Well, now we turn to the preaching of God's Word.
As I said, we'll be looking at 2 Samuel chapter 6 today, and we'll be reading the chapter
in its entirety.
And we see when we read this chapter, it's a focus on the Ark of the Covenant.
And it may be a symbol or something that you have heard of before, you understand, and
maybe this is the first time you've heard the story, you have very little understanding
of this Old Testament passage.
But we hope, regardless of that, that this may be a time of encouragement for you as
we understand the true value of the Ark and how it applies to us today.
Because I think oftentimes there can be occasion where we don't really understand the significance
of something we may have, right?
Maybe you've seen the television show, the Antique Roadshow, before.
It's not the most entertaining or stimulating show, but it kind of tracks different antique
shows across the nation.
It's actually a UK version and a US version.
And it's these people that come and bring these items, and they don't really know how
valuable they are.
They want them to get them appraised.
And so we see this dialogue between an appraiser and this person who has this item, whether
it's furniture or jewelry or a piece of clothing or a painting of some sort.
And so I saw one a number of years ago.
There's a US version.
And there was this older American lady who comes with this small wooden semi-circular table.
And she said she got an antique shop for $25.
And as the man, the appraiser is looking at it, he points out a lot of the details and
intricacies of it and turns it over.
And there's this original label on the back from when it was made.
And he says to her surprise, I think this is probably worth about a quarter of a million
dollars, over 10,000 times more than what she paid for it.
And so, of course, she was shocked.
It goes on to show her a few weeks later, she actually went to auction to try to sell this
table because it was far more valuable to somebody else.
And she even knew what it was to herself.
And at auction, it actually sold her $490,000, nearly a half a million dollars for a little
table that she had no idea its worth or her value that has now had provided her with a
small fortune.
And so I think that's telling.
Again, when we think about the Ark of the Covenant today, we can read a story like this like
we will and think, what's the big deal?
Why in the world does God have, does he act this way?
What are we supposed to learn and glean from this story?
What's the significance of the story?
And I think we learn the significance when we understand the value of the Ark.
The value of the Ark not only to the people of Israel in the Old Testament, but the value
of the Ark and the symbolism that it shows us today about God's character, about his holiness,
about his desire for relationship with us, and how that's meant to influence our lives.
And so let's turn then to our passage, 2 Samuel 6, starting in verse 1.
David again brought together all the able young men in Israel, 30,000.
He and all the men went to Baal 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.
They 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 with the Ark of God on it, and Ahio
was walking in front of it.
David and all of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets,
harps, lyres, trembles, sistrums, and cymbals.
When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Ark of God,
because the oxen stumbled.
The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act.
Therefore, God struck him down, and he died there beside the Ark of God.
Then David was angry because the Lord's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day the place
is called Perez-Uzzah.
David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, How can the Ark of the Lord ever come to me?
He was not willing to take the Ark of the Lord to be with him in the city of David.
Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite.
The Ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite, for three months,
and the Lord blessed him and his entire household.
Now King David was told, The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has
because of the Ark of God.
So David went to bring up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with rejoicing.
When those who were carrying the Ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf.
And wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might,
while he and all Israel were bringing up the Ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
As the Ark of the Lord was entering the city of David, Michael, 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.
They 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.
And after he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings,
he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty.
Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins to each person and the whole crowd of Israelites,
both men and women, and all the people went to their homes.
When David returned home to bless his household, Michael, 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.
David said to Michael,
It was before the Lord who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house
when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel.
I will celebrate before the Lord.
I 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.
And Michael, daughter of Saul, had no children to the day of her death.
This is the word of God.
Pray with me again.
Lord, as we turn to your word,
we ask for wisdom and insight that only comes from your spirit.
We pray, Lord, that you allow me to be your empty vessel to communicate your word with effectiveness and truth.
May we each be convicted and encouraged through this preaching of your word,
and we go forth and give you glory.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
And so as we kind of dive into this passage,
trying to think about the significance of the Ark of the Covenant here,
I think it's appropriate if we start and give a little background so we have the proper context,
especially if you're not familiar with a passage like this.
