WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.040 So we're back tonight to our life of David series. 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:06.040 We had taken a break this past week 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:08.439 when Thomas Davis was visiting us 00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:10.400 and we're reading the same passage 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:13.400 if you were here two weeks ago, that we read two weeks ago, 00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:16.320 but this time we're going to focus on the second part 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:19.120 instead of the first part like we had done. 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:23.559 And when you look at all of it actually together, 00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:27.240 what you see is that this is a story about joy 00:00:27.239 --> 00:00:31.479 and it's a story about what it means to have joy 00:00:31.479 --> 00:00:33.679 in the presence of the Lord. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:37.399 So let's look at that three things tonight. 00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:40.560 First is the paradox of God's presence 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:43.280 and then secondly the nature of joy. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:46.359 And then finally we'll ask how do you get joy? 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:49.519 So first the paradox of God's presence 00:00:49.519 --> 00:00:53.359 and this is really just to recap last time a little bit, 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:54.920 especially if you weren't here, 00:00:54.920 --> 00:00:58.480 this is really the first part is important 00:00:58.480 --> 00:00:59.880 in understanding the second part, 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:01.800 so we have to recall it a little bit. 00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:05.400 The context in 2 Samuel 6 is that David 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:08.200 has gone to the very border line of Israel, 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:13.200 Kiryat Jereem, and he has gathered 30,000 people 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:17.599 to march towards Jerusalem, the city of God, 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:19.159 with the Ark of the Covenant. 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:22.240 God's presence symbolized in the sacrament 00:01:22.240 --> 00:01:23.879 of the Ark of the Covenant. 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:27.679 And this is a party, you notice in the reading, 00:01:27.679 --> 00:01:29.319 they've got all sorts of instruments, 00:01:29.319 --> 00:01:31.959 there's dancing, there's celebration. 00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:35.439 And what the writer wants you to have in your mind, 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.799 and you can tell this from the details, 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:42.199 is that this is actually the beginning of a new era 00:01:42.199 --> 00:01:44.640 that's gonna shape all of Israelite history 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:46.719 until Jesus comes. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:51.319 This is in some ways the center point of the Old Testament 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:54.199 because what you have is David's just been anointed 00:01:54.199 --> 00:01:55.839 the king and he is God's king, 00:01:55.839 --> 00:01:59.799 he's the one that God chose in the chapter just before this. 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:04.119 And now Jerusalem is becoming the city of God 00:02:04.119 --> 00:02:08.319 because the Ark of God is entering into the city of God 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:10.639 and God is now establishing his presence 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:12.719 in the land that he had promised. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:14.079 And so when you look at the details, 00:02:14.079 --> 00:02:18.719 this feels on first glance like the Abrahamic, 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.240 like Abrams Covenant is being fulfilled. 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:23.320 The people are being blessed with God's presence, 00:02:23.320 --> 00:02:25.480 like God said, in the land they're being given 00:02:25.480 --> 00:02:28.520 and they're given the city and they're multiplying 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:30.200 and there's a great celebration 00:02:30.200 --> 00:02:32.240 and it's even more than that, 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:33.480 there I mentioned last time, 00:02:33.480 --> 00:02:37.040 there are seven references in this to the quote, 00:02:37.040 --> 00:02:40.080 Ark of God, and then there are seven references 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:42.400 to the Ark of the Lord. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:46.160 And seven plus seven is 14. 00:02:46.160 --> 00:02:49.360 And seven, of course, it comes from creation, 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:54.120 the creation days and the reason that there's two sets of seven 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:58.040 is because it's trying to signal to the reader very subtly 00:02:58.040 --> 00:03:00.680 that this is meant to be read like new creation. 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:03.000 Is this the moment where new creation 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:05.680 is being established, creation all over again? 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:09.080 The Ark of the Lord seven times, the Ark of God seven times, 00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:11.880 we have 14, that's the number of new creation 00:03:11.880 --> 00:03:14.960 throughout the Bible, the Abrahamic Covenant being fulfilled. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:17.480 Is this, is it today? 00:03:17.480 --> 00:03:19.200 And it's not. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:22.359 Because remember, Uzzah reaches out his hand 00:03:22.359 --> 00:03:25.560 on the threshing floor of Nikon and he touches the Ark 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:26.799 and he falls dead. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:31.319 And the party stops and we can't go back through 00:03:31.319 --> 00:03:34.599 all that that means, like we did two weeks ago, 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:36.159 you can see that two weeks ago. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:40.359 There's lots of rule breaking here 00:03:40.359 --> 00:03:42.199 that leads up to Uzzah's death. 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:45.280 The way they handled the Ark of God was inappropriate. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:49.000 Uzzah being there was against the Deuteronomic Law, 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:51.240 all sorts of things, but this is not really 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:52.599 about the rules at all. 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:54.599 And that's what we saw last time. 00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:59.080 What we see in Uzzah is that in the face of God, 00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:04.080 in God's presence, sinners are unfit. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:06.680 And God's presence is deadly. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:10.439 In the, as we saw in the Catechism tonight, 00:04:10.439 --> 00:04:14.639 the depths of human sin go deeper than we can even know. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:17.759 And that means when we stand in the holy presence of God, 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:21.680 even in the midst of the party, we're unfit. