This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “I Samuel 1-7” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, January 25, 1998.
About this sermon
Israel’s wilderness journey is the church’s own journey, not a distant history lesson Paul happens to reference in 1 Corinthians 10. These Old Testament stories are events, not illustrations, each one already showing Christ’s redemption at work. The Puritans understood this, and their own worship, in spirit and in truth, took its shape from exactly this conviction.
Sermon transcript
We are beginning our scripture reading this morning in 1 Samuel 6, and we are at verse 13 once more. Give your attention to God’s word. And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And they lifted up their eyes and saw the Ark, and rejoiced to see it.
And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth Shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone. And they clayed the wood of the cart, and offered the cattle a burnt offering unto the Lord. And the Levites took down the Ark of the Lord, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone. and the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrifices the same day unto the Lord.
And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day. And these are the golden hemorrhoids which the Philistines offered for a trespass offering unto the Lord, for Ashdod one, for Geza one, for Ascalon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one. And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the Lord, which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite? And the Lord smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked upon the ark of the Even he smote of the people fifty thousand threescore and ten men. And the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God, and to whom shall he go up from us?
And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jerim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord. Come ye down, and fetch it up to you. And the men of Kiriath-Jerim came and fetched up the Ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eliezer his son to keep the Ark of the Lord. And it came to pass while the Ark abode in Kiriath-Jerim that the time was long, for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.” Then turning over to the New Testament, to 1 Corinthians 10, verse 1.
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat. and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.
But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now, all these things happened unto them as examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted. Above that ye are able. that will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.”
Pray with me now. Lord, you prosper your word in us, and Father, we thank you for that. You nourish us in Christ by your Spirit, and we rejoice. And Father, we long for the completion of your plan and purpose for us and for this creation, and to that end, O God, may you, by your word, gather your elect today, and may they be saved. Father, to the ends of the earth your word goes out, and surely our prayers accompany that word, and we participate in the ministry performed. Lord, we thank you for this, that we have this share in the gospel. Hear us now, Lord, as we would give attention to your word for the benefit of our souls. In Jesus’ name, amen.
In 1 Corinthians 10, all links a predominantly Gentile church in the first Christian century to a wilderness generation of Jews from the 15th century B.C. This link-up by way of analogy effectively makes those first century Christians, and us with them, a wilderness generation. We are moving from our bondage to our inheritance in and through Jesus Christ.
Therefore, you must not think that the Apostle Paul has simply picked up a convenient Old Testament story in order to illustrate his call to these Corinthians to live exemplary moral and religious lives. In other words, Paul’s interest here is not to grab hold of Old Testament material for the purpose of warning these Corinthians against the consequences of idolatry and immorality, with a message as simplistic as, bad things are sure to happen to idol-worshipping fornicators. Now, they most certainly will.
But to Paul’s mind, the wilderness journey experienced by Israel in the 15th century B.C. actually had in view, deliberately anticipated, the later wilderness journey to be experienced by the Church from the first Christian century to the end of the world. The ministry of Moses, the baptism in the cloud and in the sea, verses 1 Corinthians 10, the common spiritual food and drink, verses 3 and 4, the trial and temptations undergone by the Israelites in the wilderness, verses 5 and following, are but a shadow of the true wilderness experience known to the Church in her present history. You then, with the saints in the first century, are the true wilderness generation, baptized not into Moses, but into Jesus Christ. Eating and drinking not manna, not water from a rock, but through the Holy Spirit, partaking of Jesus Christ’s body and blood. meeting with Christ not hidden in a rock, but revealed in the gospel.
You then called upon, after the submilitude of your Israelite forebears, to endure the testing of the Lord until your journey’s end is accomplished in glory.” But remember, you are no mere extension of the shadow or the shadow world of the Old Testament, another provisional generation belonging to a preparatory assembly like the Jews. Instead, you belong to the last, the final exodus, the final and consummate wilderness journey, since you are those upon whom the ends of the ages have come. All those things that previously happened, recorded for you in the pages of the Old Testament, are written down expressly for your sake. It is all for you, and you were in mind when those words were penned.
Now, having witnessed how Paul deals with the Corinthians and us in them, having witnessed how Paul deals with the Old Testament exodus and the wilderness journey, do you close your Bible with the thought, well, alright, you’ve convinced me, Paul sees the Church on the true wilderness journey, and his appeal to the experience of the Old Testament Jews is more than an appeal for the sake of moral and religious example. It is, in fact, an appeal to the redemptive historical connection and the covenantal relationship between Israel and the Church. But even granting that, what right do I have to take other stories from the Old Testament and connect them to the New Testament and to the Church.
What right do I have to take these stories, not commented on by Paul or anyone else in the New Testament for that matter, and make similar connections? For example, no New Testament text comments directly on Samson and Delilah. No New Testament text comments directly on David and Goliath. No New Testament text even comments on Daniel standing among the lions. What right do I have, or what right does the Church have, in approaching these stories the way Paul approaches the Exodus in 1 Corinthians 10? Better to stick to the approved approaches to those Old Testament accounts.
