Before the Lamp of God Went Out — Fred Tomlinson

The Lamp of God in Samuel’s Day

This morning. 1 Samuel chapter 3 and verse 1. Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli and the word of the Lord was rare in those days and there was no frequent vision. At that time Eli whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see was lying down in his own place.

The lamp of God had not yet gone out and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was. And it is this, the lamp of God, the lamp of God. We know that ever such a lot has taken place up until this point in the history of Israel.

Of course they've travelled through the wilderness and they've had the leadership of Moses under God and Moses has been up the mountain and received directions from the Lord and instructions from him and so on and as a result the tabernacle has been constructed and the form of worship which God had ordained was underway and so on.

The story has unfolded, I'm not going to try and retell all of the detail but they're now in the promised land and at this point they're settled in this area called Shiloh and Eli was the high priest and there's a reference to his sons there who were functioning as priests or at least that's what they were supposed to be doing and so on.

The Tabernacle, the Lampstand, and God’s Manifest Presence

Since we're aware of the directions which God gave in the book of Exodus for the tabernacle we know that God gave instructions about every detail. There was nothing left for man to plan or scheme or do on his own.

God gave him precise details. One of the features of that tabernacle was the golden lampstand and that whole subject of the tabernacle and its significance in its unfolding of God's plan and purpose in the redemptive work of Christ is a fabulous study.

We've done it years ago, perhaps should do it again. I'm not going to go over all that kind of detail but the fact is that the lampstand was situated in an area called the holy place. Opposite to the lampstand was the table of showbread and immediately in front of both of those items was the altar of incense and then the second veil which divided the holy place from the most holy place and inside the most holy place was the ark of God and it was there that God chose to have his presence manifest.

There were those of that day who referred to the glory of God's presence as the Shekinah glory, the outshining of God's glory, significantly demonstrating that God's presence was among his people. And there's a lot more about the lamp and I do feel it's very possible we'll talk about that this evening but when I read here that Samuel obviously, things were different, they weren't set up the way they were when they were traveling with the tabernacle, with the priesthood engaged in all of the various activities.

It's very obvious here that Samuel, you know how he came on the scene from reading the first chapter of this book of Samuel. God's call was on his life, his mother had recognized that and she'd given him over to be available to God, remember all that story?

And so he's in that tent of meeting that they had at that point in time and he's working, helping Eli and at least I know he was opening the door of the area. So when I read in this context of this section of scripture about the lamp of God and that the lamp of God had not yet gone out and Samuel was lying down in the temple at some point somewhere and so on, I think the primary context that I'm reading there has to do with the time, the literal time of the day or the time of the night more particularly.

It was before daybreak that was taking place here. That's how the general way that we would understand what's happening here. But when I read that phrase I can't help but feel deeply in my heart that there's far more to it than merely that, notwithstanding that was very possibly true.

But the fact is the lamp of God, do you remember we sang earlier, in thy light we sense his presence and there's illumination that comes to our own hearts and to our understandings when he reveals by his light and he is light.

And then when I read this statement here, the light of God, and then it goes on to say it had not yet gone out. Now once again whether that has to do with the time of the day or not, I'm putting that all to one side, that is not the important thing that God's impressing on my heart.

But this was a stage when the light of God had almost gone out. That would be just another way of understanding the statement. And we know that in a spiritual sense that's exactly what was going on in Israel.

And if that needed to be highlighted in any way, it was certainly highlighted by what we just read already when the reference was to the high priest Eli. And we'll say a little bit more about that in a few minutes, but we hear the judgment that God spoke against the house of Eli to Samuel and then him and so on.

So clearly it was a time in the history of the people of God as they were then, when the light of God was very, very dim. It's even also interesting to me that Eli's physical eyes, he probably had cataracts and needed them removed.

Sorry, I was there last week. Eli wasn't there by the way. But the fact is even that statement about the man of God in that chief role as the high priest in the nation, to have it said that his eyes were dim, he could hardly see.

And I think that's borne out in a spiritual sense. It may be true of your life this morning, that you can hardly see what God is wanting to reveal to you and in you. But such was the case then. And in looking at these words in that context, I can't help but at least make a passing comment about the condition of our Western society where we live at this particular point in time.

