The Long Road to Revival
1 Samuel 6:13-15; 7:2-17
During the days of the prophet Samuel, the people of Israel had gone through a difficult time. The Ark of the Covenant, which was the symbol of the presence of God, had been captured by a foreign army.
It was a crushing blow by their bitter enemy. While the Philistines held the Ark of the Covenant, God poured out His wrath upon the Philistines. He afflicted them with a plague of tumors.
The Philistines were so plagued by the tumors that they decided to return the Ark of the Covenant to the Israelites. They hoped that God would then remove His Holy Hand of Judgement.
And so we come to 1 Samuel 6:13-15.
It seems like the Israelites were doing the right thing. It seems like the people joyfully sacrificed the cows and the cart to God as a celebration of the return of the Ark of the Covenant. But there is a problem brewing.
Look back at I Samuel 6:7. This verse says that the Philistines used two cows (heifers, female cows) that have given birth and had never been yoked. It says that the Philistines took away the calves from the heifers and put them into a pen. Look at Leviticus 1:3. Through Moses, God commanded the Israelites when they brought a burnt offering, they were to bring a male animal.
This may seem like a little detail, but listen: it is a terrible thing to treat the Holy things of God in an unholy manner! There is no room for careless and casual worship of God. God is Holy! And we must worship Him in Holiness!
The carelessness of the people did not stop there.1 Samuel 6:15. “The large rock, on which they set the ark of the Lord, is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.”
“Beth Shemesh was a Levitical city set aside for the clan of Kohath, the Levitical family charged with the responsibility of caring for the ark of the covenant” (NAC, 102).
This was the place where the ark was to be protected. These were the people who were supposed to care for the ark. But notice what happens.
1. 1 Samuel 1:15 – They displayed the ark on a rock.
2. 1 Samuel 1:19—They opened the top of the ark of the covenant
Listen to Numbers 4:4-6, 20. “This is the work of the Kohathites in the Tent of Meeting: the care of the most holy things. When the camp is to move, Aaron and his sons are to go in and take down the shielding curtain and cover the ark of the Testimony with it. Then they are to cover this with hides of sea cows, spread a cloth of blue over that and put the poles in place. But the Kohathites must not go in and look at the holy things, even for a moment or they will die.”
The Kohathites were forbidden from even looking at the Ark, yet they displayed it upon a rock.
They were forbidden from touching the ark, yet 1 Samuel 6:19 says, “God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the Lord.”
Now there is a discrepancy in the various translations over how many people the Lord struck down. Some versions say 70, and some say 50,070. I will not spend a great deal of time on this, but scholars such as Gleason Archer in his book Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties has argued persuasively that the number was probably 70 not 50,070. (p. 169). Beth Shemesh was a small village with less than 50,000, and it is unlikely that 50,000 people were involved in lifting off the top of the ark. Although I believe that God is powerful enough to strike down 50,000 and a whole lot more if he so chooses, I believe the number of men struck down that day was 70.
The point is not how many God struck down, but that God did strike down men who were careless and casual with the law of God. The spiritual leaders of the people ignored the commands of God and the results were devastating. Many lives were taken because of sin.
Since the Garden of Eden, “God has been instructing His people in the seriousness of their relationship with Him. He was God and they were His people. They were to be holy. No casual or careless relationship with God would be tolerated, for such behavior would encourage all of God’s people to depart from Him and His covenant relationship with them” (Blackaby, 103).
When a nation or a people turn their backs on God they will surely reap destruction.
When the people of God turn treat the worship of God carelessly and casually they will reap destruction.
Sometimes God uses the megaphone of judgment to wake His people up and to call them back to Himself. He desires an intimate love relationship with His people and when they fail to worship Him, He will use whatever it takes to call them back to Himself.
God sent this judgment as a wakeup call to His people, but look how they responded. 1 Samuel 6:19 says, “The people lamented because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.”
“Now God once again would teach His people to obey Him, by judging their careless behavior. Israel needed a deep renewal, or revival in their relationship with God” (Blackaby, 103).
• The people were not sorry for their sin; they were sorry that they had suffered the consequences of their sin
• They were not sorry for their actions; they were sorry that God had judged their actions
That is not true repentance! That is not true godly sorrow!
1 Samuel 7:1&2 says, “Som the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord. They took it to Abinadab house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord. It was a long time, twenty years in all that the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord.”
