1 Samuel 5:1-12


The power of God is an amazing and fearful reality.  God allowed the Philistines to be victorious over Israel, kill the sons of Eli and capture the Ark.  However, when they put the Ark in the temple to the Philistine god Dagon God made it very clear that He was still all powerful and that the Ark was nothing to be trifled with.  The name of God is to be reverenced and feared.  The Philistines learned this “the hard way” and many others have had to do the same throughout the history of this world.  In the end, every knee will bow before God and worship Him when all men from all periods of history see Him for who He truly is and He is revealed in all of His glory.  Unfortunately, for many it will be too late and they will pass into an eternity separated from God.  It is important for us to recognize the implications of the presence of God that are revealed in this narrative.

THE PRESENCE OF GOD IS POWERFUL: The Philistines worshiped a god they called Dagon.  They had a temple where a statute of this god was erected that served as their place of worship.  Since they had been successful at capturing the Ark of God they put the Ark in the temple of Dagon as a sort of “trophy.”  Much to their surprise, when they went to the temple the next day, the statue of Dagon was flat on its face in front of the Ark.  They quickly set the statue up again and it looks like they just wanted to pretend that nothing happened.  The next morning things were even worse as the statue was not only flat on the ground again but had been decapitated and dismembered.  In case anyone was wondering how God really feels about idolatry, this is a very good indication.  God is amazingly powerful and does not tolerate idolatry or take it lightly.  We must be very careful not to play with that which is sacred.

THE PRESENCE OF GOD CAN BE PAINFUL: Besides the statue falling down in the temple, the people who lived in the town where the Ark was being stored were struck down with boils and had a terrible plague that was inflicting agonizing pain on the people.  They obviously wanted to get rid of it as quickly as possible so they sent it on to a neighboring city where the same thing happened.  The people were in great fear of this dreadful Ark that they had captured.  It seemed like such a great victory but was now the source of great pain and fear in their lives and they only wanted to be “rid” of it.  God is not to be taken lightly and has faithfully demonstrated to man over and over again that rebellion against Him always results in great pain sooner or later.  This is a VERY important lesson to learn.  One day He will inflict agonizing pain on all who have rejected Him and it will be an eternal pain that will be impossible to “get rid of.”  We must faithfully warn all mankind of this painful reality about God.

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