The Ark is Returning Part 1  Introduction

Some time ago I had a prophetic experience in which the Lord Jesus appeared to me and one of many things He spoke to me about was this. He said the house of Saul is dying and the house of David shall be established.
This was a time when the prophetic movement was beginning to gain momentum.  The Lord gave me a number of scriptures to ponder over which I will share with you today.

2 Samuel 3:1	Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker.
1 Samuel 15:35	And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

The Kingdom of Saul represented an order which God blessed, but Saul was a man of the flesh. The people had appointed him because he was very tall and able to fight well but he was a man who had unresolved problems in his life, not the least of which were Envy and Jealousy, the outside looked good but the inside was a mess.
The emphasis of the house of Saul was that of power, without Character. After Saul disobeyed the Lord, God rejected him. Saul was specifically told not to take any of the spoils of war and he disobeyed the Lord

1 Samuel 15:14	And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
1 Samuel 15:23	For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

God was looking for pureness of heart manifest in obedience to the Lord, but Saul failed and the house of Saul went into decline.

1 Samuel 15:35

And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Saul was cut off from the prophetic anointing and word of the Lord, Samuel came no more to him. The presence and Glory of the Lord was taken from Israel as the Ark of the convent was taken y the Philistines
This was the end of an era
God is determined to remove the Flesh of man from the church and to bring us into   absolute dependence upon Him-self. Not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord.

1 Samuel 13:14

But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.

When Eli the Priest heard that the ark was taken, he fell off his chair and broke his neck.

1 Samuel 4:15	Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.
16	And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son?
17	And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.
18	And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

The number forty in scripture is the number of a generation
Eli had been a priest for 40 years, but now it was over a whole generation had come to an end.

1 Samuel 4:19	And his daughter in law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.
1 Samuel 4:21	And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.

The appointment of David as King of Israel began a new era for the Nation. David represented a man after God’s own heart, that is what God is looking for today. Men and women who have a heart after Gods heart, a heart that is surrendered to the will of God, a man after the same nature as God.
Meanwhile the Philistines were having trouble with the Ark and decided to send it back to Israel. When it arrived in Israel, the Israelites also had trouble with it, a lot of trouble.
The ark came to a place e called Beth-Shemesh and the people there rejoiced because the ark was coming back to Israel. The men of Beth-Shemesh lifted up the lid in the ark and whoosh, one flash and they were ash. 50,000 died.
Why did this happen? They were not ready sanctified purified enough to stand in the Shekinah Glory. That is one reason God is moving today in sanctification and holiness to get the church ready for the return of the Ark in its fullness.

1 Samuel 6:20

And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?

It took Israel more than 20 years to get the Ark back to Jerusalem 1 Sam 7:1 during this time a company of priest carried on with the rituals and sacrifices, but God was not there. It was Church as usual without the presence and power of God.
The Ark is coming back to the church
You say, the ark is back!  We have power and anointing and God is doing good things. Let’s stop for a moment and have a reality check.

Acts 2:41	Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Acts 4:4	Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.

This was the norm for the early church. How many in your church have been saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit over the last few weeks? I am not tying to discourage you, I am trying to motivate you. What we have at present is just a drop in a bucket to what God has purposed for this generation. While we appreciate all that we have at this present time we must admit it is not enough to meet the need of this generation! However the Ark is coming back in its fullness. In the early 70s we saw a touch of the Ark as the charismatic move released a wave of God across the world.
Revival is God bringing the church back to the norm; the problem is we loose it very quickly.
How are we going to bring back the ark in its fullness?
David said:

1 Chronicles 13:3	And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul.
1 Chronicles 13:7	And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart.

Bad Move
They tried to bring back the ark on a man made cart.  You know, all they promotions and revival meetings won’t bring back the ark, that which works in building a successful business won’t build the kingdom of God.  We don’t need a user friendly church; we need a church where God resides in Power and Glory.
Note the names of those who drove the cart:   v7  Abinadab,  Uzza, and Ahio, those names are recorded for a reason.
Abibadab in the Hebrew means  Father of Nobility
Uzza  means  Strong
Ohio   means  Brotherly
We have a Noble with Someone who is Strong and Brotherly
The whole procession was brotherly strong and noble but totally mans Idea, they were singing dancing but something was wrong. So God brings them to a threshing floor.

1 Chronicles 13:8	And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.
9	And when they came unto the threshingfloor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled.  (Chidon is Hebrew for destruction)

A threshing floor is designed to separate the true from the false wheat from chaff.

1 Chronicles 13:10

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God.

Uzza the strong one is dead. Why?  He put his hand on the ark! What does that mean or what is the lesson that God is trying to get across to us?
Uzza was doing something he was not ordained and anointed to do. We can’t appoint ourselves roles in the kingdom of God, only God can do that. There are many in self appointed positions in the church today that God wants to sort out before the ark is released into our midst.

Hebrews 5:1	For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
Hebrews 5:4	And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.

There are many Pastoring churches who were not appointed by God, or who are not pastors but evangelists or some other ministry or maybe they are not called at all to the five fold ministry  We are in a time when repositioning is taking place in order that we may be able to receive the Ark back into our midst. This is a time of not only repositioning, but it is a time of grace during which our hearts are purified so that we will not hinder, oppose or put our hand on the ark when it returns.
They Ark is coming back and much of what God is doing today is to get us ready for that great manifestation of Gods presence.
God Bless you
James N Johnson © 2005