Beyond the Visible: God is at Work

Have you ever felt like God was absent in your darkest moments? The ancient story of the Ark of the Covenant's capture reveals a powerful truth that transforms how we view seemingly hopeless situations.

When Israel's most sacred object was seized by their enemies, it appeared to be a devastating defeat. But behind the visible circumstances, an invisible battle was unfolding. As we explore 1 Samuel 5, we discover what happens when the symbol of God's presence enters enemy territory. The Philistines proudly displayed their trophy in their god Dagon's temple, but woke to find their massive stone idol mysteriously toppled, face-down before the Ark, its head and hands broken off. Meanwhile, painful afflictions spread through their cities wherever the Ark traveled.

This fascinating narrative illustrates how God works in dimensions beyond our sight. Just as gravity remains invisible yet undeniably powerful, spiritual realities operate around us constantly. The story foreshadows Jesus himself, who would later appear defeated in death only to rise victorious, making a public spectacle of the enemy's presumed triumph.

What appears as defeat on the surface often masks God's greater purposes. When circumstances seem to contradict God's promises, remember that multiple dimensions are at play. The Philistines had an opportunity to recognize the true God's power and repent, but instead tried to distance themselves from His presence – a mistake we often repeat when confronted with truth that challenges our comfortable idols.

Where in your life might God be working in ways you cannot yet see? Join us as we unpack this remarkable story and discover how to recognize God's hidden hand in our most challenging circumstances. Connect with us at lifearoundthefire@gmail.com to share your thoughts or questions!

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to 1 Samuel 5
• 4:01 The Ark in Dagon's Temple
• 6:33 Dagon Falls Before the Ark
• 10:44 Tumors Afflict the Philistines
• 13:59 God's Power and Personal Change
• 18:36 Closing Prayer and Contact Information

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:38

we've been taking some time looking into the book of 1 Samuel and right now we're in chapter 5. This chapter has in it some of the more telling things concerning the plan of God that was taking place behind the scenes, how God was doing something that wasn't necessarily obvious to the naked eye or to the uninformed or to the uninformed. But what he was really up to is something far greater than the way things looked on the surface, and that's often the case in life. There are things that are going on behind the scenes that we don't really have the opportunity of seeing, because what's going on in the spiritual world isn't always visible to the naked eye. But there are things that are taking place on a multi-level fashion all throughout life. Dimensions are at play that we don't always see, but just because we don't see them doesn't mean they don't exist. I don't see gravity, but I see it in operation, just like I don't always see things in the spirit realm, but I see the operation of that realm impacting the world that I live in. And so we're looking at that in this particular chapter and it's really full of meaning and, as it goes with the other portions of 1 Samuel, it's a story man and I love stories and we're picking up this story right now where the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God's presence for Israel, and it is taken away from Israel and it is brought into a foreign land. And we're picking up in chapter 5, starting at verse 1, and Scripture says after the Philistines had captured the Ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. They carried the Ark into Dagon's temple and Dagon was the demigod that they served, the false god that they turned into an idol. Dagon, half man, half fish. They carried the Ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon or the image of Dagon.

Speaker 1: 4:16

When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, the people of Ashdod rose early the next day there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord. They took Dagon and put his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold. Only his body remained. This is why, to this day, neither the priests of Dagon nor others who enter Dagon's temple to Ashdod step on the threshold.

Speaker 1: 5:10

The Lord's hand was very heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity. He brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumors. When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said the ark of the God of Israel must not stay here with us because his hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon, our God. So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked them what shall we do with the Ark of the God of Israel? They answered have the Ark of the God of Israel moved to Gath? So they moved the Ark of God of Israel. But after they had moved it, the Lord's hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors. So they sent the Ark of God to Ekron. As the Ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out they have brought the ark of the God of Israel around to us to kill us and our people. So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said send the ark of the God of Israel away. Let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people. For death had filled the city with panic. God's hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die, were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven Interesting, interesting.

Speaker 1: 7:07

They bring the Philistines, bring the Ark of the Covenant, of the covenant of Israel, into Dagon's temple, which they would do with all of the other defeated foes. They would bring artifacts from their temples, from the other gods, demigods, into the temple as a sign of victory, and they brought the Ark of the Covenant in to do the same. Except, except, this was not just any ordinary piece of furniture. This was the very symbol of God's presence. It was a picture of what things look like in heaven, and it was a picture of it being made on earth. The kingdom come. The will of God be done in the earth, on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus taught us to pray that way, and so the Ark was brought into Dagon's house, dagon's temple.