The Diminishing Christian Witness in Western Society

Because I'd like to suggest to you that the lamp of God is almost out in our society at this point in time. You know, we don't have to look back very far in our own natural history to be convinced beyond any doubt that the Christian contribution to our Western society has been very, very significant.

The Christian contribution, the morality, the teaching of the Bible has impacted our society and shaped the society in which we live and organized so much of our society in the way that it operates and is run.

So much more can be said about this. But I fail to understand how anyone who is a Bible-reading Christian, the only kind really, can fail to recognize that the impact upon our Western society that has been credited clearly to the Christian gospel through the years.

But we live at a time when once again we can't possibly fail to recognize that that lamp of God is diminished greatly. It's almost extinguished. Moreover, it seems plain to me that this is not merely the result of certain individual men or women or leaders and so on.

But I see this as a demonic strategy. It's not a new strategy, but we see it plainly in these days. Someone was talking to me yesterday, and without going into the detail of the conversation, there's a reference being made to, you know, the ways people want freedom of speech and freedom and you can't discriminate against anyone.

But the irony that was being highlighted in that conversation was something that we're all very familiar with. And that's all well and good out there in society at large, but Christianity is being certainly isolated and discriminated against, no question.

I believe that there's a demonic force working against Christ. It's the ultimate anti-Christ spirit and movement which is seeking at this point in time to delete from our society everything Christian.

For all that has been such a blessing, even just in a general sense to our society, is being extinguished. There's a phrase that is used in the computer world, which others here know more about than I do.

It's not merely that there's this satanic plot to just delete the information, but there's this program called Bleach Bit. This is where it's not just you're deleting it off the window that you're looking at on your computer, it's not even that somehow we're able to just delete it from the RAM memory in our computer, but it's as though this satanic plot is seeking to bleach bit it, to erase it, eradicate it completely from this society in which we live.

And that's happening at this point in time. And for my understanding of what God is doing, I am not convinced at all that God has positioned himself in these days to simply clean up, if you like, the moral climate of our society.

I do not believe that that's what God has committed himself to. I believe he's doing something quite different. He's doing something on another level altogether. And by the same token, I don't believe that the God that we're worshipping and finding information about him recorded here in scripture is identifying himself today with a worldly, carnal, professing Christian body, or for that matter individual.

I don't believe that God's doing that. God is not involved in a sort of clean up, tidy up, band-aid sort of activity at all. And I'm sure that in making statements like this about the so-called Christian community, it's not that people are fundamentally insincere.

That's not necessarily the issue. The issue is that the modern Christianity, evangelicalism today, is so glaringly shallow. That's a fact and surely we're deceiving ourselves if we try to hide that from sight.

There's such a casualness about that which is considered to be what God is doing in these days. It defies, it contradicts everything that I'm reading concerning his absolute holiness and absolute purity.

And we sort of come in in such a careless way into his presence. And there's such an emphasis on us as professing Christians being comfortable. Sort this out and sort that out, Lord, because this is something sticking in me here.

I'm not comfortable. Fix this and fix that. There's such a self-centred community and such complacency. Think about it. Think about your own life so we're not just talking about other people outside of our room here.

We're talking about ourselves. There's such complacency about these things. I don't believe that God will own that at all because it's so fundamentally contrary to the nature and identity of God. You know, God himself says this in the Old Testament.

He said, but there's no one that's blushing. We've professing to be Christians today in our society and what about me and what about you? Do we feel uncomfortable? Do we blush with the fact that probably for this past week you've not even opened the Bible?

We've not even withdrawn ourselves from other activities to get alone with God and yet we come on Sunday morning and we raise our arms and sing our songs and make a big fuss about the fact that we're worshipping God.

We're not worshipping God. We've done our own thing all week and now we're doing a religious thing here and we imagine that God's happy with that, you know. Could it be true that this week, let's ask ourselves, are we guilty of spending far more time looking at screens of one size or another than we have been to prayerfully say, speak Lord for thy servant is listening.

