Dennis Tuuri

which was found in Zion. Please stand for the reading of God’s word.

1 Chronicles 16, beginning at verse one.

So they brought the ark of God and set it in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. And when David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offering, He blessed the people in the name of the Lord.

Then he distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the Lord God of Israel. Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, then Jiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, and Obed-Edom, with string instruments and harps, but Asaph made music with cymbals.

Benaiah and Jehoahaz the priest regularly blew the trumpets before the ark of the covenant of God. On that day, David first delivered this psalm into the hand of Asaph and his brethren to thank the Lord.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord. Call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him. Sing psalms to him. Talk of all his wondrous works. Glory in his holy name. Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord.

Seek the Lord in his strength. Seek his face evermore. Remember his marvelous works which he has done, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth. Oh seed of Israel, his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth. Remember his covenant forever. The word which he commanded for a thousand generations, the covenant which he made with Abraham and his oath to Isaac and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the allotment of your inheritance.”

When you were few in number, indeed very few and strangers in it. When they went from one nation to another, and from one kingdom to another people, he permitted no man to do them wrong. Yes, he rebuked kings for their sake, saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones. Do my prophets no harm.” Sing to the all the earth. Proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all peoples.

For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is also to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and gladness are in his place. Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples. Give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Tremble before him, all the earth. The world also is firmly established. It shall not be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” Let the sea roar and all its fullness. Let the field rejoice and all that is in it. Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

And say, “Save us, oh God of our salvation. Gather us together and deliver us from the Gentiles to give thanks to your holy name to triumph in your praise. Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.” And all the people said, “Amen.” Praise the Lord.

So he left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark regularly as every day’s work required and Obed-Edom with his 68 brethren including Obed-Edom the son of Jeduthun and Hosah to be gatekeepers and Zadok the priest and his brethren the priests before the tabernacle of the Lord at the high place that was at Gibeon to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering regularly morning and evening and as written in the law of the Lord which he commanded Israel.

With them Heman and Jeduthun and the rest who were chosen who were designated by name to give thanks to the Lord because his mercy endures forever. With them Heman and Jeduthun to sound aloud with trumpets and cymbals and the musical instruments of God. Now the sons of Jeduthun were gatekeepers. And then all the people departed, every man to his house and David returned to bless his house.

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this very important text of scripture. We thank you for its relevance to us today. Help us, Lord God, to be open to your spirit as your spirit speaks to us through your word. We pray that you would open our ears to hear your word, to understand it, to praise you for it. In Jesus name we ask. Amen.

Please be seated.

I read the Oregonian a day or two ago and there was this picture in it from a kind of blues festival going on. You probably can’t see this real well. It’s kind of a funny looking fellow. I don’t know if that’s really his hair or if it’s a wig. Patrick Swanson had a wig the other night. I don’t know if this is a wig or not. And at the top of this it says “Now that’s the spirit.” “Now that’s the spirit.” And you know, a blues festival is a good thing. I’m not trying to mock it or anything, but what we’re going to talk about today is what is the spirit? It’s interesting, now that’s the spirit—a music festival going on, people doing their thing, dancing together. I guess that’s some kind of dance they’re doing. You know, what does the spirit do in the context of worship? Well, that’s really sort of what we’re going to talk about—the spirit, being in the spirit as being the environment the spirit creates particularly in a heightened fashion on the Lord’s day.

And our culture today sees the spirit in some sort of odd way that you know it’s pictured in this picture and all too often in the Christian church as well. We’re not really sure what the spirit does in the context of worship. We believe in this regulated principle, but how does it apply to us? How do we fit into all that sort of stuff? I want to talk today about Zion worship and tabernacle of David worship.

The tabernacle of David from our text was a temp that David made for the worship in the direct presence of the ark. Mount Zion is one of two hills in Jerusalem that are mentioned in the scriptures. The other hill we’ll talk about later in the service is Mount Moriah. This is where the temple will be built. Zion is not that mountain. It’s a different mountain. Both of them right in the city of Jerusalem. It’s kind of like Mount Tabor in Portland. It’s kind of a high place.

What is Zion worship? Why is it important to us? Well, we know it’s important because we know that when the spirit gathers us together in worship, we’re told in Hebrews 12, verse 22, that when we come into worship we have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to a myriad company of angels, the spirits of just men made perfect, et cetera. Worship is described as coming to Mount Zion. And if we don’t understand what Mount Zion is, and we want to understand how that text informs us about what we do in Lord’s day worship, Psalm 50:2 says that it’s out of Zion that the perfection of beauty, the perfection of beauty, out of Zion, God will shine forth.

So Zion is seen as the place that God shines forth into the rest of the world. Zion has great significance to us. Psalm 87 that we just recited responsively tells us that indeed as the Gentiles are brought into the church, Zion is what’s happening there. This is where we’re born. As we watch the generations of kids grow up in the context of RCC, we say that this one and that one are born in Zion.

So Zion is where the Gentiles grow up and mature. And so this is where we’re at. We’re in Zion.

In Ezekiel 38, verse 12, Zion is referred to as the center of the world. And the actual literal meaning of the word that’s translated “center” there is “navel.” So Zion in Ezekiel is described as the navel—the center of the entire world is found in Zion. Whatever Zion means, so Zion’s where we go to worship. Zion is where God shines forth. Zion is where our children are raised. In the context of Zion is the center of the world. Zion has tremendous significance in the context of what we do in Lord’s day worship. And it’s important for us to think about that a little bit and to recognize its significance for us.

Zion is the precious cornerstone according to Isaiah 28. The precious cornerstone is laid in Zion. So Zion is where the cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ, is laid. Zion has this great significance as we’ll see as we move on into the rest of the text today.

But turn if you would to Acts 15. I want to show you one place to grab your attention, hopefully. Acts 15. You know the context here, maybe you don’t, but the context is the council at Jerusalem to decide this matter of the Gentiles and what’s required of them. That’s the context of what we’re going to look at in Acts 15.

