Is the Ark of the Covenant in Iraq?

Posted on June 28, 2017 by russellmckinney

The Ark of the Covenant series (post #4)

Let me be clear about something: There is no guarantee that the Ark of the Covenant still exists. However, with that said, there is no fun in figuring that it got destroyed somewhere along history’s way. So, assuming the Ark does still exist somewhere on planet Earth, where could it be? One potential site is Iraq. Our modern day Iraq, as you might know, is the land the Old Testament calls Babylon.

My previous post explained how the Babylonians became an integral part of the story of the Ark. Over a period of about twenty years, between 605 B.C. and 587/586 B.C., they conquered Israel’s southern kingdom (Judah), carried thousands of its citizens back to Babylon, killed scores of others, laid waste to the capital city of Jerusalem, looted Jerusalem’s Temple, and destroyed the Temple.

All this damage was done under the leadership of the legendary Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar. 2 Chronicles 36:15-21 is a summary passage of those events, and the passage’s 18th verse says:

And all the articles from the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and his leaders, all these he (Nebuchadnezzar) took to Babylon. (N.K.J.V.)

The double use of the word “all” in this verse certainly makes it sound like the Babylonians looted everything from Jerusalem’s Temple, including the Ark of the Covenant.

In addition to this, we also have a passage from the book of 2 Esdras, which is one of the books of the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha is a collection of 15 books that were written in Greek but were nevertheless attached for centuries to the Hebrew Old Testament. These books are not included in our current English translations of the Bible, but they were positioned between the end of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament for the King James translation in 1611 and for approximately 275 years afterward. Also, the books are still included in the Vulgate (the Roman Catholic Church’s Latin translation of the Bible) by way of an Appendix. With all this background in place, 2 Esdras says of Babylon’s looting of Jerusalem’s Temple:

So I spoke again to her, and said, “Do not say that, but let yourself be persuaded by the troubles of Zion, and be consoled because of the sorrow of Jerusalem. For you see that our sanctuary had been laid waste, our altar thrown down, our temple destroyed; our harp had been laid low, our song has been silenced, and our rejoicing had been ended; the light of our lampstand had been put out, the ark of our covenant has been plundered, our holy things have been polluted, and the name by which we are called has been profaned; our freemen have suffered abuse, our priests have been burned to death, our Levites have gone into captivity.”

Obviously, that line “the ark of our covenant has been plundered” matches up perfectly with the double use of the word “all” in 2 Chronicles 36:18. So, case closed, right? The Ark was taken to Babylon and could still be somewhere in Iraq today.

No, hold on a minute. The case isn’t closed that easily. 2 Kings 25:13-15 is a parallel passage to 2 Chronicles 38:18, and it provides a list of the items the Babylonians took from Solomon’s Temple. The passage reads as follows:

The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans (another name for the Babylonians) broke in pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylon. They also took away the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. The firepans and the basins, the things of solid gold and solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. The two pillars, one Sea, and the carts, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. (N.K.J.V.)

That’s a pretty extensive list, I must say. But did you notice what item was conspicuously absent from it? The Ark of the Covenant. Surely if the Babylonians had confiscated the Ark and taken it to Babylon there would have been a mention of it. Likewise, yet another parallel passage — Jeremiah 52:12-20 — provides virtually an identical item-by-item list, and yet there is no Ark mentioned on it either. Therefore, I agree with all the Bible scholars and historians who confidently attest that the Ark never saw Babylon. And if it never saw Babylon, there’s no reason to believe that it is in Iraq today.

If we need further proof that the Ark was not a part of the loot the Babylonians stole from Solomon’s Temple, we find it in Daniel 5:1-4. That chapter tells the story of how the Babylonian king Belshazzar, who was a direct descendant of Nebuchadnezzar, threw a great feast for a thousand of his lords. As part of the feast, Belshazzar ordered that the gold and silver vessels that had been plundered from Solomon’s Temple be brought out and used for the feast. The story provides a perfect setting for the Bible to casually drop in a word about the Ark being in Babylon with the rest of the treasures from the Temple, but no such mention is made.

You say, “Okay, but what do we do with the Apocryphal account from 2 Esdras?” Like all the words found in any of the Apocryphal books, we simply cannot allow their accuracy and reliability to go unquestioned. We must, instead, view them through the lens of the universally accepted Hebrew scriptures. And, upon doing that, we find that the passages from 2 Kings 25:13-15, Jeremiah 52:12-20, and Daniel 5:1-4 conclusively invalidate the one disputable passage from 2 Esdras. For that matter, even among the Roman Catholic and Greek churches who for the most part accept the Apocryphal books as being holy scripture, the books of 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras are not typically accepted.

As long as I am passing through here, let me mention seven good reasons why we are right to reject any Apocryphal book as being inspired by God and thus authoritative:

  1. Romans 3:1-2 teaches that God committed the holy scriptures to the Jews, and the Jews rejected the books of the Apocrypha from being included in the canon of holy scripture.
  2. The books of the Apocrypha were written in Greek, not the classic God-inspired Hebrew of the Old Testament.
  3. The books of the Apocrypha were not received as God-inspired scripture by the early churches during the first four centuries of the church age.
  4. The writers of the books of the Apocrypha do not claim that their words are the inspired words of God. Unlike the holy scriptures, the Apocryphal books do not contain statements such as “Thus says the Lord ” or “These are the words of God.”
  5. In some places the books of the Apocrypha contain teachings that run blatantly contrary to the Bible’s teachings. For example, the book of II Maccabees teaches that deceased saints are interceding in heaven for people on earth. Similarly, the book of Tobit promotes the use of magic and teaches that almsgiving will deliver from death and purge away every sin.
  6. Some of the Apocryphal books, though written to be taken as historical, are in fact purely fiction. These books are: Tobit, Judith, Bel and the Dragon, and Susanna.
  7. Jerome, the man who translated the Bible into Latin for the Roman Catholic Church’s Vulgate translation, vigorously opposed including the Apocryphal books in the Vulgate, but he was overruled.

Suffice is to say that one line from an invalidated book in an invalidated collection of books doesn’t make much of a case for the Ark of the Covenant ever being in Babylon (Iraq). Certainly the idea is far from ludicrous, but the evidence is scant at best. That’s why I feel very safe in saying that we can rule out Iraq as a current location for the Ark. So, in my next post we’ll leave Iraq behind and consider the case for another potential site.

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How the Ark of the Covenant Became Lost to History

Posted on June 26, 2017 by russellmckinney

The Ark of the Covenant series (post #3)

When last we left the Ark of the Covenant it was sitting safely within the confines of the Holy of Holies inside the newly built Temple in Jerusalem. Solomon was on the throne of Israel, the glory of God was settled all over the Temple, and Israel was at its pinnacle spiritually. If only life could remain so good!

The problems started with Solomon himself as he drifted further and further away from God over the course of his forty-year reign. He took for himself 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). These women were from races (Egypt, Moab, Edom, etc.) who worshiped false gods, and it wasn’t long before even Solomon’s own heart was turned to their other gods as he built worship sites (“high places”) for each of the false gods of the wives and concubines (1 Kings 11:4-8). With Solomon’s new penchant for idolatry came a steep descent into chasing pleasure, riches, and just about anything else life had to offer. He describes this descent in the book of Ecclesiastes.

