[0:00] May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be found acceptable in thy sight. O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.
[0:10] Amen.
[0:40] And on either side of it, there were big rings through which long poles could be inserted in order that the box might be carried. And it was in the course of David establishing Jerusalem, Mount Zion as his city and the center of his kingdom, where he had built himself a house that he pitched a tent.
[1:10] Because God had always dwelt in a tent among his people. And the presence of God was associated with this box, which was four feet long and two and a half feet wide and two and a half feet high and was covered with beaten gold.
[1:32] And it had stayed for a long time in the farm of a man named Obed-Edom. And when David has built his house and pitched the tent, he went down to Obed-Edom with the Levitical priests, took their poles and lifted this holy box.
[2:00] And with great rejoicing, brought it up to Jerusalem and placed it in the tent. And verse chapter 16 of 1 Chronicles says, And they brought in the ark of God, they brought in the ark of God and set it inside the tent, which David had pitched for it.
[2:22] And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord and distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins.
[2:55] Moreover, he appointed certain of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord to invoke, to thank, to praise the Lord, the God of Israel.
[3:13] Asaph was the chief and second to him was Zechariah. Asaph was the chief and second to him, they were to play harps and lyres.
[3:27] Asaph was to sound the cymbals. Asaph was to sound the cymbals. Asaph was to sound the cymbals. And Jehaziel, the priest, were to blow trumpets continually before the covenant, the ark of the covenant of God.
[3:41] And then on that day, first appointed, thanksgiving be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brothers.
[3:53] So there was a great festival of food and song and thanksgiving for the coming of the ark of the covenant into the city of David.
[4:08] David, the city where David had built himself a house. A house. One day this past April, we were on a hill called Megiddo looking over the plains of Jezreel.
[4:31] And there we were shown a horse trunk, which was about that long and that wide and stood about that high.
[4:43] And it was believed, so we were told, that such was the manger.
[4:54] The manger was the manger, which like the law that had come and had been preserved in the ark of the covenant.
[5:08] To this manger came the God of Israel. It was a God who had come among his people.
[5:22] O come, O come, Emmanuel. After years of singing that, God indeed came among his people in the person of Jesus Christ.
[5:41] But then, there is another sense in which God is coming.
[5:53] And we are, as someone has said, an advent people. And all that is, and all that has been, is not to be compared with what will be when he comes again.
[6:15] And that we live our life not spinning out the tale of years that belongs to us.
[6:30] And that we are, as someone who joyfully anticipated his coming again to judge the world. As the Son of Man, to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
[6:46] And so we are an advent people waiting for our Lord to come. And the chief thing in our life is that expectation.
[7:02] And if you turn to the end of the scriptures, you will find, as God has come to us, so we will ultimately come to him.
[7:15] And we will, as we are told, upon the living creatures, give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever.
[7:35] And four and twenty elders will fall down before him who is seated on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever. They will cast their crowns before the throne.
[7:50] Singing. Singing. Worthy art thou, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor.
[8:02] For thou didst create all things. And by thy will they existed and were created. And so it was in the time of David, when he danced before the ark of the Lord as it came into Jerusalem.
[8:22] And as the angels sang in the sky above the hills of Bethlehem. And as we prepare to sing the eternal song of the worship of our eternal God, standing before his throne, we celebrate his coming by singing with all our hearts.
[8:48] And we are very much blessed tonight by those people who like the sons of Asaph, our choir, and who have given them to themselves, who have taken to themselves the discipline and the demands.
[9:09] And they have given the gifts that they have been given to the work of teaching us all to worship.
[9:20] We might all be gathered together as we are on this Advent Sunday. To sing with all our hearts the praise of our God who has come, who will come, and to whom one day we will come singing.
[9:44] It's that priceless privilege of ours, that talent. We are called to that. We are called to that.
[9:56] Probably in a strange and wonderful way. Though you may have a little stomach ache at the moment. You are very close to heaven indeed.
[10:07] Gathered as we are as the people of God. To sing his praise. To celebrate his presence. And to acknowledge his coming.
[10:19] The celebration for which the loaf of bread, the piece of meat, the cake of raisins was given. Ended with a tremendous hymn, which is recorded in 1 Chronicles, chapter 16.
[10:36] And that hymn ends with these words. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
[10:50] Then, at the end of that hymn it says, all the people said, Amen and praise the Lord.
[11:03] Amen. And so I would ask you, as I end this Greek talk, to join with me in those words of worship.
[11:15] Amen and praise the Lord. Amen and praise the Lord.
[11:32] Amen