Our passage this morning is found
in 1 Samuel and chapter four. We are reminded that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the living word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the word of the Lord. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
spoke in creation, and the heavens and the earth were formed out
of nothing. Peter, the apostle, declares,
by the word of God, the heavens were of old, and the earth standing
out of the water and in the water. This Lord Jesus, the living word
of God, will reveal himself also at the end of the world. When time is no more, he who
created time, he who created the heavens and the earth, when
time is no more will bring all things equally to their conclusion. In Revelation chapter 19, verse
11 to 16, we read of the Lord Jesus Christ appearing in raiment,
dipped in blood, bearing the name faithful and true, the Word
of God, King of kings and Lord of lords. In Revelation 3 verse 14 we read,
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness,
the beginning of the creation of God. In the prophetic office of the
Lord Jesus Christ, He has declared the Father's will to the world. He is the one who tells forth
the purpose and the commands of the Godhead. In John chapter
12, verse 49, we read, For I have not spoken of myself, but the
Father which sent me. He gave me a commandment that
I should, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know
that His commandment is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak,
therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. Here is the Word of God. Christ is the manifestation,
the personification, of the revelation of God to this world. If we would hear God, we must
hear Christ. That is the reason for the uniqueness
of the approach that we have to God in this world. The religions
of the world can say what they will, but God has expressed himself,
revealed himself only by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
one who speaks prophetically in the Old Testament, by his
life and words and works in the New Testament, and he speaks
to us still as the risen Christ, the Word of God to men. Hebrews 1.2, He hath in these
last days, God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the worlds." The eternal word,
the living word, the word of truth, the word of the Lord. Whenever we read that phrase,
and the word of the Lord came unto Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah,
Micah, the prophets of old, Moses, and Samuel, And the word of the
Lord came unto Samuel. Let us remember of whom we speak. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the God-man in his pre-incarnation
manifestations, speaking to men to be heard of men. In 1 John
chapter 5 verse 7 we read, For there are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one. And the bearing record is the
work of the Son who came. He came into the world, and the
three in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Ghost, bear record of the fact that the voice of God
was heard on earth in the person of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. This is He, says John, that came
by water and blood, even Jesus Christ. So it is that in the Old Testament,
as in the New, The Lord Jesus Christ often took a body, the
body that had been prepared for him. The Lord Jesus Christ took
a physical body and met with his people in the Old Testament. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
in his incarnation as that baby in the manger, that wasn't the
first time that he had appeared in the world. He had appeared. in manifestations prior to that,
to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre, there in the fiery furnace, to
Daniel and to his friends and to the leaders there in Babylon. The Lord Jesus Christ has spoken
all through the ages of men and he is to be heard in all the
ages of men. Genesis chapter 15 verse 1 we
read, After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram
in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy
exceeding great reward. Who is? I, the word of the Lord. It was the word of the Lord that
came and it was the word of the Lord that identified himself
as Abram's shield and defender, his exceeding great reward. In 1 Kings chapter 19 verse 9,
And he came thither unto a cave and lodged there. And behold,
the word of the Lord came to him and said unto him, What dost
thou hear, Elijah? It is the word of the Lord that
came to his prophet and interrogated him there that day in the cave. The presence of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the second person of the Godhead, the Word, the Old
Testament manifestations and appearances of Him testify to
His revelations there in the Old Testament. So it is that
we read in 1 Samuel 3, the very last verse there, The Lord appeared again in Shiloh. That means that he had appeared
there before. but it had been a long time since