• There are 20 years of silence between 1 Samuel 7:1 and 7:2.
• There are 20 years about which the Scripture does not speak.
• There are 20 years of spiritual blindness.
• But finally, after 20 years, something happened in the hearts of the Isrealites.
1 Sam. 7:2 says, “all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord.”
• No longer were they just sorry that they had been caught sinning, they were truly sorry for their sin.
• Twenty long years separated from the presence of God
• Twenty Long years separated from the power of God
Now, once again, the longed fro the presence and the power of God. God heard their cry and sent His servant Samuel with a message. Look at the content of his message.
1. “If you are returning to the Lord…”
a. Sin always separates you from God. It does not separate the believer from their position of a child of God. Once you are saved you are saved for eternity. Sin does not interrupt your union with God.
b. But sin does interrupt your intimate communion with God. It destroys the sweet close fellowship that God longs to enjoy with you. It interrupts your communication and drives a painful wedge between you and God.
c. Don’t wait twenty long years to see your fellowship with God restored! Return to the Lord.
d. If God is feels far away today it is probably because your sin has pushed Him away. But he is longing for you to return.
2. “With all your hearts…”
a. Samuel said, “if you are returning, return to Him with all your heart…”
b. God only accepts a total response. If you are returning, you must return to Him totally. As God, He rightly demands and rightly deserves your whole heart.
3. “Rid yourselves of the foreign gods…”
a. Genuine repentance is found in turning from a false god to the One True God.
b. He alone is worthy of your worship and praise.
4. “Commit yourselves to the Lord…”
a. After cleansing your life from the false gods it is time to consecrate yourself to the True God.
5. “Serve Him Only!”
a. You cannot serve God with a divided heart
b. You cannot serve God with a divided loyalty
c. You cannot serve God and another master
d. If God be your God, that serve Him and serve Him alone
Verse 4 shows that the Israelites did what the prophet Samuel commanded. They put away their false gods and turned to the true God. This is genuine repentance. You cannot repent of your sins with half of your heart and hold onto your sins with the other half of your heart. The Israelites put away their false gods and served the Lord only.
Listen carefully to the words of Puritan preacher William Gurnall. His language is dated but his message is timeless. “Take heed thou prayest not with a reservation, be sure thow renouncest what thou wouldst have God remit. God will never remove guilt as long as thou entertainest the sin…It is desperate folly to desire God to forgive what thou indendest to commit…God knows the language of thy heart, and needs not thy tongue to be an interpreter…Hypocrisy is too thin a veil to blind the eyes of the Almighty. Thou mayest put thy own eyes out, so as not to see Him; but thou canst never blind His eyes that He should not see thee.” (I.D.E. Thomas, A Puritan Golden Treasury (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1975), 239).
Then Samuel assembled all the people and began to intercede for them and on that day they confessed, “we have sinned against the Lord.”
In humility, the people repented of their sin. They cried out to the Lord for forgiveness and mercy.
• There was individual repentance for personal sin
• There was corporate repentance for national sin
Together, as individuals and as a corporate body, the people cried out. Then, in 1 Samuel 7:9, Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a burnt sacrifice. This was not an impure sacrifice like the people had offered 20 years before! This was a picture of the perfect sacrifice that would one day be offered for all the people. This lamb was a picture of Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God. Samuel offered a perfect and spotless lamb as a statement of faith that one day, the Heavenly Father would provide the perfect lamb, Jesus Christ, who would take away the sins of the world.
And then look at 1 Samuel 7:10, “While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites.”
What happened? When the people repented of their sins, there was a great return of the presence, the power, and the protection of God. The people were revived and the enemy was routed.
What is holding America back from a great reviving work of God? What is holding this church back from a great outpouring of the presence, and the power and the protection of God? It is a failure of the people of God to repent of their sins, individually and corporately.
• Individually many of you must admit that you have been careless and casual in your worship of God
• Individually, many of you must admit that you have defiled the worship of the True God and departed to worship false gods
• And corporately, we must admit that we have treated the Holy Things of God in careless and casual manner.
Samuel saw a mighty revival in his day, but we will never see a mighty revival in our day until we understand the ways of God. Our nation, our state, and our community are in serious spiritual crisis!
Where are the people today willing to humble themselves and repent of their sins?
Where are the Samuel’s today, willing to humble themselves and intercede for our people?
Where are the leaders willing to cry out and ask God to return His presence, His power, and His protection?
