1st Samuel 5. "AN OPEN SHOW OF THEM" The ark was a symbol of God’s presence. The ark started on a journey that revealed the power of God that was victorious over all the power of the enemy. 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 "principalities and powers."
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 the same as 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 do I only listen when I am 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 that time 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 in which there are loyal saints is a strong place of fellowship. Fellowship and communion with God are necessary for truth taught to be truth that is real 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 in spite of 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 that was given to the early church was lost when outward forms took the place of 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 are contrary to what God's intention is.
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 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 because of what they heard from ancient stories, but because of what they were experiencing first hand. 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 attitudes of both the Israelis and the Philistines toward that ark which represents the presence of God. 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 counterfeit as long as it doesn't interfere with their chosen lifestyle. But when God intervenes, they turn against the true God with a vengeance. 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 was as did 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 in the same way He made an open show of them, if we forsake the Lord.