Let's turn again to 1 Samuel,
and tonight let's look in chapter four. The title of my message tonight
is the departed glory. And I'm taking this name from
the meaning of the name that Eli's grandson was given. If you look down to verse 19,
the wife of Phinehas, the son of Eli, gave birth to her son. And we read, and his daughter-in-law,
that is Eli's daughter-in-law, Eli the high priest, Phinehas's
wife, was with child, near to be delivered. And when she heard
the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law
and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed,
for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death,
the women that stood by her said unto her, fear not, for thou
hast born a son. But she answered not, neither
did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod,
saying, the glorious departed from Israel, because the ark
of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her
husband. And she said, the glorious departed
from Israel, for the ark of God is taken. She named her son Ichabod,
which as we see here means the glory is departed from Israel,
if you look in the margin. The glory is departed from Israel. And this should not be missed.
In verse 21, it appears that she, or rather that the women
who attended her, included the death of Eli and
her husband's death as the reason that she named her son Ichubod. It appears here that the women,
and she named the child Ichubod saying the glory is deported
from Israel because the ark of God was taken and because of
her father-in-law and her husband. But she clarifies that in the
last verse there. It had nothing to do with Eli's
death. Sure, it was sad the high priest
died, but another high priest would take his place. We know
that. And yes, I'm sure she grieved
that her husband had died, Phinehas, but that was not what caused
her to name her son Ichabod. She says in verse 22, the glory
is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken. She clarified the fact it wasn't
because Eli was dead and it wasn't because her husband was dead
that she recognized the glory of God had departed from Israel,
but it was the fact that the ark of God was taken. I'm going to point four things
out to us from this chapter. First of all, the time. the time
when this took place. If you notice the last sentence
in verse 18, we read that Eli, he had judged Israel 40 years. Then if you turn over to chapter
seven, 1 Samuel chapter seven and verse 15, we read, and Samuel judged Israel
all the days of his life. The time when this took place
was during the time of the judges. I said last week that in the
New Testament, Samuel heads the list of the prophets. But he
also, not only was he a prophet, as Eli was a priest, but he judged
Israel. Samuel was a prophet, but he
was a judge. And so this took place during
the time of the judges, a period of time which covered several
hundred years. We have the book of Judges and
it is described in this way. In those days, this is at the
very end of the book of Judges and it is given in another place
also in Judges, to describe how things were during the time of
the Judges. How things were. In those days,
there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. In other words, it was a time
of chaos. And for the nation of Israel,
it was a time of going away from the Lord and God selling them
into the hands of their enemies. And then they would cry unto
the Lord and the Lord in mercy, because he is merciful, would
raise up a judge. We have several judges in the
book of Judges. I suppose the one who is the
best known is Gideon. Everybody is familiar with Gideon. God raised him up and how he
was afraid to do what God told him. And so he put out the fleece.
The first night, I believe it was, if the fleece is dry and
all around it is wet. And so the next morning, sure
enough, the fleece was dry and the ground was wet. And so he
asked for another sign. Tonight, let it be just the opposite. Let the fleece be wet. and the
ground drive, and God in patience, because God is a patient God. He's a long-suffering God. He's
a God of loving kindness. Yes, He's a sovereign Lord God. We know that, and we rejoice
in His sovereignty, but we don't forget these other attributes,
do we? He's a God of loving kindness,
of patience, and goodness. bore along with Gideon. I mean,
he had God's, God cannot lie. And Gideon had God's word. God
spoke to him, but yet Gideon would have the Lord prove to
him by those signs. And then of course there's Deborah
and Barak who delivered them and There was Caleb's nephew,
I believe it was, who was one of the judges. There's just a
number of those judges. And Samson, he was a judge. He
was the last judge before Samuel, actually. About 40 years had
transpired since Samson. And he had been destroyed, remember,
by the Philistines. And we're going to see them in
this chapter tonight, the enemies of Israel. Look here, if you
will, in 2 Chronicles with me. 2 Chronicles chapter 15. And beginning in verse three,
we have here in these few verses, 2 Chronicles 15, we have here
a description of how God dealt with Israel during the time of
the judges. As I said, there was a continual
going into idolatry, then being defeated and becoming captives
to their enemies, the nations around them, and then God would
deliver them. They would cry unto the Lord.