After Solomon’s death his son Rehoboam became the King of Israel. Rehoboam inherited a kingdom that was sitting squarely under the hand of God’s judgment because of Solomon’s sins, and he only made matters worse. The fragile unity of Israel’s twelve tribes was already hanging by a thread when Rehoboam ascended to the throne, and it was only a matter of days before his arrogance and foolish actions created a civil war that formally split the nation into two separate kingdoms as the ten northern tribes broke away from the two southern tribes (1 Kings 12:1-24; 2 Chronicles 10:1-17). The northern kingdom elected a man named Jeroboam as their king, took the name Israel, and established a new capital at Samaria. The southern kingdom came to be known as Judah, kept the family of David as its kingly line, and continued to have Jerusalem as its capital.

With the two kingdoms now firmly entrenched in the land, each having a king, a long line of kings began for both Israel and Judah. You can read about all of them in 1 Kings, 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles. The fact is, though, that God was never pleased with the northern kingdom, no matter who was on its throne.

That kingdom’s problem was that it was founded upon idolatry. As proof of this, Jeroboam’s first act was to erect two golden calves — one in Bethel and one in Dan — as alternatives to keep his citizens from taking their sacrifices down south to the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:25-29). He also established worship shrines in other places and instituted not only a counterfeit priesthood but also counterfeit holy days for the northern kingdom (1 Kings 12:31-33). Of course what the northern kingdom never had was the presence of God by way of the Ark of the Covenant.

With such an idolatrous foundational beginning we shouldn’t be surprised that the northern kingdom never had a godly king in its 200 years of existence. The worst of its kings was Ahab, who married the wicked queen Jezebel and built a temple to the false god Baal in Samaria (1 Kings 16:29-33). In the wake of such rank blasphemy and idolatry, God eventually allowed the Assyrians to march into Samaria and lay siege to it for three years. At the end of those years the entire northern kingdom fell, and the kingdom’s inhabitants were carried away by the thousands to be resettled in other parts of the Assyrian empire. Thus ended the northern kingdom in 722 B.C.

As for the southern kingdom of Judah, from the beginning its kingly line was a hit-or-miss proposition consisting of some kings who served the Lord, some who didn’t, and a couple who did a little of both. The worst of them was Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1-18). On the whole, though, these kings presided over a generally downhill slide spiritually for the kingdom. With God’s supernatural help Judah was able to survive the Assyrian threat that had taken down the northern kingdom (2 Kings 19:1-35), but it would be another foreign power — the Babylonians — that would prove to be Judah’s undoing.

Judah’s struggles with Babylon were drawn out over a period of approximately twenty years as the kingdom became a pawn in the power plays and military maneuvers between the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Egyptians. First, Babylon’s army marched into Judah in 605 B.C. That resulted in a first round of royal captives being deported to Babylon as Judah came under Babylon’s rule. The prophet Daniel was part of that group (Daniel 1:1-7). Second, in 597 B.C., Babylon reasserted its rule over Judah by laying siege to Jerusalem again and forcing another round of deportations. The prophet Ezekiel and Judah’s King Jehoiakim were part of that group (2 Kings 24:8-16). Third, in 587/586 B.C., after a long siege of Jerusalem, the Babylonians tore down Jerusalem’s walls, destroyed the city, burned the palaces, burned the Temple, slew many, and deported a last round of captives back to Babylon (2 Kings 25:1-21; 2 Chronicles 36:11-21).

Here is where the story of the Ark of the Covenant goes silent, at least in terms of history’s voice. 2 Chronicles 36:18 says that all the articles from the Temple, articles great and small, were taken to Babylon. That word “all” might seem to indicate that the Babylonians took the Ark of the Covenant, which was the crowning jewel of the Temple, back to Babylon with them. However, it is highly unlikely that Judah’s priests would have allowed that to happen. After all, the final siege and fall of Jerusalem took place over a period of approximately two years, and that would have allowed those priests plenty of time to remove the Ark from the Temple’s Holy of Holies and hide it somewhere. And so begins the debate as to what became of the Ark. In the next post we’ll start looking at the possible candidates for where the Ark might be today, if it does still exists. So, until then, stay tuned….

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12 Former Sites of the Ark of the Covenant

Posted on June 24, 2017 by russellmckinney

The Ark of the Covenant series (post #2)

While there is a major debate over the current whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant, there is no debate as to the sites at which the Bible specifically places it. There are at least 12 of these sites. So, I thought I’d devote a post to listing the sites. In addition to the list itself, I’ll also throw in some details about the effects the Ark had upon the sites. Those details will help explain the supernatural aura the Ark has always held.

Site #1: Mount Sinai

In Exodus 25:10-22, God gives Moses the instructions for building the Ark as part of His whole list of instructions concerning the construction of the Tabernacle and everything that went along with it (Exodus chapters 25 through 30). Then, in Exodus 31:1-11, God explains that He has specially gifted two men — the tribe of Judah’s Bezalel and the tribe of Dan’s Aholiab — to supervise Israel’s other craftsmen and artisans in the building of the Tabernacle and all its components, including the Ark. Of course even Bezalel and Aholiab worked under the supervision of Moses (Deuteronomy 10:3).

All the work on the Tabernacle was done as the Israelites were encamped at the base of Mount Sinai for approximately eleven months (Exodus 19:1-2; Numbers 10:11) before they pushed on to Canaan. The story of the actual building of the Ark is recorded in Exodus 37:1-9. Since Bezalel’s name is exclusively cited in reference to who built it, that might mean that he personally did all the work.

Site #2: The Jordan River

God’s plan was for the Israelites to leave Mount Sinai, journey straight to the border of their promised land of Canaan, conquer Canaan via a series of battles, and then settle down in Canaan and occupy the land. However, fear prevented the Israelites from conquering Canaan (Exodus chapters 13 and 14), and so God punished them by having them wander in the surrounding wilderness for the next 40 years. During those 40 years all the Israelites 20 years old or older died off. The only exceptions were Joshua and Caleb, the two men who had tried their best to get Israel to take Canaan from the start on God’s original schedule.

At the end of the 40 years Israel’s time of judgment came to an end. They were then able to conquer Canaan under Joshua’s leadership. To begin that conquering, Israel’s priests carried the Ark (under veil) to the banks of the Jordan river to lead the people in crossing over the Jordan. Miraculously, as soon as the soles of the feet of those priests stepped into that river — which was overflowing its banks at that time of year — the waters parted (Joshua chapters 3-4), just as the waters of the Red Sea had done during Israel’s exodus from Egypt four decades earlier (Exodus 14:1-31). The Israelites were thus able to march into Canaan on dry land and begin their conquest of the land.

Site #3: The City of Jericho

Once the Israelites had crossed the Jordan river, the first Canaanite city they faced to conquer was the seemingly impregnable Jericho. Historical reports say the city was double-walled, with the outer walls being six feet thick and the inner walls being twelve feet thick. The walls were so massive that houses were actually built atop them.

At the Lord’s instructions, Israel’s army marched around Jericho’s walls once a day for six straight days. The Ark of the Covenant was carried (under veil) by a group of priests as a part of this procession, with seven additional priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns ahead of the Ark. On the seventh day, the army and the priests marched around the walls seven times, after which the priests with the horns blew the horns loudly. That blasting of the horns was then followed by a great shout from all the soldiers. At the moment of that shout God miraculously caused Jericho’s walls to fall down flat. Israel’s army then proceeded to kill all of Jericho’s inhabitants, including even the livestock, and burn the city (Joshua 6:20-21).