he had appeared there. We read last week of the fact
that the iniquity and the wickedness of the priests, the high priest
and the priest that worked there at Shiloh with the Ark of the
Covenant had caused God to withdraw and there were no visions any
longer there at Shiloh. But the Lord appeared again in
Shiloh for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by
the word of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ speaking
there to Samuel, the word of revelation, the word of truth
appearing in human form and there speaking to Samuel. Now, in 1
Samuel chapter four, verse one, we discover the purpose of these
meetings. We're told there, and the word
of Samuel came to all Israel. God reveals himself in the person
of Jesus Christ to those prophets who will declare his word to
men. God doesn't speak, as it were,
to every man individually. but he speaks through his word
being declared. This has been his pattern throughout
history. And here Samuel is the mouthpiece
to men of the Lord. specially chosen, selected, prepared
in order to bring this word to men and women. And so it is today
that the Lord has preachers, the Lord has prophets, if you
like, not prophets that are going to foretell the future beyond
those things that are revealed in some mystical, magical kind
of way, like some suggest they can, but those who will foretell
the word of the Lord who will declare the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the apostles had this task committed to them
and as they established churches and ordained elders and deacons
and preachers and evangelists there in their own time. So that
continuation, that apostolic foundation, that apostolic authority
of the declaration of the word of God comes to men and women
in our own day and age. It's a blessing if the Lord speaks
to us, speaks through his people, speaks through his preachers,
speaks through his anointed men. Let us value the preaching of
the gospel in our day. Let us recognize the privilege
that we have to hear the word of the Lord. For many years there
was silence at Shiloh and then the Lord spoke to Samuel and
the word of Samuel came to all Israel. God had stopped speaking
for a long time. He'd stopped appearing to Eli,
and yet he did not leave himself without witness. The Lord appeared
and spoke to Samuel, and Samuel spoke to Israel. We remember
the privilege of hearing the word of the Lord, and we value
it in our day. In Psalm 50 in verse one, hear
these words spoken. It's a Psalm of Asaph. The mighty
God, says Asaph, even the Lord hath spoken and called the earth
from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. If God speaks, if God speaks
in our day, in our age, to us, we have two courses of action. We can listen, or we can ignore. We can believe, or we can reject. We can accept, or we can deny. We can obey, or we can disobey. Then that was true, and now it
is true. When the word of the Lord comes
to us, let us resolve to hear that word, to believe that word,
to accept and to listen to that word, to obey that word. And may the Lord God be gracious
to us, his people. Isaiah chapter one, verse 18,
the word of God says, come now, let us reason together, saith
the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient,
ye shall eat the good of the land, but if ye refuse and rebel,
ye shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord
hath spoken it. If ye refuse and rebel, ye will
be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it. Israel heard the word of Samuel,
Israel heard the word of the Lord. It was faithfully declared
amongst them. But Israel refused, and Israel
disobeyed, and Israel rebelled, and the word of the Lord came
true. This chapter before us this morning
recounts the judgment of the Lord upon the nation. Now Israel
went out against the Philistines to battle and pitched beside
Ebenezer. The Philistines pitched in Aphek. So begins the sad account of
the fulfilment of God's punishment of sin. Psalm 78 verse 58 provides
a commentary on this passage. It says there, for they, that
is Israel, provoked him to anger with their high places and moved
him to jealousy with their graven images. We're not told that explicitly
in the book of Samuel. We are simply told that judgment
fell upon them and it takes the psalmist to tell us the reason
why. They provoked the Lord to anger
with their disobedience and their rebellion and their idolatry. This was the reason for God's
judgment upon them. False religion, false religion. That was the reason for God's
judgment upon them. There was no true worship of
God anymore at Shiloh. Despite Shiloh existing, despite
the Ark of the Covenant being located in that place, despite
Eli the high priest, despite all the trappings, despite all
of the appearance of religious activity there in Israel, there
was no true worship because the people's hearts had rebelled
against God. It's a warning for our time.
