Scripture: 2 Samuel 6:1-23
Sermon Series: 2 Samuel: When God is Your King! – Sermon 06
Many of you know that I’m the Chaplain for our local police department. My responsibilities include being there in critical care and emergency situations. Critical care with a loss of life is very difficult. One situation I’ll always remember was trying to care for the parents who’d just lost their child in a tragic accident. I’ll never forget the mom nearly screaming, “I don’t want to talk to you. What kind of God kills a little boy?” It still weighs on my heart.
A dear friend lost her dad to cancer when he was relatively young. My friend is a mature believer, loves the Lord and has led countless Bible studies through the years. But she shared with me that she was so angry at God, that she prayed, “God, I’m so angry with You right now that I understand why they crucified Your Son.” Many of us have been there. I know I have.
We’re working through 2 Samuel 6. The focus of these 23 verses is on the Ark of the Covenant (picture). This is not Noah’s Ark (picture). Jane and I had the opportunity to visit The Ark Museum a few weeks ago. This is God’s Ark. One of my favorite movies is Raiders of the Lost Ark (picture). Indiana Jones competes with a group of Nazis searching for the Ark of the Covenant. Today our message is Paraders of the Lost Ark.
Now I want to tell you right up front where this message is going. Today I want to speak to every person who’s been offended by something God has done. Something happened in your life, and it’s caused difficulty in your relationship with God. You say, “I don’t know how to relate to a God who does a thing like this.”
Then, I want to speak to everyone who is missing out on the blessing of God. There’s blessing today that you could be knowing from God, but you don’t know it right now, even though you’re a Christ-follower. There’s an antagonism within you. You’re missing out on the blessing from God.
Then, I want to speak to everyone who’s lost the joy you once had in Christ. Finally, I want to speak to everyone who grieves over a loved one who doesn’t share your love for Jesus. This story goes in all of these directions.
In order to understand 2 Samuel 6, I need to share a little bit of background, so cut me a little bit of slack please while I do that.
The word “Ark” (picture) is used 15 times in this chapter. Of those, seven refer to the “Ark of God;” seven others use the phrase “Ark of the Lord.” He’s Israel’s God and the Ark represented God. The Ark was a gold-covered portable box 4 feet long, 2½ feet wide and high. Cherubim or winged angelic beings were on its lid. It was very heavy. It was a visible symbol of Israel’s invisible God. It pointed to Yahweh ruling, leading and forgiving His people. It was a sign of God’s presence.
It’s important to know that the Ark was never to be seen except once a year by the high priest, and no one was to touch the Ark. If anyone touched the Ark or looked directly at the Ark because it represented the holy God, they would die. The Ark had gold rings at its corners that the Levites and a specific family, the Kohathites, slipped poles through to carry the Ark (picture). Our pictures aren’t accurate because the Ark was hidden by a curtain known as the Holy of Holies. When the Kohathites moved the Ark, they walked in backwards, never looking at the Ark. The curtain from the Holy of Holies was placed over the Ark, and then a leather covering. The work of the Kohathites must have felt like the work of bomb disposal experts today. It was dangerous work! All of this communicated very powerfully that the presence of God is a dangerous place for sinners like us to be. The Ark symbolized God and like God, it was absolutely holy.
As Israel’s worship of God degenerated, the Ark became little more than a good luck charm, a spiritual rabbit’s foot They didn’t really want God in their lives. Yet like many people in a crisis, when they needed God, they cry out to Him. At the beginning of 1 Samuel the army of Israel was defeated by the Philistines, so the elders of Israel decide to take the Ark onto the battlefield to help them win against the Philistines. But they’re defeated again with a loss of 30,000 men and the Ark was captured by the Philistines.
The Philistines took the Ark to several cities in their country. At each one God’s judgement fell on them. At Ashdod, they were struck with disease, something like Bubonic plague and rats invaded them. They sent the Ark to Gath and Ekron, and the same thing happened to those Philistine cities.
After the Ark had been among them for seven months, the Philistines had had enough and returned it to the Israelites on a wagon pulled by a pair of oxen with no driver. These oxen pulled it back to Beth-shemesh. The Beth-shemites were thankful for its return and offered sacrifices but out of curiosity some men looked in the Ark. They forgot Whose ark it was. Their disobedience brought God’s judgement and 70 men died. After losing 70 men, they send the ark down the road to Kirjath-jearim. Ultimately, the Ark is taken to the house of Abinadab, where it stays for the next 70 years. King Saul didn’t care about God, so he basically ignored the Ark during his reign.
