Thus far, to the best of my knowledge, we have looked at all the references dealing with the history of the Ark of the Covenant. We have not looked at every passage relating to the design and construction and the Ark. But we’ve noticed them all since the completion of the Tabernacle, as far as I know. Now, we’re going to skip over a couple more, but I want you to be aware of them before we move on.
We have looked at the Ark in relation to the victory at Jericho. Then last week we noticed the Ark in relation to the defeat at Ai. In Joshua 8 we find Israel fulfilling the command of the Lord to read Deuteronomy 28 and 29. Those chapters describe the curses and blessings for obedience and disobedience. Israel was commanded to gather at Shechem, in valley between the mounts Ebal and Gerazim. The Levites brought the Ark into the midst of the assembly as the Word of God was read. That could be developed into a beautiful illustration of a worship and preaching service. But I think that you’ll find that most of the major points of that illustration will come up elsewhere in the history of the Ark. Then the next reference is found in I Samuel 3:3 which simply says that the Ark was illuminated the candlesticks in the Temple of the Lord. That might lend itself to a message, but it would take a mightier mind than mine to keep it interesting. And that brings us up to chapter 4.
According to the dates printed in some Bibles, about 300 years have passed since the days of Jericho and Ai. There has been a lot of water down the Jordan and a lot of decay has crept into the nation. If Israel had been a 7.6 on the Lord’s Ricther scale under Joshua, then they are merely 1.3 here. There are some shining lights ready to glorify the Lord, like Elkanah. But the bulk of the nation are more like the average Christian today – going through the motions rather than the emotions of the true faith. The Ark was nothing more than a religious symbol, stored in the church at the center of town. There was a sign over the door of the Tabernacle, which declared that Israel was not a heathen nation. But the reality of the presence of God was not often considered, except by an exceptional few. As I said last week, the Ark was in the heart of Israel, but not in the heart of the Israelite. The nation was living in the flesh rather than the Spirit. We can’t say dogmatically that the Philistines were oppressing Israel BECAUSE of her sins. But tying the first part of Samuel into the end of Judges, we have strong reason to do so. Israel is an illustration of a well-instructed Christian, who is not living up to his knowledge.
Israel knew her duty – it was to drive the Philistines out of the land along with the other heathen nations.
The Philistines are depicted in the Bible as the radical and rabid unbeliever. Whereas Egypt is a picture of the worId, with all its noxious and obnoxious tendencies. The Philistines are the aggressive and oppressive haters of Christ. The Egyptians eat away at our Christianity like rust. But the Philistines come at us as homicidal maniacs in wave after wave after wave. The first might be a picture of American society but the second is like a Muslim society.
Israel knew her duty: Destroy them; rid world of their hatred, their vice, their crime, their unbelief. And what is the best way to do that? They were to pick up their swords and go into battle. But we remember that the weapons of OUR warfare are not carnal. For us this has nothing to do with swords, torture and inquisitions. Our weapon is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God and living the Christian life. The gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching the truth.” If by the grace of God they hear and respond, they will become new creatures. In other words, they won’t be Philistines any more.
Yes, Israel knew her duty towards the Philistines. Verse 1 – “And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle.” Doesn’t this suggest that Samuel was commissioned to commission Israel to go into battle? But then there is another thought – which if is incorrect you can let me know. Isn’t Israel raising arms against the Philistines basically because they are tired being enslaved? Isn’t Israel attempting to throw off the Philistine yoke, which their sins have brought upon them? Why is it that the people of God have to get stung a little before the obey Lord? Why must Satan gain the reigns of government, education and society – before the Christians see him? Why does modern Christianity live a life of reaction, than action? Our responsibility is to obey the Lord, not to reply to the Philistines. These aliens from Caphtor should have been pushed into the sea centuries earlier. Israel was to have no fellowship with these unfruitful people of darkness, but she had for centuries. Now they are making their response, but only after they have been stung tor several decades.
Israel did know her duty; once again Samuel has been commissioned to attack. As far as I am concerned, this is a God-proscribed battle. Israel knew her duty, and she tried to do that duty. However, it was done in the strength of her own flesh.
And once she was engaged, she realized that she met a stronger enemy.
“And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.” This sounds much like the battle at Ai, but this time they had God’s orders to attack. Israel was beaten and lost far more men this time. Do vou mean to tell me that God wanted or ordained this defeat? There is no doubt in my mind. This is the same pattern we find throughout the Book of Judges. Samuel was the last of the Judges. Even the people themselves acknowledge the will of the Lord in verse 3. “And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines?”
It needs to be learned that defeat can be a good thing, when God is allowed to rule and teach through it. Perhaps there were some wicked Israelite soldiers who need to die in this battle. There was a captain of superstition and his chaplains – the hypocritical priests. Israel needed to see the wicked fruit of their spiritual neglect. And they needed to question their spiritual condition. If a defeat in battle accomplishes these things, then let’s have two of them. And that is precisely what happened. Just as a man will never come to Christ for salvation until he sees himself lost, most Christians will not return to Christ for the power of the Holy Spirit until they see that they are backslidden. Sometimes, the only way for that to sink into souls is to be trounced a couple of times. Israel knew that they had been beaten.
