Exodus chapter 37 we're continuing the review of the tabernacle and all the
furniture and accoutrement if you remember earlier in the book he went
through and talked about how God commanded to make this and make that now
they're actually making those things so it says in verse 30 verse 1 of chapter
37 and Bezalel made the ark of Shittim wood two cubits and a half was the
length of it and a cubit and a half the breadth of it and a cubit and a half
the height of it and he overlaid it with pure gold within and without and
made a crown of gold to it roundabout and he cast for it four rings of gold to
be set by the four corners of it even two rings upon the one side of it and
two rings upon the other side of it he made the staves of Shittim wood and
overlaid them with gold and he put the staves into the rings by the sides of
the ark to bear the ark to carry the ark and he made the mercy seat of pure gold
two cubits and a half was the length thereof and one cubit and a half the
breadth thereof and he made two cherubims of gold beaten out of one
piece made he them on the two ends of the mercy seat and he goes on to
describe the cherubims now the Ark of the Covenant that's built here it's
basically a chest or a box that's made out of wood it's overlaid with gold and
everything about it is of course very symbolic okay some of the symbolism here
is of course of the Word of God because the contents of the ark are the tables
of stone with the Ten Commandments written upon them also known as the
tables of the Covenant those are placed within the box also the golden pot
filled with manna which the manna also represents God's Word because in
Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 3 it says how he suffered them to hunger and fed
them with manna that he might make them to know that man does not live by bread
alone but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God if man live so
the manna represents God's Word obviously the tables of the Covenant
again God's Word also Aaron's rod that budded is placed inside the ark and so
there's a parallel with God's Word also just with the Lord Jesus Christ himself
all the things in the tabernacle also point to Jesus remember the shit team
would that type of would that word actually means scourge and Jesus Christ
is beaten and scourged and then the fact that it's covered in gold and has a
crown of gold on it is the fact that Jesus Christ is crowned as the king of
Kings even the four rings that are to carry the ark the four rings that you
put the two sticks through you could think about you know the four Gospels
the four evangelists that are carrying the message of the gospel in Matthew
Mark Luke and John so there's a lot of symbolism here but what we need to
understand about the Ark of the Covenant is that on the mercy seat where the two
cherubims are located and and these are a lot of people would call these angels
right but these are winged living creatures the Bible calls them in the
book of Revelation they're called beasts and in the book of Ezekiel they're
called living creatures and they are winged angelic beings and the first time
that we see the cherry beams is in Genesis right when Adam and Eve get
thrown out of the Garden of Eden there are the cherry beams are there with the
flaming sword to keep the way to the Garden of Eden to basically block man
from going into the Garden of Eden and eating of the tree of life and living
forever and it's interesting that the next time we see the cherry beams is
here in Exodus chapter 37 with the mercy seat so it's kind of the opposite right
because the first time we see the cherry beams it has to do with man being judged
and he's rejected he's thrown out of the garden he can't have access to the tree
of life and he can't have eternal life because he's sand he's thrown out and
then here we have the cherry beams associated with the mercy seat right
which is all about bringing man back to God and and getting man forgiveness for
his sins and bringing him back into the presence of God and God said that he
would meet with Moses on the mercy seat there he said that there was going to be
a cloud that would come down between the cherry beams and God's presence would be
there on the mercy seat and that God would speak to Moses from the cloud on
the mercy seat between the cherry beams now in the New Testament the cherry
beams here are called the cherry beams of glory and so one of the things that
we could learn from this is that God is glorified both by his justice and wrath
and also by the mercy and salvation that he gives both actually bring glory to
God if you study the cherry beams all throughout scripture they're associated
with the glory of God because when we see in Ezekiel the most detailed
descriptions of the cherry beams in chapter 1 and chapter 10 of Ezekiel
it's called the vision of the glory of God so Ezekiel seeing this vision of the
glory of God and there's the throne and the wheels and the fire and the cherry
beams and this amazing site that is described in chapters 1 and 10 and the
cherry beams are prominent in the description of seeing God in all his
glory and then here they're called the cherry beams of glory so God's glory is
shown both in his wrath and justice and also in his mercy and salvation when a
person is not saved they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and they end up
dying and going to hell to be punished for their sins that actually brings
glory to God that his justice was carried out that his wrath was executed
now obviously he would prefer that people would be saved the Bible says you
know I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather you know that he
would turn from his wickedness and we also see of course that God's not
willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance but in the
end ultimately God is glorified both by those who are damned and by those who
are saved it both brings glory to God because one glorifies him for his
