Fruit Of Overwhelming Truth

Fruit of Reason - 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 first focus is on the words, ‘That is why’.

The effect of a thing comes because of a forerunner, something that has happened prior to the response. In other words, no response comes without a stimulus. You are crying out, that is your response. Because you bounced your foot hard, is the stimulus. The reason then, for you crying out in pain is obvious. In like manner, there is an overtly obvious reason for the phrase, ‘That is why’. We are given the reason in previous verses.

We are told that the Philistines, enemies of God and God’s people have captured the Ark of God and have carried it all the way from where it was in Ebenezer, God’s ‘Stone of Help’, to Ashdod. There, they have placed and set it up next to their god Dagon, in Dagon’s temple. 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 fruit which has been offered to us is one that shows the Reason for what happens or is happening with the Word of God, has to do with God. You see, God has already stated most categorically, that:-

His Word is inextinguishable, for no power - human, demonic or otherwise - can put out His Fire.
His Word is incorruptible for no one has the power - on earth, or under the earth – to make corrupt the Living Word.
His Word is infallible for no one has the power – in this life or the next – to prove any fault, defect or error in the immutable Word of God.

God is LORD and He is His Word. Who can make God subservient to them? Which power, however evil and powerful, can make God bow down to it, all broken and incapacitated?

May the Lord save us from stubborn ignorance. Amen!

Fruit of Season - 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 second focus is on the words, ‘To this day’.

When I heard the word, season, with it came the thought of bearing fruit in and out of season. Jesus once cursed a fig tree, because it had much foliage, but no fruit. You see, Jesus was hungry. Mark tells us that, Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard him say it. Mark 11: 13 – 14. Does this not seem hard and unfair; unjust and wrong; unchristian and wicked? My human thoughts focus on the fact that it was not the season for figs, but who am I to judge what Jesus, my Master and Teacher, Lord and Saviour does and says?

Then, I’m reminded of what 2 Timothy 4: 2a exhorts. Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. If you and I are disciples, servants, workers and followers of Jesus, then just as He has shown us and continues to school us, we are to bear His fruit at all times. In or out of season, He expects us to bear His fruit, for people are hungry for His Word. The hungry soul does not study, or think about seasons, before coming to the Church for Spiritual Food.

Just as when Jesus was hungry and He saw the foliage, the presence of a fig tree, and He went to it for fruit, so too with the spiritually hungry. The hungry for food, see the Church’s foliage, her presence and come to her for fruit, the power of the Living Word and they receive nothing. You and I are the church. People see the Presence of the Church, but do they receive the Power that is so desperately needed? It means that for the disciples of Jesus, as it was for Jesus, fruit must be borne at all times.

How then does this transfer to the words, ‘To this day’? These words show continuance, preservation, persistence and perseverance. It shows that from the time the Power and Lordship of the One True God was established, from that very season, when He showed His ‘Foliage and Fruit’ in the temple of the enemy, God’s continuing fruit has flourished.

In other words, regardless of the season, regardless of what is taking place in the enemy’s temple courts, the Presence - the Foliage, and the Power - the fruit of Almighty God is forever evident, as no priest of Dagon can enter in the same way he used to.

To this day, is not seasonal in its nature. To this day, shows unbrokenness and unresting continuance. To this day, tells us that from the time God put His seal and mark in that pagan temple, to show the folly of having false gods, human-made gods, the very priests, the hierarchy of the pagan church have had to tread according to the Lordship of Sovereign, Creator God.