A The Baptist Deacon

⁸At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.  ⁹Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him. This is from Deuteronomy chapter 10: 8 and 9

Here we see that the tribe of Levi had been separated to bear the ark of the Lord, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name. Numbers 1:50 But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle.   The Levites had an awesome responsibility.

Deuteronomy 31: 9 – 13  ⁹And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, ¹¹When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ¹²Gather the people together, men and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:  ¹³And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

The verses above are for a little bit of a background to help us better understand the Tribe of Levi, what there responsibility was and what was placed in the ark. Hebrews 9: 4 tells us that the ark contained the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant. This tribe was responsible for carrying the ark, not only when they wondered in the wilderness but when they went into battle the ark always went first.  

It was there duty to carry the ark. No one but the priestly tribe of the Levites could even touch the ark. Look at 1^st Samuel 6:19 And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. Also look at 2^nd Samuel 6:6-7 ⁶And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. ⁷And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. That kind of changes your image you may have from Raiders of the Lost Ark doesn’t it?

I want to look at one more thing before I close this study out today. Paula from http://flutterby.christianblogsites.com/blog/ left a comment on my last post, one that I haven’t even considered. Here is the comment: “Consider the words of John (20:12) describing Mary Magdalene's view as she looked into the tomb - "She saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain." Is this not a perfect rendition of the drawings you've seen of the mercy seat? An angel at each end, wings overspread, covering, watching, protecting? No longer are they watching, their faces "toward the mercy seat" - they are as Mary saw now simply sitting - the work of mercy has been accomplished! The One whom they watched over, guarded, the purveyor and Master of Mercy is no longer there - He is risen!! Awesome!!!!” Paula I hope you don’t mind me reposting your comment, but it a great point and needs to be made again. Here is the verse from John that she mentioned: And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

God Bless You!

Brent

Okay let’s go back and look at how the Ark was constructed. (If you haven’t done so already you need to read part one.) The construction was commanded by God. It’s dimensions were two-and-a-half cubits in length, by one-and-a-half cubits in heights, by one-and-a-half cubits in width (a cubit is about 18 inches). That is 3 ¾ feet long, 2 ¼ feet tall and 2 ¼ feet deep.

The Bible states that it was made out of shittim wood.  I think that is acacia wood and I am not sure what kind of wood that is. It was plated with gold both inside and out. On the bottom of the box, four gold rings were attached, through which two poles also made of shittim wood and plated in gold. The poles were to remain in the rings at all times. The lid on the top was called the atonement cover, or "mercy seat." On top of it were two carved cherubim, with their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover.

²²And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. This is from Exodus chapter 25.

I want to draw attention to the mercy seat. It is symbolic of what some people in my church call the mourner’s bench. My pastor refers to it as the mercy seat. We still have a mercy seat at the alter in my church. I believe many churches if not most used to have this in there alters. I was raised in this church and I believe that the alter with the mercy seat is a good place to go and pray. I was saved when I was kneeling at the mercy seat begging God to save me. I had to work my salvation out myself with fear and trembling. My family and members of the church prayed for me, but they couldn’t save me nor could I repeat a prayer from them that could save me.  I have been in churches that the mercy seat has been removed. Why? Is it no longer needed? Do they take the person who is between life and death to a back room to counsel them into Heaven? I believe God still meets and communes with his people from above and beyond the mercy seat.

In my next post I plan to look at what was inside the ark, the penalty for touching the ark and if the possibility that the ark is still in existence.

God Bless You.

We (my family and I) will be on a little vacation over the weekend and through the beginning of next week.

We are taking a short trip to the Eastern part of the stat just to get away. I have been at a stressful time in my life for some reason. I don’t understand it, but this is just for us to get away. It is for us to separate ourselves from the trials of this old world for a few moments in time. It is for us to try not to worry about things. So everyone is clear we are not trying to get away from God, as He goes everywhere with us just the world.

This for us I hope will be an all out get away. I ask that you help us pray for traveling mercies and that we will be safe while we are there and traveling mercies home.

I also ask that you remember my brother and sister – in – law, her mother, and her brothers and there families and I ask that you remember her aunt during this time of loss for them.

God saw fit to call a good man, husband, father, pastor (preacher) and friend home. As I said earlier death is never easy, but the testimony this dear man of God leaves behind is one that lets us know (Christian people) that we will see him again.

I don’t understand why he had to suffer during the last part of his life. I don’t understand why the doctors kept telling his family that they would be able to turn him around and he would get better only to tell them on Tuesday that there was nothing else they could do for him and sent him home only to die less than a day after he got there. There are a lot of things I don’t understand. I do understand that God chose to call him home at the age of sixty – one. One thing we must remember God is no respecter of persons.

May God Bless You!

This is the beginning of my study (in print) of the Ark of the Covenant. I have been running references and consulting commentary (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible) off and on for the last week.

As we study this important artifact from the Bible I plan to present scripture from different books that refer to the Ark. I plan to look at what was kept inside the Ark. I plan to look at the penalty for touching the Ark if you were not of the “Priestly Tribe”

Today we will begin in Exodus chapter 25 and we will take verses 10 – 22. We are going to do this in order for your mind’s eye to get a picture of what the Ark looked like.

¹⁰And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.    ¹¹And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.    ¹²And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.    ¹³And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.    ¹⁴And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.    ¹⁵The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.    ¹⁶And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.   ¹⁷And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. ¹⁸And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.   ¹⁹And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.  ²⁰And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.   ²¹And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.   ²²And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

The above should give you something to think about for the next few days. With my next post I plan to go back and pick out some verses from the above text and explain them (to the best of my ability).

To be continued…

May God Bless You!

Thank you for those who help pray. God saw fit to call Elder Donald Howard home today around 11:45am CST.