Samson, don’t get tied up with loose women. That’s the message, right? That’s all there is to it, right? David, don’t underestimate the power of faith when facing insurmountable obstacles, like giants. That’s the joke, right? That’s all there is to it. And Daniel? Stand by your principles even though you might be eaten alive. By lions, no less. Dare to be a Daniel, as the hymn says.
But now you will notice that these safe and regular and approved approaches to these stories have one thing in common. Each of these stories is read as if it were a morality tale, content merely to cultivate in us some moral or spiritual strength or other.
In fact, laying upon us the imperative, the command, that we cultivate this or that virtue, but without, and this uniformly, without any appeal to the redeeming work of Jesus Christ or to the history of God’s great saving work, focused in and realized by him. We are left with the notion, whether intentional or not, that moral and spiritual virtues are commendable in themselves, even if the foundation isn’t there, even if the redemptive context is removed, even if it is ignored and forgotten. Moral and spiritual virtues are commendable in themselves. You best read Plato, not the Bible. You’re better off with Immanuel Kant, not the scriptures. We are left, as I have said, with the notion that moral and spiritual virtues are commendable in themselves.
And the suggestion we are left with is that these moral and spiritual virtues are attainable by us in ourselves, regardless of what tip of the hat we might make to the grace of the gospel. I beg to differ with those who come to the Bible with such an approach, who may, in looking at 1 Corinthians 10, say, well, all right, I grant you a point here with 1 Corinthians 10, but this is an exception to the general rule. We have no warrants here. No warrants in 1 Corinthians 10 for reading Jesus Christ, the Church, and the history of redemption out of the rest of the Old Testament record.
But that is my point exactly. Paul’s use of the Exodus story and the wilderness experience of Israel in 1 Corinthians 10 is not meant to be exhaustive, exhaustive of his intention or his expression, it is meant to be suggestive, suggestive and directional to the Church, for the Church, and thus authoritative in the Church for the way in which she is to approach her Bible. His intention is suggestive and comprehensive. Here is an example of what is going on in the man’s head. Any closer study of his writings will make it apparent to you, I trust, that he is always conscious at every point. of the centrality of Jesus Christ, the context of redemption for any moral or spiritual imperative. So what about 1 Samuel 6? Let me lay out the pattern for you, if possibly you’ve missed it. The story in 1 Samuel 6, in its immediate context, is part of the greater story in 1 and 2 Samuel, even stretching into 1 and 2 Kings.
Here is the story about the coming of the kingdom in its Old Testament shadow form. That is the key to the door of four Old Testament books, the ones I just listed for you. The coming of the kingdom in its Old Testament shadow form, the old order, was represented by Eli, his wicked sons, and the tabernacle service that was celebrated at the city of Shiloh. This older order is now being replaced by the new order, and that new order is represented by Samuel, and the Temple service eventually to be established under the dynasty of David. But you will note now the way in which God brings about this new order. It is not merely a change of administrations. One party stepping aside as the other party takes the reins. God brings in his new order by way of judgment upon the old. Eli is judged, his wicked sons are judged as well. They are dead at the hands of the Philistines. Eli is dead at having heard that the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord had been captured by the Philistines.
But this is in preparation for the change, the monumental change that is coming to the priesthood as such. Shiloh, that former site of the sanctuary, has been devastated, and the ark resident in it has been sent off into captivity, as the Lord now rejects Ephraim and Ephraim’s heritage to the north, the tribe of Joseph, for Judah and David’s coming ascendancy. In 1 Samuel 6, this is the reason why the Ark of the Covenant does not return to Shiloh when it comes back from Philistine territory. Instead, it is moved south, proximate the territory of Judah, ready for the repositioning in Jerusalem. Furthermore, in our present story, the Ark is now served, as the story concludes, by a man named Eliezer in the house of Abinadab, a household about which nothing is said in the text concerning the priesthood.
The reason for this is that the interests of an entirely new priesthood are being served. The old order is giving way to the new. We have then the pattern, God judges his people. He himself undergoes temporary exile in the ark and returns to establish the new order in a new sanctuary under a new priesthood for a new royal administration. But the story isn’t over. The sad truth is that when the new order arrives in force with the temple service set up in It proves to be as corrupt as Ephraim Shiloh and its sanctuary. The pattern, therefore, repeats itself. As with Shiloh and its priests, so with Jerusalem and hers.
The judgment that comes now, in the interests of a newer order still, even a final order, presents us with an exile, its own exile, one not just for the ark, but for the ark and the people alike. In 1 Samuel it is the ark that goes into exile, but later on in Israel’s history it will be the ark and the people themselves that go into exile. In the latter account, not for seven months, as was the case in 1 Samuel, but for seventy years. The events in 1 Samuel anticipate then the latter consummate exile, when the people are taken off into Babylon and then returned in the sixth century B.C. and when they return they will engage in great celebrations and sacrifices in Jerusalem, just as the people did at the great stone in the field of Joshua, the Beth Shemayit. Furthermore, the events of 1 Samuel anticipate this latter consummate exile now.
