A sermon preached by Rev Ivan Foster in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church on 7th June 1987.
“And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him,” 1 Samuel 5:1-4.
In the midst of apparent defeat, God continues to work!
The information in the first verse reminds us that the Lord may permit the enemy to the remove the ordinances He has instituted and even the visible evidence of His presence amongst His people if there is a turning away from Him as there was in the days of Eli.
Such a defeat and set back for the people of God is viewed as a great victory over the Lord. In that we have a strong reason to avoid ‘backsliding’ because of the dishonour it brings to the name of the Lord.
The defeat of Israel at the hands of the Philistines was the direct result of her sin and rebellion rather than any superiority of the Philistines’ skills of war. Sin had cost them the Lord’s blessing and brought about their consequent defeat.
While the Philistines attributed their victory to their god, ‘Dagon’, the Lord soon demonstrated the folly of that notion!
The incident is illustrative of what takes place at conversion.
I. CHRIST COMING INTO THE SOUL OF THE BELIEVER IS MARKED BY AN OVERTHROWING OF THEIR FORMER ‘GOD’.
Here is the nature of the work of God in the heart of the converted sinner.
1. Before conversion the soul is a ‘house of Dagon’! The devil is “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,” Ephesians 2:2. The devil is the ‘god of this world’! “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them,” 2 Corinthians 4:4.
2. When Christ enters the heart through faith, the power of the devil is broken. Immediately the Lord begins to work in our hearts and lives. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new,” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
3. The evidence of Christ’s presence in the Christian’s heart and life is very evident. As the action of the Philistines in placing the Ark of the Covenant in the house of Dagon brought about events unthought of by them, so the changes that are introduced in the life of the converted are unexpected and inexplicable to the unsaved. It is also beyond what the saved sinner expected!
It was in the morning they found Dagon fallen. It had happened unseen during the darkness of the night!
“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea,” Micah 7:18-19.
But greater changes have yet to take place, Christian!
“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself,” Philippians 3:21.
There will be a complete and total overthrow of sin and ungodliness one day for the child of God.
II. PLEASE NOTE THAT EFFORTS WILL BE MADE TO SET UP AGAIN THE BROKEN IDOL!
“Behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again,” verse 3.
1. The soul of the believer becomes a battleground. The new nature must resist the takeover attempt by the old nature.
“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin,” Romans 7:23-25.
2. There may even be an apparent measure of success. “And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again,” v 3.
3. However, such apparent success is short-lived. A great fall awaits Dagon!
“And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him,” 1 Samuel 5:4. By the mercy of God we are enabled to “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen,” 2 Peter 3:18.
The head and the hands of the idol were cut off in this second fall. God’s sanctifying grace in the life of the believer robs the devil and sin of the power to hold us in slavery as was the case before our conversion.
“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace,” Romans 6:13-14.
We have been set free by the Gospel. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed,” John 8:36.
III. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ‘STUMP’ OF DAGON REMAINED.
That is something denoting an important truth.
1. There remains with the child of God, all the days of our earthly pilgrimage, a stump of sin! “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us,” 1 John 1:8-10.
How foolish and contrary to the Word of God is the notion that we can become ‘sinlessly perfect’ in this life. Only sin can promote such a notion! It is but evidence of the ‘stump’ of depravity that remains within the believer.
2. The Christian life consists of our resisting of the old nature takimg over again! “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand,” Ephesians 6:13.
We must carefully seek to advance and not go back.
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 2 Peter 1:4-8.
3. The Christian must look forward with joy to the full and final overthrow of inward sin and corruption. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:51-55.
The mindset and inclination of our hearts should be a “looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God,” 2 Peter 3:12.
This was the disposition for the early church and it should be ours also. “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,” Titus 2:13.
May it be so with us all.