Site #4: Shiloh

Once the Israelites had conquered Canaan and settled it, Joshua had the Tabernacle erected at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1). Since there was no longer a need for Israel’s army to carry the Ark into battle, the Ark was taken there and placed inside the Tabernacle’s Holy of Holies. Shiloh would serve as the location for the Tabernacle for the next few centuries (1 Samuel 1:3).

Site #5: Ashdod

By the time young Samuel arrived on the scene, Israel’s priesthood had become corrupt. Hophni and Phinehas (the two sons of the High Priest, Eli) were especially wicked men (1 Samuel 2:12-17). This resulted in God setting Himself against Eli’s household and priesthood. Because of this Israel’s army was soundly defeated by the Philistines, resulting in the deaths of approximately 4,000 Israelite soldiers (1 Samuel 4:1-2).

Even though the rout was the direct result of God’s judgment against Israel’s priesthood, Israel’s elders wrongly determined that the defeat had occurred because Israel’s army hadn’t carried the Ark into battle. So they had the Ark removed from the Tabernacle in Shiloh and brought to their battle encampment in the area of Ebenezer (1 Samuel 4:3-5). Hophni and Phinehas supervised the move.

However, the next battle against the Philistines proved to be an even worse slaughter for Israel than the previous one had been, this time resulting in the deaths of 30,000 soldiers as well as the deaths of Hophni and Phinehas (1 Samuel 4:10). To make matters worse, the Philistines actually captured the Ark, took it to their city of Ashdod, and placed it in the temple of their god Dagon. When Eli, Israel’s high priest, heard the news that his sons had been killed and the Ark been taken, he fell off his seat backward, broke his neck, and died (1 Samuel 4:14-18).

As for the Ark in Ashdod, the first morning it was there the Philistines found the temple’s idol to Dagon toppled over on its face before the Ark (1 Samuel 5:1-3). They propped the idol back up to its rightful place, but the next morning they found it toppled over again before the Ark. This time the idol’s head and hands were broken off as well (1 Samuel 5:4-5). In addition to this, God struck the city of Ashdod and its surrounding territory with tumors (1 Samuel 5:6), which most commentators associate with some type of plague.

Site #6: Gath

Not surprisingly, the leaders of Ashdod wanted the Ark out of their city. So the decision was made to take the Ark to another Philistine city, Gath (1 Samuel 5:8). However, once the Ark was in Gath, God turned His anger upon the citizens of Gath and brought some type of unnamed “very great destruction” on the city. Furthermore, He struck the men of the city, both small and great, with tumors (1 Samuel 5:9). All this caused the citizens of Gath to want the Ark removed from their city.

Site #7: Ekron

Next, the Philistines moved the Ark from Gath to Ekron, yet another one of their prominent cities (1 Samuel 5:10). As soon as the Ark hit town the citizens of Ekron began crying out, saying, “They have brought the Ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people!” And they weren’t lying, either. The Bible says the hand of God became very heavy on the city, there was a deadly destruction, and the men who did not die from the destruction were stricken with tumors.

Site #8: Beth Shemesh

By the time the citizens of Ekron insisted that the Ark be removed from their city, the Ark had been in the possession of the Philistines for seven months. Needless to say, those seven months had produced nothing but misery for Philistia as the populations of three of the nation’s five major cities (Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron) had been decimated (1 Samuel 6:1). To say the Philistines were ready to send the Ark back to Israel would be an understatement.

Upon the advice of the Philistine priests and diviners, a cart was built to transport the Ark. This cart was pulled by two milk cows. The priests and diviners also advised that a trespass offering to the God of Israel be sent along with the Ark. This trespass offering consisted of the fashioned images of five golden tumors and five golden rats (1 Samuel 6:2-8). The number five corresponded to the number of major Philistine cities: Ashdod, Gath, Ekron, Gaza, and Ashkelon (1 Samuel 6:17-18).

Such an offering seems strange to us today, but ancient people oftentimes attempted to appease the gods by presenting an offering of whatever it was that was causing the destruction among the people. Evidently, the Philistines saw a direct correlation between their tumors and the rats. This leads many commentators to conclude that the tumors with which God struck the Philistines were caused by the bubonic plague, which medical science would eventually learn is carried by fleas on rats.

Just to ensure that it was really the God of Israel who was troubling Philistia, the Philistine priests and diviners built safeguards into their plan to return the Ark. First, the cart was pulled by two milk cows that were purposely separated from their calves. The calves were placed in the opposite direction of Israel, which should have meant that the cows would instinctively go in the direction of their calves. If, however, the cows took the cart in the direction of Israel, that would be a sign that the God of Israel was the one who had decimated Philistia (1 Samuel 6:7).

Second, the two milk cows were also animals that had never been hitched into a yoke. Two such animals shouldn’t immediately understand how to walk in step and pull the cart together. So, if they started pulling the cart without any problems, that would be another confirming sign that the Philistines were interpreting the situation correctly (1 Samuel 6:7).

Third, the Philistines watched to see if the cows, without being guided, would head in the direction of Beth Shemesh. Beth Shemesh was a Jewish town in northwest Judah that was near the border between Philistia and Israel. If the cows did head toward Beth Shemesh, without being guided, and despite the fact that their calves were in the opposite direction, that would be the final confirmation that Israel’s God was the one with whom the Philistines were dealing (1 Samuel 6:9).

And so how did it all turn out? Every part of the plan went perfectly for the Philistines, and the Ark was returned to Israel. The field in Beth Shemesh into which the two cows pulled the cart belonged to a man named Joshua. When the locals realized the cart was carrying the Ark of the Covenant they were overjoyed. In their ecstasy they used the cart as wood for a fire and offered up the two milk cows as burnt offerings to the Lord (1 Samuel 6:13-14). Later on, when the Levites (Israel’s priests) were summoned to the site, even more offerings and sacrifices were made (1 Samuel 6:15).

Unfortunately for the people of Beth Shemesh, their joy was short lived as they soon overplayed their hand in regards to the Ark. The mistake they made was removing the lid (the mercy seat) and looking inside the Ark. That act so angered God that He struck many of them dead with what is described as “a great slaughter” (1 Samuel 6:19). (The most commonly used Hebrew text that serves as the basis for our translations of the Old Testament says the number of Beth Shemeshites that God struck dead was 50,070. However, many other Hebrew texts cite the number as 70. Obviously the difference in the two numbers is the result of a scribal error in the copying process of some of the manuscripts, but it’s impossible for us to know today which number is the error. Either way, the point is that God was angry with the people of Beth Shemesh for looking inside the Ark.)

Site #9: Kirjath Jearim (also known as Baale Judah)

Following the deaths of many of their neighbors, the remaining people of Beth Shemesh sent messengers to the Jewish city of Kirjath Jearim, which was located about ten miles northeast of Beth Shemesh. The message was simple: Please come and take the Ark of the Lord from us (1 Samuel 6:20-21). The people of Kirjath Jearim agreed, and the Ark was then brought inside the house of a man named Abinadab. Abinadab promptly consecrated his son, Eleazar, to guard and keep the Ark, and the Ark ended up staying in the home of Abinadab for twenty years (1 Samuel 7:1). No doubt the reason for such an allowance was the fact that by this point in history the Ark had reeked so much havoc and struck so many people dead that most people were terrified to even get near it.

