If you have a copy of God's Word this morning, let me invite you to open up to the book of 1 Samuel. Continuing our study, verse by verse of 1 Samuel, considering this morning chapter 5 of 1 Samuel, verse 1 through chapter 7, verse 2. Hear now God's word. When the Philistines captured the Ark of God, They brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. When they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground. before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon, and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left. This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them. tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, the ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our God. So they said and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, what shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? They brought the ark of the God of Israel there. But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic. And he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, they have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people. They sent their four and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it return to its own place that it may not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. The men who did not die were struck with tumors and the cry of the city went up to heaven. The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, what shall we do with the ark of the Lord? The grass withers and the flower falls and the word of our God endures forever. To the praise of his glorious grace. Let us pray one more time. Lord, this morning, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight. Oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer, amen. In every life of a child, there comes a point where that child reaches a critical realization. When a child is born, there is not much that they're able to discern about life and the world around them. But they will quickly realize that their entry, their birth into the world, came pre-packaged with two amazing people. Two people whose sole meaning and purpose, it seems for all intents and purposes, is to take care of that child and meet their every needs. If everything is going as God purposed it to go. The infant cries and someone is there to soothe them. The infant's hungry and then food shows up on demand. The infant gets messy, a little soiled and then miraculously, He is cleaned. It's pretty great to be an infant if you think about it, because life comes equipped with these two seemingly omnipotent and omnipresent individuals that the infant will come to know as mom and dad. And this attitude can carry on for a long time. Just think about a toddler who asks for a gift. and then magically it shows up eventually. Or think about the high schooler who once they get out on their own begins to view their parents as an infinite piggy bank. Or think of the young adult who comes back from college and miraculously their parents turn into chefs and dry cleaners every time they are needed. But at every point in a child's life that child must confront a shocking realization. Despite all that they may think, their parents do not actually exist to meet and fulfill every single one of that child's needs. Shocking, I know. Children, your parents do not actually exist to meet every single one of your needs. But even more than that, the child will eventually realize that even their parents had a life before them and will continue to have a life with their own passions and interests after they are out on their own. It is a hard day in the life of a child when that child realizes that their parents do not exist for them and because of them. And that realization should lead to a change of perspective and a view of how that child views his or her parents. I think this morning that something similar is happening in our text. Not with a child's relationship with their parents, but in God's people's view and expectations of and perceptions of God. Israel's relationship with the Lord. At the end of chapter four of 1 Samuel, God's people have suffered a significant blow. Their armies have been defeated. In a single day, the house of Eli has fallen. And then even the greatest blow, the Ark of God has been captured, taken by the uncircumcised hands of the Philistines out of Israel and into the capital city of Ashdod as a prize of war. At this point, the morale for God's people would be, as you could expect, at an all-time low. For as we saw last time, the glory of the Lord has departed from Israel. But here's the thing that you and I need to keep in mind as we approach our text this morning. What is unfolding here in 1 Samuel chapter four through 1 Samuel chapter seven is a lot more of a reflection upon the spiritual state of Israel than anything about the power of God or the lack thereof of any power in God. Because As a child with his or her parents, Israel is about to learn a very important lesson about God. God does not ultimately exist for them. God is not dependent upon them. And the Philistines and Israel are about to learn a very important lesson about what happens when you do not give God's glory, his power, His holiness and even his severity, the respect that it deserves from us. And this morning we're going to consider this point in two points. First, the Lord can fight his own battles. And second, the Lord must be feared by all. First point this morning, the Lord can fight his own battles. In one of the rare cases of scripture, the scene and the setting of our passages actually moves from God's people to behind enemy lines. As the camera shifts from what's happening in Israel to what's now happening for some time among the Philistines. For as we see in verse one, verse one begins, when the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod, being the capital. Now in order to understand our text correctly, there's something you have to understand about how people in this time understood military battles back in this day. Because whenever two tribes or two nations met on the battlefield, they saw something significant happening. This was not just the meeting of two conflicting armies. This was also a meeting of their