Let me tell you this. God hates mock religion. He hates it. He spits it out
of his mouth. He detests it. It turns his stomach. God hates false religion. He hates the mockery of hymns
that are sung to his glory and praise from hearts that are cold
and hard against him. He hates prayers that are made
calling upon his name. And yet the people who make those
prayers speak with forked tongues and devious lips. and he will
judge it as he has promised to do. If you rebel, if you despise,
if you turn away from the word of the Lord, I will come on you
with a sword and I will judge you. And not one of the words
of the Lord will ever fall to the ground. False religion is
at work today. Natural religion. Natural religion,
the religion of man's own heart, the religion of people's own
imagination. It employs divine language, holy
words. holy symbols. And here in this
passage we are caused to observe the superstition of Israel, because
that's all it was, superstition. These men brought the Ark of
the Covenant from Shiloh to the battlefield. And when they brought
the Ark of the Covenant into the midst of their camp, they
cheered and they shouted and they waved their arms and they
were elated. And they said, this is religion.
This is good. This is our victory. This is
our deliverance. Oh, and they believed it. They
believed, listen, listen. They put their lives on the fact
that that holy symbol in the midst of their camp was going
to deliver them. Such was their confidence. Such
was their natural religion, false religion. And it is at work today
just as much as it was at work in days gone by. Oh, this isn't
the Philistines anymore. This isn't Dagon, the Philistine
god that we're talking about. No, this is the Lord. This is the Ark of the Covenant.
This is Christian language, Christian doctrine. This is the Bible that
we're talking about. This is the history of the Christian
tradition down through the ages. These are the great men of Calvin
and Luther and Wesley and all of those that have come in days
gone by and preached the gospel and preached the word of the
Lord. And what becomes of these things
but that men in the hardness of their natural heart make superstition
out of it? It is a warning to us all. They claim the presence of God
amongst them. They employed Bible words. They sang and they cheered when
the Ark came into the camp. This is the religion of free
will. It is the religion of man's own
power and strength. The religion of self-righteousness. It is man-centered worship. There are thousands, tens of
thousands of men and women in our day that go through the motions
using exactly the same symbols and they have no true understanding
of the God of the Ark of the Covenant. I can't speak to all those tens
of thousands of people this morning. I can't speak to them. But I
can speak to you. I can speak to you here and now. Is your heart right with God? It's the most serious and solemn
question that you'll ever be called to answer. Israel's use of the Ark of the
Covenant was no more than a charm. They were carrying it about like
a charm in their superstition. They made it, not that they were
subservient to God, but that he was at their beck and call. They used the Ark of the Covenant
like a charm that could be brought onto the battlefield and cover
them with a big umbrella of protection. And they knew nothing about the
true worship of the God whom they supposed dwelt in that Ark. They thought, we can hide here
under his covering. Surely he will know that we are
a people that deserves his help and his benefit. Now they would
deny that. They would say, no, we're worshipping
the true God. We're following the patterns
of worship. We're in the tradition that has
served our fathers and our grandfathers for generations past. No, we're
okay. and they're just living a superstitious
kind of religion. They thought that God served
them, served their purposes, served their aspirations, served
their hopes of eternal life. Let us take care that we are
not like these Israelites of old. There's another point from
this chapter. The Philistines imagined that
this mockery was real faith. Or did they? I think this is interesting.
I know that there are one or two of you guys out here who
like to get into their conspiracy theories. Well, evidently, each army knew
what was going on in the other army. They all had their spies. They knew what was going on in
each camp because each camp talks about what's going on in the
other camp. We know that the Philistines
knew that the Ark of the Covenant had come into the camp. They
could hear the cheering, but it was more than cheering. They
asked the question, what is this? And they had the answer. And
we also know that the Israelites knew that there was fear came
upon the people because of the things that they heard. I wonder if that was real fear.
Or I wonder if the Philistines were drawing the Israelite army
in. They had already beaten them
once. and it proved to be a pattern that was going to cost dear to
the men and women of Israel. Was the enemy of God devious
enough to pretend to be afraid? Would they thereby succeed in
drawing many more of Israel to their death? Perhaps it's a little fanciful
to say so, but let me tell you something. If the Philistines
weren't smart enough to play a double bluff, you can be jolly
well sure that Satan is. And Satan is deceiving men and
women today by their thousands and their tens of thousands.