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:23.399 And God's presence becomes deadly. 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:27.599 And in verse 10, David actually realizes it 00:04:27.599 --> 00:04:31.680 and he says, how can I bring the Ark to Jerusalem? 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:34.000 And what he's realizing in that moment is 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:37.039 this can also happen to me. 00:04:37.039 --> 00:04:39.599 You see, David wakes up and he realizes, 00:04:39.599 --> 00:04:42.240 I'm not different than Uzzah. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:44.719 And so he's afraid of the Ark and he puts it 00:04:44.719 --> 00:04:46.959 into the house of Obed, Edom, the Getite. 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.319 Now, we're in part two tonight. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:53.079 And part two is attempt number two 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:56.039 to try to get the Ark to Jerusalem. 00:04:56.039 --> 00:04:58.599 This is the second try. 00:04:58.599 --> 00:05:00.839 And it's been some months, three months, 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:02.879 and David went to Jerusalem without the Ark. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:04.359 It's about three miles away. 00:05:04.359 --> 00:05:07.120 They had made it from the 11 mile border. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:09.599 They had made it seven, eight miles. 00:05:09.599 --> 00:05:13.199 And then Uzzah dies and they put the Ark in the house 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:16.799 of a Gentile, Obed, Edom, the Getite for three months. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:18.040 Three miles away from Jerusalem. 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:20.680 Now, David's now gonna go get it. 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:25.680 And the question here is why does he try again? 00:05:26.400 --> 00:05:27.600 And I think there's two reasons. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:30.800 One, he sees, we're told, he saw that God 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:33.319 had actually blessed the house of Obed, Edom. 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:36.280 And David woke up. 00:05:36.280 --> 00:05:41.280 And what he realized was, yes, the presence of God is deadly. 00:05:41.400 --> 00:05:43.280 Because I'm unfit, David knew that. 00:05:43.280 --> 00:05:45.879 But he said at the same time, but I look at what's happening 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:48.120 at the house of Obed, Edom, and I realize 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:51.199 God actually wants to bless his people. 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:55.159 It's not that God wants his presence to be deadly. 00:05:55.159 --> 00:05:57.920 He realized that God was blessing a Gentile, 00:05:57.920 --> 00:05:59.360 not even an Israelite. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:01.399 And he woke up and said, you know what? 00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:04.199 God wants to be with me. 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:06.319 He wants to be with his people. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:07.800 And so he goes to get the Ark for that reason. 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:11.159 The second reason is because as soon as David realizes 00:06:11.159 --> 00:06:14.360 he's not fit to be in the presence of God, 00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:19.360 but that God wants him, he takes six steps, not seven. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:23.000 You see? 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:26.720 And seven, seven is the number of perfection. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:27.840 It's the number of creation. 00:06:27.840 --> 00:06:30.280 It's the number of everything being exactly 00:06:30.280 --> 00:06:31.920 as it should be creation order. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.879 And so David says, takes six steps 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:36.160 at the beginning of this passage and says, 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:40.400 I will not take the seventh, the complete cycle of steps 00:06:40.400 --> 00:06:43.360 without offering sacrifice. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:45.120 And so you see, he wakes up. 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:47.879 He realizes, I'm not fit to be in the presence of God, 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:49.319 just like Uzi wasn't fit. 00:06:49.319 --> 00:06:52.160 And if the presence of God is gonna turn 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:57.160 from deadliness to joy, I need mediation. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:00.800 I need something to go between me and God. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:03.879 And so before he takes a complete cycle of steps 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:06.920 at the very beginning, he offers a sacrifice. 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:09.759 And God accepts that and blesses David 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:11.400 and the party goes on. 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:15.519 And we see that God's presence is deadly because of our sin, 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:19.439 but he at the same time is the very thing we were made for. 00:07:20.359 --> 00:07:23.199 We were made to be in his presence. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:24.639 And so you've got the great paradox. 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:27.199 And the only way that his presence turns from death 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:32.199 to utter joy is by a mediator, by a sacrifice. 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:38.719 And when that happens here, David dances. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:42.160 He dances before the presence of God. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:43.480 The joy of the Lord has come. 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:46.600 Now secondly then, the joy of the Lord. 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:48.200 What is it? 00:07:48.200 --> 00:07:49.920 It's nature. 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:52.320 And you can see a hint of what it is, 00:07:52.320 --> 00:07:54.640 more specifically in verse 12. 00:07:54.640 --> 00:07:59.640 In verse 12, it says that he went to the city of David 00:08:00.520 --> 00:08:02.160 with rejoicing. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:06.280 The older translations would say there with gladness. 00:08:06.280 --> 00:08:08.120 And there's a specific reason for that. 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:12.639 And let's try to define joy in the presence of God 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:14.759 and then come back to that word 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:16.439 because it's really important. 00:08:16.439 --> 00:08:20.000 And it's simply this, you can make a long definition 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.560 or a simple definition of joy in the presence of the Lord. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:23.800 Here's a simple one. 00:08:23.800 --> 00:08:28.800 Joy in the presence of the Lord is delighting in God 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:30.720 from the heart. 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:35.720 You know, it's being truly satisfied with God 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:40.720 in a way that you can't be satisfied with anything else. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:43.200 It's delight in God. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:47.600 It's just, as our confession says, it's enjoying God. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:49.560 And that's what it really means to have joy 00:08:49.560 --> 00:08:50.399 in the presence of the Lord. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:53.080 Now that is an internal state. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.480 It's an emotion actually, or an affection, 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:59.680 was the older term, an affection of joy. 00:08:59.680 --> 00:09:02.259 An internal state, a condition of the heart 00:09:02.259 --> 00:09:05.759 that is at such delight with God 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:09.759 that the heart is at rest and enraptured at the same time 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:12.399 with being in the presence of God. 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:16.480 Now, sometimes, sometimes in life, 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:21.679 when you're in a place in life where you have joy in God, 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:26.159 that joy moves from being inside to outside. 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:27.600 It gets externalized. 00:09:28.439 --> 00:09:31.120 And we know that that's not all the time 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:33.120 because the promise of the New Testament 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:36.159 is that you can have joy in God 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:39.960 and be absolutely sad at the same time. 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:42.840 You know, your external condition can be one of utter 00:09:42.840 --> 00:09:45.399 sorrow and grief. 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:48.679 And yet the promise is there's a possibility of joy 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:50.100 at the same time. 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:55.100 But sometimes, the external joy becomes externalized as well. 00:09:56.039 --> 00:10:00.960 And external joy externalizes as external joy. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:03.519 And that's exactly what we're reading about here tonight. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:06.680 And that's why the word, in verse 12, the old word, 00:10:06.680 --> 00:10:09.840 the King James is gladness or mirth. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:13.080 And that's the old English term, mirth. 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:15.440 It reminds you, it feels like you're reading Tolkien 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:16.759 when you say that word. 00:10:16.759 --> 00:10:20.420 Mirth or merriment is an even older way of saying it. 00:10:20.420 --> 00:10:23.460 It's a word for festival joy. 00:10:23.460 --> 00:10:28.379 You know, it's when the internal joy of delight in God 00:10:28.379 --> 00:10:31.480 gets shared with people all around you 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:32.840 and all of a sudden, 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:36.480 deep, passionate external joy breaks out. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:40.240 And you know, I think the closest analogy 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:42.879 to something like what we're reading about here 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:46.879 in normal human life is the best wedding you've ever been to. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:49.120 You know, think about the best wedding you've ever been to, 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:51.879 whether that was your wedding or your son's wedding, 00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:53.720 your daughter's wedding or your best friend's wedding, 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:54.919 whatever it might be. 00:10:54.919 --> 00:10:57.360 And you know, you sit there at the table, 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:00.720 at the head table, perhaps, and you had a glass of wine, 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:04.200 and you looked out and you saw her, him, 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:06.639 your beloved one, the one you love, 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:09.680 who you came for, them dancing. 00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:13.399 And there's this deep internal joy 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:14.519 in your heart at that moment, 00:11:14.519 --> 00:11:19.519 but there's also this radical at-root external joy 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:21.039 out in front of you. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:23.879 And it feels for just a second like you're suspended 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:25.879 in a world where there are no problems. 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:29.039 And that's when internal joy gets externalized 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:34.039 as joy that shared, festival joy, mirth or merriment. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:39.320 And what we're reading about here is extreme festival joy. 00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:42.320 And so David dances. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:45.759 Now, we could get actually a little deeper 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:48.759 into a definition of joy in the presence of the Lord here 00:11:48.759 --> 00:11:51.399 by considering also, and this is what the passage 00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:56.399 is really here for, to point out the opposite of joy 00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:58.199 in the presence of the Lord. 00:11:59.480 --> 00:12:01.959 And the opposite of joy in the presence of the Lord 00:12:01.959 --> 00:12:04.240 is presented here through a character, 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:06.600 and that's Mikkel, David's wife. 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:12.720 And you can see here that it says she's the daughter of Saul. 00:12:13.399 --> 00:12:15.279 She was not part of the processional. 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:19.639 So note that she never went out with the Israelites 00:12:19.639 --> 00:12:23.199 to do the party, the 11 mile journey 00:12:23.199 --> 00:12:25.759 to bring the Ark of God finally, 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:28.039 the fulfillment of the covenant into the city. 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:29.639 She didn't go. 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:31.559 And now she's standing in the palace. 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:35.240 It says from on high, she's looking down on all of them. 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:39.039 And it literally says she despised him in her heart. 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:42.480 The word there can also be, she's, she found him 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:46.159 to be despicable in her heart as she looked out at David. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:51.159 Okay, if you listen or read about this passage 00:12:51.159 --> 00:12:54.559 when it comes to this, this is a short aside. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:58.360 Sometimes people will say actually that the way 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:02.439 to interpret this is to see that Mikkel was actually right 00:13:02.439 --> 00:13:03.600 and David was wrong. 00:13:04.679 --> 00:13:09.439 And that's quite sometimes a popular way to read the text. 00:13:09.439 --> 00:13:10.519 And so that's out there. 