In 2 Samuel 6, David is now king of a united nation. He’s just made Jerusalem Israel’s new political capital. But David desires to make the city the nation’s spiritual center. To do that he must bring the Ark to Jerusalem. The Ark represented God’s approval of his reign. That’s all by way of background, now let’s take up the story.
David knew the kingdom he’d been given belonged to God, not to him, and he wanted God to be at the center of the kingdom. He knew how much he needed the Lord and so he decided to bring the Ark from the house of Abinadab to Jerusalem. “David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand” (2 Samuel 6:1). 30,000 men hit the road and walk the 10 miles from Jerusalem to the house of Abinadab.
Abinadab had two sons, Uzzah and Ahio. Picture this scene at the breakfast table. “Boys, this is a great day. The King is coming, and he’s going to take the Ark to Jerusalem. 30,000 men are coming with him and you two are going to lead the procession!” But Uzzah says, “You mean we have to carry the Ark? That thing weighs a ton!” “Yes, and we would have to carry it for 10 miles,” says Ahio, “and Jerusalem is uphill! Wouldn’t it be easier if we put it on a cart?” And the old man says, “Listen boys, God has given very precise instructions about how the ark is to be moved.” “Dad, it’s an old piece of furniture, surrounded by a bunch of supernatural traditions. It’s been sitting here, neglected, for years. If we have to move it, we’re putting it on a cart.” And that’s what they did. “They carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio—the sons of Abinadab—were driving the new cart” (2 Samuel 6:3). Let’s draw out four themes from this story that speak powerfully to us today.
1. Taking offense at the judgement of God, vss. 5-8.
This was quite a party! 30,000 people, all of them were rocking! “David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals” (2 Samuel 6:5). The procession starts out well, but then something happened that totally changed the mood of the party. The oxen pulling the cart stumbled—causing the ark to lurch—so Uzzah reached out to steady it. He touched the ark and died on the spot.
So, picture yourself at the back of the procession, banging your tambourine. Ahead of you are thousands of people. Suddenly the procession grinds to a halt. From the front to the back the music stops. “What in the world happened?” The news spreads – “Someone died! It’s Uzzah—he touched the ark.” Nobody likes this. Even David was offended by it. “David was angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah” (2 Samuel 6:8). There are only a few places in the Bible where God breaks out in instant judgment like this. It happened with Nadab and Abihu in the Old Testament (Leviticus 10:1-2), and with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) in the New Testament.
Normally we see God’s patience and longsuffering, passing over the flouting of His law, showing mercy and giving time. Why? Because God wants to give space so that people have time and the opportunity to repent.
Judgment for flouting God’s law is what will happen when we are in his presence. And that’s the whole point of this story. God said, “I will meet you” at the ark. Being next to the ark was like being in the presence of God!
How could I ever survive in the presence of a God like this? It’s a question few are asking. Millions simply assume that if there is a god, he must be a god who accepts and affirms everyone. But such a god is not the God of the Bible. That god is simply a figment of the human imagination.
Have you ever seriously considered the God of the Bible who brings every flouting of His law to judgment? Have you considered what it will mean for you one day to stand before Him? Maybe you’re saying, “I don’t want anything to do with a God like that.” At this point in the story, that’s where David was. He’s angry. He didn’t like what God had done.
Are you offended by God? Has there been something in your life that left you saying, “Why did that happen?” You’ve struggled to come to terms with it, and it’s caused you, like David, to be angry with God.
The Ark represents the holy presence of God. God isn’t some long bearded grandfather type. He’s perfectly holy and just. The Ark was not to be looked at, much less touched. Maybe Uzzah was ignorant, but David should have known. Kings of Israel were to study God’s Law (Deuteronomy 17:18-20). The Levites should have known. This was their job. But there is no record of David ever seeking the Lord or praying about this. Maybe David was in a hurry. I find I blow it a lot if I’m in a hurry. David had an idea about getting the Ark to Jerusalem, jumped in with both feet, and Uzzah paid with his life.
Where did they get the idea of using a cart? From pagan Philistines. When we learn how to serve God from pagans we’re always in trouble. Here’s the principle: God’s work must be done in God’s way if it’s to have God’s blessing. This is for us. This is for our church. We must know the Word of God to know the will of God. If we don’t know God’s Word, we’ll never know God’s will. That includes every sphere of our being from life to marriage to parenting to work to neighbors and everything in between.
This is a case of that Latin phrase lawyers love: ignorantia juris non excusat. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Just because a person is unaware of a law, he’s still liable for violating that law.
Dale Ralph Davis (picture) notes regarding this account: “Passages like this, are evidence of the supernatural origin and trustworthiness of the Bible…We would never have ‘invented’ a God like this, not if we want to win coverts and influence people. This God is not very marketable.” God is loving. He’s longsuffering and merciful, but God is not safe.