Crying to the Lord, kind of like Psalm 107, is it? Then they cried
unto the Lord, and the Lord heard them. But here in 2 Chronicles
15, beginning with verse three, here we have kind of a description
of the time of the judges. Now for a long season Israel
hath been without the true God. and without a teaching priest
and without law. But, and that's what would happen
to them, but when they in their trouble, in their trouble, remember
in the days of Gideon, the Midianites would come down and when it was
time to harvest, the Israelites would do all the hard work, plowing,
planting, taking care of the fields, but then when it was
time to harvest, the Midianites would swoop down and they would
take the harvest. This is what he, but when they
in their trouble, and you know, the law of God, the written word
of God, the law of God brings a sinner into trouble. No one
ever seeks the Lord until he is brought into trouble, trouble
of soul, guilt of conscience, fear of death, fear of hell, in trouble, then men seek the
Lord. And the same is true in this
case with the Israelites. When they in their trouble did
turn unto the Lord God of Israel and sought Him, He was found
of them. We know, of course, that no one
seeks the Lord that God hasn't sought first. We seek Him because
He first sought us. We love Him because He first
loved us. They and their trouble did turn
unto the Lord God of Israel and sought Him. He was found of them. Scripture says, Seek the Lord
while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.
Today is the day of salvation. That's the message that we preach,
isn't it? Don't put off to tomorrow. Today
is the day of salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And in those times there was
no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in. In other
words, it was a time of turmoil, a time of because there was no
king. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. It was dangerous, chaotic condition
in Israel. There were thieves and robbers
in the land and those times there was no peace to him that went
out nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon
all the inhabitants of the countries. A nation was destroyed of nation
and city of city, for God did vex them with all adversity. How many times for their sins
did they become captives, but in their trouble? in their trouble,
the Lord showed mercy. So that's the first thing I wanted
to point out. This chapter, 1 Samuel chapter
four, what takes place here took place during the times of the
judges. It was a very chaotic time in
the nation of Israel. Second, the deceitfulness of
sin. Let's begin reading in verse
one. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went
out against the Philistines to battle and pitched beside Ebenezer. And the Philistines pitched in
Aphek. And the Philistines put themselves
in array against Israel. And when they joined battle,
Israel was smitten before the Philistines. And they slew of
the army in the field about 4,000 men. And when the people were
come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath
the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines? Let us fetch
the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that
when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our
enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh,
that they might bring from thence the Ark of the Covenant of the
Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the Cherubims, And the
two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the
Covenant of God. And when the Ark of the Covenant
of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great
shout, so that the earth rang again. And when the Philistines
heard the noise of the shout, they said, what meaneth the noise
of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood
that the Ark of the Lord was come into the camp. And the Philistines
were afraid, for they said, God is coming to the camp. And they
said, woe unto us, for there hath not been such a thing here
before. Woe unto us. Who shall deliver
us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that
smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.
