THE BATTLE OF ALTARS

The Ark of God was captured

Whenever the Israelites went out with the ark, they expected great things to happen. What does the ark signify? When the presence of God is really in the ark, you will see water dry up, you will see mountains skip, you will see the red sea divide just at the approach of the presence of God. Psa. 114:1-8, “When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. The sea saw it and fled: Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.”

The presence of God made the red sea to divide while Jordan was driven back – incredible power as a result of the manifest presence of God. It was the same ark that was captured by the Philistines. Why was the ark captured? There is something that God hates and that thing is sin. A particular sin here emanated from the leaders of Israel, those you may refer to as the religious leaders – the sin was from the family of the Priest, Eli. Once it starts, it always has a trickle-down effect.

Those whose responsibility it is to show the way, those whose responsibility it is to enforce righteousness, those who are supposed to be elders at the gate to ensure that the holiness of God is not violated were the people who were compromised. As a result, God had to judge it. Anyone who is condoning evil is not wise. God hates and judges sin. Sin cuts short the glory. Sin brings defeat. The children of Israel went to war thinking that God was still in the ark, unknown to them, the God of ark had departed; sadly, they were only carrying an empty ark to the battle. Many people today are carrying an empty ark. Whenever the glory of God departs, all manner of things begin to happen.

God hates idolatry in any way it manifests itself. There are times when all the spiritual networks in a land gets concentrated in a human being because everybody is connected to one altar or the other. This is one of the reasons why many Africans find it difficult to grow in Christianity, the more they try to grow, the more their connection to idol altars keeps pulling them down. These are altars that are speaking from the roots, no matter how hard you try to make progress in the things of God, you still find them pulling you. But God expects you to win because he has given you everything you need to do so.

TO BE CONTINUED.