Title Ichaboth/1 Samuel 4:12-22
Contents <1 Samuel 4:12-22> "Ichaboth"
The glory of God is not fixed in one place. Still, man tries to fix the glory of God in a certain place. That is why we are trying to attach a sacred meaning to a particular day, time, place, and person. However, if you attach the meaning of holiness to this particular person, place, or time on earth, it becomes an idol. Because idols always appear in some fixed form. Therefore, whenever God appears, he appears where there are idols, in order to condemn, accuse, and crush the idols that humans hold on to.
God has no form. He only promised that he would come and bless the place where my name is commemorated (Exodus 20:24). In other words, blessing a place commemorating the name means that the people of Israel remembered how they were delivered from slavery in Egypt through the sacrifice, and remembered God's mercy and love, so that they knew that they were always pityed by God. is going to do it. When that happens, God is glorified.
In Revelation 2, the Lord who appeared to the church in Ephesus said that He would move the candlesticks of the church. When are you moving? It is said that when the first love is lost, it is transferred. If you forget that you are being pityed and live your life, then this is not the church. Just as the church is not where the glory of Jehovah has departed. But today the church seems to be struggling to hold on to the glory of God. It's not that they're held on to it, but they are mistaken for glory that is not the glory of God, and even deceived the believers into calling it the glory of God.
Eli was both a priest and a judge. That too for 40 years. But God was no longer present in his life. Nevertheless, it was only focused on formal religious ceremonies. As you can see from the lives of his sons, this was a mess that could not even be called a priest. It was customary to disregard the Word, and while despising the sacrifices of Jehovah, they were trampling upon them. At the same time, they were in a hurry to fill their stomachs, and they often raped women who came to offer sacrifices.
Finally, when the nation of Israel was on the verge of war, they too sought God, but the God who appeared to them was not the kind of God they usually knew. As the real God appeared, it was revealed that the God they had worshiped was a fake and an idol God. When the real God appeared, they had no choice but to panic. Because they usually knew the God they knew as a God who loves us and a God who exists for us, but the God who has actually appeared has appeared as a God of judgment. He came as the God who destroys Israel, who he recognized as God's people and God's kingdom. Even the ark of the covenant that God was with us was taken away. He was the God who killed even Hophni and Phinehas, the priests who served God, next to the ark of the covenant.
When Eli heard this news, he fell from his chair and broke his neck and died when he heard that the Ark of the Covenant had been taken by the Philistines. At that time, the wife of Phinehas, Eli's daughter-in-law, was close to giving birth, and when she heard of a series of events, she suddenly gave birth and died. As he was dying, he named his son Ichabod. It means 'glory has departed from Israel'.
Therefore, the true church must be able to escape from the judgment of the Lord in the end times. The final judgment criterion of the Lord is not how big or small the church is, how many or few the church is, nor how beautiful the community it is, nor the question of how many good things it has done. no. They judge only on the basis of God's promises. It is to save mankind by establishing the church in the human world and introducing God's promises into it. Therefore, the organization that moves according to God's promise is the true church.
So what is not a church? If it is to deviate from God's promises and be bound only to religious activities, to build self-righteousness, or to build an ideal social group or nation, it is not a church. Because these things do not pass through the fire of the final judgment. What God requires of the church is 'first love'. Only the blood shed on the cross of Jesus Christ. Nothing is tolerated except the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ on the cross is not only a sign of God's curse and judgment, but also the passage of God's judgment of fire.
Therefore, since the true church is the body of the Lord, whether it is killed or eaten, it is an organization that no longer has human aspirations or greed while soaking up the blood that was forgiven on the cross of the Lord. It is a place where life is revealed. Because such a person does not have any goals, they are always satisfied with the situation they have been given, and they just live with an attitude of gratitude and acceptance of everything. This is where true joy, prayer, and thanksgiving abound. Finally, the same God, who said, "Out of darkness shall shine light, has shone into our hearts the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6).