In C.S. Lewis’s classic, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (picture), Susan learned that the one they were about to meet, Aslan, was a lion. Somewhat uncomfortable with this notion, she wondered if Aslan was safe. Mr. Beaver responded: “Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.” The judgement of Uzzah exemplifies the uncomfortable truth of the dangerous holiness of God. His law must be obeyed. It’s God’s mercy that He hasn’t “broken out against” (1 Samuel 6:8) all sinners. Theologian Hans Kung (picture), “I am not surprised that Uzzah died, but that the rest of us are still alive.”
David didn’t understand this, so he became angry at God. We don’t understand the judgment of God because we don’t understand the vileness of sin. But Scripture offers this truth without apology: the punishment God metes out to sinners is not more severe than the crime. It’s easy to think that hell is too severe a punishment for sin. How can even a lifetime of sins merit eternity apart from God? We tend to think God’s justice is an overreaction.
So, how horrible is our sin? It’s so heinous that Jesus, the Son of God had to come to earth be torn to shreds and crucified. Crucifixion is an unspeakable, brutal process, meant to inflict pain and showcase a person’s shame to anyone. The crucified person, with holes in his hands and feet would have to pull up to even breathe, forcing pressure on those wounds. The utter torment was nearly unbearable to watch. Roman author, Cicero (picture), said that when the Romans crucified women, they’d crucify them backwards, so people weren’t forced to watch their agony.
But this was the very punishment God Himself took for our sins. It was brutal. It was unbearable. And that’s the point. The reaction we have to an event as horrific as crucifixion is the reaction we ought to have towards sin. The cross should remind us that our sin is unspeakably wicked.
The usual reaction is that God is “a God of love.” On some level, we all understand that love requires boundaries. If an unrepentant, active sexual predator came to church and volunteered to serve in our children’s ministry, would it be loving to allow him to? “Friend, we’re so glad you’re here. Feel free to roam. We accept you as you are.” That’s warped. For the sake of our children, love demands that we have boundaries and act with wisdom.
So, David is angry. He’s offended by God. Are you offended with God? To be offended means to stumble. In Matthew 11:6 Jesus says, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.” How are we as Christians offended by God?
Reason 1: We believe that God demands too much. Jesus made it clear that following Him won’t be easy. Suffering and loss are involved. Some Christians get offended when they realize what they’ve gotten into. Yet Jesus let us know up front what the cost was. But even in His day, some followers stopped walking with Him because they thought the cost was too high.
Reason 2: He doesn’t meet our expectations. The Lord often works in ways we don’t understand. Paul says that God works all things for our good (Romans 8:28). “Why hasn’t God answered this prayer? Why didn’t He fulfill this promise? Why did He let this happen to me?” These are the questions that can plague the minds of believers. If you’ve not met the God who refuses to meet all your expectations, you will. How you react will reveal whether you are worshiping Jesus Christ or Santa Clause.
Reason 3: He doesn’t show up on time. God works too slowly. He reacts too late. His deliverance takes too long. God’s clock is a lot slower than ours. Sometimes we’ll pray for an important matter in our own lives, or we’ll pray for someone for years…and the dial doesn’t move. Waiting on the Lord can become weary. It can lead to offense. But God always keeps perfect time.
2. Missing out on the blessing of God.
“And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, ‘How can the ark of the LORD come to me?’ So David was not willing to take the ark of the LORD into the city of David” (2 Samuel 6:9-10). What’s David saying, “If this is what God is like, I don’t think I want to be near Him, and I’m not sure, I even want to ever come near Him.” This is David, the man after God’s own heart! He didn’t like what God had done. “I can’t live with a God who does things like this.”
Is that you? You’re a Christian but you’re so offended by something God has done in your life that you don’t want to be near Him.
God didn’t condemn David’s desire to have the Ark in the City of David. But God was as interested in the means David used as he was in the ends David employed. No matter how good his intentions were, his methods were wrong. David learned that bad actions can’t be justified by good intentions.
Now David isn’t willing to take the Ark back home. I think he feared God might break out against Jerusalem. So, “David took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite” (2 Samuel 6:10). A Gittite was an inhabitant of the Philistine city of Gath. Goliath was a Gittite, and so the great irony here is that Obed-Edom was a Gentile and probably a proselyte. We can assume that since he’s living among God’s people that he’d come to know and worship the Lord. He’s an example of a Gentile who’d said, as Ruth had, “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16).