respective gods. So anytime in the Old Testament there is this human battle happening, they all knew that there was also a cosmic, a divine battle happening. at the level of the gods. We actually see this language in the book of Judges. In Judges 11, 24, the judge Jephthah has a conversation with the Ammonites who are about to invade Israel. In trying to convince the Ammonites that they need to back off and not invade Israel, this is what Jephthah writes. Will you not possess what Chesh Chemosh, your God, gives you to possess? And all that the Lord, our God, dispossesses before us, we will possess. Now as you know, in many ways the judges are not standards of how we're supposed to live before God and think of God. And yet his theology is revealing how conflict was seen in this day. The land that I capture is a reflection of the power of my God. If my God beats your God, my God is stronger. And if your God beats my God, then it shows that my God is stronger. And so for all intents and purposes, the Philistines responded to the defeat of the Israelites and the capturing of their sacred artifact, the Ark of the Covenant, as how most of the pagan nations in that time would have thought about the incident. In their minds, what just happened definitively proved that Dagan was stronger than Yahweh. And that's why we see in verse two, we see the Ark of God is put in the Temple of Dagon as a prize of war. This was a very common activity in this time. Like a king putting the spoils of war within his royal courts, the pagan nations would take their temples and fill them with various artifacts that reflected the various religions and also the nations around them as trophies to their gods. And if you think about that effect on people, it was quite powerful to walk into one of these temples and to see these things. If you walked into the temple of Dagan and you saw in this room, scattered everywhere, idols, artifacts of the gods of the Canaanites, of the Egyptians, of the Ammonites and the Moabites, and not just that, And then if you also saw in that temple, quite literally, the bodies and even the heads of various rulers around you. As we'll even see at the end of 1 Samuel, when Saul himself, when he's killed, his armor is put in the temple of Ashtaroth and his body is hooked up to the wall. That leaves quite the impression, doesn't it? Wow. Look at how powerful, how great our God is. And that's exactly the thought that Yahweh is going after in our passage. For in our text, we see a battle of the gods. Who is stronger, Dagan or Yahweh? Well, as we know, Yahweh, because the God of the Bible is the only living and true God, and the gods of the nations are nothing. And so in our text, Yahweh is bringing divine warfare to the Philistines' home turf. In order to understand this passage, you need to see that Yahweh is trying to humiliate the Philistines by bringing its civilization to its knees, and then completely undermining their religion through a series of divine judgments. First, we see in our text that Yahweh begins with Dagan. In verses two and three of our text, we see that night has passed. And you can just wonder for a second what immoral pagan idolatry that the Philistines commenced in. order to mark the defeat of Yahweh and the bringing of the ark into the temple of Dagan. But in the morning, the Philistines walk in and they find their idol, their god, in a posture of humiliation. Somehow, in the middle of the night, Dagan had fallen face down in front of the ark. Now one of the things you need to be sensitive to in the Old Testament is that many times the Old Testament writers will use humor in their apologetic against idolatry. Because in our passage, we see an argument similar to places like Isaiah 44, where the author is trying to draw your attention to something that should be comical about the scene you see here. Because apparently, As this text shows, the greatest threat to Dagan and his dignity may actually just be gravity. If this God is so great, the Israelites may think, then why does someone have to actually come and pick him back up and put him back in his place? Now at this point though, it's always possible that what's happening here could be misinterpreted. Maybe someone starts scheming that there was a clumsy priest of the Philistines who came in there and just knocked it over one night. And because he couldn't pick it up by himself, he just fled the scene to wait for it to be addressed in the morning. But to make sure that the Philistines got the message, the same thing happens the following night. But this time, it's worse. Whereas verse four tells us the Philistines are horrified to not only come in and see Yahweh now in that same posture, but now his head and his hands are cut off, they're severed. Now of course you could probably imagine that the Philistines are trying to spin this one way or another as to explain what happened here. Even now they add this as part of their religious ritual. We cannot stand in this place because that's where Dagan's head and his hands fell off. But the imagery here would not have been missed on anyone in this day. Because in essence, for Dagan to be face down in front of the Ark with his head and hands chopped off would communicate that Yahweh put Dagan to death in the style of a military execution. In this day, heads and hands were severed because that's how you had a body count. That's how you could go back and tell your people how many you killed on the battlefield. But you also only have the opportunity to clearly lop off heads and hands. when you have your enemy in a posture of complete domination and humiliation. Quite literally, when you have your enemy on its knees. This is total domination. We're supposed to see in this passage, Dagan, headless, handless, in front of Yahweh, in the ark of the God of Israel. And then now having humble Dagan, Now Yahweh moves to the people of the Philistines, those at Ashdod. Now you need to also see in this text, there's something of a play on words between verses four and verse six. Because now that the Lord has cut off Dagan's hands, now the Lord's hands are free to inflict wrath upon the people of the Philistines. In verse six, we see the hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod. And he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. You know, it's sometimes easy for us to go through these passages in the Old Testament with our Sunday school glasses on. We kind of read them just as kids' stories. But we cannot overstate, I think, the devastation that Yahweh is inflicting upon these people. I mean, just think about what it's like when one of us realizes that we have a diagnosis of a tumor. Not just for what that may mean for our lives, but also what that does to us and how shocking that can be. Take that feeling and then multiply it exponentially for what the Lord is inflicting upon the Philistines. And then the language of verse six even shows us that the judgment is not only physical, but psychological. For even in verse six it says, the Lord inflict terror upon the Philistines. Fear, despair. And it's even repeated in verses nine and 11 for us to see that what the Lord is inflicting upon the Philistines is a panic that even results in death. Now at this point we need to be careful. Is that saying that if I have a tumor or if I am struggling with anxiety and despair that the Lord's hand is against me? Well no, because the purpose here is not that, but it's a clear reminder of the severity of the wrath of God against his enemies. The Lord is teaching the people of Israel a very important lesson that's particular to this scene. The image of the Ark of the God of Israel outside of the protective barriers of the tabernacle should invoke fear and dread among all those who are foolish enough to think that they can go before God's holiness and not be affected by it. And it seems like in verse seven that the people got the message. For the people of Ashdod conclude here, the ark of the God of Israel must not be with us, it must not remain. For his hand is hard against us and against our God, Dagon. Now as we see in our passage, The Philistines here are a group of nations united under various kings in different capitals. And so next, the Lord not only afflicts this judgment upon Ashdod, but now all of the major cities of the Philistines, as the Philistines begin a deadly game of hot potato with the Ark. For in verse eight through chapter six, verse two, we see that for several months, for seven, The ark moves among the people of the Philistines with the same result. And the same pattern ensues. The ark arrives, the Lord's hand comes out, the people are afflicted, and they cry out, what do we do with the ark of God? Until it reaches the point in verse two, chapter six, and then in chapter five, verses 11 through 12, where they get to the point where they ask, what shall we do? What do we do with the ark of the Lord? And so the Philistines come up with a very simple plan. Let's take it and send it back to the Israelites. Friends, don't miss what's happening here. It's an amazing scene. if you think about it. After 30,000 men of Israel have fallen in battle, without a single ounce of Israelite blood being spilt, without some secret commando plan to infiltrate the Philistines and to get the Ark of God back, without this elaborate rescue mission, All by God's hand alone, the Ark begins its journey back to Israel. Why? Because the Philistines entered into cosmic warfare, divine warfare with God, and they lost decisively. Now in chapter six, the Philistines, as they're thinking about what to do here, have two thoughts about how to get themselves out of this situation. First, if the hand of the Lord of Israel is clearly against them, then it's clear that they have offended him in somehow, in some way. And so they get this idea to come up with a sacrifice, something to deal with their sin, to satisfy the guilt that apparently is upon them. And so what they do is that they take this cart and they take some golden tumors and golden rats and put it into the cart with the ark and prepare its journey back to Israel. Now, At this time, you probably would think tumors in mice do not seem like that high on the list of things to offer to God. And yet these signs probably reveal to us that what the Lord is inflicting upon them is something probably close to the bubonic plague, which they were aware of being transmitted through mice and the association between mice and tumors of these kinds. But second, They've dealt with the sin issue, but now apparently in some of their minds, you get the idea that not all of them are convinced that this was the Lord's hand who had done it. And so they provide and they come up with one final test. They take a cart and they take two cows who have never been yoked together. which if you know anything about cattle, is not good if they're about to do a long journey. But not just two cows, they pick two milking cows. Now that sounds quite strange, unless, until you realize that what they're doing is actually quite smart. Because they want to see, if this was the Lord, then this cart should go straight back to Israel. But, what are milking cows doing? They're nursing. They're gonna have this biological urge when they hear their calves to go back to their calves. And so they know if this cart turns, as they would expect, and this was just a set of unfortunate providences, but if these cows overcome all of their biological inclinations and go straight, they will know that it was the Lord. And so the Philistines hook up the ark, they add the tumors and the rats, they set the cows straight, and we see in verse 12 of chapter six that the cows walk straight. Neither to the right, to the left. And the lords of the Philistines doing their detective work follow along behind. And then switch then to the perspective of the Israelites. Because to their surprise, out of all of their grieving, here comes the Ark of the Covenant, back to the land of the Israelites, from the Philistines. The Ark of the Covenant coming out of exile. Then we see in our passage, the men of Beth Shemesh take the cows, they split the wood of the Ark, they offer the sacrifice, And the Philistines go home, thankful that the ark is no longer among them. So having looked through the details of this passage, what are you and I to do with it? What are we to do with this seemingly strange story? For while I think that