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Praise the Lord, Grace and Peace, great people of our Great God… JESUS!

There are amazing principles that shine so brightly throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, especially those that express the divine facts of God’s Mercy and Grace. The gospel of the grace of God is shown in the history of God’s people collectively and individually in the Old and New Testaments.

In my continual study of God’s Word, I have come to know that it is essential that man be in his right place to receive an illuminated view of God. When man is in the right place in God, he fellowships with God as He is, which provides perfect answers and a divine solution for every situation and circumstance. It is only when we come to the end of ourselves that Jesus ministers unto us!  I’ve noticed that the fullness of God waits for our vessel to be empty, and we can only accomplish this when we desire to experience Him. So, for this Golden Nugget excerpt, I want to provoke thought: “You have to be a FOOL not to desire to Dwell in the PRESENCE OF THE LORD.” To further provoke gospel thought, I present the following scriptures to support my premise!

Gen 3:8: “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”

Zep 1:7: “Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.”

Acts 3:19-21: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

As I studied 1 Samuel chapter 4, Israel had been defeated by the Philistines. Still, instead of humbling themselves before the Lord in true repentance for their spiritual demise, they did not accept their defeat as God’s just judgment. My brothers and sisters, please notice Israel’s response to defeat… “And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, wherefore has the Lord smitten us to-day before the Philistines?” These words show that the elders were not in their right place with God. The word “wherefore” would never have proceeded from their lips if they had realized their morbid spiritual condition! In the midst of them, there proved to be shameful sin within the priesthood. Their leaders, Hophni and Phinehas, of the priesthood, exemplified lust and vile conduct perpetually before the Lord! Sam. 2:17: “Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord; for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.”

Unfortunately, the people had no discernment of their spiritual condition or its consequences. Hence, the solution they thought to implore was… “Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh to us, that, when it comes among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.” What a delusion! What blindness! There was no condemnation, nor confession from Israel, concerning the dishonor they brought on God’s name, as they presented empty, false worship! Because of this vain mindset, they believed bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield would bring them victory! At that point, it was all pageantry!  

My brothers and sister meditate on this…”So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, which dwells between the cherubim: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.”

What we have here are two rebels against God, having a form of godliness but denying the glorious power thereof! What a dangerous and fearful position to be in for hypocrites! The ark of God, associated with these two ungodly, wicked men, was about to bring judgment upon the whole nation of a holy and righteous God.

Saints, even today, there is nothing more dreadful and offensive to God than the attempt to connect His name with wickedness. Moral evil under any circumstances is bad enough. Still, the attempt to combine moral evil with the name and service of Him who is holy and true is the very highest and darkest form of wickedness and only brings the wrath of God. Those ungodly priests, the sons of Eli, dared to defile the very precincts of the sanctuary with their abominations; and yet these were the men who accompanied the ark of God into the field of battle. What blindness and stiff-neckedness! That one sentence, “Hophni and Phinehas were there with the ark of the covenant of God,” embodies and encompasses the terrible reflection of Israel’s moral and spiritual condition.

“And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.” How vain was the shout, how hollow the boast was, how empty the pretension! “The Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.”

My brothers and sisters, please note the results! The priests were slain; the ark was taken; and the glory of the Lord had departed. The ark they boasted about, which they confidently built their hope and victory in, was in the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines, and put in their temple of Dagon! We must understand the basics: “Holiness becomes Thy house, O Lord, forever.” God reminds us through Israel’s example that He must dwell in our midst; but this perpetual fellowship demands holiness. Jesus will never connect His name with unjudged sin; hence, we must repent. For Jesus to do so would deny His holy nature, and God cannot deny Himself. I reiterate: Jesus must have a place where He dwells, suited to His nature and character. 1Pe. 1:14-17 “ As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:.”

The Apostle Paul states in 1Co. 11:31-32: “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” This is a fundamental truth; we must tenaciously embrace and walk out what we should never surrender.

Let us further examine the history of the ark in the land of the Philistines. Israel had failed and shamefully sinned. They proved themselves unworthy of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the Philistines tried to have the Ark of God render obeisance in the house of their false god, Dagon.

My brothers and sisters, God will be God, no matter how His people may fail! God still showed His power and splendor when their idol God, Dagon, fell before the glory of God. This event caused the whole land of the Philistines to tremble under the mighty hand of our God! His presence was intolerable to them, and hence, they sought to get rid of His glory and presence as soon as possible.