Speak to me Lord. You know, I'd like to read something. It's a little longer than I would choose but let me read this to you. It's A. W. Tozer. I read this years ago and it made a big impression on me.

Religious Profession Without Spiritual Reality

But he said this, he said, do you realize that most men play at religion as they play at games? Religion itself being of all games the one most universally played. The church has its fields. It has its rules.

It has its equipment for playing the game of pious words. It has devotees, both laymen and professionals who support the game with their money and encourage it with their presence. But who are no different in life or character from many who take no interest in religion at all.

As an athlete uses a ball, so do many of us use words. Words spoken and words sung, words written, words uttered in prayer. We throw them swiftly across the field. We learn to handle them with dexterity and with grace and gain as our reward the applause of those who have enjoyed the game.

In the games men play there are no moral roots. It is a pleasant activity which changes nothing and settles nothing at last. Sadly the religious game of pious words after the pleasant meeting no one is basically any different than from what they were before they started the game.

Words. So the question is what really is the lamp of God? How should we understand this as we're looking into this passage here this morning? The purpose of the lamp of God, this lamp that I mentioned in a little bit more detail a few minutes ago, was there primarily to reveal the way to God.

Highlighting as it did the table of showbread, the bread of God, Christ himself. It would highlight the activity of worship at the laver of incense and then for the one so privileged it highlighted the way through the second veil into the holiest of all.

The Departure of God’s Presence Through Sin

If we're asking ourselves well if today we're being challenged by the progressive disappearance of the light of God what does that mean? I'm suggesting to you it's indicating that the presence of God is disappearing before us.

That reminds me of the book of Ezekiel where there's a prophecy being given there and the Spirit of God moves from that central place in the temple. It's a very challenging section of scripture and the Spirit of God moves out from that place and then halts in another area and then it moves again and it's on the wall of the tabernacle and then it halts there for a while and then goes.

It's as though the Spirit of God is pausing each time. The scripture doesn't say this in any detail at all but this is how I read it. It's as though the Spirit of God is compelled to move because sin has come into the camp and when sin comes in God moves out whether that's the tabernacle of old or the temple or whether it's your life and mine.

If we're harboring sin we will forfeit the blessing of the presence of God and the manifestation of his life within and through us. But with those various stages it seems to speak to me of the reluctance of the Holy Spirit to leave.

That this was the last thing that he intended to do. I see it's as though he pauses at each station and looks back. Is there anyone who's seeking after me? Is there anyone that's pouring their heart out who are separating themselves from evil and repenting before me that I could return again?

And none are found so he moves to a more remote place and another until he leaves the sea there. It's all very, very challenging certainly. There's another feature that's designated in the earlier passage of scripture where it describes the lamp of God and its function.

But here's the statement I'm thinking of in particular concerning its flame. God said it must never go out. It must burn before God continually. And there's lots of significance in that fact and in that purpose of God I'm sure.

But for us this morning it's a reminder that if at all we're anxious and desiring to know God's presence and his light, then his plan is that this should become your permanent or continual enjoyment. That he would be there in your heart and in your life permanently, not merely for an hour on a Sunday morning, but in all of the details of your life and the various circumstances, that your whole life be given over to him and to him alone that would never ever go out.

Amen. God's desire for your life and for mine this morning is that we may be guided by his light, our path illuminated into his presence, into his holy presence. There's a phrase, another phrase from the Old Testament, the knowledge of the holy.

This is where God wants to bring us, into his holy presence. He's given us his Holy Spirit to bring the holy benefits of Christ's redeeming work at the cross and to manifest his holy life within us, that we may live holy lives as men and women of God or godly men and women.

This is the normal plan of God for every one of us in the room this morning, younger and older alike, that I might be a godly man, not a religious man, but a godly man, that you might be a godly man and a godly woman in every area of your life and that we may then, as the result, enjoy holy fellowship with God.

It's so cheap to say, well we're not religious, we have a relationship with God. I think we do, don't misunderstand me, but it can be so cheap, it can be so miserable. We're not religious, we have a relationship.

Really, I want to tell you, when you have this relationship, you will be an entirely different person, from the deepest roots of your heart to the way you conduct your life. When we come into his holy presence and he allows his holy presence to fill in, fill our hearts and our minds, you will lose your love for those other things and those other activities and you won't talk about them.

