“The messenger . . said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, . . . and the ark of God 1s taken . . when he made mention of the ark of God, he (Eli) fell from off the seat backward _ . and his neck brake. And his daughter-in- law . . was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken . . she bowed herself and tra- vailed . . and she named the child Ichabod, saying, the glory is departed from Israel: be- cause the ark of God was taken.’”” 1 Sam. 4:17-21.
The power of the Spirit, as a wall of fire about the church and a glory in the midst of her, has ever provided an impregnable barricade through which the darts of the enemy could not penetrate, and against which the forces of evil were powerless.
Throughout the centuries, while the Spirit of God has dwelt in the midst of His people, even as the Ark of the Covenant dwelt in the midst of Israel, every onslaught of the devil has but fallen back upon itself, discomfitted, baffled and ragingly helpless.
When the Ark was in the midst of Israel, what need she fear?
Floods?
Nay! Before her militant, aggressive, faith-filled steps, flimsy walls of water trembled and fell back!
Flames?
Chained were their fiery tongues and turned aside.
Prison doors?
They leaped from their hinges and made but a prostrate portcullis leading to the Highway of Triumph o’er which their ringing feet went marching unto victory.
Let myriad foes encamp upon the highest hills.
Let their fires glow unto the very heavens and their shining be as the stars for multitude.
The Ark was in the midst!
When God’s glory there abode, no fear rode astride the winds; no demons dared to mock. No attack from without could prosper. But alas, there came a day when Israel’s downfall originated from within!
As an insidious dry rot within the heart of a mighty oak, that spreads until naught but the empty shell, naught but heartless form and ceremony remains, so sin and unbelief did its devastating work within the camp.
A wedge of gold “neath tent concealed a golden calf upon a throne; unbelief, idolatry and cymbals tinkling in the merry-makers’ dance. God and prayers forgotten — altar fires grown cold.
Grown great in riches and in numbers, Israel lost her dependence upon God. And lo, one night, when the enemy encompassed ten thousand fold, Israel laughed as she had often laughed before. Had she not said, ““A score of times they came, and ten score shall they go. The Ark is in our midst!”
Oh, the sorrow of it!
The unspeakable sadness of her plight!
The Ark stands in the midst only when hearts are white as snow. Insidious sin and dark faithlessness had turned the heart of Israel black in the sight of God! But she realized it not, nor missed her former blest communion with her God!
On they came, those marching Philistine hordes.
On they trod, beyond the sacred boundary lines that God had marked, lines o’er which erstwhile no alien foot had trod. On, till they penetrated the very heart of the camp.
The Ark of the Covenant was taken!
Eli, prophet of God and a type of Godliness in the Church, heard thereof as the messenger cried:
“Tsrael is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people and thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he (Eli) fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake.” 1 Sam. 4:17, 18.
And so it was with the early Church.
When the Holy Ghost was in her midst, triumph triumphed triumphant.
When apostle and prophet, pulpit and pew “tarried until” they were endued with power from on high, ere entering upon their work for God; when the “‘shepherds of the flock” believed, accepted, and preached the whole Word of God in its blessed, powerful entirety, the Church marched forward in the face of the most severe persecution with never a halt and never a faltering step.
But when those ordained to preach the full Word of God began to backslide; when preachers and teachers began to question that the Pentecostal Baptism of the Holy Spirit was for any beyond the Apostolic Age; when the Church sought popularity with the world rather than with Christ, then the Dark Ages descended upon her like an all-enveloping mantle of black defeat.
Silenced were the “‘Hallelujahs’”’ and “Amens’’!
Forsaken were the all-night prayer meetings!
Deserted were her altars!
A hollow shell of formality replaced the sturdy form of actuality!
The burning fervor of faith smouldered and died away to cold, grey ashes of forgetfulness!
Her mouldering portals, like forgotten ghosts of a yester-year, held out empty, disconsolate arms — beckoning, yearning for the true, Spirit-filled believers who came not.
The Philistines of worldliness had taken the Ark from her midst.
Hosts of doubt swarmed within her camp, now unguarded by the fiery wall of Spiritual soundness.
Godliness was fallen backward, and broken was her neck!
Now in the hour of Eli’s death, was born to Eli’s house a son —a successor. Yet this newcomer was strangely changed. The fire was gone from his eyes, the light was missing from his brow. Looking upon him, his weeping mother cried:
“Ichabod!”
“The glory is departed from Israel for the Ark of God is taken.”
And so it was.
The shout was gone and the hallelujahs were no more.
But Ichabod grew, and his family spread. They spread o’er hill and vale. Their cities rose. Their fields were tilled. They grew rich and strong.
The tabernacle was changed and new adornments were added.
