THE PEOPLE RETURN TO THE LORD (I Sam. 7)

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1 THE PEOPLE RETURN TO THE LORD (I Sam. 7) The Ark of the Covenant had been returned to the people of Israel. It had arrived in the town of Bethshemesh (6:13ff.) but had resulted in the death of 50,070 men. They erred in familiarising themselves in a wholly inappropriate way with the Ark, - they were too flippant and, when they looked into the Ark, God chastised them severely because they disobeyed His Word. They had no right to do such a thing, - the Law of Moses forbade it (Num. 4:5-6,15-20). The Bible says, Heb. 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The God of the New Testament is no less severe than the God of the Old Testament for they are One and the same. He doesn t change. The manner in which we approach Him remains the same. Neh. 1:5 I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments 9:32 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy He doesn t change through the years and centuries and millennia. Cultures and different peoples don t change Him. It doesn t matter what language you speak, or where or how you were born, it doesn t matter what your customs are God is the righteous Judge Whose standards and values have never been regulated by His creation but simply are stringently maintained by His own holiness. It sounds terrible that 50,070 men on this occasion were slaughtered by the will of God but the Bible tells us in Deut. 4:24 the LORD thy God is a consuming fire. I think we have lost sight of the terror of God. It s a frightening concept so therefore we pretend it s not there. But Jesus said, Jn. 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Hell is a reality that awaits every person outside of Christ and it is also a reality that they already live under the terrible judgement that God will cast them into everlasting punishment. Hell is where the unsaved are heading.

2 2 And God has a right and a duty and a responsibility to jealously uphold His righteousness and holiness for He never could look upon sin and neither can He look upon sin today, in any shape or form. God s people too should remember that God will not stand for any flippancy in their language or manner as they approach Him. There is a particular way that God expects to be worshipped and revered, and He won t expect anything less from any of His creation! So, rather than deal with the cloud of God s judgement hanging over the city, the people of Bethshemesh did what the Philistines did, Who wants the Ark? We have had enough of it already! They passed it on! The men of Kirjath-Jearim were called upon by the people of Bethshemesh. Kirjath-Jearim was a border town where the territory of Dan, Benjamin and Judah joined (about nine miles north of Jerusalem). The mood began to change in Kirjath-Jearim. A man called Abinadab set apart his son Eleazar to take care of the Ark. There is no mention that God particularly called Eleazar to this task Abinidab, - apparently, - thought it was appropriate. However, Israel was in deep trouble; v.2 is an extremely heavy verse! And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjathjearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. Let s analyse this chapter under five headings. THEIR STRUGGLE The Philistines had not gone away. They did not return the Ark to the Israelites because of anything the Israelites did. The Philistines had returned the Ark and been chastised by God, but they had not been defeated. God, - in accordance with His sovereign will and purposes, - did not annihilate them; God allowed them to continue. The Israelites were in a real and genuine struggle! They were surrounded by an enemy that seemed undefeatable.

3 But what about how God freed the Hebrews from the bondage of Egypt? Ah, but that was away back then! What about how God brought them through the wilderness and settled them in the land of Canaan? Ah, but that was away back then too! They saw no way out of their trouble and to struggle only made the situation worse. The Church is struggling today. The opposition, - it seems, - has intensified and seems to be winning. There are fewer and fewer men and women of God, faithful to His Word. The Philistines seem to have all our exits covered. We re hemmed in on every side. Therefore, the spirit of the age is to compromise and to accommodate, rather than fight. We re struggling! However, the evidence of history, - both in the Bible and since, - has always been that God s people have struggled. The early days of Christianity were a struggle but God took the Church through it. Wycliffe, the Anabaptists, and the Reformers struggled. The period known as the Enlightenment raised intellectualism to a new level that spilled over into the Church and the Church began to feel it was time to leave behind the old-fashioned truth. Consequently within modern pseudo-evangelicalism there is a struggle today because there are those who have blatantly compromised on God s uncompromisable Truth and Word! There has always been a struggle, and the source of that struggle remains the same source as he who cast doubt upon God s Word in the ancient Garden of Eden. The devil is seeing to it that God s people are seemingly being defeated. Their Struggle. THEIR SORROW There has always been sorrow too, - again, originating in the Garden of Eden. The sorrow mentioned here in v.2b is a sorrow based upon their former rejection of Jehovah, all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. Could you imagine what that must have been like?! 3

4 4 How did they lament after the Lord. They lamented His absence among them. They lamented that they had turned away from His Word and His ways. They lamented following after men like Hophni and Phineas. They lamented their fall from God s grace and losing the way as a nation. They lamented so much and it was all their own fault! They were a struggling defeated people; they had the answer in their midst but they continued to struggle on for twenty long years twenty wasted years! They were in the dark spiritually, socially and nationally. But there is a certain type of sorrow the Bible commends; Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, II Cor. 7:9 I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, 10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation Godly sorrow brings repentance. These people in Israel were slowly and gradually learning Godly sorrow. Ps. 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. Bit by bit, they began to recognise that God was their only hope. Notice how Samuel had been working away quietly, but faithfully, in the background. He had never moved away from God, - He had quietly remained faithful to Him. I believe there is a lesson there too. Sometimes we might think of ourselves as irrelevant and forgotten by those around us. We don t seem to be making in-roads but, how often we have found that in times of difficulty our friends and family come to us and ask for us to pray for them! Like Samuel, our presence is noticed and we are approached just as Samuel was approached here. When folk have nowhere else to turn, they often turn to God. Notice too that when they came to Samuel he didn t make the way back to God easy for them.

