Exodus 25 (Part 2) Bible Study (The Ark of the Covenant) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Exodus chapter 25 beginning in verse 10. They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold. Inside and outside shall you overlay it.

You shall make on it a molding of gold around it. You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet. Two rings on the one side of it and two rings on the other side of it. And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the arc to carry the arc by them. The poles shall remain in the rings of the arc.

They shall not be taken from it. And you shall put into the ark of the testimony that I shall give you. Before we pray, as we enter into the study of the tabernacle, we started with an overview last week. My my one concern entering into this study is that we would leave here with just more information. And so easily can we fall into this mindset, whether it's a teaching or a preaching or whatever it is, where we where we think to ourselves, well, you know, I never read it like that.

I I never saw it that way. Oh, how how is that that you connected those things together, and that's all we leave with? And, personally, just studying this myself, I asked the Lord, Lord, don't let me see it this way. Lord, let it go beyond my mind. Let it touch my heart.

And let me see your heart behind these things. And so we're just gonna pray for that. If you can just lift your heart to the Lord in all humility and hunger and saying, Lord, I need you to do something in my life through this. Father, we come before you as we journey with you through the tabernacle. And we ask God in all desire and humility, Lord, we are fearful of falling into the trap of just having our intellect tickled.

Lord, we need our hearts to be changed. And so we pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may see Christ, that we may see your love, that you that you would show us what you desire from us through this. And so, Lord, give us the ears to hear, but more importantly, give us the heart to receive. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. If you weren't with us last week, we discussed how God had called his people to bring contributions because they have now reached a point in their journey with God where they will see God's heart and why he brought them out. Exodus nineteen four. I brought you out. I bore you on eagles wings.

For what reason? To bring you to myself. I wanna bring you to myself. And if you go back to verse eight of this very same chapter, what does God say? And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst.

Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and all its furniture, so you shall make it. So what's God's purpose behind this tabernacle that we've just seen? And the reason why we're watching this, we're we're gonna probably watch it before every single session as we go through the tabernacle for one reason, that it would be burned in your mind. That you would see it, that you would understand how these things are placed and how these things connect. What's God's purpose for this sanctuary?

Well, it's so that he can dwell in the midst of his people. And so the tabernacle, this tent like structure, is an expression of God's desire to be with his own. It is the worship center of Israel at this time. And what we discussed last week is that there is a surface level understanding of these pieces of furniture and of this structure itself, but it's also prophetic of three different things, major things. One of them being a picture of Jesus Christ.

The tabernacle itself testifies of the person and the ministry of our Lord. Secondly, it testifies to some components, some realities of what the local church should be, how God's church should operate, what it should seek after, what it should practice in their midst. And lastly, speaks of you. The tabernacle speaks of you as an individual because you are God's temple. And so a word of caution before we enter.

Whenever it comes to trying to interpret things with a new covenant lens, we have to be cautious because we can get into an extreme where we try to find Jesus in every single detail. So we look at the rings and we go, what do the rings mean? And we look at the molding. We go, what do the molding mean? What does the molding mean?

And we have to be very cautious because we can fall into allegorical interpretation, and there is some room for that. Even Paul the Apostle does that in Galatians in Galatians, the book of Galatians. But we have to be able to interpret the Bible with the Bible. Or else we begin to put our own interpretation in there and you have something else and somebody else has something else and it gets a little dangerous. Same thing with how it relates to the church, same thing how it relates to you as a believer.

And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna try to stay as safe as possible to seeing how this specific piece and all the other pieces relate to those three components that are so vital for us to understand. All scripture is breathed out by God, even the instructions of the tabernacle. And so the first structure that God calls his people to build, the first piece of furniture is the Ark of the Covenant. And if we can put up the map that is there, I want us to just look at this from just a helicopter view of what we're looking at. And so we saw it on video, but I want us to just see it here when it's still.

That red squiggly line there is the entrance. There's only one entrance into the tabernacle, and we're not getting into that just yet. The first piece you're gonna see is the bronze altar. The second thing is the bronze laver. Then you're gonna come into the holy place.

So outside is the outer court, but now we come into the holy place, and there's three pieces. We have the table of showbread, we have the seven branch lampstand, and then you have the altar of incense that is placed right before another veil. And that veil is the entrance into the holy of holies. And there's only one piece of furniture in the holy of holies, and that is the ark of the covenant. And as we just read half of this list here of what should be concerning the ark of the covenant, you might get a picture like this, and there are many pictures you can find and perhaps you've seen it.

This is what the final product would look like, an idea at least. Some might debate the position of the poles, but this is a general understanding of what the ark of the covenant looks like. And so you have the two cherubim that we haven't read about, but we will read about, and their faces are down. And we'll discuss this in detail, but just let that stay in your mind as we read through this. And so we just read the instructions of the Ark of the Covenant, how to build it.

And I want us to explore how it relates to Jesus Christ for first and foremost. We read here that they shall make an ark of acacia wood, two cubits and a half shall be its length. And it goes on to say in verse 11, you shall overlay it with pure gold. Inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. What is this structure made out of?

What is this furniture made out of material wise? Wood, gold, acacia wood, and what? Gold. And so this specific piece of furniture that is described to fulfill a specific ministry is defined by two materials. Now would you say that it's only gold, or would you say that it's only wood?

Is it only wood or is it only gold?

It's wood with gold overlay.

Both. Right? Is Jesus fully man or fully god? Both. He's both.

And so we see a little insight here concerning the person of Jesus, but more importantly, not just what the structure is made out of, but what's in the piece of furniture itself. Does anybody know what is in this chest like piece?

Tell me about the offering.

The ark of the covenant. Yes.

Most Aaron's staff.

Aaron's staff.

The is the grain on the grain or the the 10 commandments, sir?

The 10 commandments. Number two, There's one last thing in there, one item. The pot of manna. Where do we see that? In another book that gives some insight into the tabernacle, which is the book of Hebrews chapter nine verse four.

You don't have to turn there. I'll just read it. Having the gold golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, speaking about the holy of holies, and we'll get to that later. The ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, an Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Three items in the piece of the Ark of the Covenant.