He delights to deceive multitudes. with false religion. He doesn't
care. He doesn't care what takes men
and women to hell. He'll feed them all the Bible
stories they want. He'll give them all the satisfaction
of knowing that his kingdom is shaking because these people
are gathering to sing their hymns of praise. And is his kingdom
shaking because of their praise or is it a double bluff? Is he
keeping them in the dark? Is he allowing them to think
that they're being victorious in their Christian lives and
witnesses, when in fact they are heading to hell with a lie
in their hand? Oh, we need to be careful because
we are contending against a devious foe, a roaring lion. He devours people like you and
me. He devours them. He has us for
breakfast. He allowed and allows people
to press on with their religious fervour, imagining that it is
well with their souls. One of you friends was saying
the other day that He'd experienced that firsthand in the company
of a lady who had just buried her husband. He said, isn't it,
what do people do that don't have religion? And yet, as far
as we know, that woman's religion is not the religion of the Bible,
not the religion of grace, not the religion of Christ crucified. He will not disabuse the deceived. He will encourage the deceived
to continue in their deception. Free will religion is the whore
of Babylon. Free will religion is the temptress
the corrupter of nations, the persecutor of the saints, the
merchandiser of the souls of men and women. Revelation 19
verse 2 says, For true and righteous are his judgments, for he hath
judged the great whore. which did corrupt the earth with
her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at
her hand. That's what the judgment is going
to be. It is going to be the judgment
of this freewill religion that so pervades our society today. And we might well imagine that
men and women have got a fair call, a fair shout when the Lord
does come back, but let me tell you, As I've said already, he
hates mock religion, and he will call it to pay the price. This is what we see in this passage. There was a real prophet in Israel,
but Samuel's word was hidden by the false superstition of
these people. The people called for God and
Hophni and Phinehas, they rolled up their sleeves and they got
that Ark of the Covenant on their shoulder and they stepped out
of Shiloh to the cheers of all the people. The Lord is going
to deliver His own. The Lord is going to save us.
And they carried the Ark onto the battlefield. Paul says they
had a form of godliness. but they denied the power thereof. He advises the people of God,
from such turn away. If the Lord gives us a desire
after holiness, if the Lord gives us a desire after holiness, don't
be content with the whitewashed sepulchres that prayed themselves
as religion and churches today. The world's religion of free
will and self-righteousness and works will damn men's souls to
hell for eternity. Here's another point. This art
of the covenant was taken in the battle. And it was possessed
by the Philistines. The Philistines took this ark. It was a historically significant
moment. This ark had been designed by
God its plan given to Moses, its construction enacted there
in the wilderness, and it had followed the children of Israel
all the way through to the establishment of the people of Israel in the
land of Canaan, where it had been put at Shiloh, and there
it had remained as the center, the focus point of religious
worship for generations. But not any longer. The Philistines
were in possession. In fact, they kept it for seven
months. Those were not seven good months.
They were seven bad months as far as the Philistines were concerned.