00:13:10.519 --> 00:13:13.360 So let me just say, why might somebody read it like that? 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:15.959 Well, one of the reasons is because when she says 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:18.600 to David, you know, look at you today, 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:22.080 you uncovered yourself before the young women, 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:25.680 the maids that were assisting in the bringing of the Ark. 00:13:25.680 --> 00:13:28.280 And you stripped down to a linen ephod. 00:13:28.280 --> 00:13:30.040 A linen ephod was a shorter garment. 00:13:30.040 --> 00:13:34.280 So in the decorum of the day, typically men and women 00:13:34.280 --> 00:13:36.519 both would have their legs completely covered. 00:13:36.519 --> 00:13:39.320 But a linen ephod did not cover your legs. 00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:41.560 It covered just above the knee. 00:13:41.560 --> 00:13:43.440 And so that's probably what she's referring to, 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:45.480 that it's a short garment. 00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:48.759 And she thinks that he's made himself a fool. 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:53.039 She says a stronger term than even fool here. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:57.320 And it has a connotation that it's because it's as if 00:13:57.320 --> 00:13:58.879 in the decorum, the culture of the time, 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:00.740 he stripped almost naked. 00:14:02.039 --> 00:14:04.519 Now, there's a deeper reason, however. 00:14:04.519 --> 00:14:06.800 And maybe she's right about that. 00:14:06.800 --> 00:14:08.279 That's the question. 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:10.680 That he didn't act appropriately. 00:14:10.680 --> 00:14:13.080 And he embarrassed himself and her. 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:13.920 But even more than that, 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:15.959 and this is what the commentators that go this route 00:14:15.959 --> 00:14:16.959 are really saying. 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:21.839 This that David has a broken home. 00:14:23.599 --> 00:14:28.059 And he had married Mikkel under pretty bad circumstances. 00:14:28.059 --> 00:14:29.839 A few chapters prior to this. 00:14:29.839 --> 00:14:33.000 He had almost forced her into a marriage. 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:35.299 And David has multiple wives. 00:14:35.299 --> 00:14:37.399 And he has concubines. 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:39.599 And David does have a broken home. 00:14:39.599 --> 00:14:42.159 And that's part of the story of David and Solomon. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:44.439 That their house is broken and they're bad husbands. 00:14:44.439 --> 00:14:46.600 And we see that over and over again. 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:48.319 And so people will say, 00:14:48.319 --> 00:14:50.639 is Mikkel actually right about this? 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:54.519 And look, it's partly true that David's home is broken. 00:14:54.519 --> 00:14:57.600 But that is not what the writer is trying to show us. 00:14:57.600 --> 00:14:58.659 And let me show you why. 00:14:58.659 --> 00:15:00.319 If you look at the text carefully, 00:15:00.319 --> 00:15:02.919 Mikkel is written, the story of Mikkel here 00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:05.419 is to show the opposite of what joy 00:15:05.419 --> 00:15:06.679 before the Lord looks like. 00:15:06.679 --> 00:15:08.240 And here's how we know. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:10.059 There's clues, very clear clues. 00:15:10.059 --> 00:15:12.159 First, it titles her. 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:15.199 It says, she is the daughter of Saul. 00:15:16.959 --> 00:15:18.219 And Saul's dead. 00:15:18.219 --> 00:15:20.739 Saul's been dead for some time. 00:15:20.739 --> 00:15:24.399 But when the writer wants to identify this queen, 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:28.359 he doesn't say she is the queen of Israel. 00:15:28.359 --> 00:15:32.599 It doesn't say she is the wife of David. 00:15:32.599 --> 00:15:35.119 Instead, it's saying she is the daughter of Saul. 00:15:35.119 --> 00:15:37.279 Meaning, it's not just about biology. 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:40.079 It's trying to point out where her heart is. 00:15:40.079 --> 00:15:42.120 Because in 1 Chronicles 13, 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:45.779 1 Chronicles 10 to 15 follows this story. 00:15:45.779 --> 00:15:47.600 It's a parallel story. 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:50.980 You can go read it very similar with more detailed story 00:15:50.980 --> 00:15:52.480 to what we just read there. 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:54.799 And it says in 1 Chronicles 13, 3, 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:59.179 in the days of Saul, the people did not seek the ark. 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:02.319 Meaning, in the reign of Saul, 00:16:02.319 --> 00:16:04.720 nobody cared about the ark, the presence of God. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:06.319 They didn't care where it was. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:07.960 They didn't care who had it. 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:09.920 And you see, she is the daughter of Saul. 00:16:09.920 --> 00:16:12.000 Meaning, in her heart, it's telling us 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:15.760 she is completely indifferent to the ark. 00:16:15.760 --> 00:16:17.040 She didn't wanna go. 00:16:17.040 --> 00:16:18.640 She didn't watch it come. 00:16:18.640 --> 00:16:23.480 And as the ark is enthroned in the city of Jerusalem, 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:24.640 she doesn't care about that. 00:16:24.640 --> 00:16:26.120 She wants to talk about something else. 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:26.960 That's the first thing. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:29.160 The second thing, if you look down, 00:16:29.160 --> 00:16:32.280 you can see in the bracket, verse 16. 00:16:32.280 --> 00:16:34.120 Verse 16 is when we're told, 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:37.560 she looked out the window and she hated David. 00:16:37.560 --> 00:16:39.519 But then there's a bracket. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:42.799 And verse 17, 18, 19 are about something 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:44.679 completely different. 00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:48.720 So it just mentions, Mecall looks down and hates David, 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:51.720 but then it goes to verse 17, 18, 19, 00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:54.399 and there you have the covenant ceremony 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:57.200 of the enthronement of God's presence. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:00.200 And we're told that David makes a sacrifice 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:02.120 and he puts the ark in the tent 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:06.720 and he gives food, cakes, and meat to all the people. 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:07.640 And you know what's happening there? 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:10.160 This is a ceremony very similar, 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:12.000 a covenant ceremony very similar 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.039 to the one that happened after the Exodus, 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:15.960 after crossing the Red Sea. 00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:19.319 And it's saying that when God's presence comes 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:23.039 into God's land, people will not go hungry anymore. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:24.640 It's a sign of new creation. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:26.680 So everybody in Israel gets cake 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:29.400 and everybody in Israel gets bread and meat, 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:31.599 the opposite of the wilderness wanderings. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:34.839 When God comes to be in his city with his people, 00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:36.039 this is what you can expect. 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:38.199 It's the same thing as when you look 00:17:38.199 --> 00:17:40.199 at the miracles of Jesus. 00:17:40.199 --> 00:17:42.199 You know, Jesus feeds 5,000. 00:17:42.199 --> 00:17:45.279 The point is not that he's there to prove his divinity. 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:48.559 The point is that when Jesus Christ comes to town, 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:50.719 people don't go hungry anymore. 00:17:50.719 --> 00:17:52.439 That's the sign of new creation. 00:17:52.439 --> 00:17:54.679 And so you see the bracket, verse 16, 00:17:54.679 --> 00:17:56.639 she hated what she saw. 00:17:56.639 --> 00:18:00.679 But 17, 18, 19, the great covenant ceremony 00:18:00.680 --> 00:18:04.120 of the enthronement of God in the middle of Israel 00:18:04.120 --> 00:18:06.720 and nobody's hungry and everybody's rejoicing. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:09.240 But then verse 20, you see it's a bracket. 00:18:09.240 --> 00:18:13.360 Mikkel hates David, the beauty of God coming to Israel. 00:18:13.360 --> 00:18:15.279 Mikkel hates David, verse 20. 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:16.799 She hates what's happening. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:18.519 She hates the ceremony. 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:20.279 So you see it's not just about David. 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:25.039 She's indifferent to the coming of the presence of God 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:27.920 into the city in such a way that that's actually 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:30.039 the thing she despises most. 00:18:30.039 --> 00:18:32.639 And that's why it's bracketed in that way. 00:18:32.639 --> 00:18:34.799 Now the third thing is this, it says at the very end 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:36.680 of the text, and this is hard to read, it says, 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:38.879 Mikkel, the daughter of Saul, had no child 00:18:38.879 --> 00:18:40.799 until the day of her death. 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:43.039 And some commentators have come and said, 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:46.599 that is because of the broken home situation. 00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:47.519 You know, it's a broken home. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:49.559 She didn't want to be with David. 00:18:49.559 --> 00:18:54.559 And so biologically, she would never have David's child. 00:18:54.759 --> 00:18:57.159 But that's not all what the text is pointing us to. 00:18:57.159 --> 00:18:59.839 Instead, it's saying this is the daughter of Saul. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:04.559 It's telling us this is how the bloodline of Saul will end. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:08.000 Because God had said your bloodline Saul will end 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:10.199 because you've rejected the presence of the Lord. 00:19:10.199 --> 00:19:13.159 And so this is the fulfillment of that. 00:19:13.159 --> 00:19:17.519 The Saul bloodline dynasty will end because Mikkel, 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:20.679 who is the daughter of Saul in her heart, 00:19:20.679 --> 00:19:22.720 she doesn't care about God. 00:19:23.799 --> 00:19:26.039 And so the bloodline will ultimately end. 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:28.519 And look, in all that, what we see is this. 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:32.000 God wants his people to enjoy him, 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:37.000 and to pursue him, and to seek his presence. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:38.519 It's very simple. 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:41.000 God wants his people to want him. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:43.400 And Mikkel is the opposite. 00:19:43.400 --> 00:19:45.920 Now, one more thing here before we move on 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:47.519 to the final point, and that's this. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:50.039 You can actually even get underneath that 00:19:50.039 --> 00:19:53.119 a little bit further, the opposite of joy 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:54.599 in the presence of the Lord, 00:19:54.599 --> 00:19:57.400 by looking at exactly what she says. 00:19:57.400 --> 00:20:01.080 To dig underneath it a little bit more. 00:20:01.080 --> 00:20:04.480 And you see, when David returns to bless his household, 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:07.600 she says this, how the king of Israel 00:20:07.600 --> 00:20:11.040 literally gloried himself today, 00:20:11.040 --> 00:20:14.080 uncovering himself before the eyes of his servants, 00:20:14.080 --> 00:20:17.600 his female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows, 00:20:17.600 --> 00:20:19.440 shamelessly uncovers himself. 00:20:20.840 --> 00:20:23.759 Now, we've already seen that she's indifferent 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:26.080 to the coming of the ark, into the city, 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:27.480 the presence of God. 00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:29.240 And now what we learn is that she's saying, 00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:32.639 David, this is your glory. 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:36.000 You uncovered yourself, you stripped down 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:39.399 to a short garment, and you did it dancing around the ark, 00:20:39.399 --> 00:20:42.639 and you did it in the presence of all these women. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:45.319 You see what's happening? 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:49.559 She's saying, look, I'm here watching 00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:52.439 because I want to see a certain decorum. 00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:57.440 And what she's really despising is not simply 00:20:58.080 --> 00:21:00.600 that he wore a short undergarment, 00:21:00.600 --> 00:21:02.720 but that he took off his royal robe. 00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:06.799 And so all he's wearing is what was underneath, 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:09.039 but the issue is not exactly that it was short. 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:13.960 The issue for her is that he took off the royal garment 00:21:13.960 --> 00:21:18.299 that signified him before the people as the king. 00:21:18.299 --> 00:21:22.299 And what's happening here is actually a play on words. 00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:27.299 Earlier in 1 Samuel, when the ark left Israel, 00:21:28.500 --> 00:21:31.539 when they lost it, Israel was given a new name, 00:21:31.539 --> 00:21:33.579 they were called Ichabod. 00:21:33.579 --> 00:21:37.539 And Ichabod means the glory has left. 00:21:37.539 --> 00:21:39.139 And so whenever the ark is away, 00:21:39.139 --> 00:21:41.700 Israel gets the nickname Ichabod. 