And those three items speak of the ministries that Jesus has fulfilled. And so we have the tablets, the 10 commandments. Jesus fulfilled the law. He did not come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill it, and he fulfilled it on whose behalf?

Yours and mine. The manna the manna speaks of what? Speaks of him being the bread of life, the bread from heaven, and he is that sustaining element in our lives. He's the saving element in our lives. The same way he saved the Israelites in that journey in Exodus 16, he came and he saved you when we were starving and complaining and mumbling and rebellious in our state.

He's the bread of life, the bread of heaven. And if you do not eat of his flesh, you have no part of him. If you do not eat of Christ, you do not have eternal life. And then we have Aaron's rod. Not just Aaron's rod, Aaron's rod that budded, and that happened in numbers with the the people of Korah.

Right? Korah, the the and and his rebels came against Moses. And in order to have a final conclusion of who's truly called and who carries the authority, they said bring the the the staff of the 12 tribes, Come here, and we're gonna put Aaron's staff. We're gonna put it in this very in front of this very thing, and we're gonna see who God approves of and who God has called. And Aaron's Aaron's rod buds, and it produces almonds.

And that speaks of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. That the same way that that stick, that piece of wood was lifeless, God animated it and brought it to life. And so we have the law in which Christ fulfilled. We have the bread in which Jesus Christ is the bread of heaven, and we have his resurrection power, all part of the arc, which is amazing. Because if you're familiar with a specific portion of scripture, that was not always the case.

It was not always the case in Israel's history where all three of those items, though they were initially in the ark, were there. Turn your Bibles to first Kings. First Kings chapter eight and verse nine. So this is when Solomon built not the tabernacle, but the temple. He built the temple.

This was on David's heart, and he could not fulfill it because he was a man of blood. And so Solomon would fulfill building the temple, which is a permanent structure was at least of what the tabernacle was temporarily the temple was permanently. And the temple, as it was built up to this point in scripture, is finished and now they're bringing in the final piece, the ark of the covenant that would represent the presence of God, that would represent his nearness, and would it be it would be the expression of his heart for his people. But look what first Kings eight nine tells us. There is nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.

Hold on. The only thing up to this point that was in the ark was the tablets of stone. What's missing? Aaron's rod and the pot of manna. What happened?

What happened? It was all there. Hebrews tells us that that was there, but do we see a contradiction in the Bible? Something happened between the fulfillment of this and those items being in there and Solomon's temple. Something happened between the tabernacle days and the temple day.

Something happened in between that. And this is my theory. First Samuel six one tells us something that happened to the ark of the covenant. It says the Ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And so the nation of Israel was in a place of great rebellion, especially the leaders.

And we're gonna get into that in a moment where they thought they can treat the ark with some superstitious idea that they can live how they want, and they could carry the ark when they go to war, and they were at war with the Philistines, and say, God, come and intervene. And guess what? God doesn't show up because God is not our butler. We can't just live how we wanted and ask God to come and clean up our mess. We can come and repent, but if we're in unrepentant sin and think that God will somehow bless us, we're in great danger with that thought process.

But what happens? The Philistines took the ark. And I believe that when they had the ark for seven months, they removed the pot of manna, and they removed Aaron's rod. Because we don't see the ark between then and there. We don't we don't hear of the ark.

So before the Philistines, it was all there. And after the Philistines, first Kings eight tells us that there's only the tablets of stone. What does that mean for you and me? This is what it means. That the enemy, not the Philistines, but our enemy.

If the ark represents relationship, if it represents being able to understand God's desire to be with me and know me, he wants us to connect that truth simply through the lens of the law. He wants you and I to relate to God only as a matter of thou shalt and thou shall nots. He wants you to understand God as you better obey, and if you don't obey then I'm gonna destroy you. He wants you and I to live with a performance mentality when it comes to relating to God. That's what he was doing.

That's the picture right there. He doesn't want you to have revelation of the saving grace of Jesus Christ, the bread of heaven. He doesn't want you to relate to God in that way. He doesn't want you to understand that God gave himself to you and sacrificed his body and gave all that he had for you to be reconciled to God. No.

Just see him as do this and don't do this. You know how many people live like that? You know how many people understand God in that way? They don't understand the gospel. They don't understand the cross.

They don't understand his sacrifice. They just understand God as do this and don't do this. Not only that, the enemy does not want you to have revelation of resurrection power. Oh, he'll take that out too. And so he'll let you understand the do's and the don'ts, but he won't let you know that you can have power to walk in those things.

He won't let you understand that God has given me the ability to see these commands and actually be able to walk in them with joy. He doesn't want you to understand how you can be dependent upon the Holy Spirit. No. He just wants you to see the law and let you be burdened with it. And so when we see the ark and we see how the Philistines just left the tablets of stone, so does Satan in your life wants you to walk with your relationship with God, the ark, with a performance based understanding.

And so we see that at one point, these items weren't there, and he wants us to stay in that understanding. But to the Israelites, those three items was a testimony of their own sinfulness. Think of those three items and when they were given. When was the manna given? When they were murmuring and complaining.

When did the rod bud? When they were rebelling. When was the law given? The law was given because they're sinful people. So all those things would have just reminded them of their sin.

And so how does that relate to the Ark of the Covenant? Well, in Exodus 25, when you go to verse 17, what does it say? You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. What's the mercy seat? If we can put up that picture again, we will see what the mercy seat is.

It's not an actual seat. It speaks of the picture rather. Sorry. It speaks of the lid. So when we talk about the mercy seat, what we're talking about is the very covering of the ark.

You remove the mercy seat, it's like a chest. The items are in there, but the mercy seat covers those things. And what's amazing is when you read the measurements of it, it says two cubits and a half shall be its length and a cubit and a half its breadth. It is the perfect size to cover every corner of the ark. Meaning what?

His mercy covers our sin, and there is not one corner that is exposed. It perfectly covers our sin. Name your rebellion. Name it. Name your sin.