perfect justice and his perfect punishment on sin and then obviously
God's glorified in his mercy and that is one of his greatest attributes his love
and kindness and mercy now when the Bible talks about the mercy seat on the
Ark of the Covenant one of the phrases that comes up a lot over the course of
the Old Testament is God dwells between the cherry beams because in the law of
Moses it talks about how God's gonna you know meet with Moses between the cherry
beams on the mercy seat so then later in the book of Psalms and elsewhere it'll
refer back to this just talking about Oh God who dwells between the cherry beams
right and what we have to understand is that quite literally you can't put God
in a box all right so go if you would to 1st Samuel chapter 4 because there are
different people in the Bible misunderstood what the Ark of the
Covenant is and some people basically just got superstitious about it and
thought of it as something almost like a good luck charm or something that's
gonna help them win in battle if they have this with them so go to 1st Samuel
chapter 4 God does not dwell inside the Ark of the Covenant God does not live in
a box okay doesn't live in a chest God would meet with Moses above the cherry
beams but the Bible tells that God fills the heavens God is everywhere God does
not dwell in temples made with hands that's why over and over again when
you're reading the law of Moses you come across this phrase that God is going to
choose a place and we know that that place is going to eventually be
Jerusalem but he said God will choose a place to set his name there or God will
choose a place for his name to dwell there it's not that God is gonna live in
a certain geography or be restricted to a certain geography or even live in a
temple or even live in a box even smaller than that right God lives
everywhere and even when Solomon builds the temple and dedicates the temple
he makes it clear when he gives his prayer of dedication publicly he says
this is not a temple for God to live in because God fills the heavens this is
just a place for us to seek God a place for us to do sacrifice and so the the
the Ark of the Covenant and the cherry beams there are just a platform for God
to communicate with Moses and for God to meet with the children of Israel by
coming down in a cloud of glory and so forth but it's not a place for God
actually to live now look what the Bible says in 1st Samuel chapter 4 it says in
verse 2 and the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel and
when they joined battle Israel was smitten before the Philistines and they
slew of the army in the field about 4,000 men so the Israelites are getting
beaten by the Philistines 4,000 men are killed and it says in verse 3 when
the people were coming to the camp the elders of Israel said wherefore why had
the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines let us fetch the Ark of the
Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us that when it cometh among us it may
save us not God will save us not the Lord's gonna save us we're gonna pretty
good but no it's gonna save us out of the hand of our enemies and guess what
it doesn't work they go get the Ark of the Covenant so that it can save them
and when they bring it it doesn't save them at all because the reason why that
they were losing is because of the wickedness of Israel specifically Eli's
sons that have inherited the offices of the priesthood they're committing
fornication they're stealing from the offering they're doing all these
horrible things and their father Eli's just letting it all happen so you've got
all this wickedness in the spiritual leadership of Israel in Eli's house
that's why they're getting defeated here because there's sin in the camp but they
just think well if we go get the Ark of the Covenant that's gonna fix everything
it'll save us so they go and they send to Shiloh which is where God had chosen
at that time for the Ark of the Covenant to be in the tabernacle to be that they
might bring from thence the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts which
dwelleth between the cherubim see how that phrase comes up again later in the
Bible and the two sons of Eli Hophni and Phinehas were there with the Ark of the
Covenant of God and when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp
all Israel shouted with a great shout so that the earth rang again and when the
Philistines heard the noise of the shout they said what meaneth the noise of this
great shout in the camp of the Hebrews and they understood that the Ark of the
Lord was come into the camp and the Philistines were afraid for they said
God is come into the camp now this is not accurate this is what the heathen
are saying they're looking at the Ark of the Covenant like oh that's God you know
if you have that box with you you have God with you oh the reason we lost the
bat the battle is because we didn't have the Ark of the Covenant with us we
didn't have the box with us okay see you see how they're superstitious about this
thing they're not understanding the true purpose and the true meaning and
the Philistines were afraid and they said God is coming to the camp and they
said woe unto us for there have not been such a thing heretofore woe unto us who
shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods so they totally don't
get it because they're thinking multiple gods these are the gods that smote the
Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness so basically the only thing
that the Ark of the Covenant could possibly be doing right now for the
children of Israel is giving them a psychological advantage so this worked
great as a psychological warfare of basically demoralizing the enemy and
getting them scared and getting their side rallied everybody's cheering
everybody's excited we're gonna win now but that's not enough because God wants
them to lose so if God wants you to lose it doesn't matter how excited you are
