“Glory to the Precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ”

John 5: 21

For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen

Hallelujah 

Our life, the bride, the church should be very holy without any deeds of the idol in our soul and we must safeguard ourselves.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the portion of the Bible that we meditated upon in the past days, we meditated that we, the bride, the church should be as those who bring up our children in the Lord.

Next, what we are meditating is that 1 Samuel 5: 1 - 7 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 

When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. 

And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set it in its place again. 

And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only Dagon’s torso was left of it. 

Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

But the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 

And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god.”

When we meditate upon the above-mentioned verses, the Philistines caught the ark of the covenant of the Lord and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. There was the temple of Dagon is Ashdod so they brought it and set it by Dagon. And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only Dagon’s torso was left of it. Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. But the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god.” Therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines, and said-

1 Samuel 5: 8 – 12 Therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried away to Gath.” So they carried the ark of the God of Israel away. 

So it was, after they had carried it away, that the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction; and He struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them.

Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. So it was, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people!”

So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go back to its own place, so that it does not kill us and our people.” For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. 

And the men who did not die were stricken with the tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

If we meditate upon the above-mentioned words, the ark of the covenant of the Lord should not be kept in the temple of idols and also if we will follow the word of God and walk according to it, we should not have any idol thoughts in between this and we must safeguard ourselves and for that God is showing this as a pattern.  Also, the ark of the covenant of the Lord not only did it make Dagon fall down but the head and hands were broken off. From this we come to know that before the word of the Lord any idol gods cannot stand and God is the God who destroys the foreign spirits and also those who walk according to the commandments of the Lord if they do not walk in a holy path, God’s hand will be against them and heavy upon them. That is, they will have sickness and also death and we can read this in the word of God.

Therefore, my dear people we must never serve idols and that is a law of the Lord. Therefore let us submit ourselves without any deeds of the idol in our soul.

Let us pray. May the Lord bless you all abundantly. 

- To be continued