THE ARK OF GOD WAS TAKEN. “Is Thy presence still among us, or have You left? O God, sometimes I feel we are so small and insignificant that maybe all we have left is the ability to follow a form, thinking we still are vital because we have been a witness in this town for a hundred years and more. Is it possible we have gone so far from You that we think in some way those years will deserve a crown? Is the glory departed because You are not here or is there virtue in still gathering in spite of advancing years?
We are able to meet and sing our spiritual hymns, and we still minister the Word, but sinners seldom come into the building to hear the Gospel. Our responsible giving still helps us maintain a sense of shared fellowship when the visitors come to give us some teaching. We have something to give them out of our appreciation for their interest; they travel on with wonder that we still live.
O God, there are so few of us, and we are dying off. There is another left today. Is there something about us that indicates religious pride instead of holy grace? Are we maintaining a work that has already died? O God, hear my prayer on behalf of this assembly. Give us some evidence as we gather weekly that You are still here; we are not left alone without a “church messenger” speaking for us at Thy throne. Are there not some believers who live around here who care for the Word and the Savior’s name they bear? Perhaps some poor sinner is looking for Thee. Send him or her to us, and help us all to see that God still trusts us to bear His name publicly, and now, as has been done for one hundred sixteen years, we should continue doing the same.”
"AN OPEN SHOW OF THEM". 1st Samuel 5. Like the Israelites, we have much to learn about God even though we know Him. It is hard for us to understand things beyond our own experiences or the reaction of our senses. For us to say, “God is like…” something we have seen or imagined is to limit that which is infinite and beyond comparison.
The elders of Israel had become so used to the Tabernacle at Shiloh that they equated God with the ark, knowing it was there. To the Philistines, the ark was like an idol, but to the Israelites, it was simply a symbol of God, and sadly, that was all they really thought about God. The fact that they had been taught that God dwelt between the cherubim on the mercy seat apparently meant to them that God would always be there despite their departure from Him. When the Philistines drove back the army of Israel, they were at a loss as to what to do. They hadn’t taken counsel from God, nor had they asked Samuel if there was a word from the Lord. Instead, they had gone ahead on their own.
Making decisions to suit ourselves, especially when they affect other people, is both ignorant and arrogant. It is ignorance because we have not learned lessons from the past and the experiences of others, and arrogance because we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Thoughts and decisions centered on ourselves or the results of past success rather than on the Lord and His word will soon reveal our barrenness of soul and spiritual understanding.
If the elders of Israel had known God, they would have understood that God dwells not in temples made with hands as though He needed anything from man. He lives in the high and lofty realms of eternity and the hearts of humble and contrite people who tremble at His word. The ark symbolized God’s presence, not a representation of God or that He was there.
When we meet to worship as an assembly of believers, to remember the Lord, and to learn from His word, He doesn’t come down at our beck and call at a particular moment on the clock. He dwells in each believer and with those who obey Him. Our coming together to Him as a “gathered out” company of believers is a testimony of our fellowship with Him and each other as we worship, serve, and learn together, a testimony to His grace to men.
The ark started on a journey that revealed the power of God, who was victorious over all the enemy's power. Satan has his ways and means to seek to stop the work of God in and through His people. When God’s people fail, He can work without them. God is faithful to Himself and will not be humiliated by the failure of His people to honor Him. Even though the people of Philistia had won a victory over the failing people of God, they had lost the war without even knowing it. The real war was not against flesh and blood but against the mighty power of God, the Lord God Almighty.
Without a human hand being put to the conflict, the victory over the Philistines was like the one our Lord won when He "spoiled principalities and power.” He made a show of them openly. Dagon was the god the Philistines believed sent rain and a bountiful harvest. They must have thought the God of Israel would help them like He helped Israel. Until they had experienced physical pain, they were not willing to take action. Do I listen to truth for truth’s sake or only listen when hurting? Each of the five cities of the Philistines, ruled by a lord, experienced the chaos that comes when God acts in judgment upon those who do not know Him.
When a nation fails to meet its corporate responsibility, God directs His attention to individuals. From then on, the ark of testimony was connected to individuals who were loyal to the Lord and rejoiced in what that ark stood for - fellowship with the Lord. Loyalty to God is not limited to our connection with an assembly. An assembly with loyal saints is a strong place of fellowship. Fellowship and communion with God are necessary for truth to be taught to be true to us. When we cherish the truth of God, our testimony for Him is consistent with what we do.