Site #10: The House of Obed-Edom

When David became the king over all Israel, he led an army against the city of Jerusalem and won the city from the Jebusites (2 Samuel 5:1-8). He then set about making Jerusalem the capital city of his kingdom. For one thing, he had a beautiful house built for himself in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:11-12). For another, he determined to transport the Ark from the home of Abinidab in Kirjath Jearim (Baale Judah) to Jerusalem. There David would make the Ark the center of Israelite worship by housing it in a specially prepared tent. This tent would be different than the actual Tabernacle, which at the time stood at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39).

There was nothing wrong with David’s desire to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, but there was plenty wrong with how he went about doing it. Rather than follow the law of Moses and have the Kohathites (a branch of Israel’s priestly tribe of Levites ) carry the Ark on their shoulders via poles (Numbers 4:1-20; 7:9), David had a special cart built to transport it. This cart was pulled by oxen. He then took 30,000 choice men of Israel and made the journey to Abinidab’s house.

Once at the house, David supervised as the Ark was carefully removed from the house and placed onto the cart. Two of Abinidab’s sons — Uzzah and Ahio — were assigned to drive the cart (2 Samuel 6:3). The grand procession back to Jerusalem was accompanied by much pomp and pageantry and music played on various kinds of instruments (2 Samuel 6:5).

Things went well until the procession reached a certain threshing floor along the way to Jerusalem. There, for whatever reason, the oxen stumbled, the Ark wobbled atop the cart, and Uzzah reacted by reaching out to touch the Ark to steady it. At the very moment he touched the Ark he was struck dead by God (2 Samuel 6:6).

As soon as David realized what had happened he became very angry with God (2 Samuel 6:8). In David’s way of thinking God’s judgment had been too harsh for Uzzah’s offense. But he also became afraid, afraid that God would never allow him to get the Ark into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:9). And so right then and there David shut down the entire procession and had the Ark placed inside the home of a man named Obed-Edom, who just happened to live near the site of the tragedy.

The Ark remained in the house of Obed-Edom for the next three months, and God blessed Obed-Edom and his entire household (2 Samuel 6:11). In the meantime, David went to work thinking about what he had done wrong. Somewhere along the way he figured out that his error was in not allowing the Levite-Kohathites to carry the Ark on their shoulders by way of the poles (1 Chronicles 15:1-2). So, he sought the counsel of all the Levites and set about to fix his error (1 Chronicles 15:1-15).

    Site #11: The Tent In Jerusalem

David’s second attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem and place it inside the tent that he had prepared for it was successful as this time he allowed the Levite-Kohathites to carry the Ark. Again many thousands of people were involved in the procession, and the entire journey from the house of Obed-Edom into Jerusalem was marked by music, singing, dancing, and much joy. Upon its arrival in Jerusalem, the Ark was placed inside the tent (1 Chronicles 16:1). Offerings were then offered up and thanks was rendered to God (1 Chronicles 16:1-43).

Site #12: Solomon’s Temple In Jerusalem

The Ark hadn’t been in Jerusalem long before David started planning to build a Temple in which to house it (2 Samuel 7:1-2; 1 Chronicles 17:1). It bothered him that the Ark sat in a tent while he himself lived in a fine home. He then consulted the prophet Nathan about the idea. At first Nathan told David to do all that was in his heart, but later that night God spoke to Nathan and told him to go back and tell David that David shouldn’t build the Temple (2 Samuel 7:3-11; 1 Chronicles 17:2-4.) The reason was that David had shed too much blood in his rise to the throne (1 Chronicles 22:6-8; 28:1-3; 1 Kings 5:1-3).

God, however, was pleased with David’s desire to build a Temple. Therefore, He made two major promises to him. First, the kingdom would never depart from the Davidic family line (2 Samuel 7:8-12; 1 Chronicles 17:11). Second, the son that would succeed David upon Israel’s throne would be the one to build the Temple (2 Samuel 7:12-17; 1 Chronicles 17:11-12).

The record of how David’s son, Solomon, got that Temple built in Jerusalem is recorded in 1 Kings chapters 5-7 and 2 Chronicles chapters 2-4. Once the Temple was finished the Levite-Kohathites carried the Ark from its tent in Jerusalem and placed it inside the Holy of Holies room inside the Temple (2 Chronicles 5:1-14). Again the transport was accompanied by much fanfare and celebration. The entire process ended with the cloud of the glory of the Lord filling the Temple so much that the priests had to temporarily stop ministering inside the building (1 Kings 8:1-11; 2 Chronicles 5:11-14). That was God’s seal of approval that the Ark was now exactly where He wanted it to be, and there it would remain until it became lost to history at some point.            

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What Is the Ark of the Covenant?

Posted on June 21, 2017 by russellmckinney

The Ark of the Covenant series (post #1)

Sometime back a reader requested that I do a post on the current location of the Ark of the Covenant. Finally now I feel the leading of the Lord to fulfill that request. But rather than attempt to cover the information in a single post, I’m going to break it down into manageable portions and make a series of it. In this series, I’ll describe how the Ark became lost, explore the competing theories as to where it might be today, and talk about the Ark’s potential relevance going forward in history. With this opening post I’ll answer the question: “What is the Ark of the Covenant?”

I once read about a man who mercilessly ridiculed the Bible. He just couldn’t understand how any rational thinking human being could take the Bible seriously in any way. Once, when he was asked to offer evidence that the Bible was the nonsense he claimed it to be, he replied, “Take the ark for example. How can anyone believe that Noah built a boat big enough to accommodate two of every species in the world, and then the Israelites carried such a massive object around with them everywhere they went?” Yes, the ignorant, uninformed skeptic had made the mistake of thinking that Noah’s ark and the Ark of the Covenant were one and the same.

The description of the Ark of the Covenant is found in Exodus 25:10-22, as God gives Moses the highly specific instructions for how to build it. The Ark was a wooden chest made from acacia wood. It was two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Most scholars estimate a cubit to have been 18 inches, which would have made the Ark just under four feet long, a little over two feet wide, and a little over two feet high. Basically, it was an oblong, rectangular chest.

The Ark’s wood was overlaid inside and outside with pure gold. On each outer corner was a ring of gold — two rings per side, four in total. Two large poles made from acacia wood and overlaid with gold were inserted into these rings. These poles allowed the Israelite priests to carry the Ark on their shoulders without actually touching the chest itself.

The lid to the chest was an intricately designed slab of solid gold — not acacia wood covered with gold — that matched the Ark’s length and width. Atop the slab, at each end of it, was a hammered gold depiction of a cherub angel with two wings. The two angels faced each other, and their wings were positioned so as to overshadow the lid. The tips of the wings either touched or almost touched over the lid’s center, and the figurative “seat” created was called “the mercy seat” (Exodus 25:17; Leviticus 16:2). The slab itself as well as the cherubim depictions atop it were all one solid piece of forged gold.