His mercy covers it. There are those options. Right? There are those three different things. Right?

But His mercy covers it all, and those things are hidden because of the mercy seat. And his blood perfectly atones for your sin and mine. There's not one thing that we should worry about when we come to him, no matter what your past look like, that his blood cannot wash, that His mercy cannot atone for. And this is a picture of God's overwhelming mercy, but is it automatic? Was the mercy seat over those things, hiding those things an automatic thing of mercy being dispensed?

No. You have to go to Leviticus 16. And you can turn there if you want to write notes, but I'm just gonna read Leviticus sixteen fourteen. This is talking about a specific day, a specific feast that was supposed to be kept. It was called the day of atonement.

And this is where the ark of the covenant was very vital. Is that the priest, the high priest could only enter, and he brought in a blood sacrifice to put upon the mercy seat for the sins of Israel. And so Leviticus sixteen fourteen says, and he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side. And in front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. Seven times speaks of completion.

Seven times speaks of perfect and perfection. And so that blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, and that's what activated God's mercy for the sins of his people. And what's amazing is the author of Hebrews so beautifully wants to give a picture of Christ with this truth. And you have to go to Hebrews nine. You don't have to turn there.

Just hear this. In Hebrews nine eleven Hebrews nine eleven, look what the author says concerning the ministry of Jesus Christ in light of his blood and what he has done concerning the sins of not just a few, but the sins of those who would repent. Any man can experience this glory. But when Christ appeared as high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. So those priests would have to go once a year, terrified, walking into the Holy of Holies and to atone, cover the sins of the people for another year.

But Jesus Christ goes into the more perfect tent, the greater tent, and he just does it once. He doesn't have to do it year after year. He does it once. He did it once. It satisfied enough.

The father was pleased. So we see how the ark of the covenant is a picture of the ministry of Jesus Christ. But a tragic event took place with the people of Israel at one point concerning the Ark of the Covenant. They began to do something. They did something at one point, and I'm sure they learned their lesson of how they related to the Ark of the Covenant.

And it's found in first Samuel six nineteen. I want you to see how the scriptures connect all these truths together. What happened? Well, it's the same context of when the Philistines took the Ark. The enemy took the ark from the people.

The glory of God had departed from Israel, Ichabod. And so the Philistines take the ark back as a trophy, and they realize that things are happening. The wrath of God is being poured out and they're saying, let's ship it back. And so they take it back. They put it on a cart and that cart leads this ark back to the people.

And the people discover. They realize that they recognize it. They praise God. They do all these things, but they dare do something so irreverent that cost the lives of so many people. What did they do?

First Samuel six nineteen. And he smoked the men. I'm reading this in the King James because the ESV doesn't give the detail as other translations do including the King James. And he smote the men of Beth Shemesh. Why did he smite these men?

These are the people of Israel. Because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. And so he destroys all these people and they lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. And so this ark comes back. They're so excited.

It's been so long. They thought they perhaps lost it forever, and it finally comes back. And they dare do what God told them not to do. They come up to the ark, they remove the lid, and they die. Why?

Now if we connect the truth that at this point the Israelites removed the manna, rather the Philistines removed the manna, and they removed Aaron's rod, what's in there? What's left in there? The 10 Commandments. Right? What did they do?

Why why did they die? Well, they touched it and God said don't touch it, but there's a deeper meaning. They removed the mercy seat, and the law killed them. When you remove God's mercy, the law will destroy you. When you try to attempt your own righteousness by the law and you dismiss the mercy of God, Romans four fifteen says that the law brings wrath.

Romans three tells us nineteen and twenty that the whole world will be held accountable to God through the law. And so there's a picture here. They removed the very thing that covered them. The very thing that protected them. The very thing that expressed God's mercy.

They pushed it out of the way and they were exposed to the law and so they were destroyed. Apart from God's mercy, you and I are destroyed. If we're left to attain our own righteousness, you and I are finished. That's the point. We need his mercy.

We need to cling to we don't tamper with it. We don't touch it. We don't try to attain our own righteousness. And so they moved it and it was a picture of disgracing the grace of God, disgracing the mercy of God, and they expose themselves to the pure perfection of God's holiness and it destroyed them for their lack of holiness. So we see that we can't remove God's mercy or we're finished like these people were.

But there's a significance here in verse 17 down of Exodus 25. It says here in 18, you shall make two cherubim of gold. Of hammered work shall you make them. On the two ends of the mercy seat, make one cherub on the one end and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends.

The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And so what's the picture there? We have one cherubim, an angel, a specific celestial being, and another cherubim on the end of that mercy seat on the lid. And they're facing one another, and their wings are covering the mercy seat. So there's there's a specific posture there.

And people debate was is it like this? Is it like this? Some say because it was like a a seat, some rabbinic traditions, I guess, say this, that they they they made their their wings like a seat. So one is up like this as a back covering and one's there as a seat. That's not the point.

The wings are there. They're facing one another, but they're not looking at one another, they're looking at the mercy seat. So they're facing down as their wings are up covering it. Now what do we do with that? Well, we have to understand who the cherub are, the cherubim.

What is their role? Because there's different angels with different titles and different roles. And the only safe place we can really go before this moment does anybody know? Yes. Isaiah is the seraphim.

Genesis is the cherub. In Genesis three twenty four, what happens in Genesis three? This is after Adam and Eve have sinned. Adam and Eve have sinned. And what does God do?

He drove, verse 24 of Genesis three, drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden Of Eden, he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way of the tree of life. They were cast out of the presence of God. The Garden of Eden really is symbolic of man and God being a perfect relationship, union, walking together, and because of sin, separation from his presence. And they are cast from the East, and as a protection from them coming in their sin and eating of the tree of life, he sets up these cherubs. So cherub really, if you if you take that and you take the Ark of the Covenant, they have this sense of protective role, guarding the holiness and the presence of God.

And we see that they're here with a flaming sword. There's a flaming sword there guarding it, and never again would he be able to enter into the Garden of Eden. Now when we put up the map, this is interesting. Not just in light of the fact that there's cherubim on the Ark of the covenant, but the very position of the entire tabernacle says something to us. Look at the compass here.