doesn't matter what kind of earthly advantage you have like a psychological
advantage it doesn't matter your enthusiasm you need to get right with
God you know you need to obey the Word of God you can't just have this sinful
life and then go to church on Sunday and be like whoa you know and think that
God's gonna bless you and see a lot of Christianity today it's not according to
God's Word it's not about living a godly life and doing the right things there's
just a lot of just rah rah a lot of noise a lot of shouting and a lot of
superstitious things maybe like you know crosses and crucifixes and ointment or
ointments and incenses are being burned and and and administered and in
charismatic churches you know but you can sit there and get anointed and burn
the incense and shout and yell and roll in the aisles but at the end of the day
you're either right with God or you're not okay and it's according to actually
following God's Word you don't just get points for enthusiasm all right so he
says and I'm all for being enthusiastic but you got to be enthusiastic according
to knowledge you have to be enthusiastic according to the commandments of God
they that worship him must worship him in spirit yes and in truth they're not
in truth here okay because they have just complete crooks for leaders literal
thieves or mongers and the worst people are running their country that's why
God's not blessing so the the Philistines are scared woe unto us verse
9 be strong and quit yourselves like men oh you Philistines that you be not
servants unto the Hebrews as they have been to you quit yourselves like men and
fight and the Philistines fought and Israel was smitten and they fled every
man into his tent and there was a very great slaughter for their fell of Israel
30,000 footmen so without the ark how many people died 4,000 with the ark 30,000
died so it's even worse you know God gets more upset about abuse of religion
then no religion at all you know the Bible talks about in Matthew 23 the
scribes and Pharisees they devoured widows houses but then he said for a
pretense they made long prayers therefore they shall receive the greater
damnation so when you try to draw drag God into your sinful practices you know
you're basically compounding it and making it even worse it's way I mean God
has more respect for just the worldly sinful person who doesn't even claim to
be a Christian then let's say a preacher who used this position as pastor to just
abuse and steal and and lie to people and he's just in it for fame and
popularity and money or whatever like these televangelist types that have got
just the you know the million-dollar homes and they're driving around fancy
cars they got the private jet and everything like that you know there are
a lot of people who make their money in a crooked way but when you're doing it
in a crooked way in the name of Jesus it's so much worse and so I think the
fact that they went and fetched the ark as a superstitious good luck charm
that's what they think it's gonna do for them and they're like all right we're
invoking God now but without following his commandments without getting rid of
the sin in the camp they end up doing worse instead of losing 4,000 troops
they lose 30,000 troops now the worst thing is that not only do they lose but
the Bible says in verse 11 the Ark of God was taken now they really feel like
idiots because you know they're the custodians of the worship of the Lord
the house of God the tabernacle and this Ark of the Covenant is a sacred object
it's supposed to be in the Holy of Holies and they're hey let's get it out
and take it into battle we need help this is gonna give us an extra edge over
our enemies now that they've gotten the thing out and fooled around with it now
it gets stolen by the Philistines now they're horrified because this is kind
of unprecedented you know it back in Exodus chapter 37 you know Bezalel makes
this thing and they've got the Ark of the Covenant and it's something that's
just you know centuries and centuries this thing is central in their worship
of the Lord once a year and then all of a sudden it's just it's it's taken it's
gone so this is obviously horrifying to them that's why when Eli hears about it
he dies you know when he hears about the thing being taken because he's just so
shocked and horrified by this that he falls out of his chair he turns out he
was he was a very heavy man he was old he falls out backward out of his chair
look at verse 18 I'll just show you you're there in first Samuel right
chapter 4 look at verse 18 came to pass when he made mention of the Ark of God
that he fell from off the seat backward that's why you don't lean back in your
chair kids he fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate and his neck
break and he died for he was an old man and heavy and he had judged Israel 40
years not only that look at verse 19 and his daughter-in-law Phinehas wife
was with child near to be delivered and when she heard the tidings that the Ark
of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead
she bowed herself and travailed for her pains came upon her so this puts her
into labor hearing about the Ark of God being taken she goes into labor and she
dies in childbirth and she names the child in verse 21 Ichabod saying the
glory is departed from Israel because the Ark of God was taken and because of
her father-in-law and her husband well they weren't bringing any glory to
Israel they that was a good redness on them we're glad they're dead but the Ark
being taken is bad news but she liked those guys you know their family so what
choice does she have all right chapter 5 verse 1 it says and the Philistines took
the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod when the
Philistines took the Ark of God they brought it into the house of Dagon and
set it by Dagon so they take this thing home as a trophy and they're like wow
these are the gods that defeated the Egyptians this is a powerful object now