God promised that He would meet with the Israelites “from above the mercy seat” and speak to them “from between the two cherubim” (Exodus 25:22). This means that the lid of the Ark of the Covenant served as nothing less than God’s throne upon the earth. Because of this the Israelites referred to God as “The Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim” (1 Samuel 4:4; Isaiah 37:16). They also referred to the Ark as “the holy ark” (2 Chronicles 35:3).

Inside the Ark were kept the two tablets of stone upon which God had written out — on the front and back — the ten commandments that served as not only the beginning of His body of law to Israel but also that law’s moral heart and center (Exodus 20:1-17). Actually, this was the second such set of tablets, Moses having broken the original two in a fit of righteous indignation because of Israel’s idolatry (Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 32:1-19; 34:1-4; Deuteronomy 10:1-5). The two stone tablets were known collectively as “the Testimony” (Exodus 25:16; 31:18), which explains why the Ark was also known as “the Ark of the Testimony” (Exodus 25:22; 26:33; 30:6; 31:7).

We know for sure that the two tablets of stone were always kept inside the Ark (1 Kings 8:9; 2 Chronicles 5:10). However, two other items were kept either literally inside it or at least in very close proximity to it. One item was a golden pot filled with some of the manna that God had used to feed the Israelites during their forty years of journeying in the wilderness (Exodus 16:1-35). The other item was Aaron’s rod, the rod that had once budded as undeniable proof that God had chosen Aaron to be Israel’s first High Priest (Numbers 17:1-8). Exodus 16:32-34 says that Aaron placed the pot of manna “before the Testimony, to be kept” (N.A.S.V.). That seems to indicate that the pot sat just in front of the Ark of the Covenant. Likewise, Numbers 17:10 indicates that Aaron’s rod also sat just in front of the Ark. According to Hebrews 9:3-4, though, at some point the pot and the rod spent some time actually inside the Ark alongside the two tablets.

The Ark of the Covenant was housed inside a room called The Holy of Holies (also known as The Most Holy Place). In the early centuries following Israel’s exodus from Egypt this special room was a part of the Tabernacle that God instructed Moses and the Israelites to build (Exodus chapters 26-30). The Tabernacle was a large portable tent that was supported by a frame of acacia wood. Its walls were made from goat-hair coverings, and its roof was made from rams’ skins and badgers’ skins, dyed red. The inside of the tent was marked by violet, purple, and scarlet tapestries that were sewn together into two sets of five curtains. The tent itself was divided into two sections: The Holy Place and The Holy of Holies (The Most Holy Place). Only Israel’s priests were allowed inside the Tabernacle.

As for the Holy of Holies, it was a small, cube-shaped room with a length, width, and height of 15 feet equally. It was the innermost room of the Tabernacle and was separated from the tent’s other section (The Holy Place) by a “veil” that was actually a thick curtain made of fine linen as well as yarn that was blue, purple, and scarlet in color. Israel’s High Priest was the only person who could ever pull back the curtain and enter into the Holy of Holies, and even he could only go in there once a year, annually on the Day of Atonement.

During King Solomon’s reign Israel built a permanent Temple to replace the portable Tabernacle. However, even though Solomon’s Temple was much more elaborate than the Tabernacle, the basic sections of it essentially followed the same layout as the Tabernacle’s, especially in regards to the Most Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. So, the Ark of the Covenant was moved from the Tabernacle’s Holy of Holies to the Holy of Holies inside Solomon’s Temple. This is the room from which it ultimately went missing from history.

In my next post, I’ll trace the Ark’s movements from the time it was built until the time it pulled that vanishing act from mainstream history. Also, I’ll describe the supernatural effects the Ark was known to produce and cite scriptural examples for these effects. So, until then, stay tuned. This series is just getting started.

Posted in Series: "The Ark of the Covenant", The Ark of the Covenant | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Self-Preservation & Jesus

Posted on June 19, 2017 by russellmckinney

A man interviewed for a job at a famous art gallery that housed dozens of priceless masterpieces. As part of the interview process, he was asked, “If a fire broke out in this gallery and you could only save one picture, which one would it be?” The man answered, “I’d save the one closest to the exit.”

Yes, the survival instinct is a very real thing. And we’ve all got a touch of it inside us, don’t we? As a character in an episode of an old western series once said, “When it comes to living a little longer, every man has some wolf in him.”

But this wolf poses a real problem for the Christian. As my way of identifying that problem, let me take that quote from that old western and rework it to make it fit Christianity. For the Christian, the quote would sound something like this: “When it comes to following Jesus Christ and serving Him, every Christian must have some sacrificial lamb in him.” As evidence of the scriptural accuracy of this reworked statement, consider the following passages (all from the N.K.J.V.):

“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” (Matthew 5:38-39)

“I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” (1 Corinthians 15:31)

“As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'” (Romans 8:36)

“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (1 Timothy 3:12)

“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” (1 Peter 4:12-13)

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15)

How out of place these passages (and others like them) seem in this age of “health and wealth/prosperity” preaching. In such an age, sermons on topics such as self-sacrifice, turning the other cheek, and enduring persecution certainly don’t fill the pews of the average church, do they? And yet, this is the life of radical faith. This is the life of selling out to Jesus completely regardless of the consequences. This is the life of standard New Testament discipleship.

Again, Christian, we certainly aren’t talking about your self-preservation here. We certainly aren’t talking about you making comfort your top priority. We certainly aren’t talking about you chasing popularity as your life’s goal. You say you want safety, comfort, and praise from the masses? Then you’ll never live under the lordship of Jesus Christ. That just isn’t the life He is proposing when He says, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Trust me, no one ever took up a Roman cross in order to live a little longer, enjoy himself, or win a popularity contest.

It’s not that Jesus wants us to go around with a death wish. Much to the contrary, He wants us to appreciate life and really LIVE it for Him. But let’s be clear about one thing: His idea of living life for Him is far different from our worldly ideas about what living it for Him looks like. We mustn’t forget that this is same Savior who said, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Those aren’t words that we Christians want to hear, are they? Undoubtedly, though, they are every bit as true and as relevant to us as John 3:16 is when it comes to us living for Christ.

Posted in Adversity, Brokenness, Commitment, Courage, Crucifixion, Death, Disappointment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Dying To Self, Extending Forgiveness, Faith, Faithfulness, God's Work, Human Life, Ministry, Missions, Obedience, Persecution, Perseverance, Personal Holiness, Preaching, Priorities, Problems, Prosperity, Revenge, Sacrifice, Sanctification, Service, Spiritual Warfare, Submission, Suffering, Trials, Truth | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Importance of the Father/Child Relationship

Posted on June 17, 2017 by russellmckinney

And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. Malachi 4:6 (N.K.J.V.)

Did you know that the last verse in the Old Testament talks about fathers and their children? If we believe that the words of the Bible are nothing less than inspired by God (and we do, 2 Timothy 3:16), then it must be significant that God chose to close the Old Testament record with a word about the importance of the father/child relationship. This fact alone should teach us just how important that relationship is.

As we study the context of this verse, we find that it involves a prophecy concerning Elijah and his return to the earth sometime before “the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” I think this explains why the fathers/children aspect of the verse doesn’t get preached as often as it should. Whenever a preacher does take this passage as a text, he spends so much time answering the questions “Was John the Baptist the fulfillment of this prophecy?” and “Will the actual prophet Elijah literally return to this earth one day?” that he doesn’t have time to do justice to the word about fathers and children. (By the way, if you are really interested in the question of Elijah returning you should read my blog post “One Mighty Angel and Two Incredible Witnesses.”)

