“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God’s] own purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9 AMPC)
You and I belong to a priesthood that is also a group of people dedicated by God to set forth the powerful and wonderful deeds of God in Christ as our lives become living displays of the very virtues and perfections of the life of Jesus that abides within us. God has dedicated us and chosen us to become and accomplish much more than what our current religious sentiments and convictions will even consider.
Most of us must come face to face with the reality that the life we live is religiously dedicated more toward saving ourselves from God after He saved us from our sins. We are willing to hold fast to a form of godliness that acknowledges and talks about what He has done while also postponing those things which He has purposed to do to some future event. A perfect example is the perception that we hold concerning eternal life. We know that when God saves us, we are given eternal life. The typical consensus is that when we die, or when Jesus returns, we will live forever. And while that is true, the full truth is that we are already recipients of eternal life – the eternal life of Christ who dwells in us, the hope of glory.
The Treasure of His Presence
Consider this. 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels….” We carry about in our hearts the Holy Presence of God. This is a “now” thing! This is so significant, that this reality is what empowered the church to display the life of Jesus while crowned with the power of God that turned the world upside down. For us, it is our treasure that must be rediscovered; to the lost it is the unrealized treasure of faith, hope, love, deliverance, and redemption that is the genuine missing piece filling the void that was created to carry it in every human being. “The life was manifested” (see 1 John 1:2a) in Jesus Christ. That same life is manifested in the hearts of all who have received Him, and it is this treasure of which we speak!
Eternal life is more than living forever. It is more than something; it is Someone! This is what John writes about in the first few verses of the first chapter of his first epistle. And you and I must also declare – “testify and proclaim to [others] the eternal life which was with the Father…” (see 1 John 1:2b) and manifested in us who have received and believe!As we abide in Christ who abides in us, that of which we testify and proclaim is manifested in our lives as we surrender our lives to Him rendering our lives in our very bodies a living sacrifice (see Romans 12:1). Thus, our lives unveil the otherwise unseen virtues and perfections of Jesus to others while the power of God that surpasses greatness is released from us to those we touch. Eternal life is the very Holy presence of God, and you and I carry His presence in our earthen vessels.
The Ark of His Presence
There is a lesson regarding the Ark of the Covenant found in 1 Chronicles chapters 13 and 15. The ark was a very carefully crafted vessel that carried about 3 items representing the very presence of the life of Christ – the Messiah (the golden pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant – Hebrews 9:4). The ark is a symbol of God’s Holy Presence.
David Seeks to Recover The Ark – and Fails Disastrously
During Eli’s watch, the ark was stolen by the Philistines who desired to wield its great power to obtain success and wealth. But for the Philistines, the ark was a menace! So the ark was placed on a cart and returned to Israel and was kept by Eleazar while it remained in the house of his father, Abinadab. Twenty years later, David decided to gather every one of Israel to bring back the ark of God. The Scriptures report that this endeavor “was right in the eyes of all the people” (1 Chronicles 13:4 NASB).
So, they built a new cart, and “they carried the ark of God on a new cart” (1 Chronicles 13:7 NASB). It is important to note that this is how the Philistines transported the ark being advised by the priests of Dagon to do so. David and the people, following the example of the Philistines, built a new cart to replace the old one to transport it to its destination – Jerusalem.
The ark did not make it to Jerusalem, though. Driven by Uzzah and Ahio, the cart proceeded followed by David and the people in jubilant celebration with music and dancing. Again, all this was right in their own eyes. However, at Chidon, the ark was troubled as “the oxen nearly upset it” (v. 9), and Uzzah (in Hebrew it means strength) reached out his hand to steady the ark and as he did, the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah and he was struck down by the Lord, and there he died.
After Consulting God, David and the Priests Prepare and Sanctify Themselves to Carry The Ark
Well, for three months, the project was suspended. And David, afraid of God, lamented and wondered how he could bring the ark back to Jerusalem. So, he took the ark to Obed-edom and left it there for during that time.