I now ask that you help pray for the family as they have some hard days ahead.

Death is not the end, but it is only the beginning of praising God around his throne.

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

His body was week during the last few weeks of his life. This must have been God’s plan.

God Bless You!

I am making a quick post this evening with an urgent call for prayer. My brother's father - in - law is at the point of death.

He has had some kind of blood disorder with a kidney disorder that there is not a cure. He has been a Christian for years. An Elder in the church, a preacher and a pastor. A great man. It would appear that unless God steps in he will make his journey home. He may leave by the end of this week or by the end of the month, but he will leave for sure unless God cures him.

Death is not an easy thing for anyone. I ask that you pray for my sister - in - law, her mother and her brothers. That God's will can be accepted no mater what the outcome.

Thank you... God Bless You!

The Ark of the Covenant??? My youngest son and I were watching Raiders of the Lost Ark over the weekend. He asked if there really was an ark. I was a little shocked that he (ten years old) didn’t know that there was an Ark of the Covenant.

I have opportunities to teach my children and this was one more that had just presented itself. We talk about things in the Bible and I guess that the ark had never come up. Apparently it had never come up in Sunday school either.

I told him about how things on television often portrayed things the way they wanted too in order to get more people to watch the show. That if there was something he saw on t.v. he should ask to make sure what he was seeing was correct or incorrect.

He next wanted to know where in the Bible he could read about the ark. My answer? The first five books of the Bible would be a good place for him to start. Remember he is ten so that answer was not good enough. I started looking and so did my wife. She found some scripture, which I read and began running references. Soon I found where the Ark was being designed and built. We gave that scripture to him to begin learning about the Ark.

This brings me to where I am at today and what is on my heart. As a parent and father (spiritual leader of my house) it is my job to answer my children’s as well as my wife’s spiritual questions. I am unable to on some occasions to answer instantly. I must pray for guidance and scripture to use. I must teach correctly what God wants my family to learn. I must teach correctly what I put into my blog. I must teach correctly what I tell my class and I must speak correctly when God places something on my heart to bring before the church (in testimony).

I am being lead to study the Ark of the Covenant and post in my blog. This may take several entries and several weeks. I ask for your prayer that this will be presented exactly how God wants it to be presented. I also ask for your comments to my post’s.

So within the next few days look for my first post on this subject.

Rev 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

May God Bless You!

¹⁰Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.    ¹¹Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.    ¹²For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.    ¹³Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.    ¹⁴Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;   ¹⁵And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;   ¹⁶Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

The "whole armour of God" (Ephesians 6:11,13) involves seven units, all of which are vital if we are to prevail lastingly in the spiritual conflict with the great enemy of our souls. We must, first of all, be strongly girded about with truth--the Word of God, and all its counsel (John 17:17; Acts 20:27)--if we hope to stand against the father of lies (John 8:44). KJV Defenders Notes.

Is your armour intact? Do you have kinks in your armour? If we are to be successful in our fight against the devil, our greatest enemy we must put on the whole armour. There is no shame in having dents  in the armour, because it shows that you are fighting against evil forces.

The world will sometimes beat us down, put dents in our armour, but with God’s help it will stay intact able to turn the devil away.

We are in the “evil day”. Put your armour on, girt yourselves with truth put on the breastplate of righteousness. Take your shield of faith wherewith we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  Don’t forget the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God.

Just look at what we are able to take with us, when this world starts to beat you down. Praise God that is available to us God’s children. With all the evil things in the world we must prepare ourselves for battle.

I ask again, is your armour dented? Are you ready for battle?

God Bless You!

Good morning all. I am just making a shot post to let you know I have not abandoned my blog.

I go through periods where I have a lot to do and my blog suffers during those times.

One thing I will say however is if you need to add unnecessary stress to your life, coach a youth baseball team.  

I do have a thought for my next post, now I just need the time.  

I will leave you with this verse from Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

That is a great verse to ponder over and to draw strength and encouragement.

God Bless You!

Brent

John 8:31 – 36  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;  ³²And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  ³³They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?  ³⁴Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ³⁵And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.  ³⁶If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

In 1992 there was a movie released which coined a popular phrase “You can't handle the truth!” The name of the movie is A few Good Men. I have never seen the movie and after reading some of the dialogue from the script I have no desire to. I have used that phrase on more that one occasion. Today I use it again, not to promote a movie, but to show how the world “can’t handle the truth”.

I have had the title of today’s post in my head for a few days now. This morning it seemed as if God was putting it together for me. Can you handle the truth? If not you better stop reading now.

The world believes that there was a big bang and life began. The truth is: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

The world believes that we evolved from monkeys. The truth is: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

The world believes that all of the craters, caverns and canyons were caused from millions and millions of years of erosion. The Truth is: There was a great flood And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. The flood changed the landscape of the earth.

The world believes that it is okay for men to be with men and women with women. The truth is: it is an abomination. “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.” “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;” Genesis 19:24.

The world believes there is not a God. The truth is: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  Our Lord and Savior suffered death, hell and the grave for our sins, for our salvation, for our eternal life.

The world believes one sin may not be as bad as it used to be if they believe in sin at all. The truth is: sin is sin. Call it what it is. If it was sin 2,000 years ago it is still sin today. This belief may catch a few Christians who tend to look the other way. I pray that you don’t get caught up in that belief.

Does this mean I am perfect? No, not in the flesh, it just means I am forgiven. I even take that and abuse it. We all abuse the love and kindness that God supplies.

The truth is one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess, but it will be too late for those who rejected the salvation of our Lord and Savior.

The truth is one day the dead in Christ will rise and join together with God and all the redeemed. Death and hell will be dumped into the lake of fire and this earth shall be destroyed.

³²And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Are you free today? Has the truth set you free? ³⁶If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

God Bless You!

Brent