And they chose them a king; chose him, not for the light upon his brow, nor for the godliness within his soul, nor for the prayer upon his lips; but for his stature bold.
They chose them a king who was tall and strong — “a choice young man and a goodly; . . . and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.”
But Saul missed not the Ark.
He craved no shout within the ancient camp.
Tis likely that he skirted all such texts referring to the ancient glory of Israel.
But when David, type of the Spirit-anointed, came to the throne of Israel, one of his first concerns was for her spiritual welfare. Like Paul, who, when preaching to the Ephesians, missed the light of the Spirit in their countenances and asked “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” David missed the shout in the camp.
Something was wrong.
There was no triumphant lilt to the singing and no assurance of victory in the heart. God, Who had so gloriously led Israel in her early years and Who had so definitely promised victory, could not have changed — could not have fallen short of His promise.
Then the fault must lie with Israel.
As he meditated within his heart, methinks David must have recalled the words of the Lord:
“And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest’s office. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God.” Exodus 29:43-46.
“And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp. And it came to pass when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.” Numbers 10:38-36.
“And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the Ark were dipped in the brim of the water (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest), that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.” Joshua 3:15-17.
Ah, that was it!
The Ark was missing!
Where was the Ark of the Covenant whose very presence gendered unwavering faith which brought down the Spirit’s power?
“And David arose and went with all the people . . to bring up . . the ark of God.” 2 Sam. 6:2.
Would God that the thousands, yea, tens of thousands today who feel a lack of power; who feel the absence of the convicting power of God upon the hearts of their listeners; who know that something is missing in the Church today, would dare, as did David of old, to face the matter honestly.
Would God that every preacher in the world today would dare to put his finger upon the second chapter of Acts and cry:
“Where is the old-time power?
“Why have we fallen silent, why do our banners trail within the dust and ourselves cower before the advancing hosts of sin?
“The Ark!
“We have lost the Ark!
“The Baptism of the Holy Spirit with old-time power and manifestation has departed from our midst! Let us arise and bring back the Ark to its rightful resting place within the House of the Lord!’
Once having made the decision, David hesitated not. A call was sent forth, and the people were gathered together unto the City of David from whence they set forth in a body to bring the Ark from the house of Abinadab.
At first David and his hosts made the same error as many today are making. Instead of bringing out the Ark in the old-fashioned way, bearing it upon their shoulders, thus making their bodies the conveyance of the Ark, they were persuaded that the more modern, up-to-date, Philistine method of carrying it upon a new cart, drawn by milch-kine, was a more satisfactory way.
“Surely God was not tied to one pattern,” argued they. “Surely the methods He used so long ago, must have been revised and modernized to fit the new age. Surely we can bring up the wheels of the cart in the grooves of present day chariot ruts and reach the city with greater ease.”
Do you remember the result?
When the Ark was carried to the threshing floor of Nachon, the place of sifting and testing, it began to shake so violently that Uzzah felt duty bound to steady it and hold it down a bit with a restraining hand. God’s displeasure fell upon him like a bolt of lightning from the sky, and he fell dead.
David, filled with fear and bewilderment that this shocking, humiliating reproach should be brought upon their work, when they were truly seeking to bring about the return of the Lord’s glory, left the Ark in the humble home of Obed-Edom where it found a welcome, and returned to the city, hurt, chagrined, and humiliated.
But prosperity, joy, and blessing filled the household of Obed-Edom from the moment the Ark entered his open door. Such blessing and power accompanied the Ark at its entrance into the open door of the home of Obed-Edom that the news thereof reached even the ears of the King upon his throne.
David’s desire to see the Ark occupying its rightful position in the House of God, was thus intensified, and he cried:
“We will go out and bring up the Ark to the City of David.”
Such is the situation in the Church of Jesus Christ today.
While those who have lost the anointing and are lacking in spirituality, may not even miss the oldtime power of the Spirit, and are contented with the superficial imitation of a card-signing, hand-shaking, oyster-suppering, moving-picturing religion; nevertheless the Lord’s ‘‘Davids,”’ who have the anointing, and are in real touch with Heaven, realize the lack of power in their midst and are filled with determination to bring back the Ark and put it in its rightful place.
But even among this group who pray earnestly for the return of the Ark of God, few expect the Holy Spirit to come as He came in the days of our forefathers.
“Surely,” they argue, ‘‘we are living in a different age, and more modern, dignified and conservative 284 Tue HOLY. SPIRIT methods may be employed in the bringing back of the Ark.”
But somehow the new cart, whose wheels they attempt to keep in the grooves and ruts made by the wheels of our theological chariots, has been violently shaken at the threshing floor. Disaster and even spiritual death has smitten those who would try to interfere with or govern the movings of the Ark.