00:21:41.700 --> 00:21:43.299 Well, Mikkel knows that. 00:21:43.299 --> 00:21:45.980 And so she's actually using a pun here. 00:21:45.980 --> 00:21:48.099 She says, sure, you're no longer Ichabod 00:21:48.099 --> 00:21:50.379 because the glory has come. 00:21:50.379 --> 00:21:54.059 But she says, oh, how you made yourself glorious today 00:21:54.059 --> 00:21:56.419 by shaming yourself. 00:21:56.419 --> 00:21:57.299 And you see what she's saying? 00:21:57.299 --> 00:21:58.219 It's kind of complicated. 00:21:58.219 --> 00:22:01.059 She's saying, when the ark came 00:22:01.059 --> 00:22:03.899 and the glory was restored to Israel, 00:22:03.899 --> 00:22:07.099 your glory went down. 00:22:07.099 --> 00:22:08.619 It was proportional. 00:22:08.619 --> 00:22:12.539 When we can't say Ichabod for Israel any longer 00:22:12.539 --> 00:22:15.579 because God has come, but now you're the Ichabod. 00:22:15.579 --> 00:22:18.819 And you see what she loves? 00:22:18.819 --> 00:22:20.980 Here it is. 00:22:20.980 --> 00:22:25.819 You placed yourself today on a plane of equality 00:22:25.819 --> 00:22:29.699 with all the commoners when you took off your royal robe. 00:22:29.699 --> 00:22:33.379 And that means if God's presence coming, 00:22:33.379 --> 00:22:36.579 means you being lower in status 00:22:36.579 --> 00:22:38.419 in the eyes of everybody else, 00:22:38.419 --> 00:22:41.179 I don't want anything to do with that. 00:22:41.179 --> 00:22:43.619 And see, the ultimate point is that her desire 00:22:43.619 --> 00:22:46.739 is that her queenship is made much of 00:22:46.739 --> 00:22:48.939 in the eyes of the other women. 00:22:48.939 --> 00:22:52.500 She hates David because he stripped off his royal robe 00:22:52.500 --> 00:22:55.059 and became like everybody else before God. 00:22:55.059 --> 00:22:58.619 And so she's saying, if the ark coming 00:22:58.619 --> 00:23:01.859 means our glory goes down, then that's shame. 00:23:01.859 --> 00:23:02.859 That's not glory. 00:23:04.099 --> 00:23:06.699 And so she redefines the meaning of glory and shame 00:23:06.699 --> 00:23:08.859 in the eyes of Israel as it's been defined 00:23:08.859 --> 00:23:11.219 throughout the whole book of 1st and 2nd Samuel. 00:23:11.219 --> 00:23:12.979 Now, here it is. 00:23:12.980 --> 00:23:17.220 That means that the opposite, the opposite 00:23:17.220 --> 00:23:20.620 of pursuing joy in the presence of the Lord 00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:26.740 is the very common human mistake of pursuing happiness. 00:23:28.779 --> 00:23:30.180 That's Mikkel's mistake. 00:23:31.140 --> 00:23:33.980 She pursues happiness in her life and not joy. 00:23:34.900 --> 00:23:38.180 And it's an incredibly common human mistake. 00:23:38.180 --> 00:23:39.860 And here's what it means, chasing happiness. 00:23:39.859 --> 00:23:43.619 Chasing happiness is picking something in your life. 00:23:44.699 --> 00:23:48.659 Some status, some public image, 00:23:48.659 --> 00:23:52.139 some security by way of financial gain, 00:23:52.139 --> 00:23:55.859 some ideal family, some ideal relationship, 00:23:55.859 --> 00:23:58.659 some ideal job, some type of success, 00:23:58.659 --> 00:24:00.699 some type of image. 00:24:00.699 --> 00:24:03.740 And chasing after it at all costs to the point 00:24:03.740 --> 00:24:07.139 where you think if I get this, it's going to make me happy. 00:24:07.140 --> 00:24:09.740 And Mikkel here is chasing happiness 00:24:09.740 --> 00:24:14.740 by way of the pride of public nobility and public image. 00:24:14.740 --> 00:24:17.300 And that is exactly the opposite of pursuit 00:24:17.300 --> 00:24:18.740 of the joy of the Lord. 00:24:19.620 --> 00:24:20.460 Why? 00:24:20.460 --> 00:24:22.420 Because when you chase happiness, 00:24:22.420 --> 00:24:26.380 it's like you've built a tiny little boat 00:24:27.980 --> 00:24:31.620 in the midst of the absolutely rugged ocean. 00:24:31.620 --> 00:24:34.900 And your tiny little boat is made out of little planks 00:24:34.900 --> 00:24:37.460 of some little God that you're chasing after. 00:24:38.259 --> 00:24:41.700 And it's so narrow, it's so thin, it's like a little canoe. 00:24:42.820 --> 00:24:44.580 Because when the tidal wave comes 00:24:44.580 --> 00:24:45.900 and you're standing in the midst of the ocean, 00:24:45.900 --> 00:24:48.340 that circumstance that you did not get, 00:24:48.340 --> 00:24:50.980 that relationship that failed you, 00:24:50.980 --> 00:24:53.580 that image that was broken because somebody came in 00:24:53.580 --> 00:24:56.380 and was better than you, whatever it may be, 00:24:56.380 --> 00:24:59.580 when that wave comes down and your boat is made 00:24:59.580 --> 00:25:03.580 out of such narrow material, little bitty happinesses, 00:25:03.579 --> 00:25:06.299 that it has to tip over and you drown. 00:25:07.699 --> 00:25:08.819 And you see what it's saying is that 00:25:08.819 --> 00:25:13.819 when you actually chase after the face of God in your life, 00:25:14.659 --> 00:25:19.059 by making delight and rest in God, 00:25:19.059 --> 00:25:22.819 your ultimate desire, then your boat can't tip over 00:25:23.740 --> 00:25:26.220 because God can't die. 00:25:26.220 --> 00:25:29.899 And that joy, not little happiness, can't be lost. 00:25:31.019 --> 00:25:33.099 And so the point of this passage is that 00:25:33.099 --> 00:25:37.419 joy in the presence of the Lord is what you were made for. 00:25:39.139 --> 00:25:40.659 And it's so much better than chasing 00:25:40.659 --> 00:25:44.699 all the little happinesses that we do in the 21st century 00:25:45.819 --> 00:25:48.899 and in 1700 BC, wherever it may have been, 00:25:48.899 --> 00:25:50.699 in the life of Michele and others. 00:25:51.500 --> 00:25:54.819 Pursuing joy is an unshakable stability 00:25:54.819 --> 00:25:56.019 in the midst of a shaky world. 00:25:56.019 --> 00:25:58.459 Now, how do you get it finally? 00:25:58.459 --> 00:25:59.579 We'll close with this. 00:26:00.859 --> 00:26:02.099 Don't be afraid of this number, 00:26:02.099 --> 00:26:04.059 but there are five things here. 00:26:05.019 --> 00:26:07.139 But I'm just gonna run through them quickly. 00:26:07.139 --> 00:26:09.939 Five things here that this passage says 00:26:09.939 --> 00:26:11.379 about how you get this joy. 00:26:12.339 --> 00:26:14.539 And the first thing is this. 00:26:14.539 --> 00:26:17.859 You've got to start by doing an idolatry, 00:26:17.859 --> 00:26:20.659 a happiness assessment of your life. 00:26:21.699 --> 00:26:24.419 You've actually got to take time in your life 00:26:24.419 --> 00:26:27.819 to sit down and to assess your life 00:26:27.819 --> 00:26:31.019 for little happinesses that you might be chasing after 00:26:31.019 --> 00:26:33.059 that have become totalizing, 00:26:33.059 --> 00:26:35.460 that have become like little gods to you. 00:26:35.460 --> 00:26:37.740 And that's what happened in the first passage 00:26:37.740 --> 00:26:39.980 when David saw what happened to Uzzah. 00:26:39.980 --> 00:26:42.339 All of a sudden, David said, 00:26:42.339 --> 00:26:45.460 I don't think I can take the Ark to Jerusalem. 00:26:45.460 --> 00:26:46.299 Why? 00:26:46.299 --> 00:26:49.940 Because he realized I've got the same problem. 00:26:49.940 --> 00:26:52.900 I'm not fit to be in the presence of God either. 00:26:52.900 --> 00:26:57.900 And Michele does not do an idolatry assessment of her heart. 00:26:58.019 --> 00:26:58.940 And that's the first thing. 00:26:58.940 --> 00:27:02.340 You've actually got to take time in your life 00:27:02.340 --> 00:27:05.340 to assess your idols and ask, 00:27:05.340 --> 00:27:07.740 where am I chasing after happinesses 00:27:07.740 --> 00:27:09.779 that are not gonna ultimately give me joy? 00:27:09.779 --> 00:27:11.180 That if I don't get them, 00:27:11.180 --> 00:27:14.120 will sink me internally and externally. 00:27:15.019 --> 00:27:17.059 The second thing is this then, we learn here. 00:27:17.059 --> 00:27:19.420 You then, when you know your idol 00:27:19.420 --> 00:27:21.059 and you confess it before God, 00:27:21.059 --> 00:27:23.900 you've got to then humble yourself. 