Not that this latter exile ends with its eyes on the establishment of the new order, but with its own sanctuary and priesthood in an entirely new administration. The kingdom of God in shadow form, be it in the entirety of the Old Testament, now gives way to the kingdom of God in reality.
This means that Israel, being restored to Jerusalem and its ministry, must look further still, even as those who in 1 Samuel 6 and 7 were compelled to look further still, even through the tears of their lament for the Lord. Chapter 7, verse 2. But when the Lord does arrive for the sake of that latter, greater consummate exile, He will bring down his judgment on Jerusalem this time, just as he brought it down upon Shiloh. But more importantly, in our context this morning, just as he brought it down on the men of Beth Shemesh, who profaned his worship.
Now there is a question about the text here, how it ought to be read. But from the way the Hebrew text is constructed, the force of the verse is not that the Jews here, the men of Beth Shemesh, looked into the ark, but that they looked at or upon the ark.
And more is involved here than a curious Actually, their intention is religious, and it sets them opposite now the direction and content of that true spiritual worship which the Lord desires and at which he aims when the kingdom truly comes. You see, the arc for these people had become a religious fixation. It had become an object of worship in itself, of a piece with the statue of Dagon mentioned earlier in the story. In their worship, the men of Beth Shemesh doted upon form, image, visible object, external manifestation and representation. over against them stands the true intention of God for worship, that intention made clear when, in the day to which the later exile pointed, Jesus Christ inaugurated the administration of genuine spiritual heavenly worship, thus pronouncing God’s anathema upon all earthbound, incomplete, formalistic styles of worship.
It is precisely here that our text this morning comes down to cases in 1 Corinthians 10 style. We, the Church, live under the sign of the exile by which God, for Christ’s sake, has graciously introduced us into the true and eternal worship of God, who is Spirit.
And having been introduced into such glorious, soul-satisfying worship, we must not, like the men of Beth Shemesh, or the Jews in Jesus’ day, for that matter, exhibit a preference for a worship that dotes upon forms externals which, in the end, are indistinguishable from pagan practice. There is nothing so serious to God as his own worship. It may well be that worship earthbound to externals was in full display all this last week in Cuba. But you, being of Protestant conviction even, reformed persuasion, must not wrap yourself in a cloak of smug self-righteousness.
1 Corinthians 10, in its reflection on the Exodus, ends its redemption-based, Christ-centered message with an imperative, flee idolatry, verse 14. This message, based on 1 Samuel 6, and its anticipation of the latter consummate exile ends its redemption-based, Christ-centered message with an imperative. In all your worship, concentrate upon the invisible God who, by way of the presently unseen Savior, calls you by his word to worship him in the heavenly realm of the Spirit that realm of absolute completion and fulfillment, a realm that is free of all defilement.
You may not know it. It may not have struck you. but you are about to enter the war of wars. And that war is going to be over worship. The stock and heritage which is yours is Puritan. This is plain style. It is my conviction it is also right. Why? Because you are not to be distracted in this service. You are not to be distracted from the invisible God, his presence with you, perceived by faith, his presence mediated unto you by the Spirit, by the Word. Everything that I am speaking about here, focus your attention upon the invisible, those things that are not apparent to you. And the reason why I have mentioned the Puritans to you in this regard, and the heritage which you claim, is precisely this.
If the Puritans didn’t get anything else right, and I know the rap, they did get anything right. If they didn’t get anything right, they got this right. They got worship right, they see it, they understood it, they knew what it was about. They saw that at the center of worship was the invisibility of God and your invisible communion with Him.
That’s why you are not to be distracted by external forms, by rituals, by architectural and liturgical bric-a-brac, by services that are clamored by objects of worship, even, that are set up before you and command your attention and demand your devotion. The Puritans understood that.
Now, your judgment about that, sitting where you are, is that they were especially austere and, if nothing else, boring. But let me tell you something. There was no one as spiritually engaged in his worship as the Puritan. Why? Because he knew that proper worship took every ounce of his energy and his concentration. Every ounce of it.
Because he had to continually call his mind and his heart back to the invisible God Communing with the invisible soul via the invisible spirit through the word He didn’t let himself go to sleep Such was the character of the Puritans intensity But I might add, such was the comprehension of the Puritan concerning the one before whom he was assembled.
Plain style, biblical worship, New Testament worship is under assault. is coming from many directions. The seriousness of worship is being trivialized, it’s being attacked by childishness and adolescence. It’s also being attacked by the intrusion of form and externals.
I plead with you, have nothing to do with this. Instead, be concentrated in genuine Reformed style upon the invisibility of God, who is presently communing with your heart. Let’s pray. Father, if it is a matter of us repenting, then Lord, may we be about it. May we lie down before you prostrate, knowing, O God, that even in our worship we may have proved an offense to you. But help us by your mercy that we might worship you, O God, even in the spirit, that spirit that pleases you, even that to which you press your people from the Old Testament times, that they might arrive to that day when you be in spirit. even in keeping with the ministry of Christ, are worshipped in spirit and in truth. Bless us then, O God, as a worshipping people, who know the one before whom we are convened, and respond appropriately. This we ask in Jesus’ name.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.