The Counterfeit Revival - Part 1

Now in the fourth chapter we looked, 1 Samuel 4, at forced revival. We noticed first of all there was a presumption and an offensive presumption and that meant they were going to battle without enquiring of the Lord. Secondly we noticed that there was obvious defeat and the reason for the deceit was the great fact that there were two priests who were covering sin. And then we noticed from the word of God the tragedy of defeat, 4,000 men were slain. Then we looked at this great fact of the wrong diagnosis. The elders came to view and when they looked at the situation their observation was right. The Lord has spitten us before the Philistines but their diagnosis was wrong. They said let's get the ark and it will save us. Now thank God for externals. Thank God for symbols. Thank God for types. But please remember that externals will never bring blessing if there is sin in the camp. And then we looked at this counterfeit revival. When the ark came into the camp and it was on the backs of two priests we noticed what was happening. First of all they were Levitical robbers. They were robbing the people and they were robbing God of the fat of the sacrifice. Secondly they were guilty of priestly immorality. When the women gathered to see the priestly deportment of the priests they were committing immorality with them and all this was covered up. And then last of all the temple light was going out and they were not feeding it and trimming it as they should have done. And in spite of all that they bring back the ark of God and all the externals look very good and there's a marvellous display of emotion so that the earth rang. And when they were joined in battle 33,000 were slain. The two sons of Eli, Ophni and Phinehas were judged. The ark was stolen and then a little baby was born which said Ichabod being his name the glory is departed. But now we're going to look at another little boy that was born. And what a difference. If there was a son of Phinehas who told Israel by his name that the glory had departed there was another son born right in the midst of this apostasy. You see there was a man whose name was Elkanah and he had two wives and one wife was a godly woman. She's name was Anna and she was a woman of prayer and that woman went into the presence of God and she pleaded with God for a man child. Eli who had lost all his discernment because he was almost semi-blind he thought she was drunk but he was so wrong. She was a woman with a troubled spirit and then she got the confirmation that she was going to have a child and she made this promise. If God gave her a man child she would be given to the Lord or the child would until the day of his death. And the child came through the prayers of a godly mother. Now note this. When God is going to raise up a special prophet he invariably raises up a godly mother. And it was the prayers of a godly mother that saved Israel. And when that boy was weaned she took him up to the temple and she gave that child to the Lord and she gave that child by bringing a bullock as a burnt offering and she gave him freely although her heart must have been broken. And so you have three generations. You have one generation the son of Phinehas telling the nation that the glory had departed. You had another generation that came from Hannah and through that man the glory of God was going to return. May it be that God will raise up among us godly women that shall produce godly children. We must never despise motherhood and when you can, may I say this to the young mothers, when you can stay at home and look after those children, do it. It's far better to culture them in Christ than to culture them in materialism. And that is vital so that God may raise up from among us those who are like Samuel. Well the ark was stolen but when you come to the fifth chapter you must have a little smile. The Philistines thought that they had a wonderful victory and so they did. They knew now that they were the masters of Israel and they were the servants of slaves. And always remember this as we have seen the Philistines were the enemy inside the land. And it's always the enemy inside us that causes the problem, the flesh, and on many occasions it's the enemy in the church that causes the problem. And these were the Philistines. And they take that ark and you can almost see a cynical smile and they bring it right into the house of Dagon. Now Dagon was the fish god and quite frankly he was the big fish god but more than that. Dagon is always associated with the sea and the sea is always linked with the multitude. And what is this saying to us? That the God of this world, that's the devil, has blinded the minds of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them. And they take the ark which is the symbol of God's presence and they put it right in the heart of the house of Dagon and they leave it there with a jackal. And the next morning when they come in what do they find? That Dagon is prostrate before the ark, hallelujah. What does that mean? When the Lord Jesus came into our world God manifests in the flesh. He fought all the hosts of Satan. That's why there was so much demon activity in the world when Jesus was here. And after those days of fasting in the wilderness Satan came to him with all his fiery doubts and not one penetrated. He left him defeated. That must have been a wonderful sight for the almighty God. Then the next day they put the fish god up, needed support, and they left him there. And probably there were some doubts.