Where's the entrance faced? There's no other way. And so the idea is, in light of Genesis, and you even see it with Lot, how he faced Sodom and Gomorrah towards the East. It's this idea that the East in the scripture speaks of people going away from God, being pushed away from his presence and relationship with him. But this tabernacle is trying to tell us something.

The very position of this whole thing is trying to relate these truths. There's a way to come back in. You were kicked out of the East, but I'm telling you to come back in towards the West. And what's the end goal? What's God's heart that you would come back in making a way again?

There's nothing further than that. God is calling his people through this to come back to his presence. God is making a way again the same way you were kicked out in Genesis three through the east. I'm making a way through the east again that you can do a u-turn and go towards the west so that you can go back to what we first had in the beginning by presence with yours. That's what we're seeing here.

So you can't come in from this way. There's there's only one way, and it's it's positioned towards the east. And now they're coming in this way towards the west so that they can come in contact and encounter God again. That's what we see here. But the cherubim speak of something with their posture.

It's as though their their face, where they're facing is trying to tell us to face the same same way. They're faced towards the mercy seat. In other words, when that blood would come on that day of atonement, they would be looking at the blood. See, the only way you can come into the presence of God is when you look at the blood by faith. When you realize that it's only by his blood that I can come into contact with God and have relationship with him.

That's what the cherubim are trying to say. Look at the blood. Realize the blood that makes it possible for you to have a living vibrant true relationship with the living God. Oh, what a glorious picture. It doesn't even end there.

When you go back to verse thirteen and fourteen of Exodus 25, there is another instruction here concerning the Ark of the Covenant. You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from it.

So he says, I want you to put the poles in these four rings. Don't remove the poles. Now just reading that, what's the purpose of the poles? So they can transport the ark. You know what that speaks of concerning you and me?

Because at this point, they still had a journey. They still had some terrain to cover. But this speaks of God's desire of walking with us in life. It speaks of God's desire of not just initiating something with him, but inviting him into our lives day by day. And as we walk through our own wilderness journey that he would be with us.

If you don't believe that, you have to go to Numbers, and you have to go to numbers with your bibles to see this. Numbers chapter 10 beginning in verse 33. Oh, how God can speak to us even in the little things. Numbers chapter 10 verse 33. So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days journey, And the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days journey to seek out a resting place for them.

And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day. And whenever they set out from the camp And look at Moses' posture. Look at his attitude. Look at his excitement. Look at his thrill with knowing that this ark is God's presence, and he desires for us to take him with us wherever we go.

Look at how he responds to such a revelation. And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, arise oh Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you. And when it rested, he said, return oh Lord to the 10,000 thousands of Israel. God, wherever I go, you go with me. Go before me, God, and and lead me through this life.

Lead me throughout my days. Lord, when I'm moving, lead me. And when I'm rested, be with me. When I start my day, I say, Lord, arise with me. Come with me this day.

Walk with me, Lord. Guide me to a place in which I can avoid self inflicting pain and hurt and regret. Guide me by your presence. Guide me by your whisper. Guide me by yourself.

I need you. And Lord, at the end of the day when I'm resting, be with me. Stay with me. Rest amongst your people. Rest with me, Lord.

This is a man who understands God's desire to be with him, and he's taking full advantage of that. Those poles represent God's heart saying, I want you to take me with you wherever you're going. Do you do that day by day? You know what many people do? What Mary and Joseph did.

They go to the temple and they leave Jesus there and they move on. People come to church and they talk about Jesus, they praise Jesus, and they leave him right here just to meet with him back on Sunday morning. They have no concept of walking with God day by day. They have no idea how to invite him into their lives, into their situations, into their car rides, into the decision making, into, Lord, whatever whatever I'm going through this day, Lord, let me bump into somebody to tell of your grace. Lord, protect me.

Lord, shield me. Lord, whisper to me. Lord, let me see you. Let me see you in the little things. Speak to me.

None of that language is familiar to so many Christians. Just leave Jesus in the temple. Go to the temple, bring Jesus. Jesus there, leave him there. This is God's heart.

He's saying, walk with me. But this is old covenant. Do you realize that they had to carry this ark on their shoulders and walk with this? And you know what? Moses counted it a great joy that they can carry the presence of God.

You know how you and I carry the presence of God? Not on your shoulders, in your heart. He's in your heart. And we still find it to be a burden to relate to him day by day. You don't have to pick up a golden chest and walk around with him.

He's in your heart. And yet we still have problems. We still have to to almost remind ourselves, and we do sometimes. And and, yes, we do fall in the flesh. But for so many, it's so stagnant in their lives.

And they have no understanding that God lives in me, and God wants me to engage with him as I step through my journey. That's what Moses is doing. Constantly in communication with him. Arise, rest, arise, rest. Lead me, God.

Protect us, God. Deal with my enemy throughout the day. What a beautiful picture of how we should walk with the Lord. Doesn't even end there. When you go back to Exodus 25, if you don't believe that truth, if you don't believe that this is the purpose of the ark, look at verse 22 of Exodus 25.

There I will meet with you. What's the purpose of the ark? I will meet with you. And from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you. I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

God meets us in the place of mercy. God speaks to you and me from a place of mercy. His very tone is mercy. That's when you actually first met the Lord. Do you realize that?

The first time you heard the Lord was when he spoke mercy on your life. When the gospel came and you realized your sin and you realized that he forgave you, that's when you heard his voice from the mercy seat. And he says, I wanna speak with you, and I wanna be with you, and here are these poles. Let me walk with you. We're talking about the God of the universe.

God forbid that your mind would be distracted at this thought right now. But this God throughout the scriptures, even in the instruction of how to build this chest, is still speaking the same truth throughout the whole counsel of God, I wanna be with you. Jesus. Do you see Jesus? Do you see Christ?

