Last week, we talked about the mighty hands of God.
We said that we could either be engraved in the palm of His hands as a sign of His love and protection or fall into the hands of an angry God as a sign of judgment and punishment to sin.
As much as possible, we want to be obedient to Him and receive His protection and care for as long as we live.
But sad to say, there are those who continue to commit and enjoy the pleasures of sin even for a moment and thereby fall under God's condemnation.
And so, the wrath of God is focused upon them.
How do we appease an angry God?
How do we satisfy His desires that His wrath will NOT be focused upon us but instead He will offer His care and love?
In this chapter, we are going to talk about how the Philistines succeeded in appeasing the wrath of an angry God in spite of the fact that they were idols worshipers.
And yet, when the ark of God was upon Israel, they did something that provoked God's wrath.
So far, we have learned that God's hand was heavy upon the Philistines for putting the ark of God in level with their idol Dagon.
And so, God destroyed their idol and brought it face down, broke its head and hands as an expression of God's anger to idol worship.
Afterwards, God inflicted severe tumors, plagues and diseases that spread to the people of Ashdod and their crops until their outcry reached heaven.
Because of this, the Philistines did everything possible to appease the wrath of God by returning the ark of God to Israel with a gift.
They followed the ark until they recognized that God 's anger has been fully satisfied.
You see, God is not only a God of love, but there are things that makes Him angry.
What makes God angry? We all know - sin makes Him angry.
Romans 1:18(NIV) 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness."
When a person is so overtaken by his wickedness and then suppress or prevent the truth from being revealed, he is invoking upon himself the wrath of God.
And because God is a holy God, His response is anger towards sin.
You see, anger is also a common human reaction to injustice and sin - we get angry when we are wronged, don't we?
For instance, when somebody wronged you or taken advantage of your kindness or generosity, you will get angry or infuriated.
"It's not fair! Why did he do that to me?"
There is the desire to get revenge and do everything possible to even up.
Hence, both humans and God express wrath but there is a vast difference between the wrath of God and the wrath of man.
God's wrath is always holy and justified while man's wrath is never holy and will always lead further to sin.
When we express our wrath, it is sinful because of this vengeful attitude and will open up to demonic influence which can be devastating to others and to ourselves.
That is why we must remember that God alone is able to avenge us because He is perfectly holy and just.
Therefore, a Christian who is influenced by the Holy Spirit is able to control his feelings of wrath and anger and is filled with joy and peace.
In the Old Testament, God's wrath was the divine response to human sin and disobedience particularly directed towards idolatry.
God really hates idol worship as we learned last week.
God does not want us to worship idols but to give our wholehearted worship and devotion to Him alone.
But many times, we forget that and we sinned against God.
That is why in the Old Testament, the prophets often warned Israel of a Day in the future when the wrath of God will be fully revealed.
Meantime, He wants His people to repent and turn away from their sin so that God's wrath will not fall upon them.
In fact, God's wrath can be appeased and can be fully satisfied.
How? Christ took upon Himself the wrath of God when He died in our place on the cross.
Because of His sacrificial death, God's wrath has been fully satisfied.
If you have been covered by the blood of Christ, the wrath of God will not fall upon you.
The Bible says in Romans 5:9(NIV) 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!"
His blood is powerful.
His blood can fully justify us.
His blood can appease the wrath of God.
In our study for today, we will look at how the Philistines returned the ark of God.
Then, we will learn how Israel responded upon seeing and receiving the ark of God.
Finally, we will examine what prompted the sad incident at Bethshemesh that again provoked the anger of God.
At the end of the message, we will take time for you to make a response to this message.
Please listen carefully and be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in your hearts.
I will ask you to come forward, make a decision to surrender your life to Christ and live for Him for the rest of your life.