5 5 Too often nowadays we are in so much of a hurry to get people into the church we don t use terms or words that would offend them. Get the music right! Go easy on the preaching! But Samuel, as a good faithful servant of God, wasn t afraid to face head-on anything that would cause them offence! He had to tell the people what God needed for them to hear! He knew all about their struggle; he recognised their sorrow; but he made them realise they had to honestly face up to THEIR SIN He told them, v.3 If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. You don t come back to God hoping that you can hold on to the idols and the Ashtaroth. If you come back to God you ve got to get rid of them! It s either Him or them, you can t have both! They knew it was their sin that had so severely damaged their relationship with God. They knew it but they kept on with it. It was their stubbornness and God s people are often stubborn in their sin. God sets out in His Word how the child of God should progress but the child of God thinks he knows better. They reckon they can do what they like and God will forgive them, - just turn round and say, I m sorry God! God will be so happy to hear those words He will accept them without any problem at all! No, He won t. God needs to see the sorrow in the heart before He listens to the sorrow from the lips. Samuel told these people, v.3 If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, there has got to be proof! Mere words aren t enough. Repentance comes from the heart. When the heart repents the mind, the eyes, the hands, the whole person all follow the lead of the heart. If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts (Penitence), then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you (Purging), and prepare your hearts unto the LORD (Preparation), and serve him only (Personal): and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines (Progress).

6 6 Before Samuel could take these people to the next stage he confronted them regarding their sin. Sin remains no small matter to God not even when it is carried out by His people. These Israelites were made to recognise their sin and their desperate need of forgiveness. In the Revival of this nation Samuel brought them back to where they would meet once again with God s gracious mercy. The entire nation came to Mispeh. Mizpeh means a watchtower or a lookout a place that provides security. It was there that he gathered them for one purpose in mind THEIR SACRIFICE The people knew all too well their struggle, their sorrow, their sin. The only answer to their sin had to be in their sacrifice. Sin isn t left unchallenged or unpunished. Every sin you and I have committed, commit and will commit has to be answered for. Our sin has all been placed upon the shoulders of Christ at Calvary when the He became our sacrifice, our propitiation. These people went to the wells, drew the water and poured it out on the ground before the Lord. Why did they do that? The water being poured out was a symbol of their heart-felt distress, There s nothing we can do for ourselves; all our efforts are useless. Job 3:24 my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters. Job was in total distress. He couldn t see what he could do to make the situation better. Job 30: 16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. Against all around him he looked to God for his salvation and deliverance in the same way as these people of Israel in front of Samuel recognised there was nothing they could do for themselves; they had to return to Him. Fasting, why did they need to fast? Once again, it demonstrates repentance for their sin. Such was their dire need of God s salvation they could and did not eat. They cried out to Samuel,

7 7 v.8 Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. These once-proud people were in the lowest condition in their struggle, their sorrow, their sin and it was then they saw their need of the sacrifice for their sin, v.9 Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him. Only a sacrifice of a lamb would make right the relationship between them and God. They took a sucking lamb, - they wanted to be sure their offering for sin would be in keeping with God s express Word and would atone completely for their sin (Ex. 22:30; Lev. 22:27). They wanted to be sure they could get back to the place with God where once they were. For God to listen, they had to make the perfect sacrifice, Ps. 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Their sin had to be dealt with by the slaying of the lamb. When the Philistines thought they had another opportunity to defeat the Israelites they attacked but this time the victory was won by God s renewed people, v.10 as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Bethcar. At that place Samuel had a special service of thanksgiving around a large stone. He dedicated it and called the place, Ebenezer, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us (v.12). It was a milestone in the return of the Israelites to God. After their struggle, their sorrow, their sin their sacrifice ushered in a new period THEIR SUCCESS The Psalmist cried out, 118:25 O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. It wasn t a quick fix that brought them to this point. It had been a long and hard road that took over twenty years, but finally they were coming back to God. Revival in the land!

8 8 There had been apostasy, oppression, repentance and finally deliverance. Follow the pattern of Revivals and that is what you find or in our words: struggle, sorrow, sin, sacrifice, success. Israel wasn t perfect yet, but they were going the right direction. Yes, Shiloh remained deserted. The Ark was marooned at Kirjath-Jearim. The worship of the tabernacle had to be sorted too. But, nevertheless, the people were on the way back. They had got rid of their idols and their Ashtaroth. They were listening to Samuel again speaking the Word of God. The Church of the Old Testament was being brought back again through the faithfulness of just one man; how it shows us that all God desires is the small number faithful to Him, Zech. 4:10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice. Their success returned when God was given first place once again. How they must have mourned over those years they had lost as they wandered far from Him! Conclusion Their struggle, their sorrow, their sin, their sacrifice, their success. It is all in this chapter. God can take a seemingly defeated people in a seemingly impossible situation and He can work the marvellous wonders of His grace. When we pray in His will and for the glory of His Name we have the confidence that His plan and purposes will be fulfilled to the Glory of His Name. He will never be defeated or removed from His Throne. The beautiful words of I Jn. 5:4 continue to ring true, For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. King David stood before his people and blessed the Lord with these mighty words, I Chron. 29:11 Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.