Well, there's a lesson not just about Christ, there's a lesson about the church. What does this ark of the covenant have to do with the church? Well, it goes back to what I was saying in first Samuel chapter four verse four. This is a day in which Israel was in great rebellion and they had planted the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle at a place called Shiloh. And the religious leaders of this day were in great apostasy.

There was compromise, sin was taken lightly, but they were at war. And so thousands are dying, and they realized we need a plan b. And so what's the plan? Well, let's get the ark of the covenant. This is God's presence.

This is God's power. This is a a picture of God being with us. And let's bring the ark of the covenant into the battlefield. And let's watch God come and manifest his glory and speak with such power or move in such power in a way he deals with those that are standing against us. Now something happens.

The people sent to Shiloh, first Samuel four four. That they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were there with the ark of the covenant of God. Everything looks like it's going according to plan. Here you have Hothi and Phineas, the the sons of the priest that are gonna go and fetch for the ark.

They're gonna bring it. Oh, you should have seen it in the verses after this. They're shouting, they're exciting. It's so loud that the Philistines are like, what's going on? And they realize that they brought their God out into the battlefield and they're terrified but they say, you know what?

We have nothing to lose. So let's go to war. So they do. And verse 10 is terrifying. And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten.

And they fled every man into his tent, and there was a very great slaughter, for there fell on Israel 30,000 footmen. And when you read on, you realize that they killed Hophni and Phinehas, and they took the Ark of the Covenant, and that's where it was for several months. This is why it's terrifying, and this is why it's frightening to me at least is because they had everything. They had everything. They had the tabernacle.

They had everything in place. They had the priest. They had the sons of the priest. They had the army. They had the passion.

Right? They shouted for joy. They had everything in place except God himself. And that can be true for so many churches today. Oh, they have everything.

Right? They got the pews. They got the pulpit. They got the equipment. They got the pastor.

They got the passion. Right? When it, when it's worship time, it's worship time. Hands are lifted. Voice are loud and clear.

Oh, yeah. They had everything. And some churches have everything except God himself. Except God himself. Why?

What does Hophni Phineas teach you and me? That God will not partner with a ministry. God will not partner with a ministry, especially with its leaders that are living in unrepented willful sin. And you can have all the things, you can have all the grandeur, you can have all the the flash, you can have it all except God himself. Is that not true for so many?

And if you think that's an Old Testament concept, all you have to do is interview the pastor from the church of Laodicea. If you think this is an Old Testament concept, all you have to do is contact the church of Thyatira, in which Jesus says, you know, you tolerate that woman Jezebel and her teaching, seducing my people into sexual immorality. Another church, he says, you have some in there that hold to the teaching of Balaam, Eating food sacrificed to idols, living in sexual sin, the church of Laodicea. Do you think the church of Laodicea lacked revelation? Do you think it was because of the lack of the preaching of the word of God that this lukewarm church was lukewarm?

Do you really think that? Because at the end of the book of Colossians, Paul tells them in four sixteen, make sure that you read this letter to the Laodiceans. Make sure that you take what I'm writing to you, Colossians, and ship it to the Laodiceans and let them read what I wrote to you. Now what's the book of Colossians about? It's about the supremacy and the divinity of Jesus Christ.

If you wanna read a book in the new Testament about Christ being God, read Colossians. If you wanna read about what he's done in in his sacrifice and who he is now reigning supreme, read Colossians. And Paul tells them, send this letter and take their letter and you read it. Which is amazing. Because when you read in Revelations three about the church of Laodicea, Jesus introduces himself in a certain way.

Because I'm the faithful and true witness, the firstborn of all creation. Now we need to realize with those letters to the churches, he's not introducing himself randomly. What is he saying to the church of Laodicea? He's saying, remember me? You read Colossians, and you read about how I am the firstborn of all creation.

Now, Jehovah's Witnesses love to use that, don't they? See, Jesus is created. Read the Greek. The Greek tells us he's preeminent. He is above all creation.

So that language, firstborn of all creation. Right? He wrote that in Colossians, and he tells the people of Colossae, take this letter, send it to the Laodiceans. They had light. They had truth.

They had the bible, and they were still lukewarm. And he comes to introduce his rebuke, and he does it in this way. Hey. It's me. Firstborn of all creation.

Remember me? Remember reading about me? And you read the sad commentary of that church that though they had light and who knows what else was happening in that meeting, Jesus was outside the door. And who knows? Who knows?

Perhaps it was because the leader was lukewarm because he tells the messenger, he tells the angel of the church, the Greek word for messenger, I'm speaking to you to speak to the church. And oftentimes, as the pastor is, so will the people in the pew be. Are we willing to do church without the presence of God? So many are willing to forfeit the realities of God's presence in the meeting. What are we talking about God's presence?

We're talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, The pure ministry of the Holy Spirit. Like he convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. The conviction of the Holy Spirit. Would you agree with me in the church of North America, we are missing very much of conviction? We have a lot of knowledge.

You can get your PhD on Google. Just do the research right. You can have the same education of a person that spends three years at seminary if you just take the time and do the right research. We don't lack knowledge. We lack the fear of God.

That's what we lack. And so many are willing to just teach, but you know what? The same God in first Samuel four is the same God today. I'm not willing to partner with Hophni and Phineases that are living in sin. What were they doing?

They were treating with contempt, the sacrifice. And they were sleeping with the woman at the gate, living in sexual sin. And guess what? The priest, the father has no backbone to be able to call out this sin and say, listen boys, you can't be doing this especially in God's house. And And so God says, you know what?

You wanna live that way? Oh, you forfeit your presence. You keep your sin, but you won't have me in the midst. Every priest, every minister, but we're all priests, but every priest needs to have inscribed on their head, holiness unto the Lord. It has to be more than a title.

It has to be your lifestyle. And as we learn about not grieving the Holy Spirit, you and I have to make a choice. If we want the animation and the life of God in us, in the church of God, we need to pursue holiness. He's Holy Spirit. So this is a dangerous lesson for us.

That Hofney and Phineas thought that they can treat God with superstitious. They could just say, you know what? Let's just do whatever we want, and when we need God, God will come. Not so. But there's a lesson for us as well as individuals.

