Raiders of the Lost Ark
Ballard Assembly Pastor Bob Briggs March 18, 2001
Throughout history there have been searches conducted for various religious relics followed by keen interest from by secular and religious people. Books, television specials and even movies have eventually resulted from either the discovery or lack of discovery in the quest. The accounts have been factual or fictional. One in particular was made into a blockbuster movie followed by a couple of money making sequels. I am talking about Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. A network has invested in finding the ark with a special this month. People are searching, searching to find truth in this world, searching to discovery God and that is good, but sometimes the search can overshadow our finding Jesus Christ, the one true God. It is time to bring God back to man, it is time for the raiders of the lost ark of God’s covenant to rise up and seize the day.
I. I must become involved in the Quest.
David conferred with each of his officers, the commanders pf thousands and commanders of hundreds. He then said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you and if it is the will of the Lord our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our brothers throughout the territories of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their towns and pasturelands, to come and join us. Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of it during the reign of Saul. The whole assembly agreed to do this, because it seemed right to all the people. 1 Chronicles 13:1-4
You might want to circle the words, the whole assembly agreed to do this. If God is going to dwell in our midst, this is what the ark represented, the presence of God, then it is not the job of the pastor or a few people we label as super saints. It is a job for all of us. The whole assembly. When Saul was in charge, they did not seek His presence.
Inside the ark was the staff which represented authority. The tablets of the law which represented the word of God, and manna which represented God’s provisions. We are in desperate need of the rod, the law and the manna today.
David was making a statement as the leader, “I don’t want things done the way Saul did them, the way of man, I want to do things differently, I want the presence of God back.”
Isn’t that what we want here, the presence of God back in the Pacific Northwest, in Seattle, in our church. When the presence comes, victory comes. What we need to say with our lives is I want God or nothing, I want the presence of Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit and I will settle for nothing less. If I have God’s presence, He will be all that I need.
II. Settle for part of God’s Presence will lead to disaster in my life.
If I have the presence of God in my life, that is all I will need. It is when we only want part, this is when the Philistines comes in. The word Philistine means “enemy of God”.
1 Samuel 4 has a prime example of this. It records, Now the Israelites went to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer and the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hands of our enemies. So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Vs. 1-3
They had actually suffered two defeats so they decided it was time to bring the ark. They did not want God’s presence to lead and guide them until they were in trouble. Sound familiar?
How often does the enemy of God come and snatch away the revelation of God from us that we have just received from Him in prayer the night before? We don’t want His presence unless there is crisis it seems.
I wonder, are there any more Raiders of the Lost Ark around? Raiders who are willing to bring back the ark, to bring back the presence of God, not just for battle but for life?
III. It is time to bring the ark back
Verses 4 & 5 So the people sent men to Shiloh and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook.
Before we join in the celebration, I wonder, did anything really change? They brought the ark back and thought everything was going to be alright. How many times have you come to church, the worship team strikes up the band, and we sing shout to the Lord, you are shouting but you know you have not sought God all week until you came in? How many times has that been the norm? And you think in 1-2 hours everything will be great from now on.
In verse 6 the Philistines after hearing the uproar of the Israelites camp ask, What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp? Notice, they did not say, what is that great army over there, no they asked what is that shouting, what is it they are making all that noise about. It goes on to say when they heard they had brought their God into the camp, the ark, they were fearful because they knew of prior battles where the ark was there. They discovered in battle the Israelites were treating the ark as nothing more than a charm or a rabbits foot and the Philistines killed thirty thousand Hebrew soldiers. And to add insult to the slaughter, they also took the ark of God.
Chapter 5, After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Asdod. They they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. Dagon was their god. He was half man and half fish, a fertility god. They thought this statue was responsible for their reproductive abilities.
When they set the ark next to the dagon, something happened. This is not just ancient history, we have the enemy of God who steals the presence of God from us today. You know what I am talking about. The times you are with God’s presence and then it seems someone let the air out of the tires. The enemies of God do not want you to experience the joy so they deflate you with words and actions and then you feel you cannot make it to church on flat tires and you don’t have the money to buy new ones until eventually someone comes by and eventually strips off all the chrome, all the shine of your life. Some people even lose their engine, their motivation for going.
In Judges 16 we read of Samson and Delilah, how the presence of the Lord had departed from Samson after he lost his hair. In verse 23 it states, Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy into our hands.”
They thought dagon had stolen away the power but we know later in the chapter God empowered Samson for one last great victory over the Philistines before his death.
God is looking for raiders of the lost ark tonight. I am amazed people can believe in some of these new age gods, in something that is half man and half fish but they cannot believe in someone who is 100% God and 100% man. I guess most people just want to hear about fish stories.
There is an army rising up today that wants to talk about Jesus. Moderns and post-moderns who have looked at the way of the world, rejecting it and seeking for Truth. Jesus is that Truth. There are people today who want to be Raiders and return the Presence of God back into their lives and then go out on raiding parties to set the captives free. Is that you tonight? It is our teaching the people who know God are the ministers, the Levites of this generation, and they are coming from the city to the suburbs from out in the countryside bringing the presence of God back into the world.
When David found the ark, He praised God, so much so he danced before the Lord with all that he had. Isn’t that what we need to do, to praise and dance before our God with all of our heart, mind and soul.
Amos 9:11 says, In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent, I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be.
We are in a restorative time of church history. God has been shaking, and shaking, and shaking again and now the presence of God is coming back in. We need to be people of prayer, people of worship, people of the word.
In the New Testament there is the account of one raider of the lost ark, His name is Zecheus. When the ark was passing through, he climbed up into a tree, he said he was not going to allow his physical condition to prevent him from seeking the Lord. When they asked him what he was doing, he told them, I am a Raider of the Lost Ark.
Jesus looked at Zacheus and told him to come down, that he was looking at him and on that day salvation had come to him.
The ark is looking for you as well. The ark has never been lost. We are the ones who are lost. And Jesus is looking for you, looking for raiders who will serve him totally. You may be here tonight and have never known Jesus, you could be here tonight have not totally giving your all to him. It doesn’t matter. It is time to increase our devotion, it is time to become radically sold out, to be raiders of the lost ark.
The worship team is coming to play More Love/More Power and we are going to open the front up tonight for Raiders, people who will say, no matter what, I am going to serve Him. No matter what, I am going to bring the ark back, Jesus totally because tonight I am seeking more of His love, More of His power, and when I leave, I am going to spend time in the word, time in prayer, time with God, I am going to dance before the Lord in praise not just here but everywhere. I want my life to be know as one sold out to Jesus.