In verse 13, after they had become silent, James carries the declaration at the council of Jerusalem. He says, “Men and brethren, listen to me. Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agreed, just as it is written. After this, I will return and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who does all these things.”

You understand the significance of that? What is happening in the early days of the church is the Jew and Gentile being brought together into one community. And specifically what’s happening, James says by quoting the prophecies here, is that God is rebuilding not the temple of Solomon. He’s not saying that here. What he says is that God is rebuilding the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down.

The tabernacle of David is not the tabernacle that Moses had. It’s not the temple that Solomon will build. It’s the tabernacle that was described in 1 Chronicles 16 in our text today. It’s the tent. Tabernacle is just another word. The tent—a fancy tent. It’s a tent that David built in which this worship of the ark happens. So it’s the ark. It’s Zion worship physically in this Mount Zion in this tabernacle that David has constructed, where just the ark is, not the rest of the tabernacle furniture, just the ark. This is the tabernacle of David. And this is the subject of our sermon today. And this has tremendous significance.

We are the rebuilt tabernacle of David. What does the spirit do? What does it mean that the spirit does something in bringing us together in worship? Well, whatever it is, we can say that the spirit’s going to create Zion worship. The spirit will create on the Lord’s day tabernacle of David worship as his people come together. And so it has tremendous significance to that. We go to Mount Zion when we worship. The temple, as we’ll see in a little bit, is built on Mount Moriah. We are never said to go to Mount Moriah to worship in the New Testament. Hebrews 12 says we go to Mount Zion when we worship God. That’s where the spirit takes us, so to speak.

Zion was a hill in the city that would become Jerusalem, a big city at two different mountains—Moriah and Zion. Zion’s the one where tabernacle of David worship occurred. They’re both at Jerusalem. Okay, as a way of introduction then, now going into the text itself. What is the historical context if it’s important for us? What is this tabernacle of David stuff that Acts tells us is what we are?

What is the historical context of tabernacle of David worship?

And first we say that the scriptures teach that it is a transition step between tabernacle and temple worship. Now, we know hopefully some of these Bible stories that remind us of what happened. There is this tabernacle, of course, that we know in the time of Eli. His sons are wicked and the prophecies come and Samuel is given to replace his sons. Eli’s sons are wicked and they’re having sex with the women who are dedicated to the service of God and they’re stealing food out of the pots that were for God and for the people, the peace offerings. Bad kids. Eli won’t discipline them. God says he’s going to bring people into captivity, bad things are going to happen. Their perpetual enemies, the Philistines, are attacking them and are beating them up pretty good because of God’s judgments on the people.

So what they do is they say, “Well, we’ll take the ark out of the tabernacle and we’ll have that go into battle for us and then God will win.” Well, they don’t win. The Philistines beat them and the Philistines take the ark, that part of the tabernacle furniture, and they take it into captivity. But you know, hopefully most of you know that doesn’t work too well. And the ark makes war on the house of Dagon where the ark is and Dagon falls over dead before it. His hands are cut off and his head’s locked off and he’s humiliated before the ark. So the ark wars upon the Philistines even as they’ve got it captured. So God really has them captured. He’s saying, “I’m not going to give my people victory over you, but I’m going to exercise victory over you.” So they don’t want the ark anymore.

And all this is given to us in 2 Samuel 6. And we won’t turn there now. It’ll take too much time. But in 2 Samuel 6, this journey of the ark is talked about. The ark ends up at the house of a guy named Abinadab and so the ark remains there with him. And so Eli dies and Samuel becomes the judge and then Saul becomes the king and the ark stays at the house of Abinadab and it just stays there. And after Saul is replaced by David, David says, “Well, it’s time to bring the ark into Jerusalem.”

Okay, so he goes down to Abinadab’s house and he wants to bring it up, but he’s not careful about what he does as the text will later tell us when he brings it up the second time. And so when they’re bringing the ark up, he doesn’t get Levites to oversee the process. He doesn’t offer any prayers or sacrifices to God in the process. The ark starts to fall over and Uzzah grabs it and he’s killed immediately. So the ark instead of being brought to Jerusalem is deposited at the house of one Obed-Edom the Gittite. Now Gittite is a Gattite. That’s what Gittite means. It’s someone from Gath. Gath is one of the five major Philistine cities. So you got this Obed-Edom who’s a Gentile, who’s a Philistine, but apparently a God-fearing Philistine and the ark is left at his house.

What happens is for three months God blesses Obed-Edom the Gittite, the Philistine, and people say to tell David, hey you know that Gentile is being blessed, and so to speak, we could look at it as David being provoked to jealousy by this. He wants to bring the ark into the context of Jerusalem properly. That’s where it should be. So David then takes care of things in a much more conscientious way. And in the chapter just before the chapter we read in 1 Chronicles 15, we read of David bringing the ark into up and away from Obed-Edom’s house. And in 2 Samuel 6, it’s talked about as well.

So David now takes very careful measures with the ark that only the Levites will oversee the entire process. Walk six paces, stop, sacrifice something to God. They’re deliberate about it. And so the ark is brought up to Jerusalem. Now, it’s just the ark of the covenant. It’s not all the rest of the tabernacle furniture. What’s happening is this ark comes up.

So before the ark and the tabernacle of David worship begins in Jerusalem, David begins it when the ark comes up. Before that, historically, we had this tabernacle and David’s son Solomon will build the temple. So we’ve got a tabernacle that’s been being used for worship after Moses gets the instructions from God. So for many years, tabernacle worship—a movable tent. Then David sets up this worship center at Mount Zion, referred to as the tabernacle of David in our text and in Acts 15. After the tabernacle is built, after the temple is built, rather, Solomon then takes that ark and brings it into the temple on Mount Moriah.

