1
Samuel chapter 5 reminds us that God cannot be put into a box. We
sometimes limit God to the things we understand, but God is
limitless. The chapter begins, “After
the Philistines had captured the ark of God… they carried it into
Dagon’s temple and set it before Dagon“.
Many people just add God to the other important things in their
life, but God cannot be a possession. The text continues, “When
the people… rose early the next day, there was Dagon fallen on his
face on the ground before the Lord!”
The people then put their god back into his place, “but
the following morning when they arose, there was Dagon fallen on his
face on the ground before the ark of the Lord… his head and hands
had been broken off and were lying on the threshold“.
What a clear picture of the supremacy of the one true God.
Philippians 2:10-11 reminds us that “at
the name of Jesus every knee will bow… and every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord“.
Interestingly, according to the rest of the chapter, Jesus does not
force anyone to worship Him, He is worshipped because “He
first humbled Himself and became obedient to death even death on the
cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place“.
Jesus is worshipped as an expression of our gratitude.
It
is important to remember the purpose of the Ark of the Covenant. It
was the very place where the debt of sin was to be paid. On the Day
of Atonement, the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the “mercy
seat” (the lid of the ark) to cover the sin of the people of God.
The Philistines had a choice to worship God, but rejected Him and the
chapter explains the results. “The
Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod… He brought
devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumors“.
The people reacted strongly, “The
ark of the God of Israel must not stay with us… have the ark of God
moved to Gath“.
Much to the dismay of the people of Gath, “the
Lord’s hand was against that city… He afflicted the people of
that city both young and old with an outbreak of tumors… so they
sent it to Ekron“.
I find it sad when people reject the authority of God’s Word, then
after suffering from the consequences of their actions, they blame
God for their problems. Galatians 3:24 makes it clear the purpose of
the God’s Law and standards was to show us how far from perfection
we really are. “So
the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be
justified by faith“.
Faith begins with accepting the authority of God and by faith we
receive mercy by the blood of Christ.
The
chapter ends with the people calling together the rulers of the
Philistines saying, “Send
the ark of the God of Israel away; let it go back to its own place,
or it will kill us“.
Perhaps they thought it was better to have a god they could control,
than to submit to the God who controls all things. Similarly today
there are those that reject God’s mercy. Sin was judged on the
cross of Christ and salvation is offered to all that will believe. 1
Corinthians 1:18 explains it this way; “For
the message of the cross is foolishness for those who are perishing;
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God“.
Bow down to the God of grace and He will lift you up.