Be strong and quit yourselves like men. O ye Philistines, that
ye be not servants unto the Hebrews as they have been to you. Quit
yourselves like men and fight. And the Philistines fought, and
Israel was smitten. And they fled every man into
his tent, and there was a very great slaughter. For there fell
of Israel 30,000 footmen. And the ark of God was taken
and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were slain. They go out to battle the Philistines. And you notice it says that they
camped or they pitched beside Ebenezer. Now we're going to
run into that name again, the Lord willing, in the next few
chapters. The name Ebenezer means hitherto
hath the Lord helped us. But this time, the Lord didn't
help them. It wasn't an Ebenezer to them
this time. They camped there. But the first
day they went to fight, they lost 4,000 men. 4,000 men. And I want you to notice they
recognized that their defeat was the Lord, the purpose of
the Lord. And when the people were coming
to the camp, the elders of Israel said, wherefore hath the Lord
smitten us today before the Philistines? They recognized that their God,
the God of Israel, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah,
no one could defeat him. And no one could defeat his people
when they were right with the Lord. Why has the Lord done this
unto us? Why? And it's interesting that
when they bring the Ark of the Covenant into the camp, that
the Philistines They said, well, God has come into the camp. They
say gods, but that was their mistake. There's only one God.
Israel only worshipped one God. There was not gods. Now, they
worshipped gods. The Philistines did. Most of
the pagan nations, they had all kinds of gods. They had a god
for the rain, a god for the sun, a god for the moon. That's just
pagan idolatry, but not Israel. had been chosen by God, and it
was revealed unto their father, Abraham, there's only one true
God. Abraham came from idolaters himself,
but God delivered him out of that. And wherefore, they said,
is this great, this great noise? But the point I wanted to make
is, they said these are the gods that smote the Egyptians. It
had been hundreds of years, probably three, maybe 400 years since
God had delivered Israel from Egypt, but they still knew this. This was something that they
were aware of, that what God did to the nation of Egypt by
those plagues, how he destroyed that country, and then when they
tried to capture Israel again, God overthrew all the army of
Pharaoh in the Red Sea. They knew that. That was common
knowledge. You know, Rahab the harlot in
the book of Joshua, when they sent those spies into the land,
she knew. They had heard what God did. It wasn't done in a corner. No,
it wasn't. The nations, they knew that God
Almighty is a powerful God. You can't fight against Him and
win. Well, why has God done this to
us? That's the thought that the Israelites
had. We've lost 4,000 men today. They recognized that it was the
Lord who had not enabled them to battle and to win victory
that day. But they did not humble themselves. They did not humble themselves
and inquire of the Lord. Yeah, they asked this question,
but they did not inquire of the Lord. They did not humble themselves
before God. It was not the Ark of the Covenant
that they needed. They said, let's send over there
to Shiloh and let's get the Ark of the Covenant. It wasn't the
ark of the covenant that they needed. It was a God of the ark. It was a God of the ark against
whom they had sinned and God's chastening hand was upon them.
It wasn't the ark that they needed. It wasn't an it. You can't help
but notice that word it in verse three. Let us fetch the ark of
the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that when
it, it cometh. They didn't need an it. They
needed God. They needed the Lord. It's not
it. It's not baptism. It's not church
membership. It's not turning over a new leaf
and reforming. No, it's the Lord. It's the Lord God. He's the Savior. He's the one that men need. They had no word. They had no
word of command for what they decided to do. And everything
tells us, everything in the word of God implies that what they
did was in rebellion. The Ark of the Covenant, yes,
it could be moved, but God had a very special way in which the
Ark of the Covenant was moved. You say, well, what was the Ark
of the Covenant? Why was that so important? Because
that mercy seat that covered the Ark of the Covenant is where
God said that he would meet with his people. And there only, and
only when blood was sprinkled upon that mercy seat. They had no command, they had
no word whatsoever to do what they decided to do. They had
two wicked priests, two wicked priests, Hophni and Phinehas,
who were ready. They didn't need a word from
God. They just grabbed ahold of the Ark of the Covenant, did
what the people wanted them to do, brought it into the camp. But you know, those two men,
Hophni and Phinehas, They didn't realize it. They were in rebellion. They were wicked. We've seen
that before. And God had determined, and God had told their father
Eli, they were both going to die the same day. is bringing Hophni and Phinehas
to that place where they would meet their death, where they
would be together. Probably, it was a very unlikely
thing that both would die the same day. But look back to chapter
2. This is what the man of God had
told Eli in chapter 2 and verse 34. That man of God that came
and told Eli, that this was coming upon him because of his sons. He had not restrained them. And
this shall be a sign unto thee that shall come upon thy two
sons on Hophni and Phinehas in one day. And one day they shall
die, both of them. As I said, this may have seemed
very unlikely that this would happen, but you and I know God's
word is always true. It's always true. This is a word
of the faithful God. Let God be true and every man
a liar. You say, what does that mean?