So this tabernacle of David worship that’s so critical for understanding New Testament worship is a transition step from the tabernacle of Moses to then the temple of Solomon. And in the midst of those two things, this transition is this Zion worship, tabernacle of David worship placed in the midst of that historical progression.

Now I’ve got on your outline here that you have Moses, Eli, Samuel replaces Eli, Saul, David, Solomon as kind of the personages that go in the order here. And I mentioned Moses’ tent of meeting and then Moses’ tabernacle, then David’s Zion worship, and then Solomon’s temple.

What’s Moses’ tabernacle of meeting? Some of you may or may not recall that. In one of my early sermons in the Gospel of John, we talked about when Moses comes down from the mountain receiving the instructions of the law and also the instructions for building the tabernacle. The people have sinned and Moses separates himself from the people. God says, “Well, you guys are going to go up and I’ll let you into the land, but I’m not going with you.” And Moses says, “Well, that’s not good.”

And what Moses does, and this is recorded again—we won’t turn there, but in Exodus 33, in Exodus chapter 33, Moses, before the tabernacle is built, Moses builds a meeting house for God, a tabernacle, a tent. And it’s kind of like what will happen when the real tabernacle is built, but there’s a progression. So Moses builds this tabernacle of meeting first. This is where God comes down and he’s declared to be the gracious God, the long-suffering, peaceful, and gracious God to Moses and passes by in front of Moses. That’s at this tabernacle that predates the actual Levitical tabernacle.

So we’ve got Moses making kind of a picture of what the tabernacle will be like. Then the tabernacle is built. And then David creates this tabernacle of David prior to the temple. And we’ll see that the temple is going to incorporate much of what David did. But there is this progression.

Okay, so the historical context of tabernacle of David worship is this transition step between tabernacle and temple worship. Okay. Tabernacle—movable worship place. Then the tabernacle of David—fixed on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. Then the temple will be built at Mount Moriah also in Jerusalem. When that temple is built, Solomon then goes and gets the ark from Zion and brings it over to Mount Moriah and puts it in the temple where it’s supposed to be. So that’s the idea.

Now, there’s a transition here. Some of this is described in Psalm 78. Psalm 78, turn there if you would, please, is kind of a summation of what I’ve just told you. It doesn’t give all the historical details of God blessing Obed-Edom and then that being kind of a the motivation for David to bring it up and all the stuff that happened to the ark. It doesn’t give all those historical details. If you want those, as I said, 1 Chronicles 15 and 2 Samuel 6—those are the verses you should go to. But Psalm 78 gives us a summary fashion.

In verse 60: “So that God then forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he placed among men and delivered his strength into captivity.” This is talking about the ark going into captivity. The ark is the picture of God’s presence with the people. So when the ark left the tabernacle, God left the tabernacle. Okay? So he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had placed among men. That’s the Levitical tabernacle. We always think of this tabernacle and temple. Tabernacle delivers his strength into captivity—to the Philistines. His glory into the enemy’s hand. He also gave his people over to the sword, was furious with his inheritance. The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not given in marriage. Their priests fell by the sword. Their widows made no lamentation.

Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty man whose shouts with rage because of wine. And he beat back his enemies. He does war against the Philistines. He put them to a perpetual reproach. Moreover, he rejected the tent of Joseph. Did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. And he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth, which he has established forever.

Now, he’s not talking about the temple here. He’s talking about the tabernacle and specifically the tabernacle of David who was of the tribe of Judah. There is a covenantal transition from Moses and the tribe of Ephraim and Joseph to the tribe of Judah and David. And that transition is displayed architecturally, and God forsaking the tabernacle and never returning to it really, but instead taking up his abode in the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle of David on Mount Zion. That’s what this psalm is describing—Zion worship, tabernacle of David worship—the thing that is what God has rebuilt in the context of the church of Jesus Christ according to Acts 15.

Now in 1 Kings 8, verse 1, we read the following: “Solomon assembled the elders of Israel all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel with King Solomon in Jerusalem that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David, which is Zion.”

So 1 Kings 8:1 is the verse that tells us without a doubt that the ark stayed there on Zion until Solomon had completed the temple. And then the ark comes from Mount Zion over to Mount Moriah—same city, just like Mount Tabor to some other little mountain around here—brings it over into the temple. So once God had departed the tabernacle in the time of Samuel and Eli, he never went back to it. He instead went to the temple. And in the mid period, in the midst of that, he’s at this tabernacle of David worship.

So you know the correct order of things here is we start with Moses’ tent of meeting. Then Moses’ tabernacle is built. Then David’s worship center on Mount Zion happens. And then finally Solomon’s temple is the last thing that happens before then the New Testament church comes in, when Jew and Gentile are brought together and the tabernacle of David is reestablished.

So the historical context is this transition. This tabernacle of David worship originates with the advent of the ark on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. And we see that in our text, verse one. Before it gets to the tabernacle of David worship being set up, it tells us in verse one they brought the ark of God and set it in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it.

Now you understand this. I’m using the word “advent.” You know, our Sunday school cycle now—we begin in Advent. Is what we associate with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is “advent.” Well, the ark is the picture of God in a heightened fashion, right? God left the tabernacle. Psalm 78 says because the ark left, this is God entering into Jerusalem. It’s the advent of Jesus Christ, so to speak, that produces tabernacle of David worship. It’s the presence of God in the midst of his people that initiates all of this.

Next week, as we continue two or three sermons on the tabernacle of David, we’ll sing Psalm 98. You know, the fourth book of the psalter—you don’t know. No time to explain it, but if you know your Bibles, there are five books of the Psalms. The fourth book of the psalter is all about the advent of Jesus. And at the very center of that fourth book of the psalter is Psalm 98. And what happens when the king comes? Music, praise, singing.