Well, during that time, David “prepared a place for the ark of God” (1 Chronicles 15:1). And he called upon the priests and Levites to carry the ark, acknowledging that it was they whom God had chosen to carry it. He declared in repentance that the anger of the Lord “broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order” (v. 13 NKJ). And then we are told, “the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring the ark” (v.14 NKJ), and they “bore the ark of God on their shoulders, by its poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD” (v. 15 NKJ). With great jubilation, this time as they played music and danced, the ark of God’s presence was brought to its destination in Jerusalem.
Lessons For Us In Carrying The Presence of God
There are multiple vital lessons for you and me as it pertains to David’s mission to move the ark of God’s presence. Here, let us examine a few critical key lessons for us (at a later time we will come back to this).
The Presence of God has a destiny; it has somewhere to go and something to do. The call of Jesus to His disciples was simple: “Follow Me.” As disciples of Jesus, He instructs us and calls us to follow Him. He has somewhere He must go, and in going He must be doing the works of His Father. Like David, we must realize that the ark of God’s presence has its own destiny and destination. Each of us who belong to Christ carries in our vessels the Holy Presence of God as seen in the prophetic illustration of the ark of God’s presence. Sadly, we spend most of our lives going where we want and pursuing what we desire while asking God to go with us and bless us in our goings and pursuits. In 1 Chronicles 15:15, they carried the ark of God on their shoulders (as God told Moses) “with the poles thereon”. The Hebrew word here actually indicates a yoke. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:29a NASB [emphasis mine]). He did not say, “I will take your yoke upon me.” He is going somewhere and is about His Father’s business, and we have been chosen to go with Him. It is through His strength and power that we will walk in this exciting destiny with Him. But we must be yoked to Him going wheresoever He takes us. As we carry the presence of God within our hearts, He directs our paths and commissions us with His works.
And still yet, we must consider and remember if we are sons of God (John 1:12), then we must follow Him. For such is the destiny of the disciples of Jesus, and the Scripture tells us, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14 NKJ). Are you ready to follow Him – to be led by His Spirit?
They did what was right in their eyes. The eyes of our natural man are not discerning. The natural man cannot appraise the things of the Spirit, neither can our natural man weigh the things of God. We generally live and move according to what is right in our eyes. This equates to the “spiritual feel” we get from a religious spirit. Eve was seduced by what was pleasing to her eyes, we are warned of the lust of the eyes – desiring to possess what we see and acquire what has visual appeal to us (see 1 John 2:16). We see it; we want it. We see someone else doing something, we want to do that something too! Sadly, we allow too many voices to speak into our lives. Disastrously, we allow the world to define how we will carry about our ministries as we build our churches.
We must seek God, and consult Him, and sanctify ourselves to carry His Presence. As we carry about the ministries we have received in the Lord, we must seek God and consult Him as we build the church, because “unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it” (Psalms 127:2a NASB). Even our personal lives, our plans, our goals, and what we do. We must remember that we belong to a dedicated group of people. God has dedicated us and chosen us to set forth the virtues and perfections of Christ while walking in the works of God for which we were created (see also Ephesians 2:10) which unleash the surpassing greatness of the power of His Presence we carry about in our vessels. In so doing, we live a holy life. Beloved, join me and countless others and “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Romans 12:1 NASB).
Lord, forgive us for living presumptuously and for living a life lacking in faith. We have wrongly championed ourselves using milestones of success defined by the world. We have allowed others to speak into our lives when we should be consulting You and seeking and surrendering to the leading of Your Spirit. Lord, today – right now, I sanctify myself and set myself apart from anything that hinders me and encumbers me from that which You have declared me dedicated to. You have sanctified me for Your eternal purpose. That I might be transformed and conformed to the image of your Son, and that my life would reveal the virtues and perfections of the life of Jesus. I desire to live, to dwell in the Eternal Life of Christ as You, O Lord dwell in me. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Hal Garms eWord Messages 