Speaker 1: 8:23

And Dagon was not just a small little statue, that's 10 feet tall, like you'd see in a park. This statue was huge. We don't have the exact measurements, but speculation has it that it was over 30 feet tall and probably 5, 10 feet deep. It was a huge piece of stone, and so when it fell, it fell hard and to get back up took a lot of effort, but there was no one in that temple when that stone idol fell, except the Ark of the Covenant. Who was it that tipped that statue, that idol, that figure, who tipped Dagon over? I believe that it was the very presence of God that was the foretaste or forerunner of the Lord, jesus, himself tipping over Dagon, much like Jesus being taken captive by the Romans and crucified, taken into a tomb and resurrected right in the face of the enemy. Satan Jesus, overcoming things just like the ark. Satan Jesus, overcoming things Just like the ark, overcame Dagon in his temple. That's a powerful thing, man. We see Jesus all throughout the Old Testament and we see Jesus here. Jesus here Tipping over Dagon making a public spectacle of him.

Speaker 1: 10:40

And the people were inflicted with tumors. Some transcripts give indication that the tumors were of the nature of a bubonic plague type or a hemorrhoid type tumor, things that would affect the private areas. And interesting that it would affect the private areas because that area, for the Philistines and all of the other tribes in the area, their sexual activity, their practices of worship involving sexual activity, both in the area of prostitution but homosexuality and bestiality, the use of the sexual organs, was a thing of pride and it was in that area of their life that they were inflected with tumors. If it was the bubonic plague, the bubonic plague affected the areas of the groin and of the armpits. If it were something different and just hemorrhoids, massive hemorrhoids and boils can affect the entire region around one's private parts, and what we do with our private parts matters.

Speaker 1: 12:29

It's a very important thing how we handle that area of our life. Ultimately, it is an expression of intimacy and of how we go about demonstrating that, as well as procreation. But when it's used in a perverse fashion, it brings about a type of consequence, judgment, if you will. And they experience they, meaning the Philistines, experience the judgment of God. The hand of God was heavy on them, not in a glorious way, but in a corrective way. A demonstration of the supremacy of God, the God of Israel, the supremacy, I will say the supremacy of Jesus, the supremacy of God, our Father, god the Son, god, the Holy Spirit, god, god Almighty, but a demonstration of Jesus Before Jesus was born, of a virgin, because we see his footprint all throughout the Old Testament, various times, various places where there's a theophany of Jesus, a pre-appearance of him, giving us a foretaste of what is to come, and now we have that given to us as a sign of the times that we're living in.

Speaker 1: 14:23

We are living in a time in which God is demonstrating his power in an even greater fashion than he did when he tipped over Dagon, and the Philistines didn't want anything to do with that, which is a mistake, because it was actually an opportunity for them to repent, to change, to embrace something that was better than the idols that they were serving idols that they were serving but they chose to remain in a place of devotion to inferiority versus changing, acknowledging that they've been wrong, asking God to forgive and to receive his grace and his mercy and become people aligned with him. But they wouldn't. But they wouldn't. And a word to the wise if you're listening to this and you're in a place where you've been serving yourself as your own God or you've been experimenting with other gods, you're going to find out they're inferior. And my desire for you, our desire for you, is that you would change your mind and change your ways, that you would turn, you would repent, you would acknowledge that you've been searching out things that are inferior, whether it be you or other, sources in which you try to gain some sense of meaning in life.

Speaker 1: 16:37

The only meaning in life that one's going to find is in relationship with God Through Jesus Christ, being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, being given newness of life, the free gift of eternal life, by placing your faith, one's faith, in the finished, complete work of Jesus. What he accomplished on the cross, he did because we couldn't accomplish it on our own. He accomplished it for us. And when we believe that, when we acknowledge that that's step number one that allows us to begin a life where we can walk in the Spirit as citizens of the kingdom of God, let's not make the same mistake that the Philistines made and that they simply wanted to get rid of God. Let's embrace whatever change is necessary, and in that change we find relationship with God and with one another.

Speaker 1: 18:02

Hallelujah, let's pray, father, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, father, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, god. Thank you for revealing to us things that we could not see on our own. But when you show reality to us, something happens, a change takes place. You give us the opportunity to change, and I thank you, holy Spirit, I thank you for the gift of eternal life found in Jesus. Jesus, you're amazing. Thank you for providing for us what we couldn't accomplish on our own.

Speaker 1: 18:54

We honor you as King of Kings, as Lord of Lords. We thank you for setting up your abode within us and giving us the opportunity to abide in you. Thank you, we honor you and we stand here in your name and we declare it to be true. We say amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. All right, folks, we love you. If you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at lifearoundthefire, at gmailcom that's our email address or you can type in lifearoundthefire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you In the meantime. God bless you. Adios amigos.