1 Chronicles 15:1-3. 1David built houses for himself in the city of David. And he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. 2Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister to him forever. 3And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to its place, which he had prepared for it.
Over the past couple of days, we’ve been looking at ascension stories from the Old Testament. Moses ascended up the mountain to meet with God. Elijah ascended into Heaven on a chariot of fire. In today’s scripture, the ark ascends up the mountain into the city of Jerusalem – David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to its place, which he had prepared for it.
Remember, this is not Noah’s ark, this is the Ark of the Covenant, the special, gold covered box that held the Ten Commandments. The Ark of the Covenant was kept in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle. It had a seat or throne on top of it called the Mercy Seat. God sat on that throne in the Tabernacle. Only the priest could go into the Holy of Holies, and only one day a year. Not the king, only the priest, and only with the blood of the sacrifice.
The problem was that when David became king of Israel the ark was not in Israel. It had been captured by the bad guys, the Philistines. King Saul never bothered to try to get the ark back. But David did. You see, David knew who the real king was, and it wasn’t him. It was God. So David made a plan to bring the ark back to Jerusalem, back to where God would be seen as he ruler of his people and where he could be worshiped by his people.
But David didn’t bring the Ark of the Covenant back to the Tabernacle. It says that he placed it in a tent that he had set up for it. Sometimes this is called the Tent of David. King David put the ark into a little tent at his palace so that he could go be with God and worship him anytime. Without animal sacrifices. Without priests. And without any limits.
What David did is a picture of what happened when Jesus ascended into Heaven. Like the Ark of the Covenant, Jesus is in the “tent” of Heaven, and like David, we can go to him and worship him any time we want, without any limits. At the Tent of David, they did not offer sacrifices to cover up their sin, instead they played music, sang and danced before God. David didn’t wait for the priests to go before God one day a year. He acted like a priest himself and went before God anytime he wanted.
This should sound a bit like going to church. At church we will gather before God, sing songs of praise, all without trying to offer sacrifices for our sin. And as Christians, we can praise God and give him thanks any time we want to, all the time!
Can you see how David’s tent is a picture of being with Jesus? David went boldly into the presence of God in his backyard tent. He stood, sat, sang, danced, clapped, played, and wrote countless psalms in front of the Mercy Seat. And he invited the people to join him. The whole nation of Israel worshiped God at this little tent. All without the continual shedding of blood. All without repeated cleansing. Just endless praise and thanksgiving.
The ascension of Jesus has made it so that we can worship God this same way. Without limits. Without fear. And without any guilt.
You: What do you do at your church when we gather to worship God?
You with Jesus: How does having Jesus allow us to worship God whenever we want to?
Prayer: Father, I’m so glad that I don’t have to pay for my sins and that I can worship you with praise and thanksgiving instead of trying to offer sacrifices. Jesus you are the final sacrifice. Amen.
TLICfamily 