Year 2 Day 228
Pray (ACts) Read - 1 Samuel 5:6-12 Message - Alan Burke Poor Dagon, he had lost his hands (and his head) now we learn that the Lord’s hand was heavy upon the people Just as the Lord’s hand had been at work in Egypt, showing his mighty power, likewise here he demonstrates his power and he brings devastation upon the people. The devastation brought death, they were affected with tumours. The Lord was bringing his judgement upon the people, he was displaying his glory, and if the defeat of Dagon had gone unnoticed to them, this was inescapable. The Lord’s had brought devastation, the people were afflicted with tumours they get their leaders together (remember Dagon’s at the repair shop), and they ask them what to do. The answer they come up with is to send the ark to Gath. I wonder how the king of Gath felt about this but one thing to notice is that the Philistines are not wanting to give the ark back, they want to hold on to it for the time being. And of course there is a sense that it makes sense. Send the ark to Gath, see what happens, and if nothing happens then sure we’ll just put this down to something else, but it wasn’t a coincidence it was the Lord. Again the Lord’s hand is heavily upon them, there was panic, the people were affected, young and old with an outbreak of tumours, the Lord is bringing his judgment upon the whole people, no one is escaping, this was the Lord at work. The people of Gath moved the ark of God to Ekron, notice this time is different from the last time, before in Ashdod they had got the rulers together, here the people knew what was going on and they just wanted rid of the ark. They had the most sense out of all the Philistines, no crisis meeting is held just get it shifted to the closet city Ekron. As it enters Ekron see there what they shout in verse 10, “they have brought the ark of the god of Israel round to us to kill us and our people”. The ark had brought devastation to where it had been and terror across the whole land of the Philistines. Before we are told what happened, the people of Ekron called together the rulers of the Philistines and they simply want the thing sent back from where it came from. This is an act of complete surrender, and then we are told why, God’s hand was very heavy upon the city. Those who did not die were affected with tumours. Do we see in all of this how the Lord was at work, he had cast down their idol, he had struck the people in his wrath, and it was message for the Philistines as well as his own people. It seemed that the Lord was the defeated one, he was the one who had lost, the ark was captured, the glory of the Lord departed at the end of chapter four, all seemed lost but nothing was further from the truth. The Lord in what seemed like the end bought glory to himself, likewise on the cross, as Jesus there nailed to it, executed it weakness it seemed that the Lord was once more defeated, but the Lord was at work for his glory, three days later Jesus rose, and there was a victory over sin and the grave so that we might know the joys of sins forgiven. Pray (acTS) Sing WSC Q105 What do we pray for in the fifth petition? In the fifth petition, (which is, And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, (Matt. 6:12)) we pray, That God, for Christ’ s sake, would freely pardon all our sins; (Ps. 51:1–2,7,9, Dan. 9:17–19) which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others. (Luke 11:4, Matt. 18:35)
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