For the purposes of this post, though, I just want to hammer home the fact that God equates true revival with the hearts of fathers being turned to their children and the hearts of children being turned to their fathers. You see, if you want to know how spiritually healthy a land is, conduct a national poll and find out how the fathers feel about their children and the children feel about their fathers. That’s not a spiritual barometer that we typically check, but it’s one that we should.

Significantly, our text verse lists the hearts of the fathers being turned to the children before the hearts of the children being turned to the fathers. This order makes perfect sense in light of the fact that it’s a lot easier to get a child to love its father when that father has first shown a love for the child. What this order also indicates is that if there has been a breakdown between the relationship between a father and a child, God will typically start with the father to build the bridge of reconciliation. It’s not that He will never start with the child; it’s just that He would prefer to start with the father.

As for our world today, it’s an understatement to say that many of the relationships between our fathers and our children could use some work. The fact is, though, that all of this work could be accomplished if each father and each child would truly get 100% right with God. No, this isn’t going to happen, but the failure is on our end, not God’s. If He had His way, every father/child relationship would be as He intended it to be.

I don’t know where this Father’s Day weekend finds you in terms of a father/child relationship. Perhaps you are a father. Perhaps you are a child. Perhaps you are, like me, both. Likewise, I don’t know the shape in which your relationship currently finds itself. All I know is that the Biblical principle is this: The land in which the hearts of the fathers and the children are knit together is one that can experience the fullest extent of God’s blessing, but the land in which those hearts aren’t knit together is one that is staring down the gun barrel of being struck by God with a curse.

If this isn’t proof of just how much God prioritizes the father/child relationship, I don’t know what is. Consequently, it is our job as individuals to make sure that each of us is doing his or her part to keep those hearts knit together. That’s why I encourage you to examine yourself this Father’s Day weekend and ask God to reveal to you anything that He wants you to either do or stop doing to play your role in the father/child relationship. Perhaps you don’t need to change anything, and if that’s the case, good for you. But if God does burden you to either do something or stop doing it, you should mind Him because, as we learn from Malachi 4:6, a lot really is riding on it.

Posted in Children, Family, Fatherhood, God's Will, God's Word, Parenting, Reconciliation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Two Different Bible School Meetings

Posted on June 15, 2017 by russellmckinney

After a relatively successful V.B.S. at one of my former churches, I called for a meeting of the teachers and workers who had been involved with the effort. My purpose for the meeting was to assess what had gone well about the V.B.S. and what hadn’t. All I wanted was a friendly, open, candid discussion that would help us identify the areas in which we could improve our V.B.S. the following summer.

As expected, the meeting went exactly as purposed. Even when negative subjects were discussed, the meeting retained a warm, friendly spirit that allowed for helpful dialogue and a free-flowing exchange of ideas. No one had an agenda. No one got defensive. No one brought personal issues into the fray. Basically, it was one of the better church meetings that I’ve ever experienced.

Now let’s fast forward to my first year in my next pastorate. Once again my church enjoyed a relatively successful V.B.S., after which I scheduled a follow-up assessment meeting of the teachers and workers. Since this type of meeting had gone so well at my previous church, I assumed the same would be true in my new church. Boy, was that a wrong assumption!

The problems started early with one teacher complaining that the music director had ignored a song request the teacher’s class had suggested. That, in turn, caused the music director to get defensive. That, in turn, caused the teacher to ratchet things up a notch in terms of tone. That, in turn, caused the music director to match that increased tone. So there we all were, just a few minutes into the meeting, and things were already at DEFCON 3.

As the moderator (and I use that word loosely) of the informal meeting, I allowed the verbal exchange between the teacher and the music director to continue for a few uncomfortable seconds. In the end, this would get me accused of siding with the teacher. The truth is, though, I had two reasons for allowing the argument to last a bit longer than I could have. First, I was caught off guard by the turn the meeting took and had to play catch up there for a moment. Second, it was obvious to me that some venting would do both parties some good, you know, sort of like releasing the built-up pressure in a pressure cooker. I hoped that once the sore subject of the debated song was out in the open, emotions would settle down and we could discuss the disagreement calmly and rationally. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting for that calm, rational discussion.

You ask, “And what did the rest of the people at the meeting do during the argument?” Well, for one thing, they weren’t about to get involved in that dust-up. So, they just sat there watching the show. For another thing, some of them didn’t really want to be at the meeting anyway because they themselves were still pouting over different little issues from the recent V.B.S.

Fear not, though, those issues did eventually get brought up in the meeting as well. And, like the issue of the song, they weren’t brought up in what you might call an ideal spirit. The spirit wasn’t the raw anger and emotion of the exchange between the teacher and the music director. It was, instead, a sober, solemn kind of spirit that more or less conveyed the idea, “If we have to do V.B.S. the same way next year, I might not help with it because I really didn’t enjoy this year at all.”

But now let me tell you the real reason why those two follow-up meetings at those two churches played out so differently. Here’s the thing: The first meeting involved a church that was in a good place spiritually, but the opposite was true for the second meeting. Simply put, one church was in the midst of a time of peace and even a bit of a revival, but the other one was in the midst of a time of civil war and division.

Before I had become the pastor of that second church, the church had experienced some serious problems that had prompted the resignation of the previous pastor. Following that, a pastoral vote on a new potential pastor hadn’t received the necessary percentage for the man to be called by the church. In the wake of that failed vote, I myself had barely received the required percentage to become their pastor.

All this serves as evidence that the church that I had come into was a deeply divided one that was marked by cliques, emotional wounds that hadn’t yet healed, and power struggles over who was going to “run” the church. It was a church that a lot of pastors would have avoided. For my part, though, I felt genuinely called of the Lord to wade into the mess and try to help. I ended up staying there three-and-a-half years, and I at least got them to the place where they could get healthy after I left, but I’ll guarantee you that we didn’t have another follow-up V.B.S. meeting. I had no desire whatsoever to open up another such can of worms.

The point I’m trying to get across here is not hard to understand. Churches that are where they need to be spiritually can deal with virtually anything in a positive way, while churches that aren’t can’t even get through a follow-up Vacation Bible School meeting without incident. That’s why it is so hard for a church to right itself once it has gone down a wrong path. The people who created the problems are usually the worst candidates to fix them because fixing them would require humility, brokenness, admission of mistakes, confession of sin, authentic repentance, forgiveness, and a willingness to work together to make the necessary changes. I’m not saying that troubled churches can’t rise to these things (or lower themselves to them, depending on how you look at it), but if such behavior came easily for the people, the church wouldn’t have gotten itself into such sad shape initially.

So, if you ever find yourself in a church that has major issues, tread lightly. Always keep in mind that something that would be harmless in another church might very well light the fuse to a powder keg in yours. V.B.S. meetings, changing the color of the carpet in the sanctuary, putting in new light fixtures, issues involving the church cemetery, changing the Sunday School literature, committee member appointees, changes to the church budget, etc., etc., etc. all have the potential to create problems and even a church split if the church is sick spiritually. This is the sad truth, and it is undoubtedly playing itself out in some church somewhere right now even as you read this.