they should have realized just a minute ago they didn't help the people who
brought it into battle the Israelites just brought it into battle and they
ended up getting wiped out hey let's grab their good luck charm I'd be like
man I don't want to touch that thing that made them lose bad but they're
superstitious they just think the sacred object is gonna help us you know we're
gonna bring it as a trophy well and the things covered in gold right so this is
a precious thing plus it was it was carved and and fashioned by a guy who
was given special wisdom from God so I'm sure it looked amazing sure it was quite
beautiful because remember God hand-picked these special artisans and
then he filled them with the Holy Spirit and gave them wisdom so that they could
fashion the Ark exactly according to the pattern that was showed Moses in the
mount and so as I'm sure was extremely beautiful it's shining like gold
precious so they take this thing home as a trophy and they brought in the house
of Dagon and set it by Dagon so this is the fish god of the Philistines and when
they have Ashtad arose early on the morrow behold Dagon was fallen upon his
face to the earth before the Ark of the Lord so they basically they bring home
the Ark of God and they put it in the temple of their god Dagon and there's
this molten image of Dagon or graven image of Dagon we don't know what that
looked like but basically whatever this image is some people have said it was
like a human body with a fish head because you know you see a lot of
ancient gods that are like these hybrids between humans and animals and since
this guy has fish in his name it you know it seems like he was some kind of a
fish god or something so basically this idol falls down on its face before the
Ark of God so basically this is just a miracle where God is sowing his
superiority to other gods by just making their idol fall down to the symbol of
his presence and his glory so this thing falls down before him verse 3 and
when they have Ashtad arose early on the morrow behold Dagon was fallen upon his
face to the earth before the Ark of the Lord and they took Dagon and set him in
his place again you know thank thank God we don't worship a god that has that we
put him in his place he puts us in our place amen they have to put Dagon in
his place and when they arose early on the morrow morning behold Dagon was
fallen upon his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord but God
decides to up the ante they didn't really get the message the first time
so the first time he makes their idol fall on its face before the Ark and they
just like well just you know just pick it up again just prop it their God has
to be propped up so I just prop it up then when they prop it up next time they
come back God did it to where the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands
were cut off upon the threshold only the stump of Dagon was left to him so now
he's just a completely crippled God that's just like a trunk or a stump and
they still don't get the message they don't stop worshipping him they keep
worshipping him because it says in verse 5 therefore neither the priests of Dagon
nor any that come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon and
Ashdod unto this day now when is the this day well the this day is whenever
first Samuel is being written now first Samuel seems to be part of you know the
same narrative with not only second Samuel but but probably even with first
and second Kings as well okay so if we go all the way to the end of second
Kings we're talking many centuries going by because remember first and
second Kings first Samuel covers you know the reign of Saul and then the reign
of David is covered in second Samuel then when we get into first Kings and
second Kings you know it's gonna take us all the way to the Babylonian captivity
all right so whether we're talking about you know if we're lumping these books
together first second Samuel at first second Kings and assuming that they were
all written around the same time then you know we're talking about the unto
this day being for a very long time or it's possible that this this part just
first second Samuel was written earlier and then it would maybe only be just
decades or whatever but either way however you read this you know we're
talking at least like a hundred years later they're still worshiping Dagon and
probably several hundred years later they're still worshipping Dagon even
though Dagon keeps falling over and just sustaining more damage wouldn't you
think that would send a message to them that their God is inferior to the God of
the Bible okay now who is their guy you say well their God doesn't even exist
well actually the false gods of the heathen did exist they are demons is
what they are they are devils so they do exist because we know the Bible says in
1st Corinthians 8 and chapter 10 you know we know that an idol is nothing in
the world but the Bible says the things that the Gentiles offer and sacrifice
unto idols they offer unto devils so if you're offering a sacrifice unto an idol
who are you really worshipping devils and he said I don't want you to have
fellowship with Devils all right so when you're worshipping Dagon you're
worshipping a demon you're worshipping a devil and so that's what they're
actually worse being so God is showing how their false God is nothing to him
and has to fall on its face before him think about what Jesus walked the earth
what did the demons do you know all the people who were possessed with Devils
they fell on their faces and they worshiped Jesus Christ and say oh that
art the Son of God even people even the demons and the devils tremble before the
Lord God of the Bible and so they all fell down before him and worshipped him
just like Dagon is falling down before the Ark of the Covenant this is what
symbolic or picturing or figurative or pointing us to the fact that someday the
demon possessed ones are gonna fall down on their face before the Lord Jesus