That means if the whole world, the whole world, all the inhabitants
of the world, say one thing which is different from what God has
said, that God be true. He is true. He is true. And God has said, without the
shedding of blood, there is no remission. That's what God has
said. I've given the blood, He said
unto you, to make an atonement for sin. And all the false religions of
the world come together and say, well, God's not like that. God doesn't
need a sacrifice. God doesn't need a blood sacrifice. God is a loving God. He is a
loving God. But he's also a holy God. And
he's also a righteous God. He's also a truthful God. God
has said, without the shedding of blood. There had to be a sacrifice
to appease God, to placate God, to be a propitiation for our
sins, or we could never be forgiven. God's Word. He's faithful and
His Word is faithful. We have Here, God's written word,
and it's a story of his living word, the Lord Jesus Christ. And from cover to cover, that's
what we find in this written word of God, the message of Christ. Now the third thing we come up
with here, a sad message. Let's read from verse 12 through
18. A sad message. The Israelites were defeated.
Avdai and Phinehas were killed. The Ark of the Covenant was taken. And there ran a man of Benjamin
out of the army and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes
rent and with earth upon his head. And when he came, lo, Eli
sat upon a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled
for the Ark of God. And when the man came into the
city and told it, all the city cried out. And when Eli heard
the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this
tumult? And the man came in hastily and
told Eli. Now Eli was ninety and eight
years old, and his eyes were dim that he could not see. The
man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled
today out of the army. And he said, what is there done,
my son? And the messenger answered and
said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there hath
been also a great slaughter among the people. And thy two sons
also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. And it came to pass, when he
made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat
backward by the side of the gate, and his neck break, and he died,
for he was an old man and heavy, and he had judged Israel 40 years. Now, if you had seen this messenger,
you would know, just by his appearance, he wasn't bringing good news.
He wasn't bringing good news. You notice in verse 12, it says,
his clothes were rent, and he had hair, earth, sprinkled on
his head, you know. That's a sign of lamentation,
wasn't it? They'd rim their clothes and
sprinkle earth. If they could have seen him,
just looking at him, they knew the news was not good that came
from the battle that day. Now, as I've read this over several
times the last week, this is what it appears to me took place. Eli, the priest, was sitting
by the wayside, it tells us. In other words, he was maybe
on the outskirts of the city, of Shiloh. And he's watching,
he's waiting, he's trembling, actually, for the Ark of the
Covenant. Here comes this runner, and this runner, he's got some
news for Eli, some bad news. Your two sons are dead. The ark
of God is taken. But he just runs on by Eli. Most
likely he saw Eli, but Eli was blind. He couldn't see him. He didn't want to deliver that
bad news. Nobody likes to carry bad news,
do they? That's one wonderful thing about
preaching the gospel. We've got some good news to bring.
We preach good news. But anyway, he goes into the
city and tells the people in the city what's taking place
there. And the people just make an awful noise because of crying
and weeping, no doubt, for many different reasons. And Eli, he
can't see, but he can hear. And he calls that man, that messenger,
and he said, ask him now, what took place? What really happened?