Posted in Attitude, Backsliding, Brokenness, Christian Unity, Church, Church Attendance, Confession, Criticism, Extending Forgiveness, Forgiveness, God's Work, Humility, Ministry, Pastors, Personal, Pride, Problems, Reconciliation, Restoration, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

My Anger Management Plan

Posted on June 12, 2017 by russellmckinney

One day a wife asked her husband, “Why don’t you play golf with George anymore?” The husband answered, “Would you play golf with a man who moves the ball and puts down the wrong score while you’re not looking?” The wife said, “Certainly not.” The husband replied, “Neither would George.”

Sinful behavior — it does affect our lives, doesn’t it? My youngest son, Royce, once struck out by foolishly swinging at a pitch that was in the dirt. On his way back to the dugout, he threw down his helmet in a fit of anger. And what was my wife Tonya’s knee-jerk reaction to that? She smiled and said, “I wonder who he gets that from?” (No, she wasn’t talking about herself.)

Okay, I’ll admit it, when I get really mad my first reaction is to throw something, kick something, or slam something. For example, several years ago Tonya stood in the kitchen and watched me get aggravated at a troublesome weed eater and launch it into space. That incident reminds me of the story about the little boy who was watching a preacher try to start an old pull-cord mower. When the boy commented, “That mower is enough to make a fellow cuss,” the preached said, “Son, I used to cuss, but I stopped that filthy habit when I accepted Jesus, and it’s been so long since I cussed, I’m not sure I could even remember how.” To that the boy replied, “You keep pulling on that cord and it will all come back to you.”

The truth is that each of us struggles with some specific sin or pattern of bad behavior, and no matter how long we go without tripping over that old log, we’ll eventually find ourselves again face first on the ground. One of mine (and there are others) is my temper. That’s my personal admission for the day. But how about you? What’s your problem area? Is it worry? Doubt? Greed? Impatience? Lust? Jealousy? Ego? Vanity? Pride? Some type of addiction? Something else?

Getting back to my story about Royce and baseball, I had the conversation with him that day about not slamming down his batting helmet. Unfortunately, the underlying cause of that little fit of rage is something that he will have to contend with for the rest of his life. I speak from personal experience on this because I am still contending with my own case of it. For me as a Christian, one of the best things about heaven is the fact that I will be eternally rescued from this mortal flesh, a flesh that is polluted and tainted by sin. Until then, though, I will always deal with the temptation to slam down helmets, throw weed eaters, cuss, kick garbage cans, punch walls, etc., etc., etc.

The only real help I’ve ever found to combat my faulty inner wiring is Jesus Christ. When I placed my belief in Him as Savior, God the Holy Spirit came to take up residence inside me, and His presence allows me a fighting chance to keep my pet sins and bad behavior at bay. Even with the Spirit living inside me, I still show my temper every now and then, but those occasions aren’t nearly as numerous as they used to be. This, you see, is my anger management plan, and the plan will work as long as I work the plan by letting the Holy Spirit control me from the inside.

Posted in Addiction, Depravity, Doubt, Greed, Heaven, Impatience, Jealousy, Lust, Personal, Personal Holiness, Pride, Salvation, Sin, Sports, Temptation, The Holy Spirit, Worry | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Worship Wars

Posted on June 8, 2017 by russellmckinney

I once met with the pulpit committee of a certain church about the possibility of me becoming that church’s next pastor. I don’t normally take Tonya along for such meetings, but this committee wanted to meet her as well. So, we made the drive to a designated restaurant that split the mileage distance between our home and the church. Once we were all at the restaurant, we ordered our food and proceeded with the discussion at hand.

The church was one that church growth experts call a “graying” congregation. That simply means that it had a lot more old folks than young folks. In this case, the “graying” was evidenced by the pulpit committee, which consisted of two men and three women. Each committee member was over 55, and the chairman was well into his 70s.

Much of the meeting consisted of the committee members (particularly the three women) bemoaning the fact that their church had become a shell of its former self in regards to attendance. The church’s heyday had been in the 1960s and 1970s, and the women wanted things back to the way they used to be. Whereas the church had once boasted an attendance of close to 200 on Sunday mornings, those numbers were then down to 50 or so.

According to the committee, the main culprit in their church’s declining attendance was a megachurch’s new satellite campus that had set up shop just a few miles down the road from their church and was pulling in large numbers of people, especially young couples. In case you don’t know what a satellite campus is, let me explain how it works. A megachurch rents a large building in either a different town or at least another part of town and sends some of their staff to that new site to work it. It is the job of those staff members to get the new congregation up and running. That means using social media, knocking on doors, handing out flyers, renting billboards, or whatever else it takes to get folks in the door.

The megachurch pays the bills to equip the site with the best of everything. The audio and video systems are cutting edge. Comfortable chairs are used instead of padded pews. Contemporary Christian songs are used instead of classic hymns. A praise-and-worship team and band are used rather than a song leader and choir. Words on a big screen are used instead of hymn books.

The target group for any satellite campus will always be young couples with children. If something appeals to that generation, that’s what will be prioritized. That means youth programs and lots of them. It also means casual dress, modern translations of the Bible, and sermons that focus less on doctrine and more on issues relevant to the ones such couples face today.

Every satellite campus has a campus pastor, but these pastors don’t normally do any preaching. Instead, the sermons from the lead pastor of the megachurch are piped in via video. The campus pastor’s job is to manage the staff, make sure the building is always up to spec, collect the offerings, and funnel everything back to the megachurch. Whatever vision the megachurch has for the satellite campus, the campus pastor is responsible for implementing it. He might also do some counseling and fundraising, but no matter what he does he is always working under the lead pastor of the megachurch.

Okay, so this is what the members of that pulpit committee were up against. A massive church that was located about 30 minutes from their church had launched a satellite campus in their town, and that satellite campus had become the hot new thing in that town. So, the question those pulpit committee members wanted me to answer was, “How would you go about getting our church back to its rightful place of prominence in our town?”

Oh, and did I mention that they didn’t want to convert to contemporary Christian music, use any translation other than the K.J.V., forego Sunday night or Wednesday night services, update their old sanctuary in any way, or change anything about their Sunday School organization? Also, they expected me to wear a coat and tie every time I preached. But they wanted to grow. That’s a line I remember very well: “We want to grow.”

Well, according to Tonya I was far too blunt and far too honest in my answer, even though I really wasn’t trying to tick those people off or hurt their feelings. All I told them was that their church might never get back to what it had been in the ’60s and ’70s but that didn’t mean that God had forsaken it. That church still had an important ministry, one that perhaps should focus on the elderly who still loved that style of church. After all, that generation is every bit as important in God’s eyes as the younger generation. I explained that times had changed and that the church simply wasn’t going to attract young couples by using a church model from the 1950s. Basically, I said something to the effect, “I can’t promise you that I can lead your church back to where it once was. All I can promise you is that I will faithfully preach the Bible, visit the sick, and lead the church in the direction in which God burdens me to lead it. And as long as what we do is pleasing to Him, we’ll be fine.”

I myself thought that was a reasonable answer, and as Tonya and I left the restaurant the committee chairman leaned toward my ear and said, “We’ll let you know if we are interested, but I feel confident that you’ll be hearing from us soon.” That led me to believe that the meeting had gone pretty well. However, once Tonya and I got in the car she informed me that I had thrown cold water all over that committee, particularly those three women, and she had serious doubts that I would ever get a call. When I attempted to defend myself by saying, “But everything I told them was the truth,” she responded, “Yes it was, but those women wanted you to tell them that their church is as great as they think it is and that there is no doubt that it can get back to what it used to be.”