But they kept it for seven months nevertheless. There was no presence
of God. There was no Ark of the Covenant
in Israel any longer. It was historically significant
because the Lord was concluding the era of the judges. He was instituting the period
of the kings from whence David's line would come ultimately to
the birth of Christ. The Lord was making changes in
the way in which Israel understood itself and its role. The Ark of the Covenant was taken
by the Philistines and Israel was bereft of that symbol that
they had cherished for so long. But let us never imagine that
events run away from God. His power, his authority, his
control is absolute. God's promise of judgment was
being accomplished here at this time. The occasion of the Philistines
possessing the Ark of the Covenant would be a time of judgment for
Israel. but it would also be a time of
judgment and retribution against the Philistines, and Samuel would
be vindicated in the midst of all this trouble. All these ends
were in accordance with the purpose of God. And we're told, back
to this commentary in Psalm 78, we're told in verse 61 of that
passage, that God himself delivered, this is quite extraordinary,
God himself delivered his strength into captivity and his glory
into the enemy's hands. God gave up the Ark of the Covenant. God himself delivered his strength
into captivity and his glory into the enemy's hands. Something
else is notable here. For the first time, the presence
of God in the Ark of the Covenant was dwelling amongst Gentiles. For the first time. for seven
months, seven dire months, as far as the Philistines were concerned,
because this brought plagues into their communities. But I
wonder if we can see in shadow form here something of a signal
of a time when God would deliver his strength into captivity. and his glory into the enemy's
hands at the moment of the cross, in order that his strength would
carry the weight of the sin of his people, that his glory would
be eclipsed there upon the death of his son, only for the Gentiles
to discover the presence of the Lord with them. There will be
greater judgment upon the Gentiles because this word has gone forth
into their midst with power for the salvation of sinners. God
grant us grace to hear that word as it comes amongst us, a Gentile
people, and to receive it before the judgment of God falls upon
us in our entirety. Acts chapter 13 verse 46 tells
us of a time when Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel and it said
of them, Paul waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the
word of God should have been spoken to you, to the Jews, but
seeing that you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy
of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. And perhaps
that's the prophecy that Jeremiah foresaw when he wrote concerning
gospel days. Turn, O backsliding children,
saith the Lord, for I am married unto you. and I will take you
one of a city and two of a family and I will bring you to Zion. That's sovereign grace. That
is the Lord gathering his people, gathering those that he loves
into his church. This is a gospel prophecy that
Jeremiah speaks of where the gospel goes forth and men and
women, one of a family, two of a, or one of a city, two of a
family, brought in under the sound of the gospel. He continues,
and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass when
ye be multiplied and increased in the land in those days, saith
the Lord, they shall say no more. The ark of the covenant of the
Lord Neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember
it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done
anymore. Why? Because the Ark of the Covenant
is no longer where the presence of the Lord dwells. Now it dwells
in the hearts of His people. That's the difference. That's
the difference between the false religion and the true. That's
the difference between those who have a superstition about
where they go and what they do and how they live and those who
genuinely know the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the living
risen Christ, the true word of God in their own hearts experience. Don't put up with the false. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father
but by Him. There is no need now for an ark
where the Lord abides. It was lost long, long ago. Even Indiana Jones couldn't find
it. Long ago lost, why? Because the
Lord now lives in the hearts of His people. The Holy Spirit
indwells, there he holds court, there he resides, and access
into the Holy of Holies was prefigured by the Lord himself on the cross,
causing that veil in the temple to be rent from top to the bottom
so that his people entered into his presence there to enjoy the
sweetness of fellowship with him forever. I've got another
couple of things that I want to say, so just bear with me
if you will. I want to draw your attention
in this chapter to Eli. And again, it's another serious
matter. Eli, for 40 years, was high priest
in Israel. Let me ask you a question. Died
he in the faith or not? Forty years that man ministered
before the Ark of the Covenant. Forty years. Deity in the faith
or no? What a devastation hit that family
that day. And I have looked, I have looked
at the chapters before and after. I have read a little of the background
of this situation. I have endeavored to see if Eli was a true child of God. And I can't tell. I don't know. I cannot say with
certainty whether Eli is in heaven today or not. Was he merely a religious man
or did he truly know the Lord? Now it's more important that
you answer that question for yourself today. Eli's time has passed and gone. but this is the day of grace
for those who are alive and to hear the gospel preached. Are you simply a religious person
or do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior? Someday
we will bury you. Someday we will bury you. Will the testimony be that this
person was just someone who hung around churches all their lives? Or did they worship the true
and living God in the Lord Jesus Christ? I don't know about Eli. What about you? The final thing
that's in my mind here this morning is to reflect upon a lady that
is mentioned to us right at the end of this passage. And I think
she is a believer. And I think that she was a believer
brought low. I want to close by speaking a
little bit about the sad end of Phineas's wife. A final thought
upon the passage, as it were. For here is a woman with no name, And what heartache this woman
experienced through her life. She was married, she was wedded
to a wicked man. She perhaps knew very little
about love and comfort in her marriage. We're told that her
husband debauched the women that came to worship at the Ark of
the Covenant in Shiloh. She was no doubt, as a child
of God, distressed by the evil that she saw around her in her
own home. and the hypocrisy that she knew
above all others because you know people can put on a front
but it's hard to hide it all the time. Sometimes the mask
slips and it slips with those who are nearest and dearest to
you. We can come out to church and
we can have a facade but what are we like at home? That's where
the hypocrisy tends to show its face. This woman no doubt was distressed
even in her own life at that hypocrisy that she saw at the
heart of the divine worship there at Shiloh. And she's carrying
her husband's child She's carrying that child well on into the pregnancy
when news comes that the battle is lost against the Philistines.