I assure you that when you do this, it will be one of the most important decision you will make in your lifetime.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SIXTH CHAPTER OF 1 SAMUEL
1. THE PHILISTINES DECIDED TO RETURN THE ARK
I Samuel 6:1-9 (NIV) “After the sacred chest had been in Philistia for seven months, 2 the Philistines called in their priests and fortunetellers, and asked, “What should we do with this sacred chest? Tell us how to send it back where it belongs!” 3 “Don’t send it back without a gift,” the priests and fortunetellers answered. “Send along something to Israel’s God to make up for taking the chest in the first place. Then you will be healed, and you will find out why the Lord was causing you so much trouble.” 4 “What should we send?” the Philistines asked. The priests and fortunetellers answered: There are five Philistine rulers, and they all have the same disease that you have. 5 So make five gold models of the sores and five gold models of the rats that are wiping out your crops. If you honor the God of Israel with this gift, maybe he will stop causing trouble for you and your gods and your crops. 6 Don’t be like the Egyptians and their king. They were stubborn, but when Israel’s God was finished with them, they had to let Israel go. 7 Get a new cart and two cows that have young calves and that have never pulled a cart. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take the calves back to their barn. 8 Then put the chest on the cart. Put the gold rats and sores into a bag and put it on the cart next to the chest. Then send it on its way. 9 Watch to see if the chest goes on up the road to the Israelite town of Beth-Shemesh. If it goes back to its own country, you will know that it was the Lord who made us suffer so badly. But if the chest doesn’t go back to its own country, then the Lord had nothing to do with the disease that hit us—it was simply bad luck."
Here we find in verse 1 that the sacred chest or the ark has been with the Philistines for a solid seven months.
That is such a long time to endure all the agony and pain of tumors, the illness and the pestilence brought about by the wrath of God.
Seven months of inactive and not doing anything to be relieved of sin and suffering is really a long time.
There are people who lengthen their own miseries by refusing to part with their sins.
There are also people who are so familiar with pain and suffering that they never thought anymore that they could recover from it.
And so, they die without giving a fight.
They did not know that they could be healed by the blood of Christ.
How about you? How far is your threshold of pain and suffering?
Is it a short span or long?
Do you easily give up when pain strikes you or do you endure the suffering?
Give your life to Christ. He will set you free.
In verse 2, we find the Philistines could not bear the suffering any longer that they finally called in their priests and their fortunetellers to inquire of what they would do with the sacred chest or the ark of God.
In here, they have finally recognized that it was presence of the ark in their midst that had brought them severe illness and tumors.
They also realized that it was a dreadful thing to fall as enemies in the hands of the living God.
And so, they concluded that the only way for them to be relieved of these devastating diseases was for the ark to be brought back to its original owner.
However, since the Philistines were idol worshipers, they do not seek God's wisdom but instead sought out the advice of psychics or fortune tellers.
Have you encountered the psychics and fortune tellers before in your life?
I hope you don't. Why? What is the Christian view on these people?
This brings us to the first life lesson.
DON'T TURN TO MEDIUMS OR SEEK OUT SPIRITISTS.
Leviticus 19:31(NIV) 31 “‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God."
The Bible strongly condemns spiritism, mediums and the occult.
Horoscopes, tarot cards, astrology, fortune tellers, palm readings and seances fall into this category as well.
Don't ever seek their counsel.
It is so dangerous.
They will defile, desecrate or corrupt your Christian witness and in so doing, you are invoking the wrath of God upon yourself.
Why? Because these practices are based on the concept that there are gods, spirits, or deceased loved ones that can give advice and guidance.
Actually, if you look in the Bible, these spirits are actually demons in order to deceive those who are ignorant of God's Word.
The truth is, the dead cannot return back to give an advice to the living.
When a person is a Christian and he dies, he will go directly to heaven and enjoy the most wonderful place imaginable in fellowship with a loving God.
He has no time to leave those wonderful glory of heaven even for a moment and communicate with the living to give them a message.
All the message concerning your future destiny are found in the Bible.
Just seek the Bible and not the spirit of the dead.
Now, when a person dies without Christ - he is an unbeliever, he will go directly to the never-ending torment in hell because of his sin and rebellion to God.
And so, if our loved ones cannot contact us, how do mediums and spiritist get such accurate information?
The answer is from Satan and his demons.
2 Corinthians 11:14-15(NIV) 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve."
Satan pretends or disguises himself to be kind and helpful in order to deceive even the elect.
He tries to appear as something good by giving a psychic information about a person in order to get that person hooked into spiritism.
And so, don't turn to mediums and don't seek out spiritisms or else provoke the wrath of God.
What should we do to appease or calm down the wrath of God?
TRUST IN THE WISDOM OF GOD'S WORD. Proverbs 5:1(NIV) "My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight."
My brothers and sisters, this is the only sure way for us NOT to provoke God's anger.
Pay attention to God's wisdom.
Receive God's Word.
Open your hearts and minds to God's insight for daily living.
That is why I encourage you to concentrate to what we are studying right now for these are from God's Word to give us life.
Look at verse 3.
It seems that the fortune tellers have gained insight by suggesting to the Philistine elders to send back the sacred chest with a gift.
Hence, they believed that a gift or an offering can appease the wrath of the God of Israel.
