Title: Gather at Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:5-6)
Contents 1st 3rd 7: 5 ~ 6
There is no nation that has received more help from God than the people of Israel. The blessing given to them was not the strength of the people of Israel, but the mercy and mercy of God. The people of Israel should realize this and live in thanksgiving to God, but instead they forsook God and lived like Gentiles, losing the blessings God had given them. According to 7:2, it took the Israelites 20 years to realize this. This situation is similar to the reality of our country now. In the midst of a crisis that continued for a long time, he did not repent and became more and more debauched, and finally faced a total crisis. If so, where is the nation's hope?
The prophet Samuel first demanded two decisions from the people of Israel who were in crisis.
1) One is the removal of idols that God hates from the lives of the people of Israel at present.
2) Another admonished them to turn away from God and serve only God.
What the Israelites did wrong before God was not that they completely departed from God, but they were not satisfied with God alone.
What are our idols today? Paul said that covetousness toward the church in Colossae is idolatry. Anything you love more than God is an idol. God's chosen people are to serve only one God, Jehovah God.
The Israelites who destroyed idols and returned to God cried out to gather together at Mizpah.
The Mizpah Crusade gathered like this
(1) It is a gathering of great awakening in which the fallen and devastated nation of Israel is reformed like the kingdom of God.
(2) It was a crusade of great transformation to renew the covenant relationship between God and Israel that was destroyed. True repentance cannot happen without repentance of the heart, nor is it only with repentance of the heart. You must repent with all your heart and body. Of course, each person's change is important, but when it comes to renewing the nation and the church, the community must unite and repent of great spiritual awakening.
Like the Israelites, we gather together at Mizpah, O God! God! Have pity on this nation! There must be an opportunity for a great spiritual awakening. That time is now.
Knowing that all the people of Israel were gathering at Mizpah with Samuel as the center to restore national sovereignty, the Philistines came to attack in advance to block it. Although the people of Israel were on the verge of being annihilated, they offered sacrifices to God without agitation at all, and all the people united in prayer and cried out earnestly.
He heard the prayer of true repentance of these people of Israel and gave them forgiveness and blessing.
In verse 10, it is recorded that God heard the sound of prayers crying out for Israel while offering burnt offerings before the attack of the enemies, and in verse 10, he sent out a great thunder (thunder) to confuse them, so that the Philistines, who believed only in their swords and spears, were completely defeated by the Philistines who torment Israel. We were able to overcome the Philistines, which we had never defeated so far, when God's hand was with us.
God did not only deliver the Israelites from the hand of the Philistines, but gave them more blessings.
(1 Samuel 7:14) And the city that the Philistines had taken from Israel was restored to Israel from Ekron to Gath, and Israel restored its four quarters from the hand of the Philistines, and there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
(1) He defeated the enemy, (2) He restored the lost land, and (3) He gave peace with the enemy, the Philistines.
closing words
When the nation was in danger, Samuel destroyed idols and made them serve only Jehovah God. When the nation was in trouble, Samuel gathered the Israelites together at Mizpah so they could repent thoroughly and pray with one accord to God. Thus, they destroyed the enemy Philistines and restored God's blessings.
Dear saints, Today, this nation is in the face of an absolute crisis. In the face of despair that has been going on for so long, I no longer have any hope. Never give up. You shouldn't be indifferent. Today, we must gather at the West Gate Church, Miss Bain in this age, and pray with one accord.