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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