Would you not have thought, with all that desire to have things right, that the King—the leader—would have inquired of God as to whether He had given any instructions for the transport of His own ark? We should be sure to think that he would have gone to the Scriptures to find out the right way. But it was not so. David thought, like many a person today, that a new cart was a very good mode of carrying that ark—the way it had reached the land of Israel would surely do to take it to Jerusalem (1 Sam. 6:7). That the Philistines, God’s enemies, should furnish the idea seemed to be a small matter in his eyes.

What is the new cart? It is anything that is not according to the pattern of Scripture. I could show you some hundreds of new carts in Christendom today. What different shapes and sizes, characters and colors, these new carts present as we glance over Christendom’s systems!

The ark of God was connected with His worship—it was the central item of the tabernacle. The ark spoke of Christ, the Person of Christ. The mercy-seat spoke of Him and His work. Inside the ark there was the golden pot of manna, Israel’s food in the wilderness; Aaron’s rod that budded, Christ’s priestly grace in resurrection; and there were the tables of stone, for the law was hidden in Him. Israel had to carry that ark and its contents through the desert.

We Christians also have to carry the ark. Going back to Israel passing through the wilderness, you find there were priests, Levites, and the people, who were warriors. Today every Christian is a priest in worship, a Levite for service and everyday work, and a warrior against the enemy.