CENTRAL THOUGHT
Keeping to the terms of a covenant is the major guarantee of its effectiveness.
TEXT: 1 SAMUEL 4:1-22
INTRODUCTION:
It is a well-established fact in the Scripture that God’s presence is with His people. In the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant was a symbol of God’s relationship with His people and His presence with them. However, God’s continual presence with His people is not to be assumed. Such presence is only guaranteed when His people live in obedience to His word. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every believer to be conscious of God’s presence and consciously avoid anything or any situation that will rob him of God’s presence and the attendant blessings.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this lesson are to:
- Understand the structure, contents and purpose of the Ark.
- Examine the relationship of Israel with God before the battle with the Philistines.
- Know what happened to Israel’s first encounter with the Philistines and Israel’s reaction.
- Examine Israel’s wrong assumption following the defeat by the Philistines and the consequences.
- Know some of the ways we make similar wrong assumptions today; and
- Teach us what to do to ensure God’s continual abiding presence in our lives.
BIBLE TRUTH:
QUESTION 1) WHAT WERE THE STRUCTURE, CONTENTS AND PURPOSE OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT? Ex 16:33-34, 25:10-22, Heb.9:3-5
As written in the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary, the Ark was a chest made of acacia wood, about four foot long, two and half feet wide, and two and a half feet high. It was overlaid with gold inside and out (Ex 25:11) and had a ring of gold at each corner or foot through which posts were passed to carry it. The lid of the ark, the Kapporeth or “Mercy seat” (Ex 25:17) was made of pure gold. At each end of the mercy seat was a Cherubim made of hammered gold.
The ark served as the container of the covenant stones which were a continual reminder of the covenant between God and Israel (Ex 25:16, 21).
It also contained the pot of manna symbolizing the bread of God (Ex 16:33; Heb.9:4). Aaron’s rod was placed in it later, as a witness to Israel of God’s choice of the Priesthood.
The ark seems to have served various functions during its history. It was built by Moses (Deut.10:5), or actually by Bezaleel (Ex 31:2, 6-7; 37:1-9) at Sinai. According to Num.10:33-36 it served as a guide to Israel in the wilderness.
The whole ark symbolized the Divine presence in all places (1 Sam.4:3-22, 5:1-11, 6:1-21 etc). The total absence of any figure or symbol of God on the mercy seat was most significant. It testified of His invisible presence and discouraged all idol making. (Information obtained from Wycliffe Bible Dictionary and Dake’s Annotated Bible).
QUESTION 2) WHAT WAS THE RELATIONSHIP OF ISRAEL WITH GOD BEFORE THE BATTLE WITH THE PHILISTINES.
1 Sam 2:12-17, 22-36; 3:10-18
The Priests in the land had seriously gone astray from the way of the LORD. In 1 Samuel 2:12 we read “now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial, they knew not the LORD” and in verse 17 of the same chapter we read “wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD”.
The nation had backslidden from the way of the LORD. There was immorality in the land, utter disregard for God’s offerings and in some instances, the crimes were committed by the Priests themselves.
QUESTION 3) WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FIRST ENCOUNTER OF ISRAEL WITH THE PHILISTINES? (1 Sam 4:1-2).
Israel was defeated by the Philistines. Philistines slew of the army of Israel about four thousand men.
When Israel suffered defeat in the battle under the leadership of Joshua, Joshua and all the elders of Israel put dust upon their heads and laid before the ark of the LORD until eventide seeking God’s mercy and desiring to know why they suffered such defeat at the hands of their enemies (Joshua 7:4-6, 10-12).
Unfortunately, Israel in this present battle with the Philistines did not have such leaders who were spiritual enough to seek God in genuine repentance as to why they suffered such defeat at the hands of their enemies.
QUESTION 4) DISCUSS ISRAEL’S WRONG ASSUMPTION FOLLOWING THE DEFEAT BY THE PHILISTINES AND THE CONSEQUENCES?
1 Sam 4:10-22
Israel under its present leadership, rather than repent, seek God and patiently wait on Him for direction in regards to the next line of action to take, presumptuously concluded that the reason for the defeat was because they did not carry the Ark of the Covenant with them into the battle. They therefore sent to Shiloh and brought the “ark of the Covenant of the LORD of hosts” (1 Sam 4:3-4). Their assumption proved to be wrong, and they paid dearly for it.
They were more interested in the physical ark than the God whose presence the ark symbolized. The situation of immorality, idolatry and abuse of God’s offerings did not bother them. They assumed that no matter their lifestyle for as long as the Ark could be carried about with them, victory would be guaranteed.
Israel soon found out that the assumption was wrong and costly. It brought upon them great consequences. In 1 Sam 4:10-11 and vs 19-22, we read that,
they suffered great defeat because the glory of God departed from Israel; and “the ark of God is taken”.
Thus, we see that the glory of God departed from Israel because of that costly assumption they made.
QUESTION 5) WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WAYS WE MAKE SIMILAR WRONG ASSUMPTIONS TODAY?
