Discover the sacred and the sobering as we journey back to the days of King David with the Ark of the Covenant at the center of a divine drama. Join me, Pastor Brandon, and a panel of distinguished guests, as we unravel the chilling episode of Uzzah's demise from 1 Chronicles chapter 13. This poignant story serves as a stern reminder of the gravity of God's instructions, juxtaposing Israel's costly oversight with the Philistine's obliviousness. We delve into the rich symbolism of the Ark, deciphering its representation of God's tangible presence and its prophetic echo of Jesus Christ as Paul articulated. The fear that struck David and the ensuing blessings poured upon Obed-Edom's household for hosting the Ark provide a gripping narrative that will challenge you to reflect on your own life and the consequences of the choices you make.
As we contemplate the impact of daily communion with the Divine, let us guide you through the metamorphic potential of making God a foundational aspect of your everyday existence. The blessings that filled Obed-Edom's home upon sheltering the Ark inspire our conversation about the sheer power of inviting God into our routines, and how that can sanctify and enrich every aspect of our lives. Together, we affirm the transformative effects of setting aside time for God, drawing nearer to Him, and recognizing the delight He takes in our pursuit of integrity. Wrap up this episode with us in prayerful anticipation, and be encouraged to persist in this sacred journey through the Chronicles, where the ancient texts still speak to the core of our modern lives.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. 1 Chronicles, chapter 13, and today's title is Uzzah Be Dead Again. Uzzah Be Dead Again. This is one of those. If you remember us talking about yesterday how this was a story we have already read about, but this time we're going to read it from the point of view of Ezra, the priest most likely and leaning more toward bringing the presence of God back to the city of God. We're going to get to that in just a moment and poor Uzzah, he's going to die again. But before we do that, make sure you are liking, sharing, subscribing to the podcast and the YouTube channel, Make sure you're engaging with us.
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We want to know some of your feedback, some of your questions, some of your concerns, some of your angry outbursts. Leave those there, it's no problem. We can delete those, but you can put them out there if you want to, and where we all gather together at the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook, and I always want to say thank you to them so much. There is a wonderful team that's doing a wonderful job, and if you'd like to know more about how you can be part of our team, make sure you send us a message on there and we'd be glad to talk to you about what that could look like, and it may or may not be a fit for you, but you don't know until you ask, right. So let us know and we'll see what we can do, because always, the more we dig, the more we find. And my goal is to not just be your friendly neighborhood Bible tour guide. My goal is to inspire you and encourage you to dig into God's Word for yourself, because, man, the best thing ever is when you're digging through God's Word and you feel God speaking to you directly. It's amazing, and because of that, that's why we do this is to hopefully provide those environments.
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So, if you have your Bible, I want to open up with me to 1 Chronicles, chapter 13. We're going to watch how David is going to move the ark, or he's going to attempt to move the ark back to Jerusalem. If you remember, what has happened in the past is the Philistines had taken the ark, but then God started to just deal with them himself and finally they brought that ark back. But because they didn't know what to do with it, they run into a problem. So let's read this, as we can see how they're trying to quickly get us back to back to where everything is set, and they can see that God's hand is upon Israel. So here we go, let's get ready.
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Verse one of first Chronicles, chapter 13, david consulted with his officials, including the generals and the captains of his army. Then he addressed the entire assembly of Israel as follows If you approve and if it is the will of the Lord, our God, let us send messages to all the Israelites throughout the land, including the priests and Levites in their towns and pastor lands. Let us invite them to come and join us. It is time to bring the ark of our God, for we have neglected bring back the ark of our God, because we all the way to the town of Lebo, hamath in the north, to join in bringing the ark of God from Kiriath-Jerub. Then David and all of Israel went to Bela of Judah, which is also called Kiriath-Jerub, to bring back the ark of God which bears the name of the Lord who is enthroned between the cherubim. They placed the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from Abinadab's house. Uzzah and Eho were guiding the cart. Now pause. The reason why they did this was because when the Philistines snatched the ark away and then God started to deal with them and all this other. They had put the ark on a cart and sent it back to Israel. Now, god didn't mind them doing that, because they were idolaters, they were pagans, they didn't know any better. Israel knew better. God had told them specifically when you handle my presence, do it in this specific way. So they knew better, but they followed, after the customs and culture of the world Now, what God had told them to do.