You soon find out what's most important to them because that's what they're always talking about, but you'll be a different person, you'll be a man of God or a woman of God. Let's talk about Jesus, but not because someone's saying let's do it, that's just a line from him I quoted, but where it's in your heart, you're a Christian, you're on fire with his life and nothing is more important, nothing is more important at all but that fellowship with the living God.

Eli’s Compromise and the Failure to Obey

So in Eli's day here, as the scripture is recording this, the priesthood was in a shambles, it was in a mess and here's the irony, if you will, Eli knew it was. He knew that God had called him to something higher.

He knew, he knew so much. He knew how he should behave himself and he wasn't doing it. He knew what he should say. I gather that from this very conversation that we've just read here. He knew what the right thing to say was.

He knew that the right thing for him was to live before God, before his holy God and that this would impact the way he conducted his personal life and his function as a high priest and how he should behave toward his sons and how his sons should be behaving and he did nothing about it, he's careless about it.

He tells Samuel what he should say when he hears the Lord but he wasn't doing it. Otherwise God would have spoken to him. He gave great advice. We're good at giving good advice. We all know what we should do and the way we should be living but who's doing it?

Eli wasn't. He said, Samuel, when you hear that voice just say speak Lord for your servants hearing. Shame on you, Eli. Let me turn your attention to a verse of scripture. I have a couple of verses that we'll find elsewhere.

I don't know if you want to turn to them. If you're writing down you might want to write them down though. I'm in Proverbs when I can find it. Chapter 29. I like my new Bible but 29 and verse 18 it says this, where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Did you notice what we read in Samuel chapter 3 verse 1? It said that at this particular time the priesthood's in a shambles. Eli's not doing what he should do and the word of the Lord was rare in those days and there was no frequent vision.

A lot of religion but no clear word of God coming through and this verse from Proverbs says where there is no prophetic vision the people perish or the people cast off restraint. It's interesting in making my earlier reference to complacency among the people of God it was actually Charles Spurgeon who said something which I think kind of hit the nail on the head.

There was more to it than this but let me just quote this. He said some people have peace because they live for entertainment and excitement which is distracting them from higher things or distracting them from really hearing the word of God to their hearts.

And he went on to say some people have peace because they are ignorant of the things of God and they need to be told the truth, he wrote. Isn't that true? We could quote more of the statement that he made but the fact is isn't it true this complacency which we feel okay, you know we're okay with living the way we are and the kind of degree or depth of our Christianity, kind of more or less okay with it but why are we okay?

Well it's either okay because we're giving no attention to what God is really saying or we've never really come to a point where we've understood what God is saying and what the Scriptures are saying here for us.

Refusing to Dilute the Word of God

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 2 .17 and he said, we, we, we apostles, we are not like so many who are peddling the word of God. But another translation and probably more literally says we're, we're not of those who water down and dilute the word of God.

And you know of course I'm, I'm in Canada right now so but when I lived in England I'd never heard of Buckley's cough syrup. Sounded earlier on like maybe someone needed it in the room but nothing, I can still remember the first time I had Buckley's cough syrup.

It's like the first taste as it hits your throat sort of, I mean there's a chemist here as well, I don't know what they put in it but it sort of knocks you off your balance quite a bit and then but it's as though the medication's not satisfied with that, you're just getting over that and you feel, and the next one you feel like you've been hit with a freight train or something.

It's, but it seemed to do the job and I guess that's why some people put up with the taste of it or whatever it is. So no one wants to water it down because it would lose its effect I suppose is the argument.

But what if we look at things very much more seriously? We hear a lot about chemotherapy at this point in time. What kind of sanity or insanity would it be for someone who believes that that's the appropriate medication to ask for reduced doses of it?

Is there some way we can just reduce it down so that we don't have all these horrible side effects? Well of course everyone would choose to go that route if it were a possibility and perhaps to some degree it is.

I know nothing about it but do you see what I'm trying to say? Paul is saying here we are not like those who are diluting the Word of God. He said we're not doing that because he understood very very plainly that it was right that the Word of God would have a cutting edge to it.