there are various applications that we can make from this text, I think that this text actually comforts Christians who are asking very deep questions about their life and their faith in God in light of their circumstances. Some of you may know that having lived in the South for a good bit of time, I'm a pretty big college football fan, living in SEC country. Now I'm not gonna start a civil war at Cornerstone between who's better, Michigan or Michigan State, even though we would all say that both options are better than Ohio State. But if you've heard me talk about college football, you may know that I am a Clemson fan, orange and purple, Clemson, not Cubs, for those who look at and have seen my hat. But being a Clemson fan is quite hard because, to be honest, we're not quite good. We haven't been able to field a good team for some time. And so for several years, it feels like every time I watch a football game with Clemson. I am just getting myself ready to be disappointed. And I kind of have this inevitable feeling that no matter what, because of things that happen, they're going to let me down. And I think sadly, as Christians, there's actually a way that this type of thinking could creep into how we view our faith and how we view God. Because if we look at times at the church, as we look at our lives. And even as we look at Providence, how it's unfolding, it's really easy for Christians to kind of get the attitude that I'm just waiting to be disappointed. That things just never really seem to work out. That I know that God is powerful, but honestly, I have a really hard time seeing that working itself out in my life. I believe in the gospel. I know that Christ died for my sins. But I just have this sinking feeling in my heart that something terrible is gonna happen soon. Maybe it's a Christian who is diagnosed with a terrible diagnosis that they never saw coming. Or life has gone completely off track and not unfolded the way they thought it should. Maybe it's a family who's done everything right, and yet there's no reason why, but their child just walks away from the Lord. Maybe it's our efforts in evangelism and missions, and we try, we share the gospel, and then we turn around, it's like, well, no one responded. Maybe it's our own lives where we say, you know, God is good, but it looks like that goodness shows up in other people's lives more than mine. I think an example of this point could also be something that still stings a lot of us, which is Charlie Kirk. Now I know that Charlie Kirk was a political figure, but he also was a Christian. And he was actually killed for articulating a lot of the same beliefs that you and I hold to. And so even though there's a lot of signs of revival and good spiritual developments, I think we can still not kick this feeling that we've really asked, was it necessary for him to die? Really? He had to get killed? Now? But I think this passage is incredibly helpful because our passage shows us that many times what we see in this life is not actually a good indicator for what we should be trying to discern about life through the eyes of faith. Because this passage shows us that when God's people encounter various difficulties in this life, it does not reveal to us that the gods of our contemporary society are stronger than the gods of the Bible. Rather, we actually see all throughout the pages of scripture that God's methods very often thwart the wisdom of the wise, or what you and I should expect. For the Bible tells us in many ways that God's people conquer and overcome through ways that look a lot like suffering. That a time of judgment is coming, but now is the time of mercy, when the gospel is going to the ends of the earth. But lest we forget who we are dealing with, passages like this one are incredibly helpful for those moments when you and I need to wake up and remember the power and the justice and the severity and the judgment of our God. Friends, our God is the God who made the heavens and the earth. Our God is the one who works all things according to the counsel of his will. And in a single moment on his own, God brought the Philistines, and their civilization entirely to its knees. And in a single moment, God could do the exact same thing to the powers against God's people today. Christian, are you tempted to view our God as weak, as handicapped, as not strong enough to face the challenges that you're confronting in life? Friends, let this text be a reminder to you that in the words of Psalm 2, that our God sits in the heavens and laughs. Our God is the king of the universe. He has no rival. The gods of the nations are nothing. He brings low. He exalts. He is infinite, all-knowing, all-powerful, and he is good. Christian, our God does not need us. He doesn't. He can fight his own battles. And he fights our battles for us. It's actually interesting in light of these truths how our passage here mirrors what Christ accomplishes for us in the gospel. Friend, as you think about the gospel, Did you land any hits? Did you contribute anything in the fight against sin? No, you didn't. Because like the Israelites in chapter four, because of our sin, we are left dead and hopeless. And Christ had to be handed over to our enemies, sin and death, because of our sin. And like the Israelites in 1 Samuel 4, the disciples, on that dark Saturday, thought that the glory had truly departed from Israel. And yet on that resurrection Sunday, in the same way that the ark of God, all on God's work alone, comes walking back into the land of Israel, Christ returned, from the grave, having defeated all of his and our enemies. Friends, this is the gospel. That Christ has done everything necessary for you and me to be saved. That he went into exile for us. He defeated our enemies all by himself. And then he returned from the grave in the resurrection and now reigns. And through repenting of your sins and putting your faith in Christ, today you can be saved. Friend, if you're here and you're not a Christian today, what will you do with this news? It's interesting to think about the Philistines here, isn't it? The Philistines clearly saw the power and the wrath of God. And the moment the Philistines have that ark out of their