David, who's the pinnacle of this kingdom, he's the fulfillment at this point in redemptive history of the Abrahamic covenant, and he's the fulfillment of the Mosaic covenant. And here he is at this height of redemptive history. Everybody's worshiping, everybody's rejoicing before the presence of Almighty God and the daughter of Saul despises it.

What's the interpretation? There are going to be people who hate the worship of God. who despise the worship of God, they're going to scoff at God's worship. And you guys have probably felt this at different times.

I can, just from the time I was 14 years old, I can remember I wanted to start playing guitar when I went to my youth group, loved the worship, said, I'm going to start playing guitar. Before I knew it, my youth pastor said, Hey, would you lead some worship songs for us? I don't know. Start leading some worship songs and you can look around in the youth group and you can just see kids.

Some kids are worshiping the Lord and some kids are like. This is so stupid. They're scoffing at the worship of Almighty God. And it happens every worship service anywhere you go on the planet, there's going to be people in that service that are worshiping God.

And there's going to be people in their hearts that are saying, this is stupid, just like Michael. Everywhere you go, that's the way it's going to be because we know that not everybody's going to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. But even beyond nonbelievers, there's lessons here for the church, I believe. And one of the questions that we can ask by way of application is, is what breaks you out of your regal detachment?

David was a king. He threw off the kingly robes, and he entered into worship with the lowly servants. And God got him excited. The fear of God got him excited.

What gets you excited about God Almighty? I want to propose to you that as we dwell upon the holiness and the fear of God, that the Holy Spirit will use that to create more joy in our worship. And we can move away from regal detachment from God. Ask yourself, where is the presence of God manifest today?

At this time in redemptive history, it was right there between the cherubim today, where is it? It's the temple. What is the temple? The temple is the gathering of God's people in the New Testament era.

When we gather together on the Lord's day, and we worship the Lord, and we hear the word preached, guess what? God is pleased to manifest His presence right here in a very special way. That goes beyond just me with my Bible in the forest or even family devotions at home when we gather together as the temple of Almighty God. He has choose to manifest His presence in a special way, and we can get excited about that.

We should get excited about that. I feel like I've, I've been instructed just by studying in this sermon. I can, I'm sad to say that I feel like there's times when I was younger where I'd allow myself to get more excited as a young person and as an older person, and sometimes I'm too detached and too worried about what people will think and my expressions of my love for Almighty God. Remember as a 1415 year old reading the Bible, I don't even know what passage it was.

I'm in my room. I read some passage of the Bible, got so excited, I started jumping up and down on my bed. My parents thought I was in a cult. And who wouldn't a 14 year old kid jumping up and down on his bed because he read the Bible.

He's in a cult. He's got to be, right? But what gets you excited? We should get excited about the Lord Jesus Christ.

I can remember several years ago, and I'm ashamed to share this. But I think it was 2009 maybe. It was after 2nd service, so the services were over. I was up in my office, and I was streaming the Angel Red Sox game, 3rd game of the division series.

Angels were down. They come back in the 9th inning. Vladimir Guerrero gets a base hit. Runners come around.

They go ahead and I'm jumping up and down in my office, and tears, real tears are coming down my face. And I really said these words. I said, I love you, Vlady, up in my office. I was so excited.

And yet I'll guarantee you if somebody saw me worshiping out here that Sunday, I don't think they would have seen me jumping up and down. I don't know if I cried that day, maybe you never know, I'm a berry. But But the passion, right? And it's like, when we consider God Almighty, this, I love this quote from Blakey.

There are doubtless times to be calm and times to be enthusiastic, but can it be right to give all of our coldness to Christ and all of our enthusiasm to the world? Can it be right? There's going to be all kinds of people out at football games this afternoon. Either at the game or in their homes, and I guarantee you there's going to be people jumping and pumping fists.

I went down and saw a Charger Eagles game a few years ago, and we stood up for the kickoff, and then I was ready to sit down because I go to baseball games, not football games, ready to sit down after the kickoff. We stood up the whole game, the whole game we stood up and people were cheering and gyrating. It was just incredible. And I don't know about you, but when I'm out there and I'm not up here, and the worship leader forgets to let me sit down after two songs, I'm kinda like, man, can we just sit down?

Man, my legs hurt, that knees starting to bark a little bit. but people are excited about football, and we, as the people of God, Lord willing, we're going to grow in our excitement for the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we contemplate all of his attributes, I think His Holiness this morning is what we're going to focus on. We focus on His holiness and the fear of God that should lead to joy, right?

I want to end with a quote from this song. If you guys have been around long, very long, that I like this song, so I lead it at least 3456 times a year. 78 or 9, I come by the blood. Just I love the balance here.

You are the perfect and righteous God whose presence bears no sin. You bid me come to your holy place. How can I enter in when your presence bears no sin through Him who poured out his life for me, the atoning Lamb of God, through him, and his work alone, I boldly come. I come by the blood.

I come by the cross where your mercy flows from hands pierced for me. I dare not stand on my righteousness. My every hope rests on what Christ has done. I come by the blood.

You are the high and exalted King, the one the angels fear so far above me in every way. Lord, how can I draw near to the one the angels fear through Him who laid down his life for me and ascended to your side, through Him, through Jesus alone, I boldly come. We want to come and rejoice with trembling before God Almighty. Let's pray.

Our Father, we thank you for your kindness and revealing your holiness to us and that you are a God that wants to be close with your people. We think of how you walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the garden. Fellowshipping with them and, and, and when sin Captured them, you could have slayed them on the spot. And yet you slew an animal and dressed them in skins and, and you slew your Son Jesus Christ, and you dress us in His righteousness.

We pray, Father, that You would help us to see the balance of these two truths that we need to appreciate your holiness and your, your righteousness. But that need not keep us distant from you because you have provided a way for us to come into your presence and know you. We pray, Lord, for our children, we pray for family and friends here that may not know you. We pray, Lord, that they would by your Spirit be convicted of sin and that they would have a sense of your holiness, knowing that you've appointed a day for them to die, and then they will be judged.

But if they would call upon the Lord Jesus Christ, they could die and die mercifully, come into your merciful presence. We pray, Lord, there'd be many that would come to know you today. We pray, Father, that You would help us grow in our worship, help us to grow in our expression and joy and appreciation for all that you have accomplished for us through Jesus Christ. And it's his name we pray, all God's people said, Amen.