ON THE OCCASION OF THE
30TH BUILDING ANNIVERSARY OF WALVIS BAY BAPTIST CHURCH - 17th March 2013
“Ebenezer- until now the LORD has helped us “ – 1 Samuel 7:12
Reading : 1 Samuel 7:2-17
Dear
Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ,
What a joy to be united with you on this
occasion! And what a privilege to speak
for God in the presence of my spiritual fathers and brothers and mothers and sisters. Days
such as this are far too rare among us.
I have selected for us, I trust, a
text relevant to this occasion : 1 Samuel
7:12
“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up
between Mizpah and Shen and called its
name Ebenezer[1],
for he said, ‘ Till now the LORD has helped us.’ “
I have chosen this text since today is a landmark event. Today as we celebrate God’s faithfulness to this congregation we do want to raise our Ebenezer[2]. Well, since a text without a context is a pretext , I want to be careful to help you to see what the Holy Spirit , the Inspirer of Scripture had in mind when He caused this to be written down, and then apply this to our own life and times.
GENERAL CONTEXT :
This chapter relates how, after a period of
national backsliding, Samuel called Israel to return to the LORD with all their heart.
Israel backslid when they substituted foreign gods for their living LORD. At this time the ark of the LORD had also fallen into the
hands of the Philistines, who thought that they had thereby captured Israel’s God , only to find that this
symbol of His presence had become a curse to them (5:11). Ch. 6
records how the ark of the LORD is
returned to Israel , but this fact did
not bring spiritual revival to the Israel.
There is no merit in possessing sacred
furniture. Possessing God is
everything! In 7:2 we read: “ From the day that the ark was lodged at
Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed , some twenty years , and all the
house of Israel lamented after the LORD.
Now as the prophet- priest Samuel directs their hearts back to the LORD , the nation discovers afresh the wonder of relying on the LORD of their fathers. Instead of relying on pagan and magical views of the ark’s power, they rediscovered the joy of depending upon the Lord who gave them a great victory over the Philistines.
In Ch. 8 we read of Israel’s desire for a king. Sadly, the people think that they cannot compete with the nations without a king. They see that all of the other nations are being ruled by kings, and they desire that! This is tragic, since Ch. 7 proves that Israel could handle her enemies without a king, so long as she trusted in the Lord.
This then is the
general context in which we find this text .
SPECIFIC CONTEXT :
V. 3 So then, the return of the ark to Israel did
not mark the end of Israel’s
conflict with the Philistines. It took at least another 20
years to settle the Philistine
threat. Sin produces
very deep grooves and complex
patterns of thinking that are hard to
escape . So when the people began to cry out for spiritual renewal
and revival , Samuel had every reason to suspect the genuineness of the people’s repentance and to put it to the test. The real problem, he told
them, is not the Philistines who had
been harassing them, but the false gods
that the Israelites had been worshipping. Were they willing to part with those?
V. 4 records that they “put away the Baal’s and the Ashtaroth, and
they served the LORD only.”
V. 5 Samuel then gathered all
Israel at Mizpah (13 km’s north of Jerusalem). Mizpah was an important gathering
point for Israel in the period of the Judges.
V. 6 At Mizpah
Samuel led the people in prayers of repentance and fasting . The pouring
out of water before the LORD was probably a symbolic demonstration of their repentance ( e.g. "pour out your heart like water before the
presence of the Lord"- Lamentations 2:19). “Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah” . This statement
is important in the larger
context ( the demand for a king). At
this stage Samuel is Israel’s prophet, priest, and judge .
V.7 The Philistines
became visibly nervous when they heard that Israel was assembling at Mizpah in great numbers, and they decided
to do something about it. This
instilled renewed fear in the Israelites.
V.8 When your back is
against the wall, prayer is not the least you can do. It is the best you can do. Previously, in 4:3 the
Israelites had relied on
the ark of the Lord which they thought was their lucky charm against the Philistines, but
now they implore Samuel: “Do not
cease to cry out to the LORD our God, for us, that He may save us from the hand
of the Philistines.”
V.9 Samuel responds in two ways : He offers a
sacrificial lamb as a sin offering, and he
prays for deliverance in the present
crisis.
Vv. 10
& 11
The
deliverance was immediate: “The LORD thundered with a mighty sound that day against the
Philistines…”. All that was
left for Israel to do was to finish off their enemy. This was the Lord’s, and not Israel’s victory.
V. 12 In remembrance of this great deliverance “Samuel
took a stone and set it up between
Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer…”
. It was the same place
where more than 20 years ago
they had lost the ark to the Philistines, because they had trusted
in the ark and not in God (5:1). So now
the LORD
had made it very clear that He had answered the prayer of those who had trusted in HIM!
Vv. 13-17 . This
brought about the end of Israel’s
conflict with the Philistines in the
days of Samuel. Samuel was the last of
the judges in Israel – if not the most
godly, faithful and effective judge.
So,
what is the Holy Spirit saying to us
through this Word ?
Following the logic of the text
we can make 4 points – all around
that unifying name “Ebenezer”
- Our Rock of Help
1.