Verse 4, you see? And that’s a picture of what’s going on here. The ark makes its advent up to Jerusalem and the whole thing starts up—praise and worship music in the context of worship. The psalms will be used in the temple. But understand that they’re written first for the tabernacle of David, for Zion worship. And that’s why Zion is all over the 150 psalms, you see?

It originates with the advent. We don’t have time this week. We’ll talk more about this next week. But most of 1 Chronicles 16, as you saw, was a big long psalm. But in point of fact, it’s actually a collection of several psalms stitched together. But it concludes. The last stitch to it, verses 34-36 of 1 Chronicles 16, is actually a citation from Psalm 106, verses 47 and 48.

Now, if you know your Bibles well and are thinking, you know that Psalm is the end of the fourth book of the psalter. And you know that the last two verses are that benediction or doxology that concludes every one of the five books of the Psalms. Book four ends with this blessing statement, this glory to God stuff. And that’s how the psalm that David composes specifically for the advent of the ark ends. You see the connections in the fourth book—the idea of the advent of Jesus ultimately, but now the advent of the ark back then is a picture of that—brings forth this tabernacle of David worship and Zion worship.

That’s why all this stuff fits together when we get to the New Testament. Tabernacle of David is being rebuilt. Yeah, sure, because Jesus came. But the ark was a picture of his advent. The end result is at the center of all that advent. You know, in book four, we’re supposed to be singing psalms and we’re supposed to be blowing trumpets and doing all kinds of wonderful praise-oriented stuff in the presence of Jesus.

Okay, see, it’s distinct from tabernacle sacrifices at Gibeon and later temple worship at Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.

Now we got to look at the text a little bit closer. 1 Chronicles 16, look at verse 37. Verse 37, please.

We talked about God leaving the tabernacle, never going back. But the tabernacle was still used. Verse 37: He—David, after he sets up tabernacle of David worship—left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark regularly, as every day’s work required. And Obed-Edom with his 68 brethren including Obed-Edom the son of Jeduthun and Hosah to be gatekeepers.

So verses 37 and 38 say once he starts up tabernacle of David worship he leaves guys there to continue the worship and praise God. Verse 39, however, says that he left Zadok the priest and his brethren the priests before the tabernacle of the Lord at the high place that was at Gibeon to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering regularly morning and evening, to do according to all that is written in the law of the Lord which he commanded Israel.

And then it goes on to talk about music. Now, as far as we know, tabernacle worship up to this time had no music involved. In Moses’ and the Levitical tabernacle that wandered around in the wilderness, the people got musicians to do services at Gibeon along with music. They’re offering sacrifices there. So verses 37 and 38 say that David sets up some priests to minister at tabernacle of David Zion worship on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. And then he sets up other guys to go over there to Gibeon and to do animal sacrifices because that’s where the rest of the tabernacle is. The ark’s at Mount Zion and Jerusalem. The rest of the tabernacle and the burnt offering altar and all that stuff—it’s out of town. It’s at Gibeon, maybe five miles northwest of Jerusalem. That’s where the burnt offerings go on.

So it is distinct. The tabernacle of David worship is distinct from the sacrificial worship going on at Gibeon. It is also distinct from temple worship that will happen later at Mount Moriah.

As I said earlier, turn to 2 Chronicles, chapter 1, verse 3. This shows it very clearly—what I just said, and we can get from the text in 1 Chronicles 16. This says it very clearly in 2 Chronicles 1:3. You see, we should know this stuff. We’re going to have children growing up at RCC who know all this. We won’t have to spend any time printing all these passages to prove to you this stuff. Our children will grow up knowing these things. They’ll be far ahead of us as a result. We’ve got to figure it out.

2 Chronicles 1, verse 3: “Solomon and all the congregation with him went to the high place that was at Gibeon. For there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness.” This is the tabernacle. You know, the picture, this tabernacle that precedes the temple. It’s the one that he got the image from God in heaven, went up to the mountain, and God showed the image and he built the tabernacle. You know what all that is? So the tabernacle is at Gibeon.

It says verse 4: “But the ark of God had David brought up from Kirjath-jearim to the place which David had prepared for it. For he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.”

You see, so we’ve got the ark of the covenant at Mount Zion in Jerusalem and we’ve got the rest of the tabernacle at Gibeon. David has a worship center distinct from tabernacle worship set up on Mount Zion. And he’s got sacrifices still going on at Gibeon about five miles out of town where the rest of the tabernacle is.

Now, one other text. We should probably look at this one too. 2 Chronicles 3:1. Look at 1 and 3. Now look at 3:1. And this is very important. This is a geographical marker that we should know, but we don’t. Now, our kids are going to know it. We’ve got this name down there in the names of the room in the bottom of the C wing. We have this progression pictured for us down there.

2 Chronicles 3:1 says: “Now Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Zion? No. He builds the house at Jerusalem at Mount Moriah where the Lord had appeared to his father David at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.”

See, the temple is built on Moriah. The temple is not ever, you know, to be seen as built on Mount Zion. Two different hills close. They’re in the same city in Jerusalem. So tabernacle of David worship, Zion worship is separate from Gibeon where the tabernacle is and it’s separate from Mount Moriah where the temple will be.

And as I said, Mount Moriah is only mentioned twice in the scriptures here and in Abraham sacrificing Isaac. Never mentioned as the place that we go back to. We don’t go to Mount Moriah. We go to Mount Zion is what Hebrews 12 says. God isn’t rebuilding, you know, Mount Moriah. He’s rebuilding according to Acts 15 the tabernacle of David on Mount Zion.

So it’s distinct from these things. So for instance, if we read Psalm 134, we read, “Behold, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. Bless the Lord, the Lord who made heaven and earth. Bless you from Zion.”

We read these psalms. We always think about the temple. We think that the house of God is the temple. And that’s what’s being talked about in the Psalms. But more often than not, particularly there’s a direct reference here that God is going to bless you not from Moriah and the temple. The psalm has some reference, at least initially, to the tabernacle of David worship and its first place in Zion.