When the Lord Jesus Christ was here on earth, His journey from place to place testified to the presence of God despite what people said or did. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." In the same way, it happened in Israel, the power given to the early church was lost when outward forms replaced spiritual reality. It is possible for us to hold the truth with a firm hand and be out of communion with God. The enemy thought they had triumphed because they had the ark of God in their hands. Forms and facsimiles of divine things such as the Lord's Supper, baptism, church fellowship, and even church discipline have no value if they contradict God's intention.
It doesn't take long for pride and triumph to become humiliation and shame when God takes care of His own business in His own way for His own glory. The failure of men does not mean that God can or has failed in any way. It does mean, "My glory I will not give to another." The first stop of the ark at Ashdod testified to the weakness of Satan's power when confronted with the glory of God. Failure may be written over us like "Ichabod," but triumph belongs to God. After the first and second fall of the idol, Dagon, nothing was left but the "stump." The absolute supremacy of God could not be denied - and yet the Philistines still did. From city to city, the ark was carried for seven months. In every case, the bad effects increased until the boils and diseases prostrated the men of the Philistines.
They had to learn that it is a "fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." At first, they feared the ark when Israel brought it into the Israeli camp. Then they gloried in having captured the ark. Again, their fears came not from what they heard from ancient stories but because of what they were experiencing firsthand. Now, the power of God was directed against them without human agents. They learned they were up against God Himself. If we do not learn from those who seek to teach us from their own experience what they know is the truth of God, we may have to suffer the consequences of deliberate ignorance.
The Philistines made a fatal mistake when they placed Dagon, their false god, beside the ark of the True God. Unfortunately for many people, they were not the only ones who did this. People are aware in themselves that there is someone or something greater than they are who influences and controls all that goes on in this world. Many recognize there is something about the True God that they want and need. But they qualify their desire for Him in their lives by wanting “God and my career,” “God and my personal plans,” “God and my private sins,” or “God and my own way.”
The attitudes of both the Israelis and the Philistines toward that ark represent their thoughts of God's presence. People tolerate a form of Christianity today because it blends in with the rest of the world. Professing Christians can get along well in the world of materialism, pleasure, and religious counterfeiting as long as it doesn't interfere with their chosen lifestyle. But when God intervenes, they turn against the true God with a vengeance.
God does not share any place or space on the throne of a person’s heart. God, and God alone, has the right to rule and direct the course of a believer’s life. The precious blood of Christ has purchased us; we belong to Him by creation and redemption. Therefore, we are to “glorify God in our bodies and spirits which are His.”
We do not have the right to try to use our personal relationship with God in some magical way. God can do what He knows is best for us and the furtherance of His kingdom according to His sovereign will. To make an outward show of faith by making demands and/or expectations of God is to imply that God is obligated to us to do whatever we ask. When He chooses to act, He does exceedingly above all we ask or think.
The words people use today sound very similar: "God shall not abide with us;" "What shall we do with (the ark) God?" "God ---slays us and our people;" "God is to blame for all of our difficulties." "Send -- God away." The city of the Philistines reacted the same way as the children of Israel when they realized God was not on their side. "The cry of the city went up to heaven." We need to make sure we never take God for granted in any way in our life. God can make a show of us like He made an open show of them if we forsake the Lord.
It is like a living thing: the awareness of God’s presence is not seen but extremely real and imposing in its essence. The presence of God overpowers the normal life of natural men by taking authority without saying a thing. Most people in this town have not noticed this because we haven’t disturbed the peace much nor turned the community upside down with challenges or riots that disturb the peace. Yet there is a presence here that the old folks who know the Lord have lived with and experienced through the passing of many years.
Most young people have forgotten that God rules over the affairs of men, or they haven’t even been taught that. They live life much differently because it basically all centers on them. They haven’t experienced the presence of God in their midst; they don’t know and don’t care at all - until sin’s darkness in them shows, and they have serious consequences to face. They don’t believe in God and the importance of the Bible, and most will never believe because they live just for today and don’t want God interfering in their lives. They measure what they have or want to have as the reason for living. They aren’t particularly concerned about the future because they don’t believe in life after death. Satan has deceived them with his lies by appealing to their sinful nature.
Still, in the midst of this worldly city is the presence of God, although many will pity the few who believe in and trust Jesus as Lord and commit themselves to go just by God’s Word. I don’t know what will happen in years yet to come, but by God’s grace and power, we’ll continue till then. “O God, let us finish as victors when our Lord shall come, or the closure is evidenced by the ones living here being gathered home.”