But of course, their belief is very much limited compared to what God desires.
What does God desire?
He desires an offering but according to what God requires.
In the Book of Leviticus, we can learn of the five kinds of offerings that are acceptable before God.
1. The Burnt Offerings - The burnt offering was an animal sacrifice that must be completely burnt and consumed by fire before God accepts it to appease His wrath.
None of it was to be eaten by the priest or the worshiper thereby bridging the fellowship possible between a holy God and a sinful person.
2. The Meal offerings. This is an offering not just of animal sacrifice but also consisting of cereals or vegetables.
The sinner could offer dough from wheat flour baked in an oven, cooked, fried, or roasted.
All meal offerings were made with oil and salt (to preserve) and no honey and leaven were to be used.
It was a gift to God from the best of the worshiper’s agricultural produce in an act of thanksgiving when sins are forgiven.
It speaks of a life that is totally dedicated to generosity and giving.
3. The Peace offerings The peace offering was also a meal that was shared with the Lord, the priests, and sometimes the common Israelites. The worshiper was to bring a male or female oxen, sheep or a goat.
The ritual was closely compared to the burnt offering up to the point of the actual burning where the animals blood was poured around the edges of the altar.
The fat and entrails were burned and the remainder was eaten by the priests themselves.
With this offering, peace has been acquired between a holy God and a sinful man.
4. The Sin Offerings The sin offering is given by the worshiper in order to expiate or pay the debt in full of the worshiper's unintentional weaknesses and failures before the Lord.
When the sin offering is accepted by the Lord, a continuing fellowship and presence of God will prevail among His people.
5. The Trespass offerings. The trespass offering was very similar to that of the sin offering but the main difference was that the trespass offering was an offering of money for sins of ignorance connected with fraud.
For example if someone unintentionally cheated another out of money or property, his sacrifice was to be equal to the amount taken, plus one-fifth to the priest and to the one offended.
Therefore he repaid twice the amount taken plus 40 %.
The guilt offering is also called “reparation” because the person not only sought forgiveness, but the debt is also paid full restitution by adding to the price an additional percentage.
Of course, the fortune tellers and the priests from Philistines have no knowledge of any of these things.
That is why they suggested to send along something to Israel's God to make up for taking the chest.
They recognized that when they do this, they will be healed and they will find out why the Lord has caused these troubles to happen in their area.
Verse four is about the inquiry of what kind of gift should they send.
The priests and fortunetellers answered: There are five Philistine rulers, and they all have the same diseases.
Verse 5 talks about the five gold models of the sores and five gold models of the rats that are wiping out the crops of the Philistines.
They thought that with this gift, it might stop the devastation of illness and pestilence in their country.
Notice that the gifts involved models of gold sores and gold rats.
Remember that the god that they worship is a model of the human head and the body of the fish - Dagon.
Now, they want to make gold models of sores and rats - the very problems that they were confronting at that moment.
You see, the way the unbelievers offer their sacrifice is always in the form of gold idols.
Only Christ's precious blood has been accepted by God for our complete forgiveness from sins.
Then, in verse 6, we read that they have previous knowledge of the plagues of Egypt.
They knew that the Egyptians were so stubborn that they allowed the plagues to continue without doing anything but in the end, they had to let Israel go.
You see, stubbornness can lengthen the time of a person's suffering when in fact, he could do something to get healed.
And so, the advice was for them to get a new cart.
Then, they had to get two cows that have young calves and that have never pulled a cart.
They must hitch the cows to the cart, but take the calves back to their barn.
Then they must put the chest on the cart.
They must also put the gold rats and sores into a bag and put it on the cart next to the chest as their offering.
Then they must send it on its way.
They must watch to see if the chest goes on up the road to the Israelite town of Beth-Shemesh.
If it goes back to its own country of Israel, then, they will know that it was the Lord who brought those devastation upon them.
But if the chest doesn’t go back to its own country, then the Lord had nothing to do with the disease that hit them —it was simply "bad luck".
Have you noticed the last two words? "Bad Luck!"
Do you believe that there is such thing as "bad luck" or "good luck"?
Do you know that we Filipinos have a lot of superstitious beliefs that we have inherited from our ancestors that they say can either bring bad luck or good luck?
These superstitions cover all departments of life like building a house, birth, romance, marriage or death.
They believe that life is governed by chance and so, they are not certain about future events.
I remember the time when I was very young and my grandmother would often tell me.
"Don't break a glass on Friday for it would bring you bad luck for seven years!" Boy, I was fearful.