Christ and then remember that crown on the Ark of the Covenant is like the
crown of Jesus Christ King of Kings the Bible says in Revelation 19 that Jesus
had many crowns on his head because he's the King of Kings the Lord of Lords and
so we see a foreshadowing of that with Dagon falling down before him so some of
you have Dagon on your car a little metal fish but never mind anyway I shall
not make any molten image of any fish but Deuteronomy chapter 4 just saying
it's none of my business though but anyway so just the stump of Dagon was
left to him therefore verse 5 neither the priests of Dagon nor any that come
into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashtad unto this
day so they even build a tradition on this hey let's build a tradition for the
next hundred years about how our God fell on his face and got smashed so
we're not gonna step on the threshold this thresholds really holy because this
is where Dagon's face bashed in and you're gonna and you're gonna venerate
that and say oh yeah well we don't want to step on that that's holy ground right
there that's where Dagon busted his face busted his hands off you know it just
shows you some people are just gonna believe what they want to believe and
they don't care what they see they don't care what you preach to them they're
just I mean I was just born a Dagon worshiper and that's how my family is
and I'm just gonna die Catholic and you know it's just Catholic born and
Catholic bread and when I die I'll be Catholic dead but it says in verse
number seven when the men of Ashtad saw that it was so actually verse six look at
verse six but the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashtad and he
destroyed them and smote them with emeralds even Ashtad and the coast
there you say what are emerods well just put an H on the front of that okay
and then that might help you figure out what emerods are maybe an I after the O
and before the D and that's a similar English word when the men of Ashtad saw
that it was so they said the Ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us
yeah I don't blame them at that point get this thing out of here we don't want
emerods his hand is sore upon us and he's beaten the fire out of Dagon our
God you know he's knocked him over twice so look we're sick of him bullying and
abusing our God Dagon and he's smiting us with emerods get him out of here they
sent therefore and gathered all the Lords of the Philistines with them and
said what shall we do with the Ark of the God of Israel and they answered let
the Ark of the God of Israel be carried on to Gath what in the world sense does
that make so there are five major cities of the Philistines Ashtad Ekron Gath
Gaza and base Ashkelon and and so they're basically saying oh well he's
beating up on you and your God over at Ashtad well you know let's just send it
over to Gath I mean if it's messing up one city of the Philistines let's just
send it to another city of the Philistines obviously the same thing's
gonna happen and it says in verse number eight and they carried the Ark of the
God of Israel about there look at verse nine and it was so that after they
carried it about the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great
destruction so now he's beaten up on Gath and they're getting the emerods
small and great and by the way they add to emerods in their secret parts that's
the last place you want to have emerods whatever they are you know you don't
want to have any kind of a plague in your secret parts verse number 10
therefore they sent the Ark of God to Ekron I mean are these people stupid or
what it's like oh it's messing us up in Ashtad let's try Gath
it runs in our secret parts all right send it over here to Ekron and then look
what it says it came to pass as the Ark of God came to Ekron the Ekronites
cried out saying they brought about the Ark of the God of Israel to us to slay
us and our people get this thing out of here so they sent and gathered together
all the lords of the Philistines and said send away the Ark of the God of
Israel you know that we don't care how cool it looks I don't care how much gold
is on this thing or how ornate it is get rid of it let it go again to his own
place that it slay us not it doesn't kill us and our people for there was a
deadly destruction throughout all the city and the hand of God was very heavy
there so God's not happy about this thing just being paraded through the
land of the Philistines this thing needs to go back to the Holy of Holies where
it belongs it never should have been pulled out in the first place because
they weren't right with God and they pulled it out and they thought that that
was gonna fix things but you know what it didn't fix anything so it says in
verse 12 the men that died not were smitten with the emeralds and the cry
of the city went up to heaven the Ark of God in verse verse 1 of chapter 6 the
Ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months and the
Philistines called for the priests and the diviners saying what shall we do to
the Ark of the Lord tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place so they're
going to their religious experts these are the heathen though the Philistine
religious experts not they're not getting you know the priests from Israel
and saying hey let's have an ambassador from Israel come and you know send the
Levites and they can carry the thing on their shoulders and bring it back and
whatever they go to their diviners their soothsayers if you will or just kind of
pagan cult leaders whatever they are you know tell us wherewith we shall send
it to his place verse 3 and they said if you send away the Ark of the God of
Israel send it not empty but in any wise return to him a trespass offering then
you shall be healed and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed
from you then said they what shall be the trespass offering which we shall
return to him they answered five golden emeralds and five golden mice why not
