David's Passion

David Man of Prayer PART VIII
31 May 2015
Rev. John Lin

2Samuel 6:1-7; 16-22
1David again brought together all the able young men of Israel--thirty thousand.  2He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark.  3They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill.  Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it.  5David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.

6When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzza reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled.  7The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverant act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.

16As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window.  And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

17They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord.  18After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty.  19Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women.  And all the people went to their homes.

20When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"

21David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel--I will celebrate before the Lord.  22I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.  But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."

PASSION OF THE ARK
--Ark represented the Throne of God.
--An intimate and fiery presence of God with his people.
--David brings the ark back to the center of the Kingdom (the true King returns)
--v.1 Procession and parade to celebrate the return of the Ark.

DANGER OF THE ARK
--v.6+7 Death of Uzzah
--v.8 David is angry with himself because he underestimated the seriousness of sin.
--Rules of the Old Testament tells us that sin is serious.
--We are unclean and He is holy--We can not dwell together.
--We can't do anything on our own to bridge that wide chasm.
--David thought the good moral intentions could mitigate the reality of sin.

HOPE OF THE ARK
--Ark returns to Jerusalem by His doing, not our own.
--v.10-11 shows the relational nature with God.
--David was more deliberate about moving the Ark.
--Sacrificed a bull so that the only way the Ark returns is through a sacrifice.
--Ark represents the sacrifice of God.

JOY OF THE ARK
--David dances with servants and slave girls.
--David was not trying to protect his dignity or appearance.
--For David, it was about grace.

ADDENDUM
--v.23 Michal didn't carry the royal line.
--It was the flawed Bathsheeba that continued the lineage.