"Don't take a bath, don't eat meat on Good Friday or make any noise because God is dead on that day." I could not enjoy my God Friday.
"Don't break a mirror because it means seven years of bad luck!"
"Don't pay your debt at night for it will bring bad luck."
"Don't walk under the stairs."
I had tons and tons of superstitious beliefs that could bring me bad luck.
I felt I was a slave to all these.
There was a time when I don't even know how to approach things for fear of receiving bad luck.
But when I came to know Christ during my High School years, I was set free.
Romans 8:28(NIV) 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
All things will work out for good (not bad) if you are in Christ.
Because God called us for a purpose.
Therefore, our destiny is safe and secure.
I am blessed because of Christ.
So, let us trust Him more and thereby appease His wrath upon us.
So far, we have learned that the Philistines decided to return the ark of God.
2. ISRAEL CELEBRATED THE RETURN OF THE ARK
1 Samuel 6:10-18 (NIV) 10 The Philistines followed their advice. They hitched up the two cows to the cart, but they kept their calves in a barn. 11 Then they put the chest on the cart, along with the bag that had the gold rats and sores in it. 12 The cows went straight up the road toward Beth-Shemesh, mooing as they went. The Philistine rulers followed them until they got close to Beth-Shemesh. 13 The people of Beth-Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the chest, they were so happy that they stopped working and started celebrating. 14-15 The cows left the road and pulled the cart into a field that belonged to Joshua from Beth-Shemesh, and they stopped beside a huge rock. Some men from the tribe of Levi were there. So they took the chest off the cart and placed it on the rock, and then they did the same thing with the bag of gold rats and sores. A few other people chopped up the cart and made a fire. They killed the cows and burned them as sacrifices to the Lord. After that, they offered more sacrifices.
The second thing we can learn is that Israel celebrated the return of the ark.
Here in verse 10, we find the Philistines following the advice of the priests and the fortune tellers.
And so, they hitched up the two cows to the cart but they kept the calves in a barn.
They knew that if the pestilence is NOT from God, by instinct, the cows would just go back to nurse their calves.
Then, in verse 11, they put the chest on the cart along with the gold rats and gold sores as gifts to appease the God of Israel.
However, we find in verse 12 that the cows went straight up the road toward Beth-Shemesh, mooing as they went.
Beth-Shemesh was a city about eight or ten miles away but these cows never miss the way, never turn aside or never turn back home to feed their calves.
It was actually a miracle.
These cows were not used to the yoke, yet are being so orderly and moving forward without a driver.
Their natural inclination was to go home, but it seems that they were being guided by the unseen hands of God's holy angels directing them to where God wants them to go.
While the cart was traveling, the Philistine rulers were following the cart from a distance curious to what will happen next.
Probably, they were thinking that as each step the cows took away from them, God's wrath is being appeased and they will have peace.
Then, in verse 13, we will find how the ark was welcomed to the land of Israel.
On that exact day, the men of Beth-Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest.
Hence, they were so fully occupied with their worldly affairs when the ark came back.
In the same manner, while everyone is busy doing their own thing, the Bible says that the Lord would come again unexpectedly.
On that Day, there will be people who are ready while sad to say, there are many who are not just like the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25.
But those who are ready and are expecting Him will be blessed for they shall meet the Lord in the air.
However, those who are not ready will be caught unprepared and will receive the wrath of God for their sins.
And so, I want to ask you this question.
Are you ready when Christ comes back to take His own?
Have you surrendered your life to Christ and acknowledged Christ as your Lord and Savior?
Notice again in verse 13 that those who were ready and expectant for the ark looked up and saw the ark of God.
They were instantly filled with joy and gladness that they stopped what they were doing and started celebrating.
That should be the same attitude we should have when Christ will come again.
We will be so happy and full of joy for Jesus, our Lord and Master has returned.
Then, it said in verses 14-15 that the cows left the road and pulled the cart into a field that belonged to Joshua from Beth-Shemesh.
Then, the cows stopped exactly beside a huge rock.
It was no coincidence that some priests from the tribe of Levi were there in that field.
And so, these Levites took the chest off the cart and placed it on the rock.
They did the same thing with the bag of gold rats and sores.
A few other people chopped up the cart and made a fire.
Then, they killed the cows and burned them as sacrifices to the Lord.
After that, they offered more sacrifices to the Lord.
Verse 16 said that all these things were being watched with eagerness by the Philistine rulers who went home satisfied that God's wrath had been finally appeased.
How was God's wrath appeased?
This leads us to the next life lesson.