Now, you know, Zion worship becomes important for temple worship, which we’ll see. But you see, if nothing else, you should read your Bibles differently from this day forward. And when you read in the Psalms about Mount Zion, you should think of not the temple, nor the tabernacle. You should think of the ark of the covenant in this tabernacle, this tent that David set up. That’s what’s going on. Okay?

David started up worship at Zion when the ark came into Jerusalem and the rest of the tabernacle went to Gibeon. During David’s reign, regular animal sacrifices happened not on Zion but at Gibeon. And it was on Mount Moriah that Solomon built the temple. Okay. What is the importance of this?

That’s the historical accounting. What’s the relevance of tabernacle of David worship?

And this is what I’ve been talking about. There is this relevance to temple worship. I’ve given you a bunch of references. We won’t look them up, but I will just summarize them for you. First of all, we want to say that the tabernacle of David worship is very relevant to later temple worship.

Whenever the temple worship is being restored, renewed, reformed, it’s done so according not to the pattern of something else, but rather to the pattern of David’s worship at Zion. So Zion worship is incorporated into temple worship in a very central and significant way.

For instance, during the time of Asa, when they recovered to God, they do so with shouting, trumpets, and rams horns with the blowing forth of music. This is the innovation that David produced at Zion worship and it happens there.

In the time of Joash, we read that the priest under Joash, Jehoiada, appointed the oversight of the house of the Lord to the hand of the priests and the Levites that David had assigned in the house of the Lord to offer the burnt offerings to the Lord. So they’re talking about temple worship as it is written in the law of Moses, okay? So the sacrifices as per the law of Moses and then it says with rejoicing and with singing as it was established by David. So the pattern of Zion worship becomes incorporated into and is a central part of temple worship.

In the times of Hezekiah, we read that Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, stringed instruments, harps according to the commandment of David. And what Hezekiah has done as the animal sacrifices are being offered—this praise that David started at Mount Zion comes together with the animal sacrifices which, you know, back then were at Gibeon but now we have a temple built and Hezekiah brings the commandment of David in terms of worship with music and song into the temple along with the sacrifices that are going on.

And we’re told very explicitly in verse 27: “Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord also began with the trumpets and with the instruments of David, king of Israel.”

So David worship, tabernacle of David, Zion worship becomes very important as part of temple worship.

In the time of Josiah, we read that there were singers. The sons of Asaph were in their places according to the command of David, not the command of Moses, the command of David.

Ezra, when the builders laid the foundation of the temple, they begin to praise the Lord according to the ordinance of David, king of Israel.

Nehemiah, as the walls are reestablished, it says in verse 45 of Nehemiah, people with the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge of their God and the charge of their purification according to the command of David and Solomon his son.

So throughout Old Testament history, after the temple is built, when it’s restored and worship is renewed, it’s always according to the commandment of David. It always brings in what happens in Zion worship into temple worship. So Zion worship is very relevant for temple worship.

But secondly, of course, as we’ve already said from Hebrews 12, Zion worship is very relevant for New Testament worship. Hebrews 12 says this is exactly what we do in worship. We go to Mount Zion.

So what kind of worship was the model for later temple worship? Zion worship. Tabernacle of David worship is Zion worship. And our worship is tabernacle of David worship. So then, since it’s Zion worship, what was different about tabernacle of David worship? And I have several things here that are significant, I think, in pointing out the differences.

First of all, tabernacle of David worship, after its initiation, was bloodless. We read that there were animal sacrifices in 1 Chronicles 16 and other texts that deal with tabernacle of David worship when he first sets up the tabernacle. He has a whole bunch of animals sacrificed there on Mount Zion. But then as we saw in verses 37, 38, 39, and 40, perpetually and ongoing-wise, what goes on in Zion is musical worship. And the animal sacrifices are restricted to what goes on at Gibeon where the rest of the tabernacle is.

And so the tabernacle of David worship starts with blood, but after that it becomes bloodless. You see, no more animal sacrifices once it’s initiated. Just praise and worship, blowing of musical instruments before the ark of the Lord.

Verse 2 of 1 Chronicles 16 says, “David had finished offering the burnt offerings and peace offerings. He blessed the people and then he sets up the perpetual worship after that.”

So when we read in Psalm 51:15 and 16, “Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall show forth your praise. You do not desire sacrifice or else I would give it. You do delight not in burnt offering,” you see that burnt offering is sort of being eclipsed by the praise that comes out of our lips.

So burnt offerings now are being replaced—are replaced in the tabernacle of David worship with praise. So Psalm 51 takes on new significance when we recognize that David had actually said in terms of the very presence of God, we’re not doing sacrifices anymore. Now we’re doing praise and worship.

Now there’s one exception to this that I’ve given to you on your outline. I don’t want somebody else to find it. I was trying to hide it. 1 Kings 3:15—Solomon is over sacrificing at Gibeon, which is where he always went to sacrifice. And he has a dream. And in his dream, God gives him the gift of wisdom to rule the people. And God, Solomon then goes back, wakes up from the dream and goes to Mount Zion and offers sacrifices again at Zion. So for a long period of time, no sacrifices. But as Solomon now is being called, equipped to govern the people and to construct the tabernacle, the temple, we can see that Zion worship is now going to be brought back into temple worship.

But for the most part, almost perpetually there is no blood going on in Zion worship.

Secondly, tabernacle of David worship involved music and song. Clearly, our text shows us that David sets up these Levitical groups to blow trumpets and to play harps and to do all kinds of wonderful things. Psalms, which are songs, of course—a song book is produced for Zion worship. Zion worship is musical worship and song. And again, this was distinct from worship—now they’re going to have that too at the tabernacle out at Gibeon, but it starts here at Zion worship.

Hebrews 13:15 says, “By him, by the Lord Jesus Christ, by his advent, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.”

