1 Sam 5:1-12 GOD CANNOT BE CONTAINED ES 15 Nov 15 1936
Israel fought the Philistines in the first battle and lost 4000 soldiers.
• Someone came up with a bright idea to bring the Ark of God with them, believing that it will bring them success.
• They fought the 2nd battle at Ebenezer, with the Ark with them, and lost 30,000 men.
Hophni and Phinehas (two sons of Eli) were killed, fulfilling the prophecy God gave Samuel.
• Eli, on hearing the news, fell backward, broke his neck and died.
• Phinehas’ wife, who was pregnant, on hearing the news of the death of her husband and her father-in-law, went into labour pains, gave birth and died.
Without a relationship with God, nothing works. We cannot play games with God and win.
• The Ark of God was taken in battle. Let’s read what happens - 1 Sam 5:1-12.
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They took the Ark of God from the battlefield at Ebenezer to Ashdod, one of their five major cities.
• From a human point of view, it looks as though God is being held hostage. But the truth is, God’s sovereign rule has never, at any time, been compromised.
• He rules, just that the people don’t see it. Until God shows it.
• The subsequent events tell us WHO is truly God and in complete control over all circumstances.
God will bring the Ark back to Israel without even a fight.
• Read on to chapter 6 and we will see the Philistines returning the Ark of God GLADLY, on their own accord, without hesitation, back to Israel.
• And together with it, offerings of guilt (appeasement) - gold objects (rats & tumours).
GOD REIGNS in Every Situation
In Ashdod, they placed the Ark in the temple of Dagon, one of their gods.
• In their mind, capturing the Ark is like defeating Israel’s God.
• This was what they commented earlier in 4:7 when they heard that the Ark has arrived in Israel’s camp.
• 1 Sam 4:7-8 “the Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said. 8“…Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods?”
Now that this golden chest is placed beside the statue of Dagon, it would really look that way - the Ark is subordinate to the statue.
• Dagon now prevails over the God of Israel, who lost the battle.
• This thought cannot stand. God moves to correct this.
I do not believe that God perform miracles just to show off or to impress people.
• I believe there is a purpose behind every miracle. I don’t think God steps into our world and perform something supernatural just for fun or to impress.
• God is sending a message. “I am the only true God. I am not being ‘captured’ by you, I reign.”
What a shock they have the next morning. Dagon their god was found fallen prostrate, with his face on the ground, before the Ark.
• You can imagine the excuses they made in defence of their god – “Oh the wind last night must have been strong, or some dogs must have jumped on him. Or maybe a mild earthquake happened last night and shook it down.”
• Whatever the reason, they pick him up and put him back in his place. We can be sure that after this “accident”, Dagon will be placed more securely than before.
But it got worse the next day. Not only did they find Dagon their god lying flat on the ground, both its head and its hands were broken off.
• You cannot lift him up now. Only the trunk is left, without heads and hands. Dagon needs to be repaired!
• To have this happen again shows that what took place yesterday wasn’t a coincidence or an accident.
God is sending a message. He is the true God and He rules. The God of Israel is real and His power is evident.
• Anyway, what kind of a god needs to be picked up from the ground, to be carried with human hands? What god can be broken up and needs repairing or servicing?
• God is making Himself known to the Philistines! This is the grace of God!
• They were given the chance to repent and acknowledge Him, just like the people of Nineveh when God called Jonah to preach to them.
Dagon lost its hands. God’s hands are still at work. God is calling out to them.
• 1 Sam 5:6 “The LORD's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumours.”
• C. S. Lewis: “God shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
• God pushes up the bar because the Philistines refuses to acknowledge His presence.
GOD IS PRESENT in Every Affliction
He is not the cause for every affliction, but He is surely with us in every affliction.
• Some affliction comes as a judgement from God, others are the results of evil deeds of men. Or it could be our own foolish mistakes.
• But God is with us in our affliction. LISTEN HARD. The body is telling you something when you feel a pain.
God is SHOUTING because we are DEAF to His voice.
A famous leprosy doctor Dr Paul W. Brand had a frightening experience one night. He arrived in London after a long overnight train ride. He had taken off his shoes, and as he pulled off a sock, discovered there was no feeling in his heel.
To many of us we don’t bother much. Dr Brand had spent weeks and months working with lepers in India and there is this danger of infection. The numbness in his heel terrified him. It says in the biography TEN FINGERS FOR GOD: “He rose mechanically, found a pin, sat down again, and pricked the small area below his ankle. He felt no pain. He thrust the pin deeper, until a speck of blood showed. Still he felt nothing...”
All that night the great orthopaedic surgeon tried to imagine his new life as a leper, an outcast, the forced separation from his family. As night receded, he tried again – “with steady fingers he bared the skin below his ankle, jabbed in the point - and yelled.”
What a joy, feeling the sensation of pain! He realised that during the long train ride, sitting immobile, he had numbed a nerve. Thank God for pain!
Sadly, the people are not seeing God in the affliction. They only see themselves.
• The right response is to bow down to God, acknowledge Him and plead for mercy.
• The people cares about themselves, and not the truth. They care about their comfort, their pleasure, their health, so they decided to GET RID OF THE ARK.
• I don’t care WHO God is, just get rid of the Ark. Too self-centred to see God.
I am reminded of the incident in Gerasenes (Mark 5) when Jesus healed a demon-possessed man and saved his life. He casted the demons into a herd of pigs.
The people’s reaction was stunning. They were ANGRY and asked Jesus to leave.
They just saw a miracle and a life was saved, and they ask the miracle-worker to go.
What are they thinking? Why are they rejecting the One who is powerful enough to change lives? Because they are thinking of their pigs! They lost their profits!
No matter how foolish the belief in idols is, people are still worshipping them, still giving them credit, still picking them up and putting them back in their places.
This is the true state of man, according to Romans 1:18-23.
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
The Philistines reject God, even though they are given the space to know Him.
Unbelief is a choice we make. It is something we determine.
• Even with evidence, we can choose to reject God. It is never an issue with the lack of evidence; it is a rejection of the evidence.
• Unbelief blurs the obvious. It is the attitude that blots out what is obvious. We are all capable of that.
So what do they do? They send the Ark to their friends, the comrades in GATH.
• Have you ever re-gift a gift? You receive a gift but is it something that you cannot use, so you repack it and give it away as a gift. This is still good.
• But Ashdod gives away something that is harmful. They are literally “passing the BUG” (not buck).
• That’s how the world thinks: “I don’t really care, as long as it doesn’t harm me.”
Take a look at the map. This is where they brought the Ark to – from Ashdod to Gath. They experienced the same affliction and so they sent the Ark to Ekron.
• As the Ark was entering Ekron (5:10), the people cried out. They do not want the Ark to come into their city. At this point, people are already dying because of the plague.
• Finally, they decided (chapter 6) to send the Ark back to Israel. After 7 months of being pushed around in the land of the Philistines, the Ark is returned, without a fight.
GOD’S PURPOSE PREVAILS in Every Crisis
God made it happen. God’s will is accomplished. All by Himself without Israel’s help.
• It will always be that way. God cannot be contained. He will cannot be thwarted. He rules to fulfil His purposes.
• Prov 19:21 “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Isaiah 40:21-26
21Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? 22He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. 24No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. 26Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
The Lord is saying, THINK! Think properly. Think carefully. Observe and ponder!
• We have no excuse. He is God. We are sinners in need of a Saviour.
• God provides for us salvation in Jesus Christ. It is by His grace. We trust Jesus. He is our Saviour and LORD.
How great is your God? Where is He in your life right now?
