Sermon Central
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Reducing The Ark Of God To A Good Luck Charm
Contributed by Stephen Belokur on Dec 1, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: In the early part of the time when Samuel was a Judge of Israel the people were still far from God. In a brazen act of foolishness some men charged into the Holy of Holies and and ran off with the Ark hoping it could help them defeat the enemy. It did not.
Where Did He Go?
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes - I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse(s) is(are):
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
Today we will be reading from 1 Samuel 4
Have you ever heard about a marriage where one of the spouses abandoned the family to the complete and total surprise of the other?
Have you ever heard about a church where a group of the congregants suddenly left the church and no one in the church had any knowledge that it was coming?
Have you ever heard of a child running away to the total surprise of the parents?
Any of these could possibly happen but it is not likely. In order for such a thing to happen the family or the church or the parents in question would have to be totally oblivious to what was leading up to the departure. Either the departing persons were amazingly crafty at hiding their deception or the persons left behind were just not paying attention.
In any case it would be a catastrophe, would it not?!
How does that apply to what we are about to read in 1 Samuel 4?
Please join me in your Bibles as we read: 1 Samuel 4
(Prayer for help)
Let’s do a flash back to when Israel had come out of Egypt.
What have they seen?
- Ten plagues Yahweh brought against Egypt
- The parting of the Red Sea to escape the Egyptian army
- The defeat of the Egyptian army when Yahweh drown them in the Red Sea
- The pillar of cloud that led them during the day as they traveled in the wilderness
- The pillar of fire that led them during the night in the wilderness
- Yahweh provided water from impossible situations in the wilderness multiple times
- Yahweh provided manna for them to eat in the wilderness
- Yahweh provided victory over the enemies of Israel in the wilderness
- Yahweh gave them the Law in the wilderness
- Yahweh gave them the Tabernacle in the wilderness
Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel, did many great things for the Israelites in the wilderness.
After they entered the Promised Land Yahweh continued to do great things for the nation of Israel
- Crossing the Jordan river on dry ground into the promised land when the river was at flood stage.
- The miraculous defeat of Jericho
- The miracle of the sun standing still during the battle with the five kings of the Amorites (Joshua 10)
- The defeat of the northern kings
- And much more
OK, these great events all took place with by the power of God alone. This was a part of the heritage of Israel. But … it had been over 150 years since then …
With that in mind, let’s take a look at what the high priest was to do before he could enter into the Most Holy Place to make atonement for Israel once a year. This can all be found in Leviticus 16 but I will give you the “cliff notes” version …
- The high priest “is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die”
- The high priest must offer a bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his family
- He is to put on a linen tunic, linen undergarments, a linen sash and a linen turban
- He is to sacrifice one goat as a sin offering and to send the other goat as a scapegoat to carry the sins of Israel into the wilderness
- He is to take coals from the altar of sacrifice and incense into the Most Holy Place so that, “the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant law, so that he will not die.”
Of course, there is much more to this holy proceeding but I think you can get the idea that the Day of Atonement and entering into the Most Holy Place is a very serious thing.
