The Glory Returns
The Glory Returns || Day 5
I Samuel 4:1-11 NKJV
"And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.” So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp!” And they said, “Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!” So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. Also the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died."
In order to see the glory, the church must sever its ties with the house of Eli.
If Eli or his sons were leaders in the kingdom today it would be the same spirit, but it would look a little different. They would be called pastor or apostle or prophet or evangelist or teacher. They would be married and have several girlfriends, and no one would say anything. They would stand behind their pulpits and teach false doctrine. They would come out in public and deny the written word of God. They would stand in their pulpits and give 15-minute rants on how the church is wrong for standing against abortion. They would open churches and preach on how the church should accept and ordain homosexuality and stop looking at it as a sin.
Eli and his sons knew how to go through the motions. They could stand up in front of people and carry out the duties of the priesthood knowing their lives were not right in the sight of God. The Bible says that in those days the word of the Lord was rare. Not only was the word of the Lord rare, but the lamp of God was about to go out. The sad thing is there was no urgency or concern in Eli or his sons. There was no repentance or desire to change. They felt that because they were priests, they could live how they wanted to and God would overlook it because they were the chosen ones.
We are the Samuels in these last days. We are waking up from a night with God. We have heard His voice and we have been given our marching orders. Therefore, we are waking up and opening the doors to the house of the Lord!
Further Reading: 1 Samuel 2:12-36, 2 Samuel 6:1-19, 1 Samuel 3:1-18