GOD CAN ONLY ACCEPT AN OFFERING WHEN THE BLOOD IS SHED. Hebrews 9:22(NIV) "22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."
What kind of offering did they offer to the Lord that day?
Probably one cow was a burnt offering that fully satisfied the wrath of God.
Then, the other cow was for the sin offering whereby the blood was shed before it was killed and offered before the Lord.
We really don't know. It does not say.
We only know that In the Old Testament, God cannot accept an offering when blood is not shed.
He could not accept that gold rats and gold sores as an offering for sin.
His wrath was appeased when the animal was sacrificed and their blood was shed for the remission of sins.
But everything changed in the coming of Christ.
GOD HAD ACCEPTED THE OFFERING OF CHRIST'S BLOOD.
Ephesians 1:7 (NIV) "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace."
Through the blood of Christ shed at Calvary's cross, we have redemption and forgiveness of sins.
There is no need for animal sacrifices to appease the wrath of God due to our sins.
Christ has offered Himself once and for all for the sins of the entire world - the past, the present and the future humanity.
Because Christ is holy, God has fully accepted His blood once and for all.
No need to take animal sacrifices.
We only need to humble ourselves and believe Him by faith and we will be saved.
Have you done that?
Have you been cleansed by the blood?
3. THE SIN ON THE ARK OF THE MEN OF BETH-SHEMESH
1 Samuel 6:19-21 (NIV) 19 Some of the men of Beth-Shemesh looked inside the sacred chest, and the Lord God killed seventy of them. This made the people of Beth-Shemesh very sad, 20 and they started saying, “No other God is like the Lord! Who can go near him and still live? We’ll have to send the chest away from here. But where can we send it?” 21 They sent messengers to tell the people of Kiriath-Jearim, “The Philistines have sent back the sacred chest. Why don’t you take it and keep it there with you?”
Here in verse 19, we find some men of Beth-Shemesh curious of what was inside the sacred chest.
To satisfy their curiosity, they decided to look what was inside this ark.
It was a foolish and irreverent stare upon the holiness of the mercy seat.
How did this happen?
Probably, in the midst of the celebration due to the return of the ark, much wine has been consumed after some time.
Hence, these men have lost sense of full reverence to God.
That usually happens when a person is drunk with too much wine that his moral judgment has been disrupted.
And so, these seventy men were reminded that they have never seen what was inside the ark before.
They only knew of the High Priest who would enter once a year into the holy of holiness in the Tabernacle.
And this was their chance or opportunity to gaze into the sacred chest of which they had heard so much.
But they did not know that it was guarded by the holy angels of God.
And God's instruction that no eye should gaze upon it lest he dies, still holds in spite of the person's ignorance to the law.
And so, these men challenged each other and they looked and they all died.
These men from Beth-Shemesh have violated the secrets of the holy chest, provoked the wrath of God and were given instant judgment of the holy God.
This leads us to the next life lesson.
GOD MUST BE WORSHIPED WITH REVERENCE. Hebrews 12:28(NIV) 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe."
Brothers and sisters, we must always maintain the attitude of thankfulness to God.
We must maintain our worship to Him.
Most of all, we must maintain our utmost reverence and awe and fear for God is Holy.
Let us not provoke Him to anger.
Let us appease His wrath by having a submissive spirit.
This brings us to the last lesson.
IT IS WISE TO APPEASE HIS WRATH. Proverbs 16:14 (NIV) "A king's wrath is a messenger of death, but the wise will appease it."
Jesus Paid the Price for our Sins
Closing Story: One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation.
Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting.
“As always, our tools for deception have worked.
I have set up plenty of traps and they couldn't resist.
I had a great catch of people falling into sin.
They are mine..."
“What are you going to do with them?” Jesus asked.
Satan replied, “Oh, I’m gonna have fun!
I’m gonna teach them how to continue to commit more sins - how to marry and divorce each other,
how to hate and insult each other,
how to drink and smoke and curse.
I’m gonna teach them how to invent more deadly guns and bombs and kill each other.
I’m really gonna have fun!”
“And what will you do when you get done with them?” Jesus asked.
“Oh, I’ll kill them all.” Satan glared proudly.
“How much do you want for them?” Jesus asked.
“Oh, you don’t want those people.
They ain’t no good.
Why, you’ll take them and they’ll just hate you.
They’ll spit on you, curse you and kill you!!
You don’t want those people!!”
“How much?” He asked again.
Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, “All your tears, and all your blood.”
Jesus said, “DONE!” Then He paid the price.
Jesus died for our sins so that we will be set free.
END...