The fact is that today that we know that this is true. I'm not making these stories up. There is an effort to dilute the scripture. I mean not by that name of course but we want to make it seeker friendly.

That's more in line with the modern jargon and so on. What does that mean? It means that we'll be selective in what we preach about and we'll be cautious about the way we apply it because we do not want to upset people because we need the people because we need their money to keep the business going.

Sorry I'm getting carried away but the fact is you know in Jeremiah chapter 6 God says he's against the spiritual leaders of that day and the reason is stated there he said because they are saying peace peace when there is no peace and you know the message of peace whatever that may mean or however that may be interpreted or presented in a Sunday morning meeting well that's good news.

It's like you know mummy with the child you know passing on the back there there you know everything's going to be all right you know go back to sleep but that's not God. God sees from eternal perspective that we may be preoccupied with some particular need or some issue that's going on in our lives and we pray and ask the Lord to help us and I'm not being cynical about that but I'm simply wanting to emphasize the fact that God's got a far broader picture.

He sees your eternal destiny. He loves you. He cares about you. We're preoccupied with the bits and pieces that amuse us and keep us busy in the day. God is looking for men and for women who will hear his word to their hearts and respond.

Don't forget when I started talking about good men who die on the hill of being distracted and taken up and so on but maybe the word that needs to come through on a Sunday morning is not peace peace. Maybe the word that needs to be preached more widely in our pulpits is repent and prepare yourself for judgment.

You know every single Christian is going to stand before, never mind those who are not Christians, every Christian is going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Everyone. You will. I will. To give an account, Paul says, he's talking to Christian church, you will stand before, we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of the deeds that we've done while we've been in our body.

I must give an account for my life. You must give an account for your life ultimately even though you're saying well I am a Christian today. The message for those who are not converted is far more serious if we can talk in those terms.

God said I'm against the leaders who say peace peace when there is no peace for they have healed the hurt of my people slightly. They've put a band-aid on something and they've said they're there, you're okay, just carry on.

Now you're born again, now you're saved, now you're filled with the spirit, up you go and God says no no no that's that's that's not my word. My message is different and so on. You know it reminds me of someone who came to this meeting not in this room but a long time ago and spoke to me after the meeting and said you know what right in front of me he said maybe you can relate to this and you know maybe you'd stab me with the same knife.

He said you know what friend we love the word here but we hate your music. Well they chose music and they left. What what are you after? At what level in your life are you aware of God and what you're hearing?

You know by way of complete contrast over the years of our time we've had people who've you know we're talking about Ontario with someone just the other day there people who would drive you know 80 miles from St Catherine's near Niagara Falls to come to our meetings and you know backwards and forwards others from 80 miles from Kitchener, Waterloo or somewhere.

Several car loads coming just to come and be there and in winter you know in Ontario. Yes but it's wonderful when you find men and women and most of these have been young people who just want the word of God and are prepared to make whatever sacrifice.

Men and Women Who Hear God’s Word

God's looking for those kinds of people this morning here. The word of God that we're reading about in Proverbs where we went there notice how this translation said the prophetic word of God and that's coming from the fact that the the Hebrew word is hazon that's used there and it means a word that has and carries divine illumination or prophetic word is the alternative given there and so this translation just says where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint where there's no awareness of the light of God and the word of God.

Well you just go and you just do your own thing which seems fine for now but it's a very short-sighted way to conduct your life. And what we need today I believe this is the need the need in this church it's a need universally it it it it's the great need is not merely for men who are men of the books that are available the Christian books of which there are so many but we we need today men and this goes for women as well.

Excuse me if I keep saying men God is looking for men who withdraw from whatever it is they withdraw from to get alone with God and hear from God. We need we need men who hear from God not who are clever at cut and paste you know from this commentary and the other commentary and put it all together and perhaps present a very eloquent sounding message.

But we'll want someone who's lives in his presence and listens to God. This is the need. Maybe God is speaking to you about this. I don't know. We need we need those who are able to teach more than mere words but are able to teach God himself to us.