The army is lost. Her husband is lost. The Ark of the Covenant is lost. And as is sometimes the way with
women, In her condition, the shock initiates her labour. Look at verse 19, chapter four,
1 Samuel chapter four, verse 19. And his daughter-in-law,
Phineas'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 woman 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 glory is departed from Israel, because the ark
of God was taken. I actually think that this is
probably, listen a moment, I think that probably the women that
are there were construing the reason for her sadness and that
these are their words in verse 21. She named the child Ichabod,
and they probably, because they knew what that meant, that the
glory has departed, they probably said, ah, she's called him Ichabod
because the glory has departed from Israel, because the ark
of the Lord was taken, and because her father-in-law and her husband
are dead. But she said, no, no, forget
Eli, forget Phinehas. He's Ichabod because the glory
has departed from Israel. And that preeminence, that prioritization
of the fact that Ichabod, the name of the child, was because
God had withdrawn from the people. suggests to me that this woman
had a greater understanding of spiritual things than perhaps
her husband, certainly her husband, and perhaps her father-in-law
had themselves. What can we take from this? I
tried in this passage, believe me, I tried because I regarded
it as my responsibility. I tried to find something comforting
for you this morning in this passage. and I struggled to do
so. I wanted something to leave with
you, to encourage you as you begin your working week and as
you go out into the world. I wanted to be able to say something
that would be a blessing to your souls rather than the evident
judgment and solemnity about this passage. 30,000 men dead. Where is the comfort in that
judgment? 30,000, 34,000 souls lost in
a couple of days. And all of the friends and all
of the family that those 34,000 individuals represented. I say to you this morning, flee
the wrath that is to come. flee the wrath that is to come,
be sure of your soul's state. Leave these things not to any
doubt or question like Eli, but be sure that you know that your
heart's right with the Lord. I believe this woman, Phineas'
wife, was a true child of God. Her child was named for her greatest
loss, She lamented the state of her nation without the Lord. And she lay down and the Lord
took her. But note this. Note. The Lord didn't take her
to hell like he took her husband to hell. She went to glory, and there
she is today, standing at the throne of her master, praising
his name, singing of the joy that is in her heart to be married
to a new husband, to have a new lover of her soul, in whom is
no sin and hypocrisy and wickedness, a true husband to her, a husband
who loves and cherishes her, a husband who satisfies her with
himself. And there she is, even to this
very day. I think that the Lord preserved
this woman from the terrible aftermath of this national calamity
that befell Israel. He took her away out of it. He
took her out of it. He took her to heaven, for she
had, like Paul, a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which
is far better. Sometimes the Lord takes one
of his sheep home early. Sometimes he'll take someone
from our midst before their years might be expected. Sometimes
the Lord says, come up now and I'll save you from any more sadness
and any more suffering and any more trouble in this world. And when that happens, we say
with Eli, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth good. And if he tarries, as he did
with the child Samuel, it's because there is work still to do. It's
because there is yet labour to be exerted in the cause of God
and truth. God grant us grace to serve him
faithfully in these days in which we live. Amen.