07.18.2010 The Story of the Ark that Lost

07.18.2010 Grace Summit Sermon - The Story of the Ark that Lost from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

Lord, as we look at Your Word, we ask that You would bless that. We thank You that we can praise You – You left Your throne and were pleased to dwell with us to give us life. We are grateful for all you've done for us – may Your word be fresh and new – that our hearts may be touched and you would work in our lives in a new way. We make ourselves available to You – we ask that Your Spirit would have free reign in our hearts.
Last week we looked at Hannah – today we will look at the story of the Ark that lost.

The Philistines were the Israelite enemies. It means – Sea People – probably from those islands off of Greece – and then probably settled in Palestine – which means Philistine! They were the most advanced technologically. Goliath was a Philistine.
1 Sam. 4:2 And the Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. 3 When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.
When the Israelites were defeated in battle – it was almost always as a result of moral failure. At the end of Judges – there is moral and political corruption and chaos – everyone doing what was right in his own eyes.
We must understand – that was for Israel, and Israel only – we can't tie this to wars today – it is a mistake to do that.
So Israel failed – they were defeated and failed to recognize the reason behind their failure.
Why has the Lord caused us to be defeated? And they went in and did things themselves.
We do this too – jumping in without consulting God.
So they make an assumption – they think they lost because they did not have the ark with them. If you remember back – Moses was always victorious when the Ark led them into battle. You might remember Raiders of the Lost Ark – where they were talking about the ark in the library and they said that “No army who had the ark has ever lost in battle!” That is not true! The Israelites are making the “Indiana Jones Mistake” - that is the theological title for it. It is wrong to assume on God. The ark is a symbol of God's presence. They looked back at all the battles they won – and thought – it worked then, and it will work now.
When we went through Experiencing God – Henry Blackaby talked about seeing what other churches were doing and what works for them – and trying to copy them without consulting God to ask if that is what God wants for them!
I listened to a podcast with Bill Hybels and Peter something - “Some pastors will stand before God and say – I built this church of 4000 for You – and God will reply – I never asked you to do that!
How many things do we do and say, I am doing this for You, God – that He has not asked us to do?
We need to be cautious of this.
1 Sam. 4:4 So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts who sits [above] the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, [were] there with the ark of the covenant of God. 5 And it happened as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, that all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded.
Imagine that! Like a sporting event!
1 Sam. 4:6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, "What [does] the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews [mean?]" Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. 7 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp." And they said, "Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.
They had been fighting for 200 years – and nothing like this had happened before!
8 "Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with all [kinds of] plagues in the wilderness.
This was probably 400 years after those events! And yet – they knew about it!
9 "Take courage and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews, as they have been slaves to you; therefore, be men and fight." 10 So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent, and the slaughter was very great; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
This is an unbelievable defeat. There is a much bigger story here – the story of what is going on in the book – and then the bigger story.
There is a transition of a nation being led by judges to a nation led by Kings – and Samuel is leading this transition. Samuel is all about David – and bigger than that – because it is about the Son of David – Jesus Christ. God is doing something new here – He is moving the history of the world in order that he might introduce the Son of David many years after this.
He is cleaning out the corrupt religious leadership of this world.
A man comes to Eli – the head priest – and Eli asks about the battle – and the one who brought the news says – there has been a great slaughter – your sons were killed – and the ark has been taken – and Eli fell over backwards and died.
This is similar to another story of a cleansing of religious leaders in order that God might do something new – and this is in relation to Holy Week – when Jesus drives them out of the temple – throwing the moneychangers out – because something brand new is happening.

19 Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was pregnant and about to give birth; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she kneeled down and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. 20 And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, "Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son." But she did not answer or pay attention. 21 And she called the boy Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel," because the ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 And she said, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God was taken."
“the ark of God was taken” - it says it five times.
1 Sam. 5:1 Now the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
The ark of God was taken. It is saying, Yahweh has been defeated – Yahweh has failed! AUGH! You can't say that! Understand their thinking – the gods of the Philistines have captured our God. They bring the ark and sit it before their god. It was humiliating to Yahweh – the Philistines have humbled, humiliated, and destroyed God. This should sound like another big story – shouldn't it? That is what it is really all about – eh?
3 When the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him in his place again. 4 But when they arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [were] cut off on the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor all who enter Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day
Do you see where this is going?
After God's humiliation – He is allowing Himself to be humiliated before the Philistines – in order that He might show his complete victory over the Philistines.
6 Now the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites, and He ravaged them and smote them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territories. 7 When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god." 8 So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?"
This is a story about the Cross – Jesus was humiliated on the cross. God's victory does not come about the same way that the world shows victory. His power is shown through humiliation – and yet it was through that that God brings about the ultimate victory. I would venture to say the same is true in your life – God wants to demonstrate His power through our weakness.

First – Israel failed to understand the reason for their defeat.
We need to view our failures and defeats through the lens of the Cross and the victory that Jesus won there.
If you ever look at your failings without looking at the cross – you are not seeing all God has called you to! Ultimately, you will be victorious – He has cut off the hands and feet of your enemy.
Ultimately, yo will be completely victorious in whatever you struggle with.
There will be no glimpse of our problems when we are in heaven – none – absolutely zero – inside of you. That should give us hope and assurance of help. You can get victory in the area you struggle in – that is what the cross is about – it is not finished until the very end – we shall be like Him when we see Him -
Second – Israel tried to use or manipulate God by taking the ark. God doesn't do magic – yes, miracles, but never magic. We try to do the same thing by introducing formula values into Christianity – if you do a and b, you'll get C. But that is not what was promised!
I think of the story of the laborers in the vineyard – at Home Depot – there are laborers who wait to see if someone will hire them.
Matt. 20:9 "And when those [hired] about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. 10 "And when those [hired] first came, they thought that they would receive more; and they also received each one a denarius. 11 "And when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, 12 saying, 'These last men have worked [only] one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.' 13 "But he answered and said to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 'Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15 'Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?' 16 "Thus the last shall be first, and the first last."
Understand – God wants to be generous – and we need to decide – do we want to get what we deserve – what we've earned? Or do you want to be a person who gets what he doesn't deserve? We deserve hell, but we get God's Son – but that is not what we look for – we look for blessings while missing what God has given – God died for our sins and we are forgiven.
Dennis Knable always said – He paid for my sins, He died on the cross for me – and if that is all I get, I will be happy – and we need to be content.
That is everything in Christ !
Final thought – we need to cleanse our old religious thinking – drive the moneychangers out of our lives. We need to be new wineskins – and receive this victory through humiliation and defeat – and we need to have the hearts that receive that Grace. It is amazing how many parables focus on receiving God's grace, and the difficulties we have in receiving. Thank You, Lord, for the truth in Your word and how it points to Christ. You worked all history – from the beginning to culminate at the cross – that there might be an Easter Sunday morning! Give victory – and we will share in it – we will participate and share and live in the presence of that victory forever.