Similar to the attitude of the Israelites in this lesson, some believers today assume the presence of God is with them even when they are clearly living in disobedience to God’s word.
Some believers grossly abuse the concept of grace. They equate grace to license. They refuse to accept the fact that grace brings a responsibility upon the believer to pattern his/her life after God’s word. Thus, they continue in the way of the world and because they seem to be “prospering”, they wrongly assume the presence of God is with them. However, it is written clearly in Scripture that “though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished (Prov.11:21). Also the end of a sinful life is destruction (Mt 7:13).
There may be believers too today who assume that the tithes, offerings they give and the services they render in their places of worship guarantee God’s presence with them. It is to be reemphasized here that there is no amount of tithes and offerings given or services rendered that can take the place of obedience to God’s word. Samuel told King Saul in very clear terms “…. Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Sam 15:22).
Also, it is observed that some believers go about with “anointing oil”, “praying towels/ napkins/cloth” and some other emblems which they erroneously believe signify God’s presence with them. In some situations, these items may serve some biblical purposes as inspired by the Holy Spirit but to suppose that they are symbols of God’s presence is not only fallacious but may actually be costly assumptions. There are some persons who carry “anointing oil” about and yet live in sin. Such persons will not escape God’s judgement unless they repent.
Finally, there may be some persons who believe that possession of the Holy Bible symbolizes God’s presence. Hence, they carry the Bible about; place it under their pillow when they want to sleep; place it among their luggage when travelling; keep it in their vehicles etc. It must be noted that the mere possession of the Bible does not guarantee God’s presence. The Holy Bible must be read/studied, believed and obeyed to experience God’s presence and reap the benefits that follow His presence in our lives.
QUESTION 6) HOW CAN WE ENSURE THE CONTINUOUS ABIDING PRESENCE OF GOD IN OUR LIVES? EPH 4:30-32. 1 THESS. 5:16-22
We must not only believe in God’s presence, but we must also believe that it is possible to experience His presence and then we must be conscious of His presence.
The first step an individual who desires to experience the presence of God in his/her must take, is to experience the salvation from sin provided by God through the LORD Jesus Christ. Such a person must repent of his/her sin, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, give his/her life to HIM and allow him rule and reign in his/her life. The necessity of this first or initial step cannot be overemphasized because God will not dwell in a vessel of sin and anyone that has not experienced the new birth is a vessel of sin carrying the “old nature” totally ruled by carnal thoughts, imaginations and actions.
However, when we give our lives to the LORD JESUS, God puts His Holy Spirit inside us and gives us power to become His children (John 1:12 and Rom 8:16). God’s presence in our lives is manifested through the Holy Spirit.
Next, having experienced the new birth and being made the children of God, we must live in holiness to ensure God’s presence continually with us. The Holy Spirit using God’s word produces His fruit (Gal 5:22-23) in our lives. The fruit of the Holy Spirit constitutes major evidence of God’s presence in our lives. We are warned not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph.4:30). We must abstain from all appearance of evil (1 Thess.5:22).
This life of holiness is manifested in several ways, “the bottom line” believers must live to please God in every area of our lives. It involves putting away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice etc. and demonstrating kindness, being tender hearted and forgiving towards one another (Eph.4:30-32).
In addition, we should not repay evil with evil. We should leave all vengeance to God. We should be prayerful, joyful, giving thanks to God in all situations and following the Holy Spirit as He leads and directs us (1 Thess.5:15-22).
Thus, to continuously experience the abiding presence of God, we must learn to live in obedience to His word. Our lives must be patterned after God’s word; walking, working and living by His word. The grace of God is always available to us, as we resolve daily to live for Him.
DAILY LIVING APPLICATION:
God’s desire is that His presence should always be with His people.
Sin (disobedience to God’s word) is the major hinderance to experiencing God’s continuous presence in our lives. Let us therefore stay away from anything/everything that will rob us of the privilege of enjoying God’s continuous presence in our lives.
In our generation/dispensation, God’s presence is manifested through the Holy spirit. Like Moses, we should always crave for God’s presence (Ex.33:14-15) and pray like David that God should not take His spirit from us. (Psalm 51:11). However, we must learn to live right.
We must not only believe in God’s presence, but we must also believe that it is possible to experience His presence and then be conscious of His presence as we resolve daily to live in holiness.
MEMORY VERSE:
EPHESIANS 4:30
“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption”.
DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
Mon: HOW THE ARK WAS MADE, Ex.25:10-22.
Tues: THE ARK: A GUIDE TO ISRAEL, Num.10:33-36.
Wed: SIN HINDERS GOD’S PRESENCE AND WORK, 1 Samuel 2:12-17.
Thu: LEARNING FROM ELI’S EXPERIENCE, 1 Samuel 2:22-36.
Fri: DO NOT ASSUME GOD’S PRESENCE WHEN THERE IS SIN, 1 Samuel 14:1-11.
Sat: ENSURING GOD’S PRESENCE, Gal.5:22-23; Eph.4:30-32; 1 Thess.5:16-22.