That's our need. My question my question is this. And you know where where where where are we going to find. I'm not trying to give you an answer. I'm saying this. These are the questions out there. They're on the table if you like.

Where are we going to find those kinds of men. Where are we going to find those who will present the unvarnished word of God to us. Where are we going to find those who who will who will present that razor-sharp cutting deeply challenging word of God to us that we need so desperately.

What are we going to do. Where are we going to find this word which will lay our hearts bare with conviction in thy light. We see light. This is the text of scripture in your presence where your word is coming.

It brings exposure to the deeper needs of our lives. Because the one who will be speaking is the one who gained a reputation for overturning tables in the temple. He's not saying they're there. You'll be all right.

Just go back to sleep son of God. He's not saying that. He's saying wake up. Wake up from your sleep. This is the word the apostolic word. Wake up from your sleep wake up to the reality. You need to get serious about this because this is serious business.

You need to hear my word unvarnished word of God to your heart. And maybe when this happens there's something of a stampede to the door because not everyone wants it. This is what we do know. But where we don't have it dare i say this.

We don't have the holy spirit his presence always exposes psalm 90. From the amplified translation comes like this. Our iniquities our secret heart and its sins which we would so like to conceal from ourselves you have set in the revealing light of your countenance.

Our iniquities our secret hearts and its sins which we would so like to conceal even from ourselves you have set in the revealing light of your countenance. Amen. In the book of amos we can read about the word of God.

Hearing the Word Requires Obedience

And we read there that there's a famine for the hearing of the word of the Lord. Notice the wording. If you're looking at the text it's it's amos 11 verses 11 and 12. But there's a famine for that. Listen for the hearing of the word.

We've already been giving some thought to the fact there's just an absence of the word of the Lord. But even where the Lord's word is being ministered there's a different kind of problem that's so common and that is the people have got a faulty ears and they're not hearing what God is saying.

We may be you know the words are going in. It's an audio word that's being spoken. Uh but but am i hearing it. You know that the key or perhaps put it a different way. Uh the fact that will indicate beyond any doubt that i am hearing the word of God is that i am being obedient to it.

Campbell Morgan said it's not a case of God withholding his revelation but people being in such a state that the they do not see it. And they do not hear the words. If it's true that it's rare to be exposed to the cutting edge word of God the unvarnished word of God as I've called it and so on.

Perhaps this this is the even more serious situation when we may be exposed to that word but we don't really hear it. We don't really get hold of it. Uh with all of our hearts. Remember how Jesus responded to Satan who was tempting him on that particular occasion.

He quotes from a scripture. But really is stating also by the same token what the nature of his own life was. He said man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Every word he said man shall not live by bread alone man shall not live by. And you fill in all the blanks that we can think about there to put in. He said the only thing that will nourish your soul is when you feed upon every word of God.

We've got a book full of it here. Jesus also told a parable that you'll remember he's talking about a wise man and a foolish man. And without going into all of the detail he speaks about the why that the wise man he said he builds his life on the word of God.

The foolish man he builds his life on the sand of other things. And that's the challenge. You know as I close here the issue that we started out with was Samuel hearing God speaking. But he didn't realize it was God speaking.

And then God spoke again. He still didn't realize it was God speaking. And then the man who should have been doing it himself gave the right advice to Samuel and he said when you hear next time say speak Lord for your servant heareth.

Responding to God’s Word in Obedience

I don't know what's going on in your life today. I don't know where you're up to. I don't know how things are in your own relationship with God. Whether you're in this room or you're listening to this at some later stage.

I don't know any of those things. But I know that the very best advice that anyone could give to you is to apply yourself to the word of God and expose yourself to the word of God. It was interesting right at the end of the long chapter I read you at the beginning the last verse reads like this.

And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh. Here it is for the himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of God. That's that's today. That's how God will reveal himself. Could it be that even this morning God is revealing himself to you this morning by his word.

Could it be that he's speaking to you and challenging you this this morning with his word. Could it be that this is not the first time he's spoken to you. Could it be that this is the second time. Could it be that this is your third time as it were where someone is helping you to pay attention that this that you're feeling this that you're sensing this conviction that seems to be in your heart is really the work of the spirit of God.