Of course, when he told him his sons was dead, nothing happened. But when he told him the Ark
of God was taken, he died. He fell off his seat backward
and broke his neck. Look with me in Psalm 78, just
a moment. David later will write about
this here in Psalm 78. beginning in verse 58. Because
let's remember now, the Ark of the Covenant is taken and we
know and God willing we'll see what happens to the Philistines
when they tried to put the Ark of the Covenant in the house
of their God. But the Ark of the Covenant will
stay out in the field when it's brought back and then into the
house of a Israelite until later, David pitches a tent in Jerusalem
and brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. So quite a while
is going to take place when the Ark of God is not in the tabernacle
anymore. And God made an end of Shiloh. But here in Psalm 78 and verse
58, They said, for they provoked
him to anger with their high places and moved him to jealousy
with their graven images. That's Israel. That's during
this time. When they ask that question,
why has the Lord done this to us? Here's the answer right here.
They provoked him to anger with their high places. In other words,
their idolatry and moved him to jealousy with their graven
images. When God heard He was wroth and
greatly abhorred Israel, so that he forsook the tabernacle of
Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men, and delivered his
strength into captivity." His strength, that's the Ark of the
Covenant. That's what that refers to. And his glory, again, the
Ark of the Covenant. He delivered his strength. God
did. God delivered his strength into
captivity and his glory into the enemy's hands. He gave his
people over also unto the sword and was wroth with his inheritance. The fire consumed their young
men and their maidens were not given to marriage. Their priests
fell by the sword. That's Hophni and Phinehas. Their
priests fell by the sword and their widows made no lamentation. The Lord's strength, the Lord's
glory, That's where God manifested his presence, the Shekinah, above
the Ark of the Covenant, between the two cherubim. But first,
my last thing I want to say is what happens, and this is very
serious, what happens when the glory of the Lord departs? What
happens? The glory of the Lord may depart
from a nation, as it did here, the nation of Israel. The glory
of the Lord may depart from a local church. What are some of the signs? I
ask myself, what are some of the signs when the glory of the
Lord departs? Well, in 1 Timothy 1 and verse
11, Paul writes of the glorious gospel of the blessed God. When the glory of the Lord departs,
God calls few preachers. That's one sign. God calls very
few men to preach the gospel when his glory departs from a
nation. And when the glory of the Lord
departs, there's very little interest in hearing and worshiping
the true God. When you look at church history,
It's easy to see where the glory of the Lord has departed from
nations and from countries. Think of the nation of Israel.
When they said, crucify him, crucify him, let his blood be
upon us and upon our children. And what happened? In AD 70,
God sent his armies, the Roman soldiers in and destroyed Jerusalem. destroyed it. What about the
New Testament churches in Asia Minor? The seven churches listed
in Revelation, where are they? You go on the internet and you
look and you find there, yeah, in some of those cities they've
changed their names, of course, but there may be a so-called
Christian church, but there's no gospel. It's just all religion,
formality, ceremony. Look at places like North Africa. Look at places like Philippi
and to Europe and Corinth and Greece. And you just look at
those places. What happened? The glory of the
Lord departed. Obviously, that's what took place.
That doesn't mean there's not religion because there's plenty
of religion in this world. But as Paul wrote, it is religion
having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. A
form of godliness. Go through all the motions and
all the ceremonies and all the paraphernalia and everything,
you know, the burning of candles and the holy water and the incense
and just go on and on and on. A form of godliness but no, but
denying the power thereof. In other words, a person can
believe the gospel, but their life is not changed. They just
go on their way. Oh yeah, yeah, I believe, sure.
I believe. Let me just say this, England, England is a real example. of
where the glory of the Lord departed. The United States of America
has been blessed greatly with the gospel, and maybe as much
or more so than England. But England was truly blessed
with the gospel for hundreds of years, but not today. They tell me you can't put maybe
two or three churches in all of England. where the gospel
of God's sovereign grace is preached. And I cannot help but wonder
that the same thing has happened and is happening in our country. The glory of the Lord is deported. There's plenty of religion. Can't
doubt that. But what about the power, the
power of God? The gospel being preached in
power and demonstration of his spirit. Well, I pray the Lord
would bless these words to us here this evening.