Acknowledge the cross of Calvary as our “EBENEZER”
March 22 Bible
Reading: 1 Samuel Chapters 7-9
Acknowledge the cross of Calvary as our “EBENEZER”
"Then Samuel took a stone and
set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus
far the Lord has helped us" (1 Sam 7:12).
The Ark of
God was away for over twenty years and "all
the house of Israel lamented after the Lord" (1 Sam 7:2) as they
longed for God’s intervention. Samuel urged the Israelites to return to God
with all their hearts, put away their foreign idols, prepare their hearts and
serve God only and God will deliver them from the Philistines (v. 3). In
response, the Israelites put away all foreign gods and decided to serve God
only (v. 4). They gathered in Mizpah, fasted the whole day and acknowledged
their sins to God (v. 6). Samuel offered a lamb as a burnt offering as a
restitution for the sins of Israel and cried to God on their behalf (v. 9). God
answered the prayers of Samuel miraculously: "But the Lord thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines
that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel"
(1 Sam 7:10). The Israelites won a great victory only because God
intervened for them and fought on their behalf. The reason why God helped the Israelites to win a great victory was
because they followed the pathway of repentance and were justified through the
sacrifice of the innocent lamb on their behalf. This victory enabled the
Israelites to subdue the Philistines in such a way that they never encroached
into Israel’s land, and the hand of God was against the Philistines from that
point forward (v. 13). Also, Israel recovered all the territory back from the
Philistines that was stolen from them (v. 14).
This victory should remind us about our Lord Jesus Christ - the Lamb of God (John 1:29) - who died on our behalf on the cross of Calvary. He thundered at Satan “It is FINISHED” (John 19:30), thus breaking Satan’s hold on humankind forever. Just like the Philistines, Satan does not have dominion over God’s children any more. God has indeed helped us and has fought our battle against the enemy. Today, let us acknowledge the cross of Calvary as our “Ebenezer” – thus far the Lord has helped us. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2)