The Preparation for God’s Help (7:2-6)
2.
The Experience of
God’s Help (7:7-10)
3.
The Remembrance
of God’s Help (7:11-14)
4.
The Outcome of God’s Help
(7:15-17)
I.
The Preparation
for God’s Help (7:2-6)
Man’s
extremity is God’s opportunity![3]
We have seen that Israel had found themselves in a sorry state. The
Philistines were keeping them in
physical bondage, while the false and foreign
gods Baal (male) and Ashtoreth
(female) kept them in spiritual bondage. Things seemed hopeless. But, by the
grace of God something began to stir in
the nation: “all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD” (7:2). But true repentance isn’t cheap. Tears and
talk don’t save. It will cost you your dearest idols (whatever
that idol may be), and that is precisely what
Samuel demanded from them, ”… put away the foreign gods!” God has revealed Himself as a jealous God, and in the 10 commandments He makes it very clear that He shall not
tolerate any other gods, nor other loves
besides Him (Ex 20:3-6). The first 2 commandments make this very clear! So, genuine
repentance is the proper preparation for
God’s mercy . Don’t get this wrong. It is not as if we can make repentance a good work by
which we can please God, but surely there can be no saving help without such repentance.
What
is happening here is that God is stirring
the nation, and gradually the
desire after the LORD becomes greater than
the love affair with the foreign gods. Brothers and sisters, this is an ongoing need
in the church. The church lives by the
grace of God , and when she backslides pray that she will remain sensitive to the still small voice of God which says, “it’s time to come home! You have been long
enough in this desert! ” This leads us to the next point .
II.
The
Experience of God’s Help (7:7-10)
D.R. Davies has this to say[4]: “At the heart of Israel’s experience of mercy stands her own helplessness and utter lack of resources ; prayer is her only recourse… once we see this, we will no longer regard prayer as a pious cop-out, but as our only rational activity.
Davies continues: “I think it proper to add that
in Samuel’s intercession on Israel’s behalf we see a picture of the office of Christ as our High Priest.
Here is the true secret of our steadfastness: we rely on the prayer of Another
whose prayers are always effectual. Nothing is quite so moving as knowing that
I am a subject of Jesus’ intercessory prayer.”
And so we see
that genuine repentance brings quick healing. The offering lamb (7:9) is sacrificed (this all points to
Jesus!) and God sweeps away their sins as if they had
never been committed and grants them a victory over their enemies which is
so complete that it changes the political situation for years to come! “And the hand
of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel”
(7:13). This is a wonderful illustration of the nature of
God’s free Grace! God treats them in exactly the opposite way from what their sins deserve. Here is a new beginning for a people who deserved
to be forsaken. But here is the illustration of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ which
brings forgiveness and blessing for undeserving sinners.
III.
The Remembrance of God’s Help (7:11-14)
At this point Samuel sets up as monument, and calls it “Ebenezer” – stone of help”, and explains its significance: “Till now the LORD has helped us.” I believe that it would be true to say that Samuel has had so much more in mind than just the remembrance of recent events. The entire history of Israel from Abraham until now- a long chain of God’s faithful mercy and help is being remembered here! The same is true for the Walvis Bay Baptist Church. This weekend and this Lord’s day morning we have been setting up a memorial stone in remembrance and gratitude of God’s mercy and help, recognizing that, through many years, (this is the oldest Baptist Church in Namibia!) we have come to this place not by our own might and power. We are all too aware that our own sins and failures have been many! We know that the presence of the Philistines in Walvis Bay has been ever threatening to overpower us. Satan has desired to close down this church ever since the Word of the LORD has been proclaimed here- ever since prayer has begun to be offered to God in this place of worship. So, we are gathered here this morning as debtors to God’s sovereign mercy !
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my
heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Sorrowing I shall be in spirit, Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit, Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer; Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.
O to grace how great a debtor ,Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.
(Robert Robinson 1758)
This memory keeps our gratitude fresh, and this gratitude keeps our faith faithful!
IV.
The Outcome of
God’s Help ( 7:15-17)
Here is the encouragement that under faithful, humble and godly leadership a people may be kept from harm’s way for a long time, though there is no telling what may happen thereafter. This presents us with an encouragement but also with a warning. Godly Samuel’s today are all too often by followed by ungodly Saul’s tomorrow. Each generation will have to discover what it means to follow in the fear of the Lord, and to resist idolatry whatever that means in each new generation. Israel was kept from the Philistines under the spiritual rule and sound judgment of her Samuel. Brothers and sisters, let us learn never to take God’s faithful Samuel-like servants for granted. They may often be an irritation to the man in the pew and in the town. Samuel, you remember became a source of irritation to king Saul. He resisted the people of Israel when they became ungodly in their thoughts regarding God’s kingly rule in Israel, but everyone (including Saul) misses Samuel when he is dead! This morning we have a veritable company of pastors and their wives in your midst , who though being painfully aware of their own inadequacies, have served you and the cause of our Lord Jesus in this town. These are the men and women , who with the help of God and by the grace of God have led you to this point at which we can say : “Ebenezer- until now the LORD has helped us!”
Amen!