David says, “I don’t want the ark, let’s give it to the Gittite!” Then we read: “And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household” (2 Samuel 6:11). The same God who has the power to judge has the power to bless. David didn’t want a God who judges near him. What he finds is that the God who blesses is far from him! The blessing that would have been his now goes to another. Apparently, Obed-Edom went from poverty to riches.
God would have been within His rights as a just God to allow our story to end with Uzzah’s funeral. God owes us nothing. Yet the love and grace of God breaks through once more. Not as a result of any Israelite obedience, but by the sheer mercy of God. This all led Dr. Joseph Hall to remark, “The God of heaven pays liberally for His lodging.”
Friend, are you missing out on God’s blessings? Here’s what happens: You take offense at something God has done. Instead of walking closely with God, you stay at what you think is a “safe” distance from Him. But now you’re missing out on the blessing that could be yours! You come to church and others are blessed, but not you. God is at work around you, but you no longer experience His blessing. Friend, you’re losing out. Where else will you go for blessing? Where else will you go for purpose and meaning?
Now if that’s your position, you face a choice. The choice you make will determine the future course of your life. Either you’ll remain offended at God, or you’ll turn back to God and seek His blessing. We can’t live with God because He is dangerous to sinners, but we can’t live without Him either, because He’s the source of all good things.
So, let me say to every person who’s offended by God today, there’s blessing that you could enjoy right now, a blessing that you could be bringing to others. When you cling to what’s offended you, you forfeit the blessing that could be yours. Like David, you lose. Start by confessing your anger at God. Fortunately, our story doesn’t end on a negative note. The three months are instructive for David. He now does things God’s way.
3. Finding joy in the presence of God.
“It was told King David, ‘The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.’ So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing” (2 Samuel 6:12). David now has joy because the same God who is terrible in judgment is also wonderful in blessing. God is powerful to judge those who defy Him, yet powerful to bless those who seek Him. The two go together. It’s why David says in the Psalms, “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:11). Fearing God and rejoicing in Him belong together. The same power that would make you tremble if God was against you, brings joy when you know He is for you. David’s joy comes from knowing that God didn’t come among His people to destroy them. He came to bless them!
But you can only know the blessing of God if you come to Him in the way that He has prescribed! The companion text in 1 Chronicles 15 tells us how David gathered the Kohathites and said, in effect, “We are going to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, and this time we are going to do it God’s way.” They carried the Ark, just as God had prescribed on the gold poles with all the people worshipping as they made their way those 10 miles to Jerusalem.
This all points to the cross and Jesus Christ. As the Ark was the place where God’s judgment and blessing were made known to David, Christ is the place where God’s judgment and blessing are made known to us. The cross shows that God judges sin and blesses sinners. The cross is where God meets with us so that with judgment removed, we may enter into His blessing. When God meets us in Christ, He comes to bless. He gives us His joy! Are you finding joy in the presence of God?
When David got right with God, this blessing didn’t just come to David. It came to many people. “When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts” (2 Samuel 6:18). The blessing that came to these people with the Ark comes to us in Christ. He “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3). Great blessing will be yours if you will have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
What made the difference? Offering a sacrifice. Something dies enroute both times. The first time it’s Uzzah. The second time it’s animals dying in the place of sinful people. The first starts with celebration but ends in death and fear. The second starts with death—a sacrifice—but ends in blessing.
Scholars think Psalm 24 was written in the light of this great day. It begins with a question: “Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place?” (Psalm 24:3). That question comes right out of what happened to Uzzah, but it ends with an overflow of joy: “Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in!” (Psalm 24:7). Fling wide the gates. Let the Lord who comes to bless His people in! Have you been offended by God? Have you been missing out on the blessing of God? Today is your day – fling open the gates of your heart and let the Lord who will bless you in!
In worship David humbles himself by setting aside his royal robes and putting on a simple ephod, much like the boy Samuel had so many years before. It was a garment that the poorest person could afford. He sacrifices to God and dances before the Lord with all his might!
You can’t worship God and be proud. It’s why, like David, we don’t care what others think. We humble ourselves and worship for an audience of One. David’s worship shows who is the most valuable person in his life. What does our worship say about who is the most valuable person in our lives?
That wise theologian, Erma Bombeck (picture), reported an experience she had in church. In front of her sat a mother with a normal five-year-old boy, which means that he couldn’t sit still. As he squirmed and looked over the pew at those behind him, he was smiling. Then Erma heard the mother sternly whisper, “Stop smiling! Don’t you know that we’re in church?”
