If you'd open up your Bibles this evening to 1 Samuel chapter 4, 1 Samuel chapter 4. We'll begin reading in the middle of verse 1. Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer and the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about 4,000 of them on the battlefield. When the soldiers returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord's covenant from Shiloh so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies. So the people sent men to Shiloh and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. When the ark of the Lord's covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, What's all this shouting in the Hebrew camp? When they learned that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. A god has come into the camp, they said. We're in trouble. Nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert. Be strong, Philistines. Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Be men and fight. So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated, and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great. Israel lost 30,000 foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died. That same day, a Benjaminite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh, his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry. Eli heard the outcry and asked, What is the meaning of this uproar? The man hurried over to Eli who was 98 years old and his eyes were set so that he could not see. He told Eli, I have just come from the battle line. I fled from it this very day. Eli asked, what happened to my son? The man who brought the news replied, Israel fled before the Philistines and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also, your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead. and the ark of God has been captured. When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had led Israel 40 years. His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, She went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. As she was dying, the women attending her said, Don't despair. You have given birth to a son. But she did not respond or pay any attention. She named the boy Ichabod, saying, The glory has departed from Israel because of the capture of the ark of God and the death of her father-in-law and her husband. She said, the glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured. Here ends the reading of God's word. In 1984, a year before I was born, Bruce the Boss Springsteen released a track called Glory Days. And the song basically follows two of his friends, a high school superstar and what used to be the prom queen. And this high school superstar now spent his evenings in a roadside bar. And the prom queen, who was once able to turn all the guys' heads in high school, now after she tucked her children into bed, She was divorced, so she spent her nights drinking alone. And this is the way Bruce Springsteen closes the last verse of that song, Glory Days. I think I'm going down to the well tonight. I'm going to drink until I get my fill. And I hope when I get old, I don't sit around thinking about it, but I probably will. Yeah, just sitting back, trying to recapture a little glory of, well, the times slip away and leaves you with nothing, mister, but boring stories of glory days. I don't think you have to appreciate Bruce Springsteen's music to appreciate the truth that he captures there. That all of us are in some way searching for glory. We're trying to capture glory. There's those of us here who used to be able to bench press 250 pounds in high school. And now the scales in our bathroom are pushing 250 pounds. We used to be able to turn all the guys' heads in high school or one of our glory days in the past, but now we don't feel that attractive. We're all trying to capture a little glory. And when we think we've got it, we want to hold on to it. And when it's lost, we're like this high school superstar sitting at the roadside bar just singing about glory days. Well, 1 Samuel 4 is all about glory. See, the Hebrew writers didn't have some of the fancy technology that we have today, they couldn't highlight words or underline or make bold font. So what the Hebrew writers would use to stress something is repetition. And you see at the very end of the passage what phrase is repeated twice in verse 21 and 22 that the glory of Israel has departed because the ark of God has been captured. Well, 1 and 2 Samuel are really meant to be understood as one book, and they were written for the people of Israel who had been sentenced off, sent off into exile in Babylon, away from homes, away from family and friends. The glory had gone from Israel. These were people who sat in Babylon and probably looked back to the glory days of Israel. The times when Yahweh delivered Israel in the Exodus with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Joshua and the fall of Jericho. The rise of King David and the monarchy. King Solomon and the establishment of the temple, the glory of Solomon's temple. These were people that were prone to look back to their history and think about the glory days, trying to recapture a little of that glory. Well, 1 Samuel 4 would have been a stark reminder that there was at least one day in Israel's history when the glory had departed. There was at least one day in Israel's history that wasn't so glorious, and so the question in Israel's mind as they sat in Babylon might have been, what did God do about it then? What did God do about it when there was no hope? Well, 1 Samuel 4 is all about hope. And I know at this point the gears are turning in your head and you're asking yourself, oh, I didn't catch the hope in this passage. Israel is slaughtered in a battle. Her priests are killed. Eli falls off the back of his chair, breaks his neck and dies. And this widow gives birth to a son that she names what is possibly the worst name in the history of the world, Ichabod. I'm sure for us who are expecting mothers, this is not a name that's at the top of our list of names we're considering. And the ark's captured. Where's the hope? I want to get to the hope, but first I want us to see the problems in this story. And I think essentially there are three problems in this story. False worship, bad leadership, and a departed presence. Those are the three problems that we need to get to before we can see what the hope in 1 Samuel 4 is. Well, the first problem is false worship. Notice in chapter 4, the Israelites are defeated. They suffer this defeat and they ask a really great question. Why has the Lord defeated us this day? I wonder if your memory is any better than some of the Israelites because this is exactly the same question that Joshua asked when Israel faced her first defeat at the Battle of Ai. And remember what Joshua did. After Israel suffered this defeat, he went before the Lord. He tore his robes