according to the number of the Lords of the Philistines for one plague was on
you all and on yours therefore you shall make images of your emeralds and images
of your mice that mar the land and you shall give glory unto the God of Israel
per adventure maybe he will lighten his hand from off you and from off your gods
and from off your land wherefore then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians
and Pharaoh harden their hearts when he had wrought wonderfully among them did
they not let the people go and they departed now therefore make a new cart
and they do this thing where they basically get this new cart and they put
these cows in front of it and they basically just send the cart away with
no one driving the thing so they just have just a cart two cows pulling it and
they say you know what let's just and this always just blows my mind because
they basically send the thing away and and say you know if it takes it back to
where it's supposed to go if it takes it to Israel then you'll know that you know
this is God who did this but look what it says in verse 9 see if it goes by the
way of his own coast to best she mesh then he have done us this great evil
then we'll know God did this but if not then we shall know that it is not his
hand that smote us it was a chance that happened to us isn't this funny that
that how could anyone think it's a chance we bring the ark of God Dagon
falls over next day falls over and breaks again everybody is dying everybody's
getting M rods move it to a different town everybody's dying everybody's
getting M rods bring it to the third town everybody's dying everybody's
getting M rods and they're like I don't know maybe it's just a coincidence maybe
it's just a chance thing that happened to us so let's do this thing where we
just let the cows just kind of use our arms guys see where they go and of
course the cows took it straight back to Israel and then they're like well that
settles it I mean here's the thing if you think it would have already been
settled by now that if it was that it was God but if it's not settled are they
the cows really gonna settle it like all this stuff might just be a
coincidence but if these cows if they walk toward Israel we'll know if they
stay on the highway it has to be so it's it just shows you the stupidity of false
religion and and the stubbornness of people to just refuse to accept what God
is doing even in the end times you know they're gonna be plagues in the end
times where God is is turning water into blood and and you know pouring out
his wrath on this earth and and here's the thing people in the end times they're
not gonna glorify God they're not gonna say like this is God punishing us you
know what they're gonna say oh it's climate change because if you look at
God pouring out his wrath he uses a lot of natural things to do it you know he's
not just necessarily talking from the sky narrating what he's doing so if you
if you look at those plagues when God pours out his wrath with the seven
trumpets and the seven vials you know one of one of the things that happens
right away you know with the opening of the first vial is annoysome and grievous
sore comes about all the men who had the mark of the beast so that they get
sores on their body you know they're probably just gonna say well maybe you
know there's some kind of a reaction from the mark of the beast you know
you're allergic to it or something and we don't really know what the mark of
the beast is physically going to be like you know we postulate that maybe it's
like that some kind of a implantable chip or something some kind of a
technology that's put in their body you say oh your body's rejecting it your
immune systems freaking out and that's why you have all these sores you know
that's what people are gonna say they're gonna explain it away or you look at for
example the third trumpet where you have wormwood you know crashing in there
they're just gonna say watch you know a meteor crash into the earth you know
what can you do or where the Sun is scorching men with heat and and men are
blasting we got they're just gonna say oh man the Sun is just really flaring
up right now you know so all these things are going to be happening in
succession and the Bible says they're not gonna repent and they're not gonna
give God the glory they're gonna blaspheme God they're gonna you know
people do when they get hurt or something they start cussing God's name
they're gonna be like oh God what blankety-blank why are you doing this
they're gonna come up with an explanation for everything and you say
how can they explain these things away all these wild things that are gonna be
happening in Revelation how can they not see that God's judging them but look at
stories like this and there's your answer you know that people will always
find a way to say well it's just a coincidence there's a there's an
explanation there's a natural explanation and that's what we see here
so you know they get the arc back and then when they get the arc back you know
they they end up peeking inside they get excited about getting the arc back so
they're like hey let's look inside you know make sure everything I guess they
want to make sure everything's still there and the people who look inside die
and people are punished for peeking into it for touching it because it was only
supposed to be handled by the Levites and it was only supposed to be carried
on their shoulders with those staves it wasn't supposed to be put on a cart see
the Philistines their heathen priests told them put it on a cart and send it
back to his place right and then later we see David putting it on a cart where
do you get that idea that came from the Philistines right the
Philistines came up with the idea of hey what are we doing carrying this thing
around on sticks put it on a cart it wasn't God's will for it to be put on a
cart it was God's will for it to be carried by hand okay to be carried on