If we go back to the beginning of Exodus,
we know that the people of Israel have been placed in captivity.
For 400 years, they're slaves in Egypt,
until God raises up a leader for them, Moses,
to deliver them out of Egypt to the promised land that God had promised their forefather, Abraham, long before.
And as they're on this journey to the promised land,
the 40 years that they spend in the wilderness,
we know that God gives them laws for them to follow in how they live and how they ought to worship.
And included in these laws is instructions for the building of a tabernacle,
a place of worship for the Lord.
And so within this tabernacle, we read that they're supposed to make this Ark of the Covenant.
This is what we read in Hebrews just a minute ago.
And this Ark was a wooden box.
It was plated in gold, roughly a meter long,
probably about the same size as this lectern here,
a little bit less than a meter high and a meter wide,
and it was not to be touched by human hands.
It had rings on the side for being carried with poles,
poles that were made of acacia wood covered in gold that were to be carried only by the Levites.
Inside this box was placed the Ten Commandments.
On top was something called the Mercy Seat,
made of gold, these two cherubim with their arms outstretched.
And it was here that God said he would meet with his people.
It was here that God's presence would dwell.
And so this is where the high priest would come once a year,
sprinkling the blood sacrifice on the Ark
to symbolize the wiping away of the sins of the people.
And so while the Ark was meant to be kept here in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle,
the people of Israel were often on the move.
And so oftentimes this Ark would be in the middle of the people
as they moved through the wilderness.
But there was occasion when they were moving into the Promised Land
that the Ark was at the front of this procession.
We may remember that when they finally entered the Promised Land,
when they crossed the Jordan River,
it was the Ark and the priest carrying the Ark that went first.
And as they stepped into the Jordan,
it turned into dry land and they entered the land of Canaan.
Also, it was the Ark that led the people of Israel
around the city walls of Jericho.
And the walls came tumbling down.
Well, as we move forward in the story of the history of Israel,
we know that they settled in the Promised Land,
but the fighting didn't cease.
Oftentimes they were fighting their enemies,
and on one occasion they were fighting,
battling the Philistines, and they were losing.
And so the elders come together and say,
hey, wouldn't it be a good idea if we bring the Ark
from the Holy of Holies and bring it with us in battle
that we can overpower our enemies?
Now, this wasn't anything that God had instructed them to do.
This was of their own ideation.
They think they're treating the Ark more like a good luck charm
than anything else.
And as a result, Israel's defeated.
And the Ark is captured by the Philistines
who take it with them back to their land.
And so we can't go into all these details this morning,
but if we were to continue in 1 Samuel chapter 5,
we'd see what happened to the Philistines
when they take this Ark to their land.
They experience in the cursing and punishment of God.
The people of the Philistines start growing these tumors,
and they realize God is judging them for having this Ark.
We need to send it back.
And so they put it on this cart carried by these two cows
and point it in the direction of Israel.
And the people of Israel, they reclaim this Ark
just across the border of Israel,
but it's kept on the border of Israel
in this little town basically for storage
for the next 20 years.
And so for the entire reign of King Saul,
it's not used for worship.
It's not kept in the tabernacle.
It remains unmoved and unused
in the periphery of the land of Israel.
And so that brings us to our passage today
when King David wants to go and get this Ark
and bring it to the new capital,
to the city of David, to Jerusalem.
And so what I want us to consider in our passage today
is three things that this passage points out to us,
three Ps that we see in this passage.
First is the passion for the Ark.
Secondly, the problem with the Ark.
And thirdly, the promise of the Ark.
The passion for the Ark, the problem with the Ark,
and the promise of the Ark.
So let's consider first the passion of the Ark.
We see in 2 Samuel 5 that David is made king.
Saul has been killed.
David has already been anointed as the next king,
and he is made king.
And when the Philistines hear about this,
they want to stop this right from the get-go.
They've probably heard of David.
They've battled David before.
They know he's a mighty warrior,
so they want to make sure he's dethroned
so they can continue ruling over Israel.
But we know that God delivers the Philistines
into the hands of Israel,
and the Philistines are defeated.
And after this victory,
the first thing that David wants to do
is to bring this Ark to Jerusalem.
And it's noteworthy to recognize his desire here,
because it very well could have been
David knew he was going to be king for a while.
He recognized that Saul wasn't a good king,
and now he's finally made king.
He has secured his first victory.
He's the one who's the good leader.
He's the one that can protect Israel.
Rather than worrying about the Ark of the Covenant,
he could have been worrying about
having a parade for himself
to return to his own capital.
But instead, we see that he does something
very different here.
Instead, he desires the presence of God.
He assembles 30,000 men
from every corner of the kingdom,
commanders, soldiers, priests, farmers,
to form this procession
to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant
and bring it back to Jerusalem.
Because he recognizes here
that even though he is the king,
the people of Israel need to recognize
he is only an earthly king.
He is not the true king.
It is Israel who needs a true king.
For his kingship to succeed
is wholly dependent
on the presence of the almighty king.
And so this stands in a stark contrast
from King Saul,
who didn't care about the presence of God,
who only worried about his own glory.
But what we see here
is the Ark actually represents
the throne of God.
And for the past 20 years,
it's basically been in storage.
David wants to return this Ark
that it may be the center of worship,
that the people of God may understand
that God desires to dwell among them.
And so we see this actually
in, again, this Old Testament law.
Because in Numbers 2,
God gives instructions
for where this Ark is to be kept.
And even how the people
are to camp around the tabernacle.
The tabernacle was to be set up
in the middle of the nation of Israel
with three tribes on every side.
And in the middle of this tabernacle
was the Holy of Holies.
And in the middle of this Holy of Holies
was the Ark of the Covenant.
It meant to symbolize
the centrality of God
among his people.
This is what David
wanted to return to.
I'm going to ask why.
Why does David have this urge?
Well, this is really a desire
that goes back to the very
beginning of time,
to creation.
See, even at the fall,
when sin entered the world
through Adam and Eve,
we've had this ongoing struggle.
How do we return to the presence
of the Lord?
How do we enter
into right relationship with Him?
How do we live and approach
God and His holiness?
And it's really the whole
Ark of Redemption,
the whole Old Testament story
that unveils the answer
to this question.
It's not about man coming to God.
It's not about how we prove
ourselves to God
that He may be pleased with us.
It's about God coming to us.
It's about God providing
a way of salvation.
So David doesn't view
this Ark of the Covenant
as a good luck charm,
as the people of Israel
had done in the past.
He's not simply getting the Ark
in order to follow
this Old Testament law
as it was supposed to be kept.
He's understanding the blessing
that comes from God
being in His presence.
And so if we turn to
1 Chronicles 13 through 15,
this actually provides
a parallel passage
to what we read here
in 2 Samuel 6.
And it provides a bit more
detail for us.
And in those passages,
it actually tells us
the Psalms that David
and the people sang
when they brought the Ark
to Jerusalem.
And it's actually a combination
of the two Psalms
we sang this morning,
Psalm 96 and Psalm 105,
where we rejoice
at the presence of the Lord.
The presence of the Lord
brings us joy
because we have
a covenant-keeping God.
We have a God
who performs wondrous works,
whose love endures forever.
This is why David
and his people
had this passion
for the presence of God.
And so a question for us,
do we share this passion
for the presence of God?
Do we understand
our need for Him?
And a need not just means
that when we come to church
on a Sunday morning
we want to meet with Him,
not just a need for God
when things are going wrong
in our lives,
when our relationship
with our spouse
is on the rocks,
when we're having trouble
with our children
or having difficulty at work,
a true need
for the centrality
of God in our lives.
Because I think
this is what often happens
even in the lives
of Christians.
We have this desire
to cultivate
this comfortable life
for ourselves.
We want to have a good job.
We want to have
a good relationship
and a good family.
We want good standing
in our society.
We want some level
of comfort and dignity.
And yes, we want God too.
