Psalm 89:1-18; 1 Samuel 5:1-12; Acts 5:12-26; Luke 21:29-36
So is there magic connected with the ark? It seems that wherever it went it brought curses on the people so perhaps it is magical. No. The ark contains the tablets of the law and it is itself the footstool of God, but what happened wasn’t magic, it was the presence of God and the judgment of God. What would have happened if the Philistines had realized that it wasn’t the ark that was causing their problems but the God who is represented by the ark? It is interesting that when foreign peoples come into contact with God in His judgment, such as here and in Egypt for instance, they don’t understand that Yahweh is God everywhere and they should therefore abandon their gods in favor of the God of the Israelites. In this case we actually see their god smashed to bits by this little box and yet they don’t turn to Yahweh. He is too big, too scary, and, they believe, a foreign god. We know and proclaim Him as God of all creation, God of heaven and earth, of all that is, we know He is big and frightening but He is also near to those who believe in Him.
God’s judgment is real and it will come on the earth and all will be judged by Him. That reality should keep us on our toes spiritually. We should be prepared at all times for the coming of the Lord and should endeavor that He would find us faithfully working to extend His kingdom when He does return. Jesus had “a life” yet in all of His life He was working to extend the kingdom of God, He didn’t segment His life into multiple parts. He lived among us and in all He did He was kingdom minded. I have no doubt He was the finest carpenter who ever lived because all He did He did for the glory of the Father. He calls us to be alert, fully alive to God at all times, to real life in the presence of God.
Signs require interpretation and interpretation requires wisdom. Spiritual signs require spiritual interpretation and spiritual interpretation requires spiritual wisdom. There are those who see but cannot understand and interpret correctly and we see that here in the high priest and the Sadducees who see the signs the apostles are doing, and the people coming to faith in Jesus and yet come to the conclusion that this is not “of God” so have the apostles arrested. Even when they are released by the Spirit from prison they don’t come to faith, they have them re-arrested by force for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. They fear the people more than they fear the God who released them from prison. When we see wondrous things we need to always seek the Lord to know how to discern the things we see. We are not to be credulous but skeptical but willing to believe even when the explanation is outside our plausibility structure, God has a habit of destroying such structures.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.
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