There's a lesson for the people of God as individual tabernacles. Did you notice something about Exodus 25? I mean, when you we don't have to go there, but we we saw the map. You would think that God would start with the brazen altar. It's the first piece when you walk into the courtyard.

But no, he starts with really the last thing that you enter into in the ark. Again, why? Why is he starting with the very thing that you would see last? Because of what it represents. What does it represent?

It represents his presence. It represents his desire to be with us. And as though he's saying, you know, before we move anywhere else, before you build your life, tabernacle, before you expand on any other truth, may it be built with the foundation of the revelation of God's desire to pursue and know you. That's why he's saying it first with the Ark of the Covenant. Because everything else apart on the tabernacle needs to stem from the foundational truth that God pursues you.

And God wants to dwell in you, and God loves you. That's that's the foundational. That's the first thing that we need to start with. That's the first thing that we need to start with, and I find that amazing because when you go to the end of the book of Exodus, go to Exodus 40. Exodus 40 verse one.

This is when they erect the tabernacle. When everything's finished and they build it, and now here it is, it's ready. What happens? The Lord spoke to Moses saying, on the first day of the first month, you shall erect the tabernacle of the tent of the meeting, and you shall put in the ark of the testimony, and you shall screen the ark with the veil. This tells us two things.

As as an individual, as as a believer yourself, it tells us number one, that again, everything, everything else, a part of your life as the tabernacle of God, must be built around the truth that God wants us. It has to start there. If it does not start there, all the other constructions, all the other efforts, all the other things that represent our doing the the pieces of the furniture as a tabernacle of God, whether it's the altar of incense praying, the bread of the show, all those things will be motivated from something else other than the truth of God's love for you. We love, first John tells us, because he first loved us. And it's all over the bible.

It's all over the scriptures. I mean, it gets so intimate and so detailed that it can ruin you. Here's proof of that. And if there's one page to turn to out of this whole study, this is the book you wanna turn to. It's the Song of Solomon.

Go to the Song of Solomon chapter two. Song of Solomon chapter two. You know, so many people debate whether this is a picture of Christ in the church, whether this is a picture of God in Israel, whether this is simply simply the exchange of love between a man and a woman in marriage. And it is that. It is a love story between a man and a woman in marriage.

And it's very explicit. It's very detailed. It concerns the sexual exchange of a man and woman in marriage. And a preacher said it this way, and I agree with him wholeheartedly. Because many would say this is strictly to be read in light of a man and a woman and the relationship with one another, the thrill that they are experiencing the ecstasy that can be attained in marriage.

So that's the argument. But you come this way and you read Ephesians five and you realize that marriage is a picture of something. What is it a picture of? Christ in the church. So full circle.

So even if you wanna read it in light of marriage, it's still a picture of Christ in the church. And here we see there's the bride and the groom speaking to one another. And at this point, in verse eight of second of Solomon Song of Solomon chapter two, something is being said of the bride and how she hears the voice of the bridegroom. Listen to this. The voice of my beloved.

Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. Do you see this language? Here's the bride seeing the bridegroom, and he's what?

Leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. He is chasing after her. He is pursuing her with full force, full energy, full desire. There's just it seems as though there's something on his mind and it's this person, and he's coming after her with everything within him. And then he comes to a place and he's behind a wall.

And what is he doing? This is the picture. He's looking. He's looking through the window. He's he's looking through the fences.

He's trying to find her. He's trying to see where she is. He wants to come into close proximity with this young lady, and this is a picture of Christ pursuing you and me. That he chases after us, and he did through the cross. He ultimately did through the cross, but he continues to do so.

Looking for us, searching for us, wondering where we are. Not that he's doesn't know where we are, but it speaks of his heart. And verse 10 says, my beloved speaks and says to me. Look what the bridegroom says. Arise, my love.

Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. That's Christ's statement to you and me. Arise. In other words, get up. What are you sitting there for?

Do you realize I'm here after you? Do you realize that I'm here pursuing you? Does that not make you wanna stand up? Does not not make you wanna get out of your doldrum and your laziness. Get up.

Not just get up. Come away. Let's go. I wanna walk with you. I wanna talk with you.

I wanna relate with you. I I wanna do life with you. And he says here, arise my love, my beautiful one. Verse 11. This is amazing.

For behold, the winter has passed. The rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth. The time of singing has come and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs and the vines are in blossom.

They give forth fragrance. What is the bridegroom saying? You know, oftentimes, you have plans with somebody and it's just really bad weather. Snowstorm, rain, whatever. And that becomes a hindrance for you being able to meet with that person.

And what the bridegroom is saying is the winter's gone. What is he saying? It's springtime. What is he saying? There's no more rain.

There's no more hindrance for you and me to be able to walk together. There's no more hindrance for you to be able to come away with me. What's that a picture of? Listen. Your sins are gone.

There's no more separation. There's no more reason for me and you not to be hand in hand together, walking in life together. It's all gone. Spring, there's blossom, there's life that speaks of the new life that we have in Christ. Now we have the ability to do this together.

This is not the voice of the bride. This is the voice of God for you. Come away. There's nothing now separating you and me. We can journey together.

We can look at life together and explore. So he says, arise, my love, again, my beautiful one, and come away. It doesn't end there. Says, oh my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, look what the Lord says to you. Let me see your face.

Let me hear your voice. For your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. When you pray, when you offer up your voice to the Lord, it's lovely to him. It's a tune to his ear. It's a melody to his heart.

Would you believe that the next time that you pray and you seek God, that as I'm offering up my voice to him, he is so delighted with just my voice, with just the fact that I'm speaking to him. You know, there's somebody that you love that when they call you, you just love to hear their voice. And this is how the bridegroom feels for the bride. And when you and I posture ourselves to just speak to him, when you choose to sing to him, It's lovely. When you set your face towards him, he sees your face.

And not talking physically, we're talking about your heart being postured towards him. He sees that and he's delighted in that. This is intimate language. This is love language. This is Christ.

But he also gives a warning. The bridegroom gives a warning. He tells her, catch the foxes for us. The little foxes that spoil the vineyards for our vineyards are in blossom. So he tells her, listen.

Be careful for the little foxes that will come and spoil the vineyard. This this thing, the vineyard speaking of of joy and bliss and and all these things that are involved. Cultivating something with the Lord. He's saying, be careful. Catch the foxes because they'll come into the vineyard and they'll destroy what we're supposed to enjoy.

And I love how he says the little foxes because it's the little things in life that can do so much damage to our walk with Christ. I was just on a walk the other day. I believe it was yesterday. Just walking. It was a beautiful day.

And as I was walking, I was by a fence and I saw these two little rabbits, like this small. Two of them just and they were fast. They were running along the fence and they stopped and they saw me and they just crawled in so easily under this fence. They were so able to go through that fence and they ended up in somebody's backyard. And I thought to myself, how true is that of the little things in our lives?

We look at little foxes and we go, well, that's cute. It's harmless. What can this little fox do? I'll let it come into my vineyard. What can this little rabbit do?

I'll let it come into my vineyard. You don't realize that you let in one, you let in two, you let in three, and they begin to chew away at what you were supposed to enjoy with your bridegroom. Do you know how many young people I've talked to that have come up to me and says, I have to tell you something about my walk with the Lord. And you think that they're gonna talk about something grand, something so huge, big sins. Right?

And they go, I am having so much trouble relating to Christ. And I go, why? What is it in your life? And they tell me, music. And I just listen to the world's music.

I'm so addicted to it. I need it to pump me up before a game. I need it for this when I drive along the road. I need it. I need it.

And it's those little foxes, Those things that seem so insignificant, so harmless that can come in and chew away at something that can be enjoyed to its fullest. And guess what? He doesn't say, bride, I'll take care of the little foxes. He says, you catch the foxes. You're supposed to do it, and they're so fast.

Foxes are fast. They're so subtle. You see them one day, and the next the next moment they're there. And he goes, pay attention. Pay attention to the things that can creep into your life so easily.

And the next thing you know, you're addicted to it. It takes up all your time, and it could be as stupid as this. It could be as silly as an app on your phone. The little foxes in life that can come in so easily. And the bridegroom with a heart pounding with adoration and love says, catch the foxes.

Be careful. What is he telling you me? Be careful. So often more than anything, it's the little things that have ruined people's and people even to this day that I know that I don't even know what where they're at with Christ. When at one point, it he was everything to them, and they just let in a little fox, and then another.

Well, it's not it's not sin, but is it beneficial? Well, it's not like evil or anything. I can't find a verse for it. Yeah. But does it does it help the vineyard grow?

Does it flourish the vineyard? Does it feed the vineyard? This is the bridegroom speaking to the bride. And you and I are called to the same thing, to be aware, to be vigilant because these foxes come in at any moment. And if you value your relationship with God, no matter how cute and no matter who has a fox and who owns one and how many people have it in their vineyards, you will kick them all out because you want nothing to contaminate your relationship with God.

Do you see it here in Song of Solomon? We can go through this whole book and be completely, completely undone by the love of God. He pursues us. And when we come back to the ark of the covenant, we have to realize that that's what it's all about. He's saying build first the ark because I want you to build everything else in your life with the revelation of my love for you.

Secondly, what does he tell us by asking to build it first? Well, it's priority. That the ark of the covenant, my presence my presence, you knowing me, me knowing you is number one before anything. And the same thing it required them to build that ark is the same thing it requires for you and me. Notice notice again that here's God expressing his desire.

Here's God saying I want to dwell with you. And here's God giving the blueprint. But is it automatic? Does the ark of the covenant just appear? Does it just show up?

He could have done it. He could have had two angels come and swing down with the ark of the covenant and says, here you go. No. He says, I want you to build it. And here's a play on words.

You and I have to build our own relationship with the lord. It's not automatic. God already expressed his desire, and God has already given you and me the blueprint. And now you and I now have to figure it out within ourselves if this is going to be priority number one in my life. And so what does it take for you and I to build that reality in our lives?

The same thing it took for them. Number one, it's gonna take some work. It's not automatic. It's gonna take effort. It's gonna take discipline.

It's gonna take for you and me to to be focused on this. I'm gonna focus on my relationship with the lord. I'm gonna focus on the truth that he wants me to know him and he wants to know me. I'm gonna give my attention to this. Gonna take time.

Again, it's not gonna happen overnight. It's gonna require you and me to invest into this. Meaning, you're gonna invest less than other things in order for you to invest in this. And lastly, you might be surprised by this. We have his instruction.

Right? His word. He says, build it like this. I want you to build a two, one and a half. I want you to do it this way.

And so that speaks of the word of God that we build our relationship based on what he's given us here. This is the blueprint, the time that's involved, the effort that's involved. And lastly, Exodus 30, and we're ending it in that verse. Exodus 35. Exodus 35 verse 30.

Then Moses said to the people of Israel, see the Lord has called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, son of Ur of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled them with the spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship. And this is the point I wanna focus on because he builds the ark. This man, Besseilal, builds the ark. But guess what it required for him to do it? The spirit of God.

And if you and I want to build this reality in our lives, it's going to take his word, his instruction. It's going to take the time and the effort into to invest in it. And it's going to take the spirit of God to help us do it. We can't even relate to him. We can't even seek him.

We can't even come to him without him doing it in and through us. This is the ark of the covenant. Don't get caught up in the details that have not been touched on. Realize the message and the heart of God behind it. God wants to pursue you and me.

That's the message of this piece of furniture. And it says something about Jesus Christ. It says something about the warning to the church that that if we want his presence in our midst, if we want the Holy Spirit to convict, if we want the Holy Spirit to change people, if we want the Holy Spirit to do something powerful, we need to walk in holiness. And it says something of you. And it says something of me.

That because this is the first thing on the list, is it the first thing on yours? Do you realize that the voice of the beloved calls for you? So many times Christians focus on their love for Christ, which is important, but you need to first realize his love for you. You need to realize that he pursues you, and you need to realize that his heart is for us. And I read something like that.