lands, they go back to what they were doing. This morning, may that not be you. We have clearly seen the power of God. and its vengeance against God's enemies. Friends, now is the time of mercy and grace. Will you find Christ to be the savior who saves sinners from their sins? Or will you see him as a conquering king when he returns? If we're rightly understanding our passage this morning, you and I should be confronted by the incredible power of our God But it's not also just a comfort for us that we are reminded here of how powerful our God actually is, but it also should be a warning. For in light of such power, it should reframe for us how we view ourselves in relation to God. For our text also confronts us with an uncomfortable and a challenging thought. For as we'll see here briefly, In our second point, we'll conclude with this, that the Lord should be feared by all. At this point, the Philistines have now officially left the picture and the Ark of God is back in Israel. But despite the Lord allowing the enemies of Israel God's people to capture the Ark and the armies of Israel to be defeated, it looks like God's people have yet to learn an important lesson. For as we see in verse 19, the men of Beth Shemesh, if you think about it, they experienced for themselves the same judgment that the Philistines experienced when they did not learn the lesson of what happens when you mess with the Ark of God and do not take into consideration God's holiness. We see in verse 19, that in judgment, 70 men are struck down after they look into the Ark of the Covenant, which we know is supposed to be protected. In other words, protect God's people because of their sin in the tabernacle. And yet we even see in our passage something similar. Now what's happening among the Philistines is now happening in Israel. Because now it's not just the Philistines, now it's Israel who are playing hot potato with the ark. For we see in verse 21 the men of Beth-shemesh reach out to their brothers at Kiriath-Jerim and basically say, take the ark. And so the beginning of chapter seven we see that the ark comes to rest at Kiriath-Jerim. And for 20 years, The ark remains there. It rests and the house of Israel laments after the Lord. For what comes next, we'll have to pick up in our study next time. But what is the final take away for us? Because of God's transcendence, because of God's power, because of God's holiness, the Lord must be feared by the Philistine, by the Israelite, and then even by the Christian. Does that strike us as strange that you and I as Christians should fear the Lord? Well, it shouldn't. For doesn't Paul say in Philippians 2.12 that we are to work out our salvation with what? With fear and trembling. And doesn't the author of Hebrews write in Hebrews 12, 28 and 29, that we are to offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe. Why? Because our God is a consuming fire. In this way, I am reminded of an interaction between the Pevensey children and two beavers in C.S. Lewis's classic work, The Chronicles of Narnia. In the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, we see three of these children, Peter, Susan, and Lucy, getting their bearings about this strange land they entered into in a conversation with the beavers. In this conversation, they learn about the White Witch and the eternal winter. And they also learn about this prophecy about two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve. And they also learn about Aslan, a lion, who is the rightful king of Narnia. And expectedly, because the king of Narnia is a lion, the children are a little bit scared, they're shocked. A lion rules this land, one who is fearful, this fierce and terrible creature. And so one of the children asked the beaver a simple question, is he safe? And if you know the words, safe. Says Mr. Beaver, don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe, but he's good. He's the king, I tell you. And of course we know that C.S. Lewis is drawing inspiration here from the scriptures, where Christ is presented both as a sacrificial lamb and as the Lion of Judah. And if we truly understand the depictions that are to come of Christ in his majesty and his glory in the book of Revelation, then friends, you and I should have a reverent fear of Jesus. As the apostle John also falls down before the one who alone bears the title of King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When a Christian believes the gospel, That good news should drive out of the Christian fear of condemnation, but it cannot drive out of the Christian a reverent fear of God and his holiness. And by reverent fear, I'm not just talking about external religion or traditionalism or morality, but a deep impression that when a Christian thinks of God and considers himself in relation to God, they experientially know that this God is infinitely greater than them. And therefore, the only option that we have is to respect and to honor and to revere and to submit to this God, before whom without his grace and mercy, you and I would be undone. And dear Christian, this view of God is right and good. And it's necessary for your sanctification. Because if you're honest, it's only this view of God that actually explains why grace and mercy are needed in the first place. And only in this reverent fear will we be able to live out the words of Proverbs 3.7. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. And so therefore, in conclusion, I can think of no other way to end this sermon by the words of Psalm 2, 10 through 12, which is a prophecy about how the nations should respond to Christ the King. Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. And hear this, blessed are all who take refuge in him. Let's pray. Oh, eternal God, we thank you for opportunities like this to so clearly see your glory on display, where we can see the kindness and the severity of our God. May we understand ourselves rightly before you. May we by faith behold your power, your majesty. May we walk with fear and trembling as we follow you all the days of our lives, thankful for the one who is both the lion and the lamb. Confirm this word upon our hearts, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.