But they had no idea why? What was the cause of this great loss?
Some of them said, “It’s because we didn’t have the Ark of the Covenant present with us in the battle. Go and fetch the Ark.” Where did that idea originate? Was it from some demon – some spirit “power?” Here is the thing –The presence or absence of the symbol means nothing when the God of the Ark has already forsaken us. Israel was looking for love in all the wrong places. Rather than seeking the Lord, Israel was seeking a PICTURE of the Lord. Rather than praying, they were making the sign of the cross. Rather than a prayer meeting with tears of confession and revival, they commissioned a painting of Jesus carrying a lost lamb across his shoulders. They were substituting the ritual for the spiritual. They were mistaking the visible for the invisible. They were singing the songs of Zion, but it was to the rhythm of Egypt or Africa. They thought that enthusiasm was the same thing as faith. They wanted something new and upbeat to replace the proven methods of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Sometimes the illustration is accurate, but we need more than anecdotes and illustrations? Baptism is a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and the believer’s union with the Lord. In other words baptism is an illustration of some of the major parts of a sinner’s redemption. But what we see in the religious world around us is the substitution of the picture for the reality. We see Campbellites to Catholics, Methodists to Mormons all baptizing people unto salvation. I’ve met Baptists, who when I asked them when they were saved say, “Well, I was baptized in 1998.” The Ark is a picture only, not the reality of the presence of God. Baptism is only the picture not the reality of the presence of God salvation. We could say that same thing about the Lord’s Supper and a dozen other things.
For example, we Baptists do the same thing with their Bibles. We take our holy book to church, as a religious talisman, and then follow along as the text is read. But after that it is neatly closed and not opened again until next week. It goes home and rests in its sacred spot on the magazine rack by front door. That is, until one of the family members is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. “On, no ! We have been defeated. Run fetch the Ark of Bible and bring into the camp.”
J.H. Jowett spoke of another substitution of the illustration for the reality. Jowett was a well-known preacher at the turn of the 19th century. He said that when he was twelve he got into some trouble at school with a pack of other boys. His parents were religious, and he went to Sunday School with them, but his heart wasn’t in it. But now that he was going to get whipped by his teacher – he prayed. When the five boys were brought up to receive punishment, he heard “Jowett, go sit down.” He said from that moment until years later, prayer became a magic charm in his life. Whenever there was a battle with the Philistines, he prayed, but then things were going well, there was no need for it in his life.
I knew a man in Calgary who refused to come to our church, because we didn’t have cross on the wall.
What do churches do when they need victory? Rather than falling on their faces in repentance, they go looking for the symbol of God’s presence. The preacher sky-dives onto the parking lot before the service. Lucky church members are given free rides in a hot air balloon. A donkey puppet preaches the morning message. When the Ark of the Lord was brought within the camp, the people felt good and began to shout. Perhaps it’s the same feeling that some churches have when the Christian comedian performs on Sunday night, or the Christian rock band robs them of their hearing for a few hours. The Philistines said, “Woe unto us. For there hath not been such a thing heretofore.” When does that newness make it good or acceptable with the Lord? Yes, there hath not been such before, and pray that it never happens again. If this new discovery is of the Lord, we should be able to find it in one of God’s books of prophecy.
Why wasn’t the Ark required at the battle of Ai or any of the subsequent battles? We don’t need to bring the ark of man — Contemporary Christian Music – into our battle. Monday, an acquaintance may have been trying to impress me with her religiousness. She asked if I had watched the Grammy Awards; I confessed that I had not. (I never have, nor will.) She said that some award-winner got up and started rapping out some Christian lyrics. This woman was at first turned off, but than began to enjoy it. Condemn me if you like, but I deliberately refuse to enjoy it – God willing I will never appreciate it or like it. Conversely, I wonder how many visitors we have had who have sat in our song service and decided that we over estimated our righteousness in our humility by the hymns we sing. We could use some enthusiasm, zeal and revival, but hand-clapping and back-slapping is not the same thing. Israel didn’t know what the problem was so they just added more ritualism. That addition didn’t solve their problem, it only augmented it. The problem was there before their resort to trickery.
After the second battle at Ebenezer, Israel knew that the Glory had departed from nation.
Eli’s little grandson was given the ignominious name of “Icabod” – “the glory has departed.” Indeed the glory had departed from Israel, but it wasn’t due to the loss of the Ark. The blessing of the Lord had left Israel long before the symbol was taken. They simply hadn’t yet realized it.
The problems came in the form of the priests who lived in sin without embarrassment. It was because of the neglect of house of God by the nation. The sacrifices which God dearly loved were being ignored. Disobedience was rampant, evangelism and Israel’s commission had been forgotten. And the religion of the nation was superficial rather than of the heart.
Could this be why we aren’t seeing God’s blessing in abundance around here?