We understand now what that’s talking about and how that was pictured—that transition that would ultimately come at the coming of our Savior who shed his blood once for all 2,000 years ago. But see, all that’s pictured by Zion worship where the sacrifices are no longer desired in the direct presence of God and instead it’s the sacrifice of the lips, fruit of the lips, the praise of God that replaces that animal sacrifice.

So it’s distinct in that way. In Zion worship, sacrifices were replaced, or singing rather, replaced animal sacrifices. And in Zion worship, musical instruments were used.

Third, the tabernacle of David worship occurred in the direct presence of the ark. This is very significant. We read that they are directly in the presence of the ark of God. If you look back at 1 Chronicles 16, our text, and let’s begin to look in verse one. Okay. In verse one, we’re told that they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. Okay. And then in verse 4, we read that he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord. So “before” something means that they’re directly in the presence of it.

So you know, George is before the pulpit. He’s right in front of the pulpit. And so the sacrifices happen before God. And the Zion worship is established before, in the presence of the ark of the Lord.

And then look down to verse 6: “Benaiah and Jehoahaz the priest regularly blew the trumpets where? Before the ark of the covenant of God.”

And then down to verse 37: “So he left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark.”

So over and over again, we’re told that Zion worship happens in the very presence of the ark of God. Now, you know enough about the Old Testament to know that’s significant. You know enough about the Old Testament to recognize that in both the tabernacle and the temple, you can’t go to the ark of God. You can’t go into the Holy of Holies, which is where it is. Nobody can go in there. It’s a dark place. You go in there, you get killed. The only guy that can go in there, and he can only do it once a year, is the high priest.

So do you see? This is exceedingly significant that David sets up this worship center where people are actually worshiping before the ark, in the presence of God. It’s interesting, too, and I won’t dwell on this, but it is interesting to see this terminology. The worship occurred before God. It said it occurred before the ark of the Lord. God—Elohim. Lord—Yahweh. Before God, before the ark of the Lord, before the ark of the covenant of God is the third use of the phrase. And the fourth phrase in verse 37 said, before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

So it builds up what this thing is. It’s God. It’s Yahweh. It’s the ark. It’s the ark of the covenant. The presence of God is the God who is both omnipotent but also lovingly faithful to his covenant people. He is Elohim, but he is Yahweh. His presence is with us, loving us and being covenantally faithful as our God. And he does this by means of the ark, but it’s the ark of the covenant of God. So our relationship to him is secure by means of the covenant established ultimately through the Lord Jesus Christ.

But Mount Zion worship, tabernacle of David worship, occurs in the direct presence of the ark of God. And this is, you know, this is significant for us. This is again a picture of what happens in the context of New Testament worship.

In 1 Peter 2:9, we’re told that we’re a royal priesthood. What’s a priest do? A priest gets access to go into the presence of the master of the house. That’s who we are.

And in Hebrews 4:16, it says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, to that ark of the covenant of God’s grace and the work of Jesus Christ, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Of course, we know that we have access to the direct presence of God. But this was pictured, you see, in Zion worship as David established it—directly in the presence of the ark. So Zion worship was distinctive in that there was no veil separating the worshiper from God.

And for tabernacle of David worship, it occurred in an undivided environment. You know, the tabernacle and the temple will have several zones of holiness, partitions off. You read about the court of the Gentiles in Solomon’s temple. And the court of the Gentile, you couldn’t go all the way in if you’re a Gentile. There’s certain places you could go, other places you couldn’t go. None of that’s true in David’s tabernacle of David. There’s no division between the Jews who came to worship and the Gentile, God-fearing worshippers as well.

And we know this is a picture of what happens in the New Covenant. Ephesians 2:14 says, “He himself is our peace who has made both one.” The whole point of the New Testament epistles is that Jew and Gentile become one body in Christ. That there’s no more division. He has broken down the middle wall of separation.

He did that in a preliminary kind of prophetic sense in tabernacle of David’s Zion worship. He took away the division between Gentiles and Jews. He took away the division between himself and all the worshippers that would come before his presence. He replaces animal sacrifice with the sacrifice of lips and the fruit of our praise before him.

In Zion worship, there’s no divider between Jew and Gentiles. And in fact, it appears—and I modified the outline here a little—but it certainly appears that there was an actual Gentile involved at the tabernacle of David worship. It appears that tabernacle of David worship included at least one Gentile worship leader.

This Obed-Edom the Gittite, where the ark stayed and stayed for three months and he had been blessed. God blesses the Gentile and the Jews get jealous and repent and convert to the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what happened leading up to Acts 15. That seems to be what happened here.

But even the Gittite, the Gite, the Gentile is blessed. And then when David sets up these worship teams, we read that indeed that Obed-Edom is one of the worship team leaders that David establishes in Zion. And so Obed-Edom is seen throughout the register. You look in 1 Chronicles 16 and other places where this tabernacle of David worship is talked about and there you see Obed-Edom. Obed-Edom, Obed-Edom. Now it’s possible it’s a different guy, but I don’t think so. It seemed like it would have differentiated him and instead it seems like instead—and I’m not just surmising on my part, the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia takes this position. Other people do as well. That, again, what we have here is a picture of the inclusion of the Gentiles in the very worship of God.

You know, we’ve got a Gentile worship team leader here, right? John stands up before you. He’s like a guy from Philistines. We’re all Gentiles here. Well, that’s pictured for us. Isaiah 66:21 says, “God said he takes some of them, the foreigners, from priests and Levites.” And that seems what happened here in tabernacle of David worship.

And we know of course that in Ephesians 3:5 and 6, as the great mystery is revealed, that the Gentiles should be made fellow heirs of the same body with the Jews. So tabernacle of David worship brings in at least one Gentile—not just to worship God but to actually lead, as part of the Levitical worship team, to lead in the structure of tabernacle of David Zion worship. What Gentile city was he probably from? Gath. He was a Gentile.

So you see what we have here is a little island of new covenant worship at the tabernacle of David at Zion as a picture of what would happen when the Lord Jesus Christ makes his advent ultimately to his people. No middle wall partition. Jew and Gentile brought back together. No being veiled off from the special presence of God when Jesus comes. We now have access to enter boldly. We don’t do animal sacrifices here. We offer instead the sacrifice of our lips and our praise before him. That’s what David’s Zion worship was all about.

We’re brought into the presence of God. And Gentiles not just being able to worship God are part of the actual worship team. These were worship teams and they were praise teams set up to play music and to sing skillfully before God and to write psalms for this sort of worship.

So what’s the point? Well, one point is you just should read your Bible’s right. You just should know. And you should know when you read in Acts 15 what that tabernacle of David was. And you should know what Mount Zion is. You should know when you read your psalms not to think of the temple when you’re reading about Zion, although that later has application for the temple, but you should know what happened. You should know your Bibles and you should want to read your Bibles correctly.

But secondly, I think that this should give us an increased appreciation, a renewed appreciation, and commitment to and a delight in Psalms. You see why? If we see the psalms as written for the temple and the temple being replaced by new covenant worship, people begin to make the case that well, they were part of that immature Old Testament stuff. The Psalms really aren’t for us. And the same with musical instruments. Well, that was temple stuff. That was bloody animal sacrifice stuff.

But when you recognize that, no, not at all—that the whole initiation of music, instruments, and the psalter comes not for the temple, but for Zion worship, which is what our worship is, for the tabernacle of David worship, which is what God has rebuilt and restored according to Acts 15—well, now even more than ever, we should want to know these psalms and enter into praising God with them in a renewed sense with great joy before him for the great picture he gave even David and the Old Testament saints of the beauty of what the worship would be like.

Where’s the spirit now? That’s the spirit. When we sing psalms of praise using the very psalms themselves and psalm-like patterns that are developed for us in the psalter, you see, that’s what the spirit says New Testament worship is. Now that’s the spirit. And when we play musical instruments and start using organs and pianos and trumpets and violins, whatever else we’re going to do, that’s the spirit. You see, now that’s the spirit of God. That’s the rebuilding of Zion worship.

When we do these things, you see, that’s the spirit. A renewed commitment for the Psalms, renewed commitment for music. It’s so sad that a significant portion of the Reformed church, you know, as some will have nothing to do with musical instruments. But if you understand now even more that the fourth book of the psalter talking about the advent of God can be seen in Mount Zion worship which points to the coming of the blood of the sacrifice of Christ that will do away with bloody sacrifices forever and that when that happened that’s when music started—why do we want to quiet it now? Why would we want to take instruments out now? You see, it’s just so sad and it results from a failure to understand what the scriptures teach.

Zion worship is musical worship, an exuberant worship before God that should give us a renewed commitment to strengthen our resolve to use a diversified group of musical instruments in the praise of God. I don’t know how long it’ll take. I don’t care how long it takes.

Like at the Christian school meeting last—I’d like to see us in a couple years, you know, on the path that this church is set on in terms of worship is tabernacle of David Zion worship and that includes a multiplicity of instruments, that singing the psalms skillfully, and that includes an exuberance in the singing of the psalms matched—you know, matched with our hearts’ engagement in the worship of the one we enter into.

Third, it should form us. We have a forming up of the community of Jesus Christ by hierarchical modeling or mentoring. And this is what I talked about to those of you who came out Friday night. What a blessed evening that was for me and for my family. Thank you so much, those of you that came. And thank you, as I said then, for modeling godly Christian manhood to my son Elijah who graduated and he celebrated that last Friday.

You know, we have some verses here. We don’t look at them today, but you can look them up. They’re on your outline. I’m sure they’re on your outline. But just listen. There’s a Greek word and in modern English, a word which most people don’t know is “mimesis.” It means imitation or mimicry. And the root of that is a particular Greek word. And if we were to translate the Greek word, mimicry, make me better? Or “mimetes,” “mimetic”—following. But that’s the Greek word that I’m going to be talking about here for a couple of minutes. It means to imitate somebody, to mimic them.

And you know, growing up, it always bothered me about my sister who would imitate her friends. She’d come home—I was a teenager—and she’d sound like her friends and act like her friends. And I’ve noticed over my life, you know, sometimes I act like people, you know, I feel like I’m acting like this guy or acting like that guy. He’s bothered me a lot. I shouldn’t do that. But you know, the Bible says, “Of course you do that.” It says over and over and over again in the New Testament, “You’re supposed to do that.”

Let me read you a few of these passages. First, in Ephesians 5:1, it says to be mimics of God. This Greek word might be transliterated as “mimicking.” Be mimics of God.

1 Corinthians 4:16, Paul says, “Therefore, I urge you, mimic me.” That’s what he tells the church here.

Philippians 3:17: “Brethren, join in mimicking my example. Be copycats of me. He says, mimic my example.” That’s what he said.

1 Thessalonians 1:6: “You became mimics of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit.” They mimicked Paul’s joy in the midst of difficulties. They saw him do it. Monkey see, monkey do. Christian see, Christian do. And that’s not a bad thing. That’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to be mimics of one another.

In Ephesians 5:1, we read that we’re to be mimics of God as dear children. Children mimic mom and dad. That’s what they do. And we’re to mimic God as we see God represented to us through other people.

Now, there’s warnings about the wrong kind of imitation in 3 John, verse 11: “Beloved, do not mimic what is evil, but what is good. That which is good is of God.” So you mimic what people around you that are godly. In so doing, you’re mimicking God and you’re warned not to mimic the wrong people.

This is why teams—youth—are to be very careful in the company they choose. They will inevitably mimic. This is who God has made us to be. He’s made us to be imitators. He’s made us to be mimics. And you will mimic evil people, young people, if you hang out with them. You know, bad company corrupts good morals. But God says the key to that is not just to avoid mimicking bad people. He says you should positively recognize you’re going to mimic good people. And it’s a specific command over and over again in the scriptures.