foot so go back if you would to Exodus chapter 37 the Philistines came up with
this idea of putting it on a new cart then when David emulates this the oxen
that pull the cart end up stumbling Uzzah puts forth his hand to steady it
his heart was in the right place he's trying to steady it but when he touches
the arc he falls over dead David gets upset doesn't understand why but then a
few months later David wises up and says you know what only the Levites are
supposed to be carrying the ark that's the problem so then they did it right
they carried it on their shoulders so the Bible tells us here in Exodus
chapter 37 it says in verse number four he made staves of shit team wood and
overlaid them with gold and he put the staves by the way staves that's just
plural for staff staff staves all right so these are long wooden rods that are
also covered in gold that are used to carry the ark on the shoulders of the
Levites and it says that they put the staves into the rings by the sides of
the ark to bear the ark so if you think of the ark as picturing the Word of God
right because it what does it have in it it has the Word of God it has the stone
tablets as the manna which represents the Word of God Aaron's rod that butted
those are the three items and it's called the Ark of the Covenant or the
Ark of the Testament what is Covenant or Testament referring to it's talking about
the Covenant that God made with Israel and that Covenant is exemplified in the
Ten Commandments that's kind of the the cliff's notes version of their side of
the Covenant and so it represents the Word of God and so you could think about
it this way that they're supposed to be carrying the Word of God don't don't put
it on a cart but actually carry it you know I was thinking about having your
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace you know what do we do
with the gospel of Christ we are to carry it by foot and bring the gospel
throughout the world and again I think that the the four rings and the rods
have to do with carrying the Word of God or transporting the gospel or carrying
the message of God's Word and transporting it so it talks about again
making the ark making the cherry abyms the cherry abyms of glory on the mercy
seat looking both toward the mercy seat and then of course the blood is going to
be put on the mercy seat these cherry abyms are associated with the judgment
of God and also the mercy of God both because they're exemplifying the glory
of God so after this in this catalog in verse or chapter 37 of things that are
being built by Bezalil the the workmen that was given the special ability to
make these things after that it gets into making the table in verse number 10
and again the the the temple excuse me the table is a similar workmanship it's
made out of the same kind of wood also overlaid with gold also has rings to be
born by the two staves and this table is to put out the showbread okay so bread
is put out on the table and obviously this also represents the Word of God
which is the the bread of life and it also represents Jesus Christ who is the
bread of life and then in verse 17 he made the candlestick of pure gold of
beaten work made he the candlestick his shaft and his branch his bowls his knobs
and his flowers were of the same and obviously this candlestick puts forth
light so it is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who said I'm the light of
the world and also the Bible says the Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a
light to our path so when we see the most interior furniture of the
tabernacle but remember the tabernacle has these concentric layers of holiness
you know there's the courtyard which is not as holy then you get into the holy
place itself and then you get into the holiest of all or the most holy place
and in the most holy place you have the Ark of the Covenant representing God's
Word God's presence and then right near that you have the table with the show
bread and the light and these things are all pointing us to God's Word so God's
Word is central to the house of God and in our church which is the New Testament
version of the house of God we don't have a temple or tabernacle but the
assembly of us as believers assembled here this is God's house the church not
the building but the assembly of people here the Bible needs to be at the center
the Word of God needs to be central just like the Ark of the Covenant was
central the table of bread was central the candlestick is central and Jesus
Christ himself needs to be central now the things that picture Jesus also
picture the word and the things that picture the word also picture Jesus why
because Jesus is the word the Bible says Jesus the word made flesh and dwelled
among us Jesus name is called the Word of God in Revelation chapter 19 you
cannot separate Jesus from his word the two are inseparable if you're
worshipping a guy named Jesus that doesn't necessarily mean that you're
actually worse being the true Jesus because the Bible warns us in 2nd
Corinthians 11 of another Jesus another Jesus so everybody who's called Jesus
isn't the Jesus of the Bible and that's why we use that term the Jesus of the
Bible the biblical Jesus not the so-called historical Jesus or the Jesus
of Mormonism or the Jesus of Islam I mean how many times I can't even count
have I spoken with a Muslim and preached in the gospel and I talked about the
importance of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and here's what they all
say well of course I believe in Jesus I can't be a Muslim without believing in
Jesus who's ever had them say that to you yeah yeah well I can't even be a
Muslim without believing in Jesus I have to believe in Jesus because Jesus is one
of the prophets that we believe in but hold on a second are they believing in
the Jesus of the Bible not even close because the Jesus of the Bible is the
Son of God you have to believe on the Sun to have everlasting life he that
believeth on the Sun has everlasting life he that believeth not the Sun