And so how did things turn out? Well, as you’ve probably already guessed, I’m still waiting on that call. Evidently that chairman was in the minority in regards to his assessment of the meeting. I really don’t know what became of that church or who they elected as pastor. What I do know is that the entire experience was a memorable one for Tonya and myself. Rarely have we seen the stark conflict between the older generation of churchgoers and the younger generation on better display than we saw at that restaurant that night. Church growth experts have even coined a term for this conflict. They call it “worship wars.”

Really, though, the reality of the situation is that the “worship wars” lessen a little more with each passing year. The reason why is obvious: The older generation is dying off. You see, with very few exceptions, the “winning” side in these wars is already predetermined. It’s just a matter of how long it takes the fighting to reach its inevitable conclusion of the younger generations’ preferences becoming the norm. Until then we pastors are left to stand in the gap between our members who favor the old way of doing church and those who favor the new way.

I don’t mind telling you that this is a difficult challenge. Somehow, though, in the midst of it all, we must try to stay in tune with God and hear His still, small voice of direction, guidance, and spiritual discernment. Sometimes that voice promotes the new, but other times it promotes the old. Each situation and each congregation is unique. As I said, it’s a tough balancing act for a pastor. I just wish that more churchgoers on both sides would be open-minded to the other side’s position. Even more important than that, I wish that all of us Christians would be more open-minded to what God wants as opposed to what we want.

Posted in Aging, Balance, Change, Christian Unity, Church, Church Attendance, God's Guidance, God's Will, God's Work, King James Only, Ministry, Music, Pastors, Personal, Sunday School, Worship, Youth | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jesus as a Friend?

Posted on June 6, 2017 by russellmckinney

In the 15th chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus makes a point of explaining to His remaining 11 apostles that He will now call them “friends” rather than “servants.” He says to them:

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:13-15, N.K.J.V.)

If you know your Bible, you know that this wasn’t the first time that God had taken to calling one of His servants a friend. Abraham, you’ll remember, is called the friend of God in 2 Chronicles 20:7, Isaiah 41:8, and James 2:23. Some people would also cite Proverbs 18:24 here with the understanding that Jesus is the embodiment of the “friend who sticks closer than a brother.” All of these passages, as well as the John 15:13-15 one, provide the scriptural basis for the famous hymn “What A Friend We Have In Jesus.”

I must confess, however, that when I play the word association game with the name “Jesus,” the first word that comes to my mind is never “friend.” And why is that? Well, there are multiple reasons.

First and foremost, I tend to think of Jesus much more as my LORD — I’ll even use the stronger word MASTER — than my friend. And just for the record, I’m in good company on this. One of the apostle Paul’s favorite descriptions of himself was “a servant of Jesus Christ,” and the Greek word he used for “servant” was doulos. That’s a word that literally means “slave.” We find Paul describing himself as a slave of Jesus Christ in Romans 1:1, Galatians 1:10, and Titus 1:1. Actually, at no time in scripture does Paul ever refer to himself as “a friend of Jesus Christ.”

Similarly, James (James 1:1), Peter (2 Peter 1:1), Jude (Jude 1:1), and John (Revelation 1:1) all use this same word doulos to describe their relationship to Jesus. Furthermore, like Paul, not one of these men ever refers to himself as “a friend of Jesus Christ.” So, between Paul, James, Peter, Jude, and John, I’m running with a high-grade group when I say that I tend to think of myself much more as Christ’s servant (slave) than His friend.

A second reason why I have trouble relating to Jesus as a friend is the fact that I don’t equate friendship with imposing demands. I am fortunate enough to have some friends in this world, but these friends don’t get in touch with me each day and ask me to do tasks for them. That would put a strain on any friendship, wouldn’t it? And yet this is exactly what Jesus does. By way of the indwelling Holy Spirit, He speaks to me every day and asks me to do this, do that, go here, leave there, write this, preach that, etc., etc., etc. Ephesians 2:10 even teaches that I was created in Jesus to do good works that have been prepared beforehand for me to do in my life. Here again, all of this sounds a lot more like Jesus and I have a master/slave thing going than a friend/friend one.

Third, there is also the problem of Jesus acting at times downright unfriendly to me. At least that’s how I see things from my limited perspective anyway. For example, He doesn’t always steer me away from troubling situations. To the contrary, I’ve had Him steer me right into several simply because He wanted to use me in the middle of them. Likewise, He doesn’t always keep me from being done wrong by others. Shouldn’t a true friend protect you if He can? And then there is the whole matter of Him not always answering my sincere prayer requests with a “Yes” even though He has all power to do so. Frankly, I’ve got enough people turning me down in life that I don’t need one of my friends to join the list.

Now, if you think I’m being too hard on Jesus, let me point out that even Jesus Himself made His friendship with those 11 apostles conditional and probationary. Did you notice what He said in John 15:14? He said, “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.” Huh? What’s this “if” stuff? I thought true friendship was supposed to be unconditional. I mean, it’s pretty easy to catch the unspoken implication of Christ’s words. That unspoken implication is: “If you do not do whatever I command you, you aren’t my friends.”

Going back to the Old Testament illustration of Abraham, he perfectly fit the model of friendship that Jesus lays out in John 15:13-15. First, he did indeed do whatever God commanded him to do, whether it was leaving his homeland of Ur and traveling to an unknown land that God would show him (Genesis 12:1-3) or attempting to go through with his sacrificing of his son Isaac (Genesis 22:1-19). Second, God let Abraham know what He was about to do in regards to laying waste to Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-33). Both of these events — obedience on the part of Abraham and disclosure on the part of God — fulfill the evidences for friendship that Jesus names in our text verses.

And would you believe that these requirements for Christ’s description of friendship are on display in my own life as well? For one thing, even though my obedience in doing whatever Jesus commands me to do isn’t 100% perfect, it is still very much real and on display every day of my life. For another, there have been many times in my life when God let me in on what He was about to do before He did it. Some of these have involved the lives of myself and my family. Others have involved the lives of people for whom I’ve been praying.

So, seeing as how my walk with the Lord bears the same basic marks as Abraham’s walk with Him, why do I have such trouble thinking of Jesus as my friend more than my lord and master? The only answer I can give kicks back to those three reasons that I mentioned earlier. Again, I’m just being honest about where I’m at on this.

I guess I would sum up my current situation by saying that I’m still a work in progress on this “friends” thing when it comes to Jesus. Even though I’m fully aware that He showcased the ultimate friendship for me by dying on the cross to pay my sin debt, I simply haven’t reached the place yet where I relate to Him as “friend” more than “lord” and “master.” Perhaps it would help if I started capitalizing the word “Friend” when I use it to describe Jesus. That might at least get my mind headed in the right direction in regards to this topic. Even that, though, would only be a start. Obviously, I have a ways to go before I can fully grasp the blessings of Christ’s words from John 15:13-15 and make them my own. But at least I’m willing to admit that I have the problem, and they say that is the first step toward a cure.

Posted in Discipleship, Disobedience, Friendship, God's Love, Loneliness, Obedience, Personal | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment