Series: Types of Christ
Title: Following Two Milk Cows to Christ
Text: 1 Samuel 6: 1-20
Date: November 9, 2014
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
1 Samuel 6: 1: And the ark of the LORD was in the
country of the Philistines seven months. 2: And the Philistines called for the
priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell
us wherewith we shall send it to his place…7: Now
therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no
yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: 8:
And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of
gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the
side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.
They wanted to see the ark
go to “his place.” So they made a new cart and tied two milch kine to the cart
to pull it. “Milch kine” means “milk cows.” Each cow was milking calves at the
time. They tied them to the cart but brought their calves home from them. It
would be their nature to return home to their calves. Plus, there had never
come a yoke on these two cows. Surely, they will fight against each other, each
try to go her own way, never walk a straight course together. But wherever
these two milk cows go will show us who the ark typified, it will show us
something of his work, and “his place.” Today we are: “Following Two Milk Cows
to Christ.”
1 Samuel 6: 9: And see, if it goeth up
by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then [God] hath done us this
great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that
smote us: it was a chance that happened to us. 10: And the men
did so;…
We
know there is no such thing as “chance.” The LORD brought the plague upon the
Philistines. Likewise, it was God’s hand leading these two milk cows. God “worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will.” God can work two milk cows
together to bring to pass his will, to bring glory to his Son.
1 Samuel 6: 12: And the kine took the
straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway,
lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to
the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of
Bethshemesh.
The
kine walked 8 miles, straight to Bethshemesh, lowing as they went—they wanted
their calves—but they never turned aside to the right hand or to the left. God
would have them take the ark straight to “his place.”
CHRIST OUR HIGH PRIEST
First,
we see Christ our High Priest. “Bethshemesh”
was a priestly town full of Levites. Christ is the great High Priest of his
people. God gave the High Priest a two-fold job to typify the work of his Son.
One,
the High Priest represented the children of Israel to God offering gifts and
sacrifices for sins in the holiest of holies, “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.” (Heb 5: 1) The only way the children of
Israel could come to God was by the High Priest. The High Priest alone could
enter the holiest of holies representing the people. The High Priest entered
the holy place, not without the blood of a Lamb.
Hebrews 9: 11: But Christ
being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12: Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
The
second job of the High Priest was to comfort and have compassion on his people,
“Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way;
for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.” (Heb 5: 2) This was one
reason the Son of God became a man like unto his brethren—that he might know
the feeling of our infirmities. Let us hear the scripture and obey:
Hebrews
4: 14: Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15: For
we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without
sin. 16: Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH
Secondly,
we see Christ who is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah.” Bethshemesh was on the
northern border of the tribe of Judah; later it was transferred to Judah. Christ
is “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”
“The
tribe of Judah” pictured God’s true elect people in all the earth.
Psalm 78: 67: Moreover he
refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: 68: But
chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. 69: And he built his
sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established
for ever.
Christ
is the Lion of his people, which came through the tribe of Judah. We hear
Christ described in the blessing of Judah:
Genesis 49: 8: Judah, thou art
he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of
thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. 9: Judah is
a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he
couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
Christ came down, conquered his enemies. Now from the prey, Christ
is gone up to God’s right hand. He is sit down, like an old lion, who shall
rouse him up? And Christ is Shiloh, the
Prince of Peace, who came through the tribe of Judah.
Genesis 49: 10: The sceptre
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh
come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. 11: Binding
his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his
garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: 12: His eyes shall
be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.”
CHRIST’S PLACE IS IN HIS HOUSE
Thirdly,
we see Christ’s place is in his house. “Bethshemesh”
means “house of the sun.” Christ is the Son of God and the Sun of
Righteousness. Remember Psalm 19? There, we saw that in the heaven and the
firmament God set a “tabernacle for the sun”—a house for the sun. This is where
I got the illustration that I gave you. Christ’s house is at God’s right hand
in the heavens and Christ’s house is in his people.
WHEN CHRIST COMES TO HIS HOUSE
Fourthly,
we see what happens when Christ comes to his house, “And they of
Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they
lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.” (1 Sam
6: 13)
When
the ark came it was “their wheat harvest in the valley.” It was Pentecost. When
Christ came to his house on the day of Pentecost it was the time for reaping
the harvest. So it is, each time Christ comes to his house. It is the time for
reaping the harvest.
“They
lifted up their eyes.” Christ’s arrival into his house—his child—makes us lift
up our eyes. “I
will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” (Ps 121: 1)
“They
saw the Ark.” When Christ enters his
house in Spirit, for the first time he makes us to see Christ our Ark in whom
rests the law; Christ our Mercy Seat, the Propitiation for our sins.
And
this is always the effectual result, “And they rejoiced to see.” Christ always
makes his child rejoice that salvation is come to our house.
THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS
Fifthly
we see Christ is the end of the law for every believer, “And the cart came into
the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there…” (1 Sam 6: 14) “Joshua” is
the same name as “Jesus”, Savior. By the ark coming straight to the field of
Joshua and standing there, we see the ark and the law all led straight to
Christ Jesus our Joshua, our Savior and there it stands—complete, finished,
fulfilled. “For Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” (Ro 10:4)
The
ark had the law of God inside it—Christ said—
Psalm 40: 6: Sacrifice and
offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and
sin offering hast thou not required. 7: Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume
of the book it is written of me, 8: I delight to do thy will, O my God:
yea, thy law is within my heart.
Matthew 5:17: Think
not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil.
Christ filled the law full for his
people. He is the fulfillment of righteousness, the fulfillment of
justification, the fulfillment of holiness and the fulfillment of redemption. He
is the fulfillment of all the ceremonies and types in the law. And the ark had the mercy seat above it. There God met with
his people above the mercy seat covered with the blood of the substitute lamb.
It pictured Christ, the seat of propitiation, the seat of mercy for God’s
people:
Romans 3: 25: Whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God.
1 John 2: 2: And he is the
propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [God’s elect
throughtout] the whole world.
1 John 4: 10: Herein is
love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be
the propitiation for our sins.
CHRIST OUR ALTAR AND OFFERING
Sixthly, we see
Christ our Altar and our Offering, “where
there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered
the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD. And the Levites took down the ark of
the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were,
and put them on the great stone: and the men of Bethshemesh offered
burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD.” (1 Sam
6: 14)
The “great
stone” is believed to be the altar which Abraham built unto the Lord. It was definitely an altar. Christ is the
Altar of his people. “We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which
serve the tabernacle.” (Heb 13:10) The wood bore the ark to that altar but
Christ carried his cross to his place and offered his humanity on the Altar of his
Deity.
There
they offered “burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices unto the LORD.” Christ
is the one great sacrifice who laid down his life for his people to satisfy
God’s justice and redeem us from our sins. Like the two milk cows, we were
crucified with Christ.
Therefore,
Christ is the burnt offering in whom every believer is a sweet smelling savor
unto God, “Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering
and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” (Eph 5: 2)
Brethren,
how beautiful it is when God uses things like this to show us that Christ Jesus
our Savior, our Joshua, is All: our great High Priest, the Lion of our tribe, Shiloh
our Peacemaker, the One to whom we Lift our eye, the One in whom we rejoice in
the day of harvest and always, the end of the law for Righteousness to every
believer, our Mercy Seat, our Propitiation, our Altar, our Sacrifice and
Offering to God, our Treasure and Inheritance in heaven, our perfect
righteousness and holiness, our free justification, our free forgiveness from
all our sins, our never ending acceptance with God, our salvation.
A WORD OF WARNING
I cannot end without giving this word of
warning: In verses 19-20 we read: “And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because
they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty
thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD
had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. 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?” (1Sa 6:19-20)
The ark pictures Christ our Mediator. When
they looked into the ark they came between the Mediator and God. It was the
same as trying to come to God without a Mediator—for that God killed many of
them. They complained, “Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to
whom shall he go up from us?” They asked men to take him away.
But understand, Christ, our Mediator, is
both holy Man and the holy Lord God. He is the only one who is able to stand
before God. Christ is the only one able to go up to God and reach down to us
and bring us both together in peace. But if you try to come to God without
Christ, God will kill you in just judgment like he did that great host that
day!
May cHRIST come to “his place” today to
dwell in our hearts and to make us dwell with him at God’s right hand. Then he
will give us new hearts like those who looked up and saw him and rejoiced! Then
he will make us like these two milk cows and we will forsake all and run
straight to Christ.
Amen!