We want a relationship
with God too,
but we view that more
as the cherry on top
of the Sunday
of our lives
rather than allowing
that relationship
with God,
the presence of God
to be central
to our lives.
We have to change
our way of thinking
that we may reorient
our entire lives
around God
and His presence
rather than thinking
that we can just
allow Him
to remain on the periphery,
to engage Him
in the Gospel
when it's convenient,
when it's comfortable.
No, we need God
as a center of our lives
for our very
spiritual survival.
And so that brings us
to our second point,
then the problem
with the ark.
We see David has
this passion
for the presence of God,
but he pursues
this passion
in the wrong way
because we see
in verse 5,
the ark was brought
out of the house
of Abinadab.
It's placed on this cart
in front of this procession
heading to Jerusalem.
And the people are singing
and there's playing
a bag of instruments,
but yet this oxen stumbles,
the ark starts to slip,
and this man named Uzzah
reaches out
to stabilize the ark.
And what happens?
He's immediately struck dead.
Can you imagine
the change in mood
of 30,000 people
when this happens?
People singing
and dancing
and rejoicing
with instrument
and voice
to see instantly
someone drop dead.
what were they left
to think?
Why in the world
would something
like this happen?
And this is the part
of the story
where a lot of people
get annoyed
because we think,
what in the world
happened here?
What a nasty,
grumpy,
vindictive God
is this?
Why in the world
would he allow
this to happen?
Because we look at Uzzah
and we think he's just
trying to protect the ark.
He has the best
of intentions.
He has a good heart.
He was sincere
in his concern.
Yet God struck him dead.
Why in the world
would I want to worship
a God like this?
See, the problem
with his viewpoint
is the same problem
that Uzzah had
and the people
of Israel had.
It's that they assumed
their own innocence.
If we go back
to the book of Exodus
again,
when God gave
the law to Moses,
he gave very
specific instructions
for how to build
the ark,
for how to carry
the ark,
for how to store
the ark.
The ark had
these gold rings,
like I said,
with these poles
that were to be kept
in the ark
at all time
for carrying.
It was only
to be carried
by Levites.
It was never
to be touched
by any other human.
And we read
laws like this,
many, many,
many more laws
that we see
in the Old Testament,
Exodus,
Leviticus,
Numbers,
more so than just
regarding the ark.
And we think,
why in the world
did God give
all these laws
to the people of Israel?
They seem so tedious
and so burdensome.
If you were with us
a few months ago,
we actually walked
through very quickly
the Ten Commandments
in Exodus 20.
And in those few sermons,
we looked at the uses
of the law.
Why did God give us
the law?
Well, one of those uses
that we looked at
is the law serves
first and foremost
as a mirror for us.
Because when God
looks at the law,
he sees his perfection.
When we look at the law,
we see the depth
of our sin.
It shows us how far
we have fallen
from God's standard.
And so while other religions
say, follow the law
and you can be saved,
the God of the Bible
says you cannot
follow the law
and you cannot
save yourself.
And so this is the problem
that Uzzah had.
It was this lack
of humility
that was likely based
on this familiarity
that he had
with the ark.
It said that this ark
had been stored
for 20 years
on his family's property.
He likely would have
seen it often.
And so maybe he thought
that he had some sort
of special standing,
that he was good enough
to be around the ark,
that while the enemies
of God face the wrath
of God,
his nearness gave him
some sort of special privilege.
And I wonder,
is that not how we often
view our own relationship
with God?
God,
we come to church
on Sundays,
we have some level
of familiarity
with the Bible
and with singing psalms
and prayers
and we think
somehow that earns us
some sort of credit
to God.
But yet so often
our heart is cold
and we're totally
disengaged
with the gospel.
If you think around
the city around us,
oftentimes that also
comes with a sense
of satisfaction,
self,
while we're willing
to judge others.
If you think about
the fringe going on
right now,
the tens of thousands
of people who are
in this city right now,
we walk around
and we see these signs,
some that are inappropriate,
I don't even want
to look at the sign
much less actually
go to the show.
And it's easy for us
to look at these people
and say,
yes,
God is going to judge
these people.