Too often we’ve lost worship and its joy. More frequently, we come as spectators. Worship demands participation. We need to lift our voices together to King Jesus. Joy is seen first in our countenance. Is the joy of Jesus seen on your face? But worship is not just in how we sing, it’s shown by how we live. Our lives are to be a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2). The word worship really means worth-ship. What do we consider of great worth? Worship is seen in how we live. It’s seen in how we respond when we’re mistreated or to injustice. Worship is seen in how we respond to suffering. It begins in the heart, but never stays there. That’s an offering to the Lord.
4. Staying faithful in the service of God.
“David returned to bless his household” (2 Samuel 6:20). But in verse 16 we read, “As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.” I wish I could say that I’ve never seen this, but it’s too common. What’s the old jingle, “every party has a pooper that’s why we invited you.” That’s Michal. David’s passion for God embarrasses her. Three times the passage reminds us that she is “Saul’s daughter.”
Some people will open their lives to the presence and blessing of God; others won’t. Some hold on to their anger—to their own destruction—and miss the blessings they could have enjoyed. That’s Michal.
To David’s credit, when he is done with his public duties, he wanted to share the blessings he’d enjoyed with his family. David is full of joy in God. The people have been blessed and now he wants to bring that blessing to his family. But when he gets home, the person he loves is as cold as ice.
It’s not unusual to have one spouse excited about the things of God but the other, even if they profess to know Christ, are a drag on their passion for Jesus. Many of you know what this is like. Some of you may experience it after you leave here today. You’ve been blessed, touched, helped, encouraged in the presence of God. You long that the people you love could share in this blessing. But when you go home, there’s a spouse or a son, or daughter, a father, or mother waiting for you. They’re offended by God and that makes them angry with you. So, will you stay faithful to God?
Michal loved “David the champion” who defeated Goliath but despised “David the believer” who danced for joy in the presence of God. Some of you know what this is like. Someone you love despises your joy in the Lord.
How sad that instead of setting aside her royal robes and joining David in worshipping God, she stews in the palace. When David comes home, she goes out, not to greet him, but to chew him out. Her sarcasm is like poison.
Michal worried about what people thought. David was only concerned about what God thought. For David humility is dignity. Passion is priceless.
Who are you concerned about? God or people? A.W. Pink (picture) writes, “The more we are condemned for welldoing, the more resolute we should be in it.” And it’s not just those in our family. There are often cynics and critics in every congregation who pour cold water on fires that God is lighting.
We’re not sure if verse 23 is the end of their marriage or if God withheld children. “And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.” I believe that God withheld children so that the line of Saul ended.
Marital strife is tragic. If you’re the one who is cold or half-hearted toward the things of God, please repent. It will kill your marriage and often result in your children never knowing the Lord and going to a Christless eternity.
What’s David going to do about this? He stays faithful in the service of God: “I will celebrate before the Lord” (2 Samuel 6:21). David says, “You may despise me for this, and in the future, you may despise me more, but I will worship the Lord. I will live to serve Him. In Him I find great joy.”
My friend, nothing good can ever come to the people you love by loving Jesus less. In making yourself miserable, you will not make them happy.
Conclusion
As we tie this up, let me ask again, are you offended with God this morning? Are you angry or bitter with Him for the way your life has turned out? Please repent of that. Like Uzzah, it will kill your spirit.
Are you finding joy in the presence of God? Are you dancing before the Lord with a heart of enthusiastic worship? And not just on Sundays, do you see your life as an instrument of worship for the Lord?
All of us have naysayers and critics in our lives. Are you letting them steal your joy or dampen your enthusiasm for the Lord?
So, where is Jesus in all of this? He’s right in front of us. Jesus fulfilled all that the Ark symbolized. The Ark represented God’s rightful rule. In 1 Chronicles 28:2 the Ark is called His footstool. Kings sit on thrones and use footstools. Jesus Christ is the King of kings.
Blood was sprinkled on the Ark’s lid, the mercy seat, to atone for the nation’s sin. This speaks of forgiveness and redemption. Hebrews 9:12, “He [Jesus] entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” It was at the Ark that God met with His people. It’s only through Christ that we have access to God, 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The Ark was a symbol of God’s very presence.
Every believer needs to ask: How can I keep God’s presence central in my life? Are you in the Word? Do you spend time with His people? Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Colossians 2:9, “For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”
Jesus is our Ark. Look to Him for your salvation. We no longer need sacrifices. Jesus Christ is our sacrifice, the final sacrifice for our sins. But we must personally accept Him as God’s sacrifice for our sins. Jesus paid it all.
My friend, have you done that? The choice is clear. Either Jesus is our Savior now or He will be our Judge in eternity. Please come to Jesus and accept Him as your Lord and Savior. Do it today!