1 Thessalonians 2:14: “You brethren became mimics of the churches of God.” We’re supposed to mimic other churches. We got a planning session coming up in a couple weeks. You got to know what other churches are doing. It’s not bad to mimic somebody else. That’s what we’re supposed to do. Mimic other churches.

Hebrews 6:12: “You didn’t become sluggish, but you mimicked those who through faith and patience inherited the promises.”

Hebrews 13:7: “Remember those who rule over you, look at your pastors who have spoken the word to you. Whose faith mimic”—what it says to do.

1 Peter 3:13: “Who is he who will harm you if you become mimics of what is good? Beloved, do not mimic what is evil.” You are supposed to mimic people. Over and over, this Greek word is used to describe who we are.

Philippians 4:9 says, “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, what you saw me doing, these do you. You see? Do what I do. That way.” He says, “This is an essential part of the Christian community.”

Young people, who do you imitate? Are you careful who you imitate? You should imitate your parents, of course. What if your friends? If you imitate, you have good friends so that you’re imitating good behavior. You have bad friends? There’s a hierarchical modeling that goes on in the church of Jesus Christ.

We’ve got a growing number of 50-plus people here. Praise God for that. I’m so happy to be this side of 50, not to be foolish like I was 10, 15, 20 years ago. I am pleased. And then we’ve got some 40-somethings and 30-somethings, folks you know, still in the midst of raising a bunch of kids. I got a few left. Then we got newly married. Then we’ve got some college and career sort of people. Then we’ve got some teens in high school. We got some junior high kids. Then we got little kids. Stairstepped, right?

What are we supposed to be doing? We’re supposed to be engaged in hierarchical modeling. We’re supposed to be looking to those that are over us, who are more mature than us, and imitating their faith, imitating their actions, imitating the way they dress, what they do, and how they speak. And the other thing we’re supposed to be doing is recognize that there’s some little guy who’s watching me. Whether I want to set myself up as a model or not doesn’t make any difference. Every time we come together, God, you know, the little guys look at the older guys here. There’s somebody looking at you. You want to look at who’s more mature. And you ought to be self-conscious about people looking at you who are younger. And you want to be a good model to them so that they can mimic what’s good, not what’s evil.

What’s it got to do with worship? Well, this is the hierarchical model. This is the height of everything. This is where we’re real careful in worship. This is where if we don’t do it right, God will kill us if we don’t do it the way he tells us to do it. God warns us here in worship. Do it the way I tell you to do it. We’re not rejecting regulated principle. We’re saying we’re taking it real seriously. We’re taking in a whole Bible sense. And we’re saying Zion worship is what we’re doing here. And we’re going to rejoice in the presence of God with musical instruments, Psalms, and psalm-like songs.

This is the peak here. See, this is the heavenly model. And we’re supposed to set up hierarchical modeling, I think, in terms of what we do with Psalms. You see, all of this is a preparation for Fete Day. I want people with skillfulness and ability—and if you, I know that you don’t think you have it, some of you, but I know you have it—to take this model of what we do in the Lord’s day and have kind of a self-conscious application of that in sacred music, performance on August 23rd, three weeks from this Friday.

You see, we begin to move from this model into our informal gatherings together. And we want to layer in sharing of people that evening as well. See what we do here. Self-conscious praise of Jesus Christ unabashedly so forms the model for what we do in the rest of our lives, how we sing. Don’t mean you only have to sing songs. I like a whole different kinds of genres of music. You know that. I don’t know. I think the Psalms form a pattern for music for us, but they don’t restrict us because that’s the only thing we can sing about.

But if we’ve got Psalms that struggle with difficulties and do not come to resolution, as John preached on last week, Psalm 120 as an example, that means it’s perfectly proper to write songs out here about our experiences that don’t come to resolution at the end but leave you hanging. That’s what Ecclesiastes is all about. Proverbs kind of resolves things. Ecclesiastes doesn’t. You see, there’s a hierarchical flow from the center where God’s presence is with us in an intensified way that we want to take into our music.

I want us as a congregation to commit ourselves to regular times when we get together and praise God, sort of modeled on Sunday but looser, sharing going on, compositions we write, choruses perhaps. I don’t know. New Testament seems to have other periods of time when you get together and it’s modeled on this but it becomes different than that as it’s made more informal as it starts to filter out into the world.

This is Eden. The waters go down from here and they change and they form the world around us. We’re in the business of terraforming the world. And God brings us here to begin that terraforming process by rebuilding tabernacle of David worship by understanding it, by setting it as a goal for ourselves as a covenant community. This is where we’re headed for the next hundred years. This is what we’re going to do. And then to take that model into the world and have it change who we are, what music we listen to, what music we write, all that stuff. You see, it filters down. We wear really nice clothes here, different clothes during the week, but this is kind of the model for how we pattern down. It’s not imitation. You don’t have to, you know. I’ll talk more about how that works out next week as we continue on looking at the Psalm here, specifically in 1 Chronicles 16.

But this idea of hierarchical modeling is what I’m talking about. We do it in the church sociologically. We do it in the worship services of God as we come together in praise for him. God has wonderful things in store for us as we move along and mature in worship. Tabernacle of David, Zion worship is a wondrous thing to behold once we see it for what it is. It’s what God has called us to do. He’s rebuilding the church and he’s rebuilding the church and at its very center is a response to God that is praise and thanksgiving to him.

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for the tabernacle of David and for Zion. We thank you for renewing understanding of what it is. And we pray that in the next couple of weeks you would prepare our hearts as we come together at Fete Day to celebrate before you in a more informal and relaxed way yet in a way that’s somehow modeled on what we do here. We thank you, Father, for the great joy of this day and the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.