and laid prostrate before the Lord. He asked the same question, and Israel asked the same question. Why has the Lord defeated us this day? But notice what Israel does not do. They don't speak to God. They don't cry out to God. They don't seek His face. There's no repentance. There's no talk to God. It's a good question, but it's a bad solution. Notice verse 3. Some of the people of Israel have this great idea. Let's get the ark. Go grab the ark. Bring that out to help us. And you remember what the ark of the covenant was. Probably some of us have in our minds the images we remember from Indiana Jones, but Exodus 25 gives us a very vivid picture of what the Ark of the Covenant was. The Ark of the Covenant was a box of acacia wood, three and a half feet long, two and a half feet wide and deep, overlaid in gold and on top of this Ark were the two cherubims, two of the most powerful angels of God, and it was there that God had promised to dwell with His people. The ark was a sign of three things. First, it was a sign of mercy. Once a year, the high priest would come into the most holy place of the tabernacle and sprinkle blood on the seat, on the covering of that ark. And that was a sign, a symbol of the grace of God that he was atoning for the sin of the people. The ark was a sign of mercy. It was also a leader into battle. In Numbers 10, we have recorded for us that every time the people set out, every time the Ark of the Covenant of God set out, Moses would go before and say something to the effect of, Arise, O God, let your enemies be scattered. The Ark of the Covenant was a leader for the people of Israel. And it was also a sign of God's presence. It's here where the royal presence of God would dwell. That's why David in the Psalms refers to the Ark of the Covenant as the footstool of God. It's here where God had promised to meet with his people. So you see what Israel is trying to do in this passage. They're trying to twist God's arm. They think by possessing God's furniture, they possess God. They think if they do all the right actions, have all the right outward acts of worship, that somehow they'll be more acceptable to God. And this is exactly what's at the heart of all religion. This effort to harness the power and the presence of God. This is how you explain how in the ancient world, Mothers could offer up their children to idols in order to gain a better crop in the upcoming harvest. This is how you explain how a man can walk onto a bus or an airplane strapped with bombs in order to have his God accept him for what he has done. This is how you explain how someone who's struck down with a sickness can cry out to God for a cure, for deliverance, when his entire life he's spent shaking his fist in the face of the living God. It's an effort to harness the power and the presence of God for your own advantage. John Newton, the great hymn writer, said that idolatry is our bosom sin. See, this is not idolatry. What Israel is doing here is not just the problem of an ancient people. It's not just the problem of the people at the Chinese takeout place with the little statue of Buddha. This is the problem of every person in this room this evening, including myself. We set up these false gods, these counterfeit gods. In Israel's case, it was a gold box. And oftentimes, those gods can come dressed up in good theology. Notice what Israel says in verse 3 and 4. They refer to the Ark of the Lord's Covenant. In verse 4, they brought back the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. They knew all the right words. they knew all the right phrases. They could have recited every question and answer from the Israelite catechism. But you see, it's a fundamental issue of trust. Who or what are you trusting? A gold box? Your 401k? Are you trusting the promotion you're hoping to get at work to make everything okay? Are you trusting the Christian school to raise up your children in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? We can set up these counterfeit gods, these idols in our hearts that we're banking on. We're trusting them to make our life a success. Well, notice what Israel says. They say, Let us bring the ark of the Lord's covenant from Shiloh so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies. The ark of the covenant of God could never save Israel. It could never deliver Israel. Only God could bring deliverance. Only God can save. Brothers and sisters, who are you trusting this evening? Who are you trusting tomorrow morning when you head off into the workplace? Who are you trusting as you begin a new year at school? Well, the first problem is false worship. The second problem is bad leadership. You know, the question that arises in my mind as I read this text is, who is leading Israel? See, 1 and 2 Samuel is all about this theme of kingship. Who is God's anointed? Who is the king of Israel? And you notice who leads Israel into battle. It's Hophni and Phinehas. Eli's two sons who from earlier chapters have been announced as ones who are doomed men. They're men's destined for destruction. And in verse 4, it records that Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are there with the Ark of the Covenant. And the language there is really interesting. It's almost as if the Hebrew writer is placing the Ark of the Covenant in between Hophni and Phinehas, as if they're trying to master God, control Him for their own purposes. and that's exactly what they'd been doing in the previous three chapters. Offering sacrifices at the temple for their own profit. But God's judgment was sure. He had prophesied through an oracle that His judgment would fall on the house of Eli and here it is, it's falling on the house of Eli. The priests are dead. at the end of verse 11. And you know that presents a huge problem for Israel because if the priests are dead, who's going to intercede on behalf of the people? There's no one left to intercede. And then in verse 18, we get this mention of Eli who falls off the back of his chair and dies and it says he led Israel 40 years. Literally, he judged Israel 40 years. You remember who the judges were, right? The judges were those great men in Israel's history who had assassinated kings, who had won mighty victories for the Lord, who had slain thousands of the Lord's enemies with just a jawbone of a donkey. Those were the judges of old. Here it says, Eli judged Israel 40 years. Had he? He's old, he's fat, he's blind. He's no judge. See, the people of God need true leaders. They need priests to intercede on behalf of the people. They need kings to lead them into battle, to win their victories. Well, the third problem, the big problem in this passage is the departed presence. You'll notice that the passage sort of crescendos, it climaxes with the death of Eli and the death of his daughter-in-law, the widow of Phineas. Why were they so crushed? Because