Fruit Continued

Fruit of Person - That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.

Our third focus is on the words, ‘neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold’.

Be not naïve about this. Before this showing of Yahweh’s Presence and Power over Dagon, in Dagon’s domain, his temple, the priests always stepped on the threshold. The priests were the spiritual leaders, but they were also the people closest to god Dagon. They were the sacred holy leaders who led the people in the rites, rituals, conventions and practices of worship. From beginning to end they were very meticulous and correct in their deed and all others followed them. One thing we are sure of, is that they always stepped on the threshold to enter the temple.

Do not take this as something simple and trifling and just scan over it. Do not say or think it’s just a step or two at the entrance and bypass it as insignificant. There is much in the threshold and we will deal with it more fully, later on. Right now, we are noting the living power and presence in the temple of Dagon as the priests. Dagon is a dead piece of created work, an idol, created by men, and we know this for we are definitively told this about all human crafted idols, no matter their shape, size, material or otherwise. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them and so will all who trust in them. Psalm 115: 5 – 8.

These verses are not new to me, but I have to say that listening again to them, in this learning, has made me look carefully and critically at my God and me. Is my God as an idol to me? Do I show Him as one like a pagan god, unable to speak, think, walk, feel, hear, and more? Lord have mercy!

It is because Dagon is a dead piece of carving that priests take the lead and do everything through their own powers, imaginations, necromancy and more. But I thank God that all true priests of His, and you and I are His priests, are subject to Him. We are guided, schooled, influenced, taught and empowered by Him.

One thing this does for all of us who truly are taking God at His Word and following the lead of His Holy Spirit, is this. We do not become all flustered and pathetic in weakness, when we see others indulging in worship which shows God to be as an idol, manipulated by human works, words and ways. When, in our midst, we see and hear things which are obviously not of God, we do not crumble and go all to pieces, complaining and talking about it helplessly. No! This has brought us to the Fruit of Person, where our faith allows us to know and understand and practise the truth that God’s Presence and Power are there too and that the very pagan priests do not have ultimate powers to do as they please. God still oversees for God has NOT given over His World to evil. So whether the person or persons – priests, leaders, deacons, pastors, elders or teachers - whomsoever enters the temple of Dagon at Ashdod, they do not step on the threshold.

May the Lord save us from all self-righteous, and self-conceited defiance. Amen!

Fruit of Position - That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.

Our fourth focus is on the words, ‘step on the threshold’.

What is the threshold? The word has several meanings, however when I spoke the word to myself, two distinct images came to mind. What meanings or pictures come to your mind, as you think of threshold?

My first image was that of a bridegroom’s position, as he takes his wife over the threshold. This is a superstitious tradition which is still upheld in many places for different reasons, but all have to do with good luck and bad luck. It is believed that it’s very bad luck if a new bride, while entering into her new home, for the first time, trips up. The belief is that injurious demons are lurking there waiting for the bride to trip up while entering the doorway. If she does trip up then it will cast real bad luck on the home and the marriage. Therefore, to avoid any chance of the bride tripping up, the husband takes the position of carrier and takes her across the threshold.

The second thing that stood before me was the talk of pain threshold. I know people who speak of having a high threshold for pain and those who speak of having a low threshold for pain. What is your position in relation to your pain threshold? I also know of people speaking of others having a high threshold for domestic abuse. Sad indeed.

I share these with you, only because that is what came to me first, with the word threshold. Even now that I have told you, I see no value or virtue in what I have thought, in relation to what we are doing. Nevertheless, I have thrown those to the wayside and read and listen again to the text. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.

What do I see and hear? What do you see and hear? As simple as it is, I hear this. No one who is entering the temple of Dagon, regardless of that person’s position, whether for the first time, the second time, or the umpteenth time, no one steps on the threshold. It is stepped over, bypassed, crossed over, what have you, but no one dares to take the position of daring to step on the threshold. Why is that? We are reminded of it in the Scripture.

When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 1 Samuel 5: 3 - 4

The threshold is the place where Sovereign God, the Invisible God, made Himself visible to idol worshippers, right in their pagan god’s temple. At the beginning, at the entrance, at the front door of the temple, as priests and people entered, there was the broken image of the broken god. The head and hands of their god have been broken off and placed on the threshold at the door of the temple. No one from that time on ever stepped on that threshold. There was no time, no season, when they would step on the threshold of Dagon’s temple. The position of one’s thinking, acting and speaking had to change as God is Lord and He is the One Authority.