What lessons are here! Have we ears to hear, and hearts to understand? Is not Israel's plight in 1 Samuel 7 a picture of the church's forlorn condition today? Have we not sinned against our God? Have we not in large measure lost contact with the invisible and the eternal? Are we prepared to lie low before our God concerning these things? And will He not come to the help of those who take the place of self-judgment in His presence, and who plead the name of His Christ alone?
A great deliverance ensued for Israel. The word in Isaiah 65:2424And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. (Isaiah 65:24), relative to the day of Millennial blessing, “before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear,” became literally true in their case. “And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.” In the very place where they experienced their former disgraceful defeat, involving the loss of the ark, they now experience the delivering power of God. The contrast is great between their carnal shout of confidence when the ark came into the camp, and the Lord's thunder out of the heavens. Laodicea is suggested in 1 Sam. 4; Philadelphia in 1 Sam. 7.