Shocked and troubled, many of the company have returned, each one to his own house, leaving the Ark to rest in the humble house of Obed-Edom — the same often being a lowly cottage prayer meeting, or Mission Hall — where the Ark has been met with open arms of welcome and thanksgiving.
Now the house of Obed-Edom — the small upstair hall or basement meeting place — was never the intended resting place of the Ark, whose presence would be a gracious honor and benediction in the finest tabernacle, cathedral or temple in the land.
The Ark has indeed rested by the threshing floor, and there has been a great deal of the chaff and dust of fanaticism and earthiness. But no one could deny that the Ark was in the midst, or that the Glory of the Lord and the Holy Spirit of God hovered above the Mercy Seat. Because the Ark was there, many have remained in the house of Obed-Edom and have endured the dust and chaff, because of His presence there.
Thus it was in the camp of Israel when David heard of the blessing brought upon the humble dwelling where the Ark abode.
He had made a mistake but he would not repeat it. He longed for the presence of God within the Tabernacle of Jerusalem.
Casting aside the advice of those who urged for a more modern method, and disregarding the criticism of some of his contemporaries, David set out again, to bring back the Ark in the old-fashioned way.
Minister, Teacher, Christian Worker of today, do you dare to take the bold uncompromising stand which David took?
Your pews empty, your altars deserted, your hearts hungry!
You know that you need the power of the Spirit’s Baptism in your life. You know that none other than the original Pentecostal experience will satisfy, for you have tried all the twentieth century methods.
Standing only upon the teachings of God’s Word; setting aside the jeers of the ungodly and the criticism of the misunderstanding Michals who mock, will you join hands and hearts and go forth to bring back the Ark into the sanctuary of the Church, as did David of old?
It is coming!
The Ark is coming up the road!
Will you take your place in a distant window with the disapproving Michals or will you join with the worshippers and welcome the Ark?
With psalter, sack and harp! _ With timbrel, cymbal and praise unconfined.
See it coming — the Ark of the Covenant.
Too long has it lain in the household of doubt! Too long in the corner of the wayside hut!
Bring it back to the House of the Lord, even as
to the David brought the Ark of the Covenant
and enshrined it in the heart thereof. Tabernacle Bring back the Holy Spirit into His rightful place in the heart of the Church.
Let ceremony’s cant and formalist’s chant go by
ed the boards. Let the light and the might of the bless Ark shine forth from its sacred shrine. Let bushels of corn and flagons of wine and myriad loaves of bread be dispensed to the peoples of the House (2 Sam. 6).
Let the ministers leap with joy. Let the altars be heaped to overflowing with the fulness of the Spirit’s grace. Let Davids dance with all their might and timbrels loudly ring. Let new songs spring from yielded lips and hallelujahs rock the sky.
What matter if Michals, standing at their windows, empty flagons in hand, look with disdain upon the people of God and scorn and call them mad.
Barren shall she be from the day of her scorning, her altars empty and bare and in her heart shall the bitter gall of a thousand Michals lie.
“T will do thus and more,” cried David. “I will not stop nor falter until the Glory returns — until the cloud of the Lord’s presence fills the Temple and the priests and the ministers of God stand mute before His power.”
Why should the Church of today longer eke out a meager existence with empty barren pews, when the old time fulness of glory is yet o’erflowing? God’s treasuries are full to the bursting; His rivers full breasted as in the days of our fathers. The hand of Jehovah is still as strong; His presence just as willing
to guide.
Bring back the Ark!
Bring it up with shouting, with tears and with song. Bring back the Pentecostal power!
The king, as becomingly as the maid, may dance within its path. The laborer and the weary, the toiler and his plough, the house woman from her kneeding trough, the young man and the maid may join them.
Rejoice! not because of the plaudits of men, but because of the glory of God.
Scorned shall you be, and railed upon; and some shall say ye are mad. Michals will laugh, wayfarers will jeer. But these matter not a whit.
The Ark is coming! The Ark is coming!
Oh, tell me, passer-by — can you not see it? Can you not hear the singing? Can you not see yon cloud of dust that rises o’er the hilltops as they march enroute to the House of God?
And when the Ark is there enshrined, its powers loosed and its Shekinah fills the place; then shall song be unrestrained and treasury doors flung wide. Heaven’s coffers shall open out and spill o’er the altars and pews; and God, from out His treasure house shall band I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If ason shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will be offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Luke 11:9-18.
CLAREMONT, CALIF. DUOSUUE : 1 McPherson, Aimee Semple, 1890-1944.
The Holy Spirit / by_Aimee Semple [47 Calif e ; 31 McPhersone —— Los Angel ess
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