00:27:23.900 --> 00:27:28.299 And David here, when he takes off his royal robe 00:27:28.299 --> 00:27:31.059 and he strips down to a linen ephod, 00:27:31.059 --> 00:27:32.740 he's, you know why he does that? 00:27:32.740 --> 00:27:36.099 Because he's actually realized in the midst of seeing Uzzah 00:27:36.099 --> 00:27:39.680 touch the Ark that he's just like everybody. 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:41.819 And that means that this is a call actually 00:27:41.819 --> 00:27:46.740 that each of us realize our co-equality before the Lord. 00:27:46.740 --> 00:27:49.139 Co-equality, twofold equality. 00:27:49.139 --> 00:27:50.940 Here's your twofold equality before God. 00:27:50.940 --> 00:27:54.859 One, God sees you as equally dignified 00:27:54.859 --> 00:27:57.339 as a human being as everybody else in the world. 00:27:57.339 --> 00:28:01.099 And God also knows that you are equally, 00:28:01.099 --> 00:28:05.539 equally a sinner all the way to the bottom. 00:28:05.539 --> 00:28:08.939 You know, you're equally as dignified in the eyes of God 00:28:08.939 --> 00:28:11.779 and equally as broken and sinful in the eyes of God. 00:28:11.779 --> 00:28:14.819 He shows no partiality both in what you are 00:28:14.819 --> 00:28:16.819 and how you are morally. 00:28:16.819 --> 00:28:19.059 And so David realized that. 00:28:19.059 --> 00:28:21.059 And so what we see here, when David dances, 00:28:21.059 --> 00:28:25.019 he's got self-forgetful humility 00:28:25.019 --> 00:28:27.740 because he knows what he is before God. 00:28:27.740 --> 00:28:30.500 And he says, I'm just like the maids and the servants 00:28:30.500 --> 00:28:32.700 and everybody else all around me, I'm exactly the same. 00:28:32.700 --> 00:28:34.900 And so he can take off his royal robe. 00:28:34.900 --> 00:28:37.099 And so we've got to humble ourselves. 00:28:37.099 --> 00:28:41.539 We've got to get away in our hearts 00:28:41.539 --> 00:28:45.859 from the stifling game of comparison and competition 00:28:45.859 --> 00:28:48.779 in order to have real joy in the presence of the Lord. 00:28:48.779 --> 00:28:50.220 Third to five, third. 00:28:51.180 --> 00:28:52.579 That means then after that, 00:28:52.579 --> 00:28:55.139 that we've got to enter the presence of God 00:28:55.139 --> 00:28:57.460 with earnest expectation. 00:28:57.460 --> 00:28:59.659 Now here it is, I think this is the big one. 00:29:01.179 --> 00:29:06.179 David realizing who he was and his humble equality 00:29:06.740 --> 00:29:09.099 with everybody else before God, 00:29:09.099 --> 00:29:13.339 he chose to enter the presence of God. 00:29:13.339 --> 00:29:17.099 And here's the question I think that this raises tonight. 00:29:17.099 --> 00:29:22.099 Do you come to worship week after week to enter 00:29:23.539 --> 00:29:24.899 into the presence of God? 00:29:26.139 --> 00:29:27.619 Now what do you hear for? 00:29:28.579 --> 00:29:31.939 Do you take time in your daily life to actually say, 00:29:31.939 --> 00:29:34.740 I'm stepping across the threshold now 00:29:34.740 --> 00:29:37.139 and entering into the presence of God? 00:29:37.980 --> 00:29:40.099 And this passage in other words, 00:29:40.099 --> 00:29:42.980 this parade, this party in the presence of God, 00:29:42.980 --> 00:29:47.460 I think is a call to all of us to wake up and ask, 00:29:48.940 --> 00:29:50.980 do I really want to be in God's presence? 00:29:50.980 --> 00:29:53.420 Is that the point of me being here? 00:29:53.420 --> 00:29:55.059 And it is the point. 00:29:55.059 --> 00:29:55.900 It is the point. 00:29:55.900 --> 00:29:57.420 That's exactly what the passage is saying. 00:29:57.420 --> 00:30:01.740 And David saw Uzodah, he saw God say to Obed, 00:30:01.740 --> 00:30:03.860 eat him, I want to be with my people. 00:30:03.860 --> 00:30:06.019 And he woke up and he said, 00:30:06.019 --> 00:30:08.900 have I quieted my soul to enter into the presence of God 00:30:08.900 --> 00:30:09.819 in my daily life? 00:30:09.819 --> 00:30:13.859 Fourth, four or five then. 00:30:15.659 --> 00:30:18.619 We see here that we've got to subordinate 00:30:18.619 --> 00:30:23.619 then decorum to sincerity and worship. 00:30:25.539 --> 00:30:29.220 Now, when you're standing in the presence of God 00:30:29.220 --> 00:30:32.099 with great expectation, God is foregrounded 00:30:32.099 --> 00:30:34.619 and everything else is backgrounded. 00:30:34.619 --> 00:30:38.819 And here David dances, he forgets who he is. 00:30:38.819 --> 00:30:42.700 He strips off his royal robe and that's a call to us. 00:30:42.700 --> 00:30:47.700 And David dances and that does not mean 00:30:47.740 --> 00:30:50.740 that we need to dance in church. 00:30:50.740 --> 00:30:51.700 That's not the point at all. 00:30:51.700 --> 00:30:55.259 Actually, we never see one instance in the Bible 00:30:55.259 --> 00:31:00.259 of anybody dancing in the weekly prescribed worship, not one. 00:31:00.779 --> 00:31:01.899 They didn't do it in the temple. 00:31:01.899 --> 00:31:02.980 They didn't do it in the tabernacle. 00:31:02.980 --> 00:31:04.980 They didn't do it in the new covenant worship. 00:31:04.980 --> 00:31:06.899 And we don't see it at all in the early church 00:31:06.900 --> 00:31:10.660 as a act of public Sunday worship. 00:31:10.660 --> 00:31:14.780 But here's more an analogy of more of what is happening here. 00:31:14.780 --> 00:31:17.940 Let's say that there's a nation out there 00:31:17.940 --> 00:31:22.540 under severe persecution for a century from an atheist state 00:31:22.540 --> 00:31:25.340 and Christians are being murdered left and right. 00:31:25.340 --> 00:31:28.860 And all of a sudden one day there's a new order, 00:31:28.860 --> 00:31:31.300 a new president, a new king, a new monarch 00:31:31.300 --> 00:31:33.340 and the Christians are pronounced free 00:31:33.340 --> 00:31:34.700 and the king is a Christian 00:31:34.700 --> 00:31:37.180 and he wants to celebrate the church. 00:31:37.180 --> 00:31:40.539 And after a century of hundreds and thousands 00:31:40.539 --> 00:31:42.740 of Christians dying for their faith, 00:31:42.740 --> 00:31:44.660 all the Christians hear the news and what do they do? 00:31:44.660 --> 00:31:48.259 They go out into the streets and they dance 00:31:48.259 --> 00:31:49.620 and they celebrate with one another. 00:31:49.620 --> 00:31:51.980 And you better dance if that's the situation. 00:31:51.980 --> 00:31:53.860 And that's exactly what we see here. 00:31:53.860 --> 00:31:56.700 We see festival dancing three to four times in scripture. 00:31:56.700 --> 00:31:59.539 When they cross the Red Sea, they sing and they dance. 00:31:59.539 --> 00:32:01.259 When they bring the ark into Jerusalem, 00:32:01.259 --> 00:32:02.100 they sing and they dance. 00:32:02.100 --> 00:32:03.860 It's not an aspect of weekly worship, 00:32:03.859 --> 00:32:07.019 but of a huge redemptive historical event. 00:32:08.019 --> 00:32:09.819 And so there could be parallels in our time 00:32:09.819 --> 00:32:11.859 of something like that as well. 00:32:11.859 --> 00:32:14.019 But you see what the actual point is. 00:32:14.019 --> 00:32:16.459 The point is not the dancing. 00:32:16.459 --> 00:32:18.699 It's that David is with the people of God. 00:32:18.699 --> 00:32:21.379 He's serious about worship and he recognizes 00:32:21.379 --> 00:32:24.579 God loves to be approached from the heart. 00:32:24.579 --> 00:32:28.899 And that means as W.G. Blakely put it, 00:32:28.899 --> 00:32:31.099 does the presence of God move you? 00:32:31.899 --> 00:32:33.779 Do you come with great expectation 00:32:33.779 --> 00:32:34.700 to be in the presence of God, 00:32:34.700 --> 00:32:37.099 to be moved by the presence of God 00:32:37.099 --> 00:32:38.420 in whatever way that might look like 00:32:38.420 --> 00:32:39.940 in the midst of worship? 00:32:39.940 --> 00:32:42.099 In other words, as Blakely puts it, 00:32:42.099 --> 00:32:46.259 it's a grievous thing to stifle the heart 00:32:46.259 --> 00:32:50.259 by a culture of pageantry and decorum 00:32:50.259 --> 00:32:51.899 that is overemphasized. 00:32:53.339 --> 00:32:55.740 Fifth and finally, the last thing here. 00:32:57.059 --> 00:33:00.220 You know, you can come before the presence of God 00:33:00.220 --> 00:33:03.900 in humility, in expectation, with sincerity. 