Well,
I think that we're secure
in this little Christian bubble
relying on our own morality.
C.S. Lewis in his book
Mere Christianity,
he states that man's
greatest vice,
the utmost evil of man
is our pride.
He calls this the complete
anti-God state of mind
and from pride
pours forth every other sin,
he says.
And he talks about
in this book
how pride distorts
our relationship,
our relationship with man,
but also our relationship
with God.
And he writes this,
in God,
you come up against
something in which
in every respect
is immeasurably
superior to yourself.
Unless you know
God as that
and therefore
know yourself
as nothing
by comparison,
you do not know
God at all.
See,
the reason that we
get so offended
by a passage like this
and how God
takes action
and judges
a man like Uzzah
is because we fail
to see the message
that God is communicating,
that our sin
is serious.
See,
Uzzah's problem
was that although
he recognized
that the ground
might defile the ark,
he thought that
his hand would not.
When in actuality,
the filth of his sins
was far worse
than the dust
of the earth.
He had no concept
for the seriousness
of his own sin.
He didn't understand
that our sin
and God's holiness
cannot coexist
peacefully.
And so we see
the effects
of this attitude,
the effects
of this way
of thinking.
And so I think
it's worth actually
pointing out
some of the language
that's used
in this passage.
If we look again
in verse 8,
this is how it reads
in the NIV.
Then David was angry
because the Lord's wrath
had broken out
against Uzzah
and to this day
the place is called
Perez Uzzah.
Now in this one verse
there's a Hebrew word
that's used three times,
perats.
And it means
to break out
or to break through.
And so listen
to this verse
if it's read
literally here.
Then David
became angry
because Yahweh
had broken out
with an outbreak
against Uzzah.
And so the place
is called
Outbreak of Uzzah
to this day.
And it's interesting
because this is
the same word
that's used
to describe
how God defeated
the Philistines
in the prior chapter.
Listen to this.
2 Samuel 5,
verse 20
literally reads this.
And David came
to the Lord
of Outbreaking
and David
struck them down there
and he said,
Yahweh has broken out
against my enemies
like an outbreaking
of water.
Therefore he called
the name of the place
Lord of Outbreaking.
And so notice
the way that God
breaks out
against David's enemies
in chapter 6
is the same way
he breaks out
against Uzzah.
Or chapter 5
is the same way
he breaks out
against Uzzah
in chapter 6.
You see,
God's lethal
holiness
and justice
is the same
for the pagan
as it is
for the churchgoer.
And this is hard
for us to understand
sometimes.
But God is not
impressed
with our church
attendance record.
He's not impressed
or pleased
with our casual worship.
He's not,
he does not want
to accept
our own spiritual standards
that when we fool
ourselves into thinking
that we are good enough
or that our sin
isn't that bad
or that God
owes us something.
God desires
for us to see
the seriousness
of our sin
in light
of his holiness.
And that ultimately
leads us
to our final point.
Because while this passage
exposes the problem
that Israel had
with the ark,
the story doesn't end here.
The people of Israel
aren't just left
in this hopeless reality
of their sin
because what we see here
is the promise
of the ark.
In verse 9
it says that
David was afraid
of the Lord
and instead of
continuing on this journey,
instead of bringing
the ark all the way
to Jerusalem,
he basically abandons
his plans
and he leaves
the ark
in the house
of Obed-Eden.
He didn't really,
he didn't say
that he asked for mission,
he just said he left it there.
Can you imagine
Obed-Eden
when he receives
this rather
unwanted gift?
Think about this,
he probably would have heard
that this caused plagues
to the Philistines,
this ark
and now it's brought
to Israel
and Uzzah's just died
because he touched the ark
and David wants
to leave the ark
with him.
It's like someone
handing like a hand grenade
without a pin.
Of course he doesn't
want this gift.
But yet in this game
of hot potato,
you take it,
I don't want it,
David wins
because he's king
and what we see here
is this illustration
of what happens
when we do recognize
our own sinfulness
in light of God's holiness.
We often want to run
and we want to hide.