should not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him and so what we believe in
Jesus yeah but you believe in the Sun the biblical Jesus is the Son of God
any other Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible and a lot of times people will
just come up with their own Jesus they'll say well the Jesus I believe in
you know he affirms the LGBT and he's feminist and he's you know a socialist
and he loves the Communist Manifesto and everything look that's not the Jesus of
the Bible you're praying to a figment of your imagination better be the biblical
Jesus all right because Jesus is the word the word is Jesus that's why you
can talk about the Ark of the Covenant picturing the Word of God and then it's
like oh you talk about picturing Jesus candlestick the candlesticks the word
the candlesticks Jesus Jesus is the light of the world the Word of God is
the light you know Jesus is the bread of life the Word of God is the bread that
came down from heaven Jesus is the bread that came down from heaven these subjects
are inseparable and when you try to separate them you end up just getting
confused and and teaching wrong things so it's best to just understand that
Jesus and his word are I mean Jesus is the word Jesus is the word made flesh
and so Jesus is the flesh and blood embodiment of what we have in Scripture
he's the Word made flesh the second person of the Godhead right the Father
the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one and so we see here the
Ark of the Covenant the table the candlestick and then the last thing
that's mentioned is in verse 25 the incense altar the incense altar is also
of Shittim wood the length of it was a cubit the breadth of it a cubit it was
foursquare and two cubits was the height of it the horns thereof were of the same
verse 26 and he overlaid it with pure gold both the top of it and the sides
thereof roundabout and the horns of it and he made unto it a crown of gold
roundabout and he made two rings of gold for it under the crown thereof by the
two corners of it upon the two sides thereof to be places for the staves to
bear it with also all of these items are getting these receptacles with the rings
and the staves that they could be carried on people's shoulders when the
tabernacle moves verse 29 he made the holy anointing oil and the pure incense
of sweet spices according to the work of the apothecary so Exodus chapter 37 is
just describing it and and I already preached about this in more detail
earlier in the series when we talked about the commandment to build these
things but basically chapter 37 is about the things that are in the most holy
place and the holy place the most intimate furniture on the interior of
the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant is the main centerpiece of that
and we saw that the Ark of the Covenant isn't powerful on its own it's not a
good-luck charm it's not a rabbit's foot or something where oh if we have this
with us this is gonna give us favor with God you saw that God didn't like that at
all the Israelites tried to do that didn't work
Philistines tried to do it didn't work people who believed in him didn't work
people who didn't believe in him didn't work so let me ask this you think God
wants us to have a little crucifix that we're holding on to as a good-luck charm
and rubbing it and Oh God please save me please help me protect me right now
little relics splinters from the True Cross you know which there's so many
splinters claiming to be from the True Cross you could build a giant wooden
ship and sail around the world in it you know the cross how big was this
cross you know but everybody's got a splinter of the True Cross and this bone
of this saint and John the Baptist forearm you know is supposedly in the
you know Mount Athos monastery in Greece you know you get a little be I don't
know if it's the the fibula the the the what the fit the oh sorry radius or the
ulna I mixed up my leg bones here all right it's been a while since I was in
medical school no I'm just kidding but anyway you know is it is it the radius
is it the ulna or what that they've got a John the Baptist but you know what we
should not be superstitious you know I wouldn't even carry the Bible around as
a good-luck charm you know it's and then now look the Word of God is is precious
but the physical book I don't think it's gonna protect you having the physical
book like an amulet or something you know I've got the New Testament in my
pocket you know it's gonna the bullet is just gonna bounce right you know you
know God does not teach this kind of superstitions about amulets and little
crucifixes and a little picture of Jesus and you know all these different things
we need to stay away from that stuff God isn't impressed by that we need what we
need to do is have the Word of God in our hearts read the Bible love the Bible
and you know what when you read the Bible people who love the Lord and obey
him end up being blessed and things go well you disobey God things go badly and
and having sacred objects and little holy water and holy this and holy that
has never helped anyone and never will you know focus on having the Holy Spirit
not a bunch of little holy trinkets and objects because they do nothing and we
should not be superstitious as Christians let's buy rides never word of
prayer father we thank you so much for your word Lord and and we thank you so
much that we can boldly come to the mercy seat in heaven through prayer and
we don't have a physical Ark of the Covenant but we know that the the real
Ark of the Covenant is up in heaven and the blood of Christ is on the mercy seat
there and we have access to the throne room of grace through prayer and in
Jesus name we can pray to you Lord and you hear us without any sacred objects
or special relics required Lord please help us to take advantage of that
opportunity to pray to you and find grace to help in time of need and Jesus
name we pray amen