00:33:05.220 --> 00:33:08.259 But that's exactly what Uzi was like. 00:33:08.259 --> 00:33:11.740 You know, Uzi had expectation and humility. 00:33:11.740 --> 00:33:14.900 He was trying to save the art from touching the ground. 00:33:15.860 --> 00:33:17.579 And he touched it and he died. 00:33:19.460 --> 00:33:22.019 And that means that there's gotta be a fifth thing. 00:33:22.019 --> 00:33:24.579 You know, if you want the joy of the presence of the Lord, 00:33:24.579 --> 00:33:26.980 there's got to be one more thing. 00:33:26.980 --> 00:33:28.660 And remember, these two stories 00:33:28.660 --> 00:33:30.259 have got to be read together. 00:33:30.259 --> 00:33:32.100 How can the deadly presence of God 00:33:32.100 --> 00:33:33.420 turn into the joy of the Lord? 00:33:33.420 --> 00:33:34.660 And here it is. 00:33:34.660 --> 00:33:35.700 We learn in this passage, 00:33:35.700 --> 00:33:38.779 you've got to have a priest and you've got to have a lamb. 00:33:39.779 --> 00:33:40.900 And that's the only way. 00:33:41.900 --> 00:33:43.660 And did you catch it? 00:33:43.660 --> 00:33:46.300 David, if you've read through the Old Testament, 00:33:46.300 --> 00:33:47.180 maybe you picked this up, 00:33:47.180 --> 00:33:50.940 but it says David takes off his royal robe 00:33:50.940 --> 00:33:54.019 and he's wearing a linen e-fod. 00:33:54.019 --> 00:33:57.620 And a linen e-fod, only one other type of person 00:33:57.619 --> 00:34:01.259 wears a linen e-fod as an office in the Old Testament. 00:34:01.259 --> 00:34:03.299 And that's the priest. 00:34:04.500 --> 00:34:06.619 And you see, the king, 00:34:07.500 --> 00:34:10.659 the king has stripped himself of his royal robe 00:34:10.659 --> 00:34:12.699 and now he's taking on the role of a priest. 00:34:12.699 --> 00:34:14.339 And there's a great tension in the Old Testament 00:34:14.339 --> 00:34:16.539 that a king cannot be a priest 00:34:16.539 --> 00:34:18.299 and a priest cannot be a king. 00:34:18.299 --> 00:34:21.859 You know, you need a king to judge the land and righteousness. 00:34:21.859 --> 00:34:25.380 You need a priest to mediate for the sins of the people, 00:34:25.380 --> 00:34:28.380 but both cannot be done by the same person. 00:34:28.380 --> 00:34:30.700 The king who's a sinner cannot also be the mediator, 00:34:30.700 --> 00:34:32.579 but the mediator can't be the king. 00:34:32.579 --> 00:34:34.019 But right here in this moment, 00:34:34.019 --> 00:34:36.500 where it almost looks like the Abrahamic covenant 00:34:36.500 --> 00:34:37.660 is being fulfilled, 00:34:37.660 --> 00:34:41.539 you've got the king who strips off his royal robe 00:34:41.539 --> 00:34:43.420 and stands as a priest before God. 00:34:43.420 --> 00:34:44.380 He's the priest king. 00:34:44.380 --> 00:34:48.420 He's the first, well, Melchizedek and now David, 00:34:48.420 --> 00:34:51.300 the only two priest kings in the Old Testament. 00:34:51.300 --> 00:34:53.260 And here it is, but look, there's also a second thing. 00:34:53.260 --> 00:34:56.460 That's, and if you read First Chronicles 15, 00:34:56.460 --> 00:34:58.900 the parallel passage, we learn that when David, 00:34:58.900 --> 00:35:01.060 the priest king in his linen ephot 00:35:01.060 --> 00:35:02.820 is the high priest in this moment, 00:35:02.820 --> 00:35:07.580 he takes seven bulls and seven rams 00:35:07.580 --> 00:35:09.100 in the sacrificial ceremony, 00:35:09.100 --> 00:35:12.300 the enthronement of God and sacrifices them. 00:35:12.300 --> 00:35:14.420 And when you take seven and you take seven, 00:35:14.420 --> 00:35:16.740 you've got 14. 00:35:19.460 --> 00:35:22.420 All over it, you've got the number of new creation, 00:35:22.420 --> 00:35:25.260 meaning this text is trying to say, 00:35:25.260 --> 00:35:27.619 if you want to enter into the joyful presence of the Lord, 00:35:27.619 --> 00:35:31.460 you need a priest king who can both rule you with justice, 00:35:31.460 --> 00:35:33.700 who's perfect himself, 00:35:33.700 --> 00:35:37.059 but also has the power of mediation. 00:35:37.059 --> 00:35:39.420 But you also need a sacrifice 00:35:39.420 --> 00:35:44.260 that marks off the new creation, a 14 fold sacrifice. 00:35:44.260 --> 00:35:47.340 And here it is, this is the end of what we have tonight. 00:35:47.340 --> 00:35:50.420 When you turn over to Matthew chapter one, 00:35:50.420 --> 00:35:54.780 the first sentence of Matthew chapter one identifies Jesus. 00:35:54.780 --> 00:35:56.220 And what does it say? 00:35:56.220 --> 00:35:58.220 What's the first way that Jesus is identified? 00:35:58.220 --> 00:36:01.539 It says, Jesus Christ is the son of David. 00:36:02.700 --> 00:36:04.420 And you get to the end of Matthew chapter one 00:36:04.420 --> 00:36:05.940 and how does it identify Jesus? 00:36:05.940 --> 00:36:10.700 He is the one who came 14 generations before Abraham, 00:36:10.700 --> 00:36:13.260 14 generations between Abraham and David, 00:36:13.260 --> 00:36:16.659 and 14 generations from David to Christ. 00:36:16.659 --> 00:36:19.139 You see, you've got the greater than David, 00:36:19.139 --> 00:36:20.980 the true priest king, 00:36:20.980 --> 00:36:25.219 and you've got not seven plus seven, but 14 times three, 00:36:25.219 --> 00:36:28.779 you've got more than you could ever imagine. 00:36:28.779 --> 00:36:32.379 You've got the number of new creation tripled in him. 00:36:32.379 --> 00:36:34.259 And you see, what this text is pointing to is that 00:36:34.259 --> 00:36:39.259 he is the priest king who also became the sacrifice. 00:36:40.579 --> 00:36:42.699 Now, if you're here at Sunday Night Worship, 00:36:42.699 --> 00:36:45.339 it's very likely that you know that story. 00:36:45.339 --> 00:36:48.619 And you know that he is both priest and king 00:36:48.619 --> 00:36:50.420 and sacrifice who gave himself. 00:36:50.420 --> 00:36:51.859 You know, you could say of David, 00:36:51.859 --> 00:36:54.819 he did not consider equality with the people, 00:36:54.819 --> 00:36:57.420 something to be held onto, but he made himself nothing 00:36:57.420 --> 00:36:59.299 by stripping himself of his royal robe 00:36:59.299 --> 00:37:00.940 and taking the likeness of a servant 00:37:00.940 --> 00:37:03.179 in front of the female maids. 00:37:03.179 --> 00:37:06.460 But Jesus Christ didn't consider equality with God, 00:37:06.460 --> 00:37:08.579 something to be held onto, but made himself nothing. 00:37:08.579 --> 00:37:13.259 He is God come to earth as human being 00:37:13.259 --> 00:37:15.299 to be both priest and sacrifice. 00:37:15.299 --> 00:37:16.859 And here's the question tonight, 00:37:16.860 --> 00:37:18.900 and we'll close with this. 00:37:18.900 --> 00:37:20.980 You know, if you believe that story tonight, 00:37:20.980 --> 00:37:22.380 the story of the resurrection, 00:37:24.660 --> 00:37:28.460 do you seek the presence of God in your daily life? 00:37:29.420 --> 00:37:33.860 You know, you have the possibility of deep joy 00:37:33.860 --> 00:37:36.220 in the presence of the Lord, but the question is, 00:37:36.220 --> 00:37:40.660 are you chasing after the presence of God in your life? 00:37:40.660 --> 00:37:41.940 Are you seeking him? 00:37:41.940 --> 00:37:44.340 Seek him, and you will find him 00:37:44.340 --> 00:37:46.900 if you seek him with your heart. 00:37:46.900 --> 00:37:49.900 And that's the question that the passage leads us to, 00:37:49.900 --> 00:37:53.500 and it's verse 12, verse 11 and 12, 00:37:53.500 --> 00:37:56.059 when God blesses the house of Obed Edom, 00:37:57.380 --> 00:38:01.260 remember, God wants to be with you. 00:38:02.220 --> 00:38:03.820 He wants to be in your presence, 00:38:03.820 --> 00:38:05.620 and that's why Jesus came. 00:38:05.620 --> 00:38:07.740 And so the question we're left with is, 00:38:07.740 --> 00:38:12.180 am I, are you chasing after the presence of the Lord? 00:38:12.179 --> 00:38:14.579 Let's pray together. 00:38:14.579 --> 00:38:18.500 Father, we ask now that you would turn our hearts 00:38:18.500 --> 00:38:22.899 to seek after the presence of you, the living God, 00:38:22.899 --> 00:38:25.659 that we would have deep, deep joy and delight 00:38:26.739 --> 00:38:28.779 being with you. 00:38:28.780 --> 00:38:42.780 And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.