This is what Adam and Eve
did in the garden,
did they not
when sin entered the world?
We sense this crushing weight
of guilt
and helplessness
because we don't possess
the righteousness
that's needed
to meet God's standards.
But that's not the response
that God wants from us.
He doesn't want sin
to drive us away from him,
he wants us to recognize
our sin
and run to him.
Recognize your sin,
I am the only one
who can save you.
And we see
this is the message
of this passage.
Obed-Eden isn't destroyed,
it's just the opposite.
With the ark
in his presence,
his family
experiences blessing.
David is told of this
and he returns again
with this renewed joy
to bring the ark
back to Jerusalem.
And so when he does
it this time,
it's very different
than how David
approaches the first time.
He doesn't just come
with enthusiasm
and passion,
he comes with
a proper understanding
of forgiveness.
He comes with
a recognition
of his own sinfulness
in light of God's holiness.
And so rather than
bring the ark
on a cart,
it's carried
as it should have been
by these poles,
by the Levites.
And before they even
begin their journey,
before they even
take that seventh step,
David offered sacrifice.
When they arrive
in Jerusalem,
more sacrifice.
And so again,
it shows us
that David is in keeping
with the law
of the Lord here.
When we think about
the tabernacle again
as was described
in Hebrews,
before the high priest
could enter in the
Holy of Holies
where the ark was kept,
a sacrifice was to be made
at the altar of burnt offering
at the entrance
to the tabernacle.
And so this symbolizes
the payment of blood
that must be made
in order for us
to enter into
the presence of God.
And so this is
what causes David
to dance and to leap
and to sing
with all his might
because he recognizes
and understands
that fellowship
with God is possible.
What had been promised
to Moses
when this law was given
holds true.
I will meet you
at the mercy seat.
And if this is true
for David,
then it's all the more
true for you and me
because what David
could only see dimly,
we now see clearly.
To see the value
of this ark
is to see the foreshadowing
that it provides us,
pointing us forward
to the future reality
that we will no longer
depend on the blood
of animals
for the forgiveness
of sin.
It points us forward
to our perfect sacrifice,
the Son of God,
Jesus,
who came to earth,
who lived a perfect life,
perfectly fulfilling the law,
dying the death
we deserve,
rising in victory
over the grave.
And so it brings us back
to what we read
in Hebrews chapter 9.
Jesus did not enter
the tabernacle
by means of blood
of goats and calves,
but he entered
the most holy place
once and for all
by his own blood,
thus obtaining
eternal redemption.
See, the presence of God
does not reside
on that mercy seat
of the ark any longer.
Behind that veil,
that curtain
that separated
the holy of holies.
See, that veil
has been torn
and we no longer
need the ark
to experience
the presence of the Lord.
In fact,
this is what was prophesied
by Jeremiah.
In Jeremiah 3.16,
he says,
the ark of the covenant
of the Lord
will not come to mind
or be remembered
or be missed.
It shall not be made again.
At that time,
Jerusalem shall be called
the throne of the Lord.
What is he talking about?
He's prophesying
where we live now.
We recognize
that we don't need the ark.
Those who have received
God's grace
through faith in Christ,
we no longer need an ark
because we are the ark.
God,
we are the temple of God.
It is God
who dwells in us.
And so in the same way
that David could rejoice
and celebrate as he did,
we can as well.
We see at the end
of this passage,
we can't spend
too much time here,
but we see that David
is chastised by Michael
for his exuberance.
And how does he respond?
He responds by saying,
I will rejoice
because the Lord
has chosen me.
Can we respond
in the same way
by saying,
the Lord has chosen me?
If so,
we rejoice
in the presence
of the Lord.
If this is not you,
recognize that Christ's blood
has been shed for you.
His grace
is available to you.
He longs to be
in your presence.
And so may it be
our desire
to live
in the presence
of the Lord
that he may be
central to our life,
that our sins
have been forgiven
and we rejoice
in perfect relationship
with him.
Let's pray together.
Lord, we thank you
for the symbolism
we see in the Ark
of the Covenant.
Let's pray together.