The Word of God will always be sustained in any situation! The glory of God and darkness cannot cohabit.  2Co 6:14-18  “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

Let us now reflect on 1 Sam. 7.  In this chapter we experience something else profound. “And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.”  I noticed that in 1 Sam. 5 and 1 Sam. 6, the Philistines could not dwell in God’s presence, and in 1 Sam. 7, Israel could not live without the Lord’s presence! My brothers and sisters, the world cannot endure the glory of God because it exposes its sin. This was more than obvious the moment that Adam willfully fell into sin, noted in Gen. 3. Man fled away from the presence of God, prior to Him driving them out of Eden. Adam nor Eve could endure the full divine presence. Their response when God sought them was, “I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

My brothers and sisters, it has been this way since Adam’s fall! Someone jokingly said, “If you could put an unconverted man into Heaven, he would get out of it as soon as possible.” This applies to the whole human race and accounts for our moral depravity! If a person cannot endure the presence of God, what are they fit for, and what are they capable of?

Notice what is specified in 1 Sam. 7:2-6: “all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.” Twenty long, dreary years had rolled on without His presence; “And Samuel Spake to all the house of Israel, saying, if ye do return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods, and Ashtaroth, from among you, and prepare your hearts to the Lord, and serve Him only, and HE (not the ark) will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only. And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you to the Lord. And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, we have sinned against the Lord.”

This great principle runs like a beautiful golden line through the Bible, especially as it relates to the history of God’s people. I consider this one of the main themes in the word of God: repentance and remission of sins! Repentance is man’s true place, and Remission of sins is God’s response. The former entails the empty vessel; the latter, the fullness of God. When these meet, one achieves a divine settlement.

This scene is now before us. Israel, having taken their true place, has freed God to act on their behalf. Their repentance proved to be like water poured upon the ground: completely helpless and worthless. God required sincere confession of their sins. God can now show that He is with Israel. “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

“And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly to the Lord: and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel.” How little did the Philistines know whom they were coming against, and who was about to meet them! “But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel … Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer (the stone of help), saying, Hitherto has the Lord helped us.”

What a contrast between Israel’s boastful shout noted in 1 Sam. 4 and God’s thunder in 1 Sam. 7. My brothers and sisters, the former, human pretension; the latter, divine power. The former was instantly followed by humiliating defeat; the latter by splendid triumph. The Philistines were startled by what had taken place.  Israel poured out the water; their tears worked with their cry; they offered up the lamb, and the priests stood ready to intercede.

What could uncircumcised Philistines know about these precious realities? Nothing! When the earth rang with Israel’s pretentious shout, they became cognizant of that. People of this world can understand and appreciate self-assertion and self-confidence; but these are the very things that shut out God. On the other hand, a broken heart, a contrite spirit, a lowly mind, are His delight. When Israel took the low place, the place of self-judgment and confession, then God’s thunder was heard, and the host of the Philistines was scattered and confounded. Saints, to experience the fullness of God, He needs an empty vessel. Please accept this precious truth, for when we do, we will experience more depth, fullness, power, and scope!

My brothers and sisters, as I closely observed 1 Sam. chapters 4 and 7, I was reminded of the churches of Laodicea and Philadelphia in Rev. 3. The former presents a condition we should sedulously avoid; the latter, a condition we should diligently and earnestly cultivate. In that, we see miserable self-complacency, and Christ left outside. In this, we see conscious weakness and lethargic behavior, but in the latter, we see Jesus Christ exalted, loved, and honored; His Word kept, and His Name exalted.

Please note earnestly that these things continue to the end. It is so illuminating to see that the last four of the seven churches in Revelation give us four phases of the Church’s history right up to the end. In Thyatira, we find Romanism; in Sardis, Protestantism. In Philadelphia, I see the true Apostolic believer striving to condition their soul to have the right heart to cultivate their faith in Jesus Christ!  Laodicea, on the contrary, presents a condition of the heart that will not embrace the presence of the Lord, and only in form! The former, He will make a pillar in the temple of His God; the latter, He will spew out of His mouth, and Satan will take it up and make it a cage of every unclean and hateful bird! Hence, I reiterate that anyone who pretends to be Philadelphia really is the spirit of Laodicea.

In my years of striving to serve the Lord, I have concluded that wherever you find pretension, assumption, self-assertion, or self-complacency, you have, in spirit and principle, Laodicea!

My brothers and sisters, let us be content not to walk in exaltation. Let us walk with serious confidence in Jesus Christ, because the fullness and presence of Jesus ever await our empty vessel. Hence, I conclude that “You have to be a FOOL not to desire to Dwell in the PRESENCE OF THE LORD.” Please strive to have a “JESUS DAY”