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Verse eight says this David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all of their might, singing songs and playing all kinds. It says this Then the Lord's anger was aroused against Uzzah and he struck him dead because he had laid his hand on the ark. So Uzzah died there, in the presence of God. David was angry because the Lord's anger had burst out against Uzzah and he named the place Perez Uzzah, which means to burst out against Uzzah, as it is still called today. David was now afraid of God and he asked how can I ever bring the ark of God back into my care? So David did not move the ark into the city of David. Instead he took it to the house of Obed-Edom in Gath and the ark of God remained in Obed-Edom's house for three months and the Lord blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he owned. So, wow, poor Uzzah doesn't have to die again. Well, that seems, on the surface level, like that's unfair. Poor Uzzah is just trying to do a good thing, but if you look a little bit deeper, look at what's going on.
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There's a whole lot of things that are happening in this story. First of all, god had told Israel exactly how to move the ark. The ark was not holy in and of itself. It was holy because of what it represented. It represented a place where God would rest so that they could meet with him. It was a visible representation of the invisible God. Later, that's exactly how Paul described Jesus. Now, the idea behind this is is they? The ark came in the middle, on the, on the lid, there were these angels that had their wings that would come together and it looked like a seat. And so what they would say is is that the Lord would would sit on top of the ark, and they called that top the mercy seat. So it was a holy place and it was a symbol of the presence of God. But instead of honoring God's presence the way they needed to. They instead honored God's presence the way pagan people did, so instead of carrying it themselves, they put it on a cart. Well, that was already their first problem.
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Second thing is is when the oxen stumbled, the Bible said that Uzzah thought so little of the sacredness of God because you weren't supposed to touch the ark that he reached out and he touched the ark. He thought himself worthy to help God out. And instead of letting God take care of God, you gotta let God do his thing. He wanted to help God out, and so there were multiple things that happened, and then, because of that, the honor of God was restored. Hey, I don't, we don't, we need to do this thing seriously. So David became afraid. Another way of saying this is David began to fear. Okay, well, maybe God was really serious about this after all. So let's put the ark with a guy named Obed-Edom while we figure out what to do. And then the Bible said that when Obed-Edom hosted the presence of God, everything he owned was blessed. So what can we take out of this? So many lessons.
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I want to know in the comments below, both on our Facebook page and also on our YouTube comments what takeaway do you take from this? There's things such as how, about this? Honor God the way he wants to be honored, not the way culture wants to honor him. How do we find out? By reading God's word every day. The second thing is don't think we know better than God. Don't try to help God out when things don't seem to be going the right way. Instead, trust God to do what he needs to do.
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And then the third thing is the importance of spending time with God. When you have a daily time with God and you host God's presence if I put it like that, god blesses everything you want God's presence becomes where he goes with you everywhere. Now, in a literal sense, god is everywhere, always. There's not a place you can go. God is not. However, he does not always reveal his presence in every environment, but when you host the presence of God, god is always near you.
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The one that speaks to me the most is that one. Do you know near you? The one that speaks to me the most is that one. Do you know? If you only talk to God occasionally, then you're only going to have God's presence revealed to you occasionally, but if you make a daily appointment with God, god, I'm going to host your presence. I want you to move in with me. Then you know what you'll start to notice Everything in your life will be kissed by the presence of God. You'll begin to notice that God is nearer than you first thought and you begin to realize that he is around you more than you can imagine.
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So today, what do you need to do to make an appointment with God? And then, where in your schedule can you make that a daily occurrence? Let's pray God. Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you love us and you want to be near us. I pray, god, that you will help us always to draw near to you Because, lord, the more we dig, the more we find, and we want to be close to you. Thank you for your goodness and your mercy. In Jesus' name we pray Amen. Don't forget. God's word says in 1 Chronicles, 29, verse 17,. I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for 1 Chronicles, chapter 14.