I read how he he he he's there on the hills and he's running towards the bride. And he all he wants to do is see her face. All he wants to do is hear her voice. You know, you go days without praying. You go you go days without meeting God in his word.

And you know what God's saying to you? I just wanna see your face. I just wanna hear your voice. You have no idea how much that means to the Lord. You know why?

Because the enemy has robbed something from you, and he's left only the 10 commandments in your life and your relationship to God. And you've reduced it all down to do this and don't do that. Is that right? Could you talk to so many Christians and you know what they're missing in their language of God? Love.

And all we come down to now is doctrine and church history and and service and evangelism. Hey. All of those things are vital. But you know what's missing in your language, sir? The reality of his person.

Well, we need to know the truth. Truth is important, but don't forget, I am the way, the truth. He's a person. He's not a set of truths. He is a person.

So make a decision tonight. Make a decision tonight. I'm gonna read this and I wasn't going to. Go back to the song of Solomon with me, please. Chapter five verse two.

I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound, my beloved, is knocking. This is the bride. Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one. For my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of night.

So here's the woman. She's laying in bed, and she's awake. Her heart was awake. Her heart was alive. Her heart was in a place in which she she she's here meditating in some sense.

And she hears the beloved knocking. She hears the bridegroom saying, and maybe you've sensed that at one point throughout the day. Maybe you were sitting there doing something. Maybe you were even with a group of friends and all for a sudden, all for a sudden, you have this overwhelming sensation to just go home and pray. You have this overwhelming tug to get into the word of God.

You just want to get alone because you hear the bridegroom knocking, and it happens so randomly sometimes. It is this love sickness that consumes you and says, just get away. You hear the knock. You hear him pursuing you. You're sitting there watching something, and you know you should be reading the word.

And that's haunting you the whole time you're watching the thing. And the Lord's saying, come away with me. The Lord's saying come and be with me. And this part, this is where I wanna focus. This is where so many people fall into.

Look what she says in verse three. I had put off my garment. How can I put it on? I had bathed my feet. How can I soil them?

You know what she's saying there? As the beloved is knocking, you know what she's saying? I'm too tired. I already did I was already at church this week. Why why would I wanna seek God now?

I already had my morning devotions. I'll just wait till later. And the beloved's knocking. I'll do it tomorrow. He'll be there tomorrow.

I'll just see him then, but I I'm just I'm comfortable right now. I heard a testimony of a preacher who said he was watching the what was it? What do you call it? Super Bowl. And during the Super Bowl, it was like his team, I guess, and it was it was like the finals.

And and while he's watching it, he senses this overwhelming tugging by the spirit to go and pray, to go and be with the Lord alone. And he kept pushing it off. He's saying just, Lord I just wait. I'm gonna wait till this finishes. I'm gonna wait till the game ends and and he he kept sensing the tug of God.

He kept sensing the tug of God and he kept fighting and he kept fighting and he kept fighting until the game was over. And finally, he determined within himself, okay. Now is the time to spend time with the Lord. He finds himself going back into his office, and he gets on his knees before God, and that pull wasn't there anymore. And it's as though the Lord wanted to just test his obedience and his love for him to see, are you willing to walk away from this to be with me?

It's all over the Bible. It's all over. The Lord wants you and me more than you want Him. And my prayer as we end it now is that you would sense that knocking on your heart, that you would find it within yourself to say I'm not gonna pull I'm not gonna put it off. If he's there looking through the window, if he's there looking through the fences so that he can get a glimpse of me and just hear my voice, can you think of anything more amazing than that?

Let's pray. Whatever entered into your mind, just take the time for it to seep into your heart. I don't know about you. I don't want to go through this series in the tabernacle and leave with more information Only. We hear your voice tonight.

We hear Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. We hear that. We thank you for that. We thank you that we serve a God that even expresses his desire to dwell amongst us by having a people set up a tent with all their sinfulness. But so wanting to be with us, you set up the limitations, you set up everything necessary for it to be as close as possible to us in the midst of all our sinfulness yet that was not enough and you had a greater plan.

Those were those were just a shadow of the things to come we don't have to carry an arc on our shoulders. We can carry you in our hearts. And then you live in us. And there's no veil. There's no multiple sacrifices.

There was already one and that was enough. But Lord, we choose to be like Moses. What we say to you, rise, Lord. Come with us. And Lord, whenever we settle, we say, rest, Lord, be with us.

No matter where you guide me in life, as long as you're with me, I'm okay. Thank you that your presence is willing to lead us to resting places in this life. And you are so faithful to guide us through and navigate us through day by day to protect us from our enemy, to protect us from ourselves. We thank you that we can see your heart in Exodus with a golden chest. And we can see your heart in a poem between a man and a woman, expressing their love for one another.

Expressing their love for one another. But God, we are asking that it would hit our hearts. That Lord, it would it would cause us really to build everything else on that foundation and that all that we do, all that we do for you, all that we do in life will be built on that truth. And Lord, perhaps there are some people in this very room that have not given you their face and have not given you their voice for quite a bit. And, Lord, our prayer is that every person that is in that place in life would so hear your voice saying come away with me.

Come away. I wanna hear your voice. I wanna see your face. And Lord, you tell us to beware of the little foxes. Show us the little foxes that perhaps have been eating away at something that could have flourished and been so beautiful up to this point.

But, Lord, you are able to redeem the years that the locusts have eaten. Whatever we have missed out on, Lord, you're able to redeem it in a moment. If we just humble ourselves, God, if we just get before you and say, Lord, I know that I've wasted time, but God, redeem the time. This is what we're asking for because you're merciful. And, Lord, you meet with us and you speak to us from a place of mercy.

We're overwhelmed tonight. And Lord, we just pray again. Hit our souls. Only your spirit can do it. Only your holy spirit can do it and Lord we just pray that your holy spirit would do that as we sing to you even now that eyes would be open to the love of Christ and we would open the door and not delay.