the Ark of the Covenant of God, that symbol of God's grace and His covenant mercy, that leader into battle, that symbol of the presence and power of God had been taken into captivity. You remember in Exodus 32 and 33, right after the episode of the golden calf, Moses has just come down from the mountain. It's the wedding night of Israel and Yahweh. And they've already broken their marital vows. And the Lord says to Moses, You go on ahead. I'm done with these people. I'll send an angel with you, but my presence will not go up with these people. And Moses says, If your presence does not go with us, we're done for. See, the presence of God must be with his people for survival, for life to have any purpose and meaning. See, the departed presence of God is not just Israel's problem, it's the problem of every man, woman, and child in the world today. C.S. Lewis, the writer of the Chronicles of Narnia, I'm sure you're familiar, In a book entitled The Weight of Glory, he says this. He says, on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. What's Lewis saying there? Well, he's saying the same thing that Paul says in Romans chapter 1 that sinners have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of man, images of reptiles and birds. We've forsaken infinite joy for these fleeting, pitiful pleasures. And our desires are too weak. We think that that casual flirting with the co-worker in our office will bring us some sort of pleasure. or that person we're looking for. We're looking for a spouse or a boyfriend or a girlfriend. We think that will ultimately satisfy us. And the Lord is saying, my presence needs to be with you. You want infinite joy, you want infinite pleasure, then my presence has to go with you. But there's a catch here because God's presence is actually another problem because part of the whole catastrophe in 1 Samuel 4 is that God's presence actually is not departed from Israel but God's presence is there and sinners are before the Holy God and the Holy God cannot be in the presence of sinners Sinners cannot stand before the presence of a holy God. That's why when the ark is sent off to Philistia in the next couple chapters, they want to get rid of it. Because all the ark, all the presence of God does for them is give them tumors and ultimately kill them. And it does the same thing for the people of Israel who have not repented. And in chapter 7, that question is asked, who can stand before a holy God? And the answer is no one. The answer is no one who's given up the infinite joys and infinite glory of the immortal God for images of reptiles and birds. See, we need a mediator. We need true and faithful leaders. Otherwise, God's presence is just going to come and strike us. Well, I promised you hope. I promised you hope in 1 Samuel 4. What does the ark do? What happens at the end of this passage? Well, what happens is that God goes into the very territory of the Philistines and strikes the gods of the Philistines on their own ground, on their own turf. He beats the Philistines for the Israelites. And then this passage is the beginning of the rise of Samuel, that priest who would intercede on behalf of the people. And in chapter 7, he does intercede. And Israel does win a mighty victory over the Philistines. And all that is preparation work for King David, who would come and not be intimidated by the Philistines, but go out and face them, knowing that the living God was with Israel. And the people of Israel, they repent. In chapter 7, they tear down the Baals and the Asherahs and they repent for a time. But you know the story, you know the history. Sooner or later, they come right back to those same gods, those same idols. And the covenant curse of exile falls on them. They're shipped off to Babylon. That's an interesting word, exile. You know, for those of you familiar with the drama of Scripture, the idea of exile, the punishment of exile, was the covenant curse. The judgment of God as He cast out people from His presence. Well, verses 21 and 22, where it says that the glory departed from Israel, another way you could translate that is that the glory was exiled from Israel. It's the same word that's used in Isaiah 5 when Isaiah writes, therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge. It's the same verb there. The glory has been exiled from Israel. So you see what's going on in 1 Samuel 4. That covenant curse that Israel deserved ever since Deuteronomy, that covenant curse of exile, the Lord is actually taking that on Himself. He's exiling Himself into the land of the Philistines. See, the glory of God is being manifested here. This is preparation for the people of Israel that the glory of God is ultimately going to be demonstrated in His grace. And it's to teach us as the people of God that sometimes God's victories look like defeats. Sometimes God's victories look like defeats. And where is that ultimately portrayed? It's portrayed on Calvary, on the cross, where Immanuel, God with us, the one who manifested the full presence of God with His people, the true priest-king, was nailed to a cross, led the charge against all the hosts of evil, and was victorious. The one on whom all the sin of false worship, All the sin of our pride, of our lust, of our chasing after things that ultimately do not satisfy us was laid on the Son of God. And you remember what Jesus cried out from the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you abandoned me? Why have I gone into exile? It's because of me. It's because of us. See, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was that mediator. He was that priest-king who took the covenant curse of exile upon himself so that you and I never have to be exiled from God's presence. We always have open and free access to our Father in heaven. He won that for us on the cross. Friends, we will never be abandoned. We will never be exiled from God's presence because of Jesus. Are you banking on that this week? Are you trusting in that this week? Isn't that extraordinary? That in the darkest days of Israel's history, in the darkest days of our lives, God is working redemption. That ultimately the last word is not hopelessness. It's not death, but it's a word of life. Of resurrection power, resurrection life to the people of God who are trusting in Jesus, the one who was exiled for us. Brothers and sisters, bank on that this week. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we admit that we are sinners. that we are completely deserving of being cast out of Your presence forever. But we thank You, Lord. We thank You that in love You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd of the sheep to take our exile, to take the abandonment that was to fall on us. We thank You that in Him we have life. That You have spoken to us a word of hope in the midst of dark days. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.