The Dagon Fall of Our Sin

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…behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.…behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD… – 1 Samuel 5:3,4

Sin of every sort is bowed low before the triumphant Grace of God! Yes, and the man who receives the Grace of God feels that the love of any and every sin is cast out of its place in his heart. Now he desires to be quit of it all and anxiously cries, “Lord, what would you have me to do?” He will no more go and live in sin, as he did before, than Paul will continue to be a persecutor after the Lord, even Jesus, has appeared to him by the way. What a Dagon-fall there was in the Apostle’s pride just outside the Damascus gate! Such a fall takes place in the heart of every man to whom the Grace of God comes with power!

This fall of Dagon very soon began to be perceived, for, “When they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the earth.” Very soon after the entrance of Divine Grace, this sign follows and, before long, it is seen and known. Let no man conceive that there is Grace in his soul if Dagon still sits on the throne! This is one of the earliest tokens of the entrance of the life of God into the soul—that sin falls down from its high place and is no more held in honor. At the same time, observe that Dagon was not broken. He had fallen on his face, but that was all—so that the next day his foolish worshipers set him up, again.

Sometimes, at the first entrance of Grace, there is a downfall of sin, but nothing like such a breaking and destroying of sin in the soul as there will be afterwards. When the Divine life has entered, sin is dethroned—it no longer sits up there in the place of God—but yet, for all that, there is an awful power remaining in the corrupt nature. There is a deadly tendency to sin, a powerful law in the members bringing the soul into captivity. Still, down the idol goes, even if it is not broken! It cannot reign, though it may remain to trouble us.

Dagon’s Ups and Downs by C. H. Spurgeon

Micah’s Message For Today

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You who are King of kings and Lord of lords, we worship You. Before Jehovah’s awful throne we bow with sacred joy.

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Sin and Grace, Conflict and Victory

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…behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD… – 1 Samuel 5:4

While the Dagon of sin sits firmly on his throne, as if he never could be stirred and his horrid form is, alone, to be seen lording it over all the thoughts and imaginations of the heart, even then it is that “God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins,” sends His almighty Grace to dwell within us! When that Grace enters the soul, it comes not with observation—and sin, at first does not know any more about the incoming of Grace than Dagon knew about the Ark. The Grace, the Light, the Truth, the Love of God come into the soul and the man does not know, as yet, what the Lord has done for him…We have now Dagon and the Ark in the same temple—Sin and Grace in the same heart—but this state of things cannot long abide! No man can serve two masters! And even if he could, the two masters would not agree to be served!

The two great principles of Sin and Grace will not abide in peace with each other, they are as opposite as fire and water. There will be conflict and victory, but we know which will conquer, for as surely as ever the Grace of God comes into the soul, Sin receives notice to exit! That night, when the Philistines had finished their exulting ceremonies, they thought they had left Dagon robed in glory, reigning and triumphing over the Ark of the Lord. They had scarcely shut the doors and gone before Dagon fell on his face to the ground before the Ark. Down he went! He did not lean over—he fell! Nor did he drop upon his side, but he was made to do obeisance before the Ark, for he fell on his face!. Even thus Grace in the soul is not long before it overthrows sin. What a turning of things upside down Grace always makes! The watchword is, “Overturn, overturn, overturn!” The Breaker is come up, and the images of man’s invention must be dashed to shivers!.. When Grace enters the soul the dominion of self-confidence comes to an end!

Dagon’s Ups and Downs by C. H. Spurgeon

Divine Grace Enters the Soul

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…behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD… – 1 Samuel 5:4

Dagon was nothing more than a merman or mermaid, only, of course, there was no pretense of his being alive. He was a carved image—like that which the papists worship and call the Blessed Virgin, or Saint Peter, or Saint Remy. The temple at Ashdod was, perhaps, the cathedral of Dagon, the chief shrine of his worship—and there he sat erect upon the high altar with pompous surroundings. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Hosts was a small wooden box overlaid with gold. It was, by no means, a very cumbersome or bulky thing but, nevertheless, very sacred because it had a representative character and symbolized the Covenant of God…Not long did the Ark remain where it was, with Dagon still supreme, but the mere incoming of the Ark into the idol temple was a fair picture of the introduction of the Grace of God into the human heart. The Philistines brought in the Ark of the Lord, but only an act of Divine power can bring the Grace of God into the soul.

By different instrumentalities the Truth of God, as it is in Jesus, is read, is heard, is brought to the recollection, is seen printed in the lives of men and so enters into the temple of the inner man or woman. When it first comes into the heart it finds sin enthroned there—and the Prince of Darkness reigning supreme. The first Grace that enters into the soul finds it in darkness and in death, under the dominion of sin. Brothers and Sisters, we have not to deliver ourselves from sin and death and darkness—and then obtain Grace! No! While we are yet DEAD, Divine Grace visits us! While we are yet slaves, the Liberator comes! On our blackest midnight, the Sun of Righteousness arises!

Dagon’s Ups and Downs by C. H. Spurgeon

The Victorious God Over All

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When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon…And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. – 1 Samuel 5:2,4,6

Jehovah’s answer to His foes was Dagon broken to shivers before His Ark and the Philistines plagued with tumors, until, in their desperate pain and dire disgrace, they set the Ark free, being no longer able to endure its presence in any of their towns. And so the Jews ever afterwards used to exasperate the Philistines by reminding them of the disease which so sorely tried them. There is a dash of this in the Psalm which says of the Lord, “He smote His enemies in the inner part. He put them to a perpetual reproach.” Never did a boastful nation undergo a deeper dishonor in the eyes of their neighbors, to whom they became a laughingstock! And never did an image suffer a worse disgrace than that which befell their god, Dagon.

Say to yourselves, then, “Our Lord will not always endure this idolatrous popery which is multiplying its priests within our national Church. His people cannot bear it—much less will He! He will not always tolerate these blasphemous theories by which self-conceited, learned men and vainglorious skeptics seek to get rid of God out of the world. They will provoke Him. He will bestir Himself. He will show Himself strong on the behalf of His Truth! He will roll back the waves of sin and let the ages know that He is still the great I AM, the victorious God over all, blessed forever.”

Dagon’s Ups and Downs by C. H. Spurgeon

God’s Jealousy

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And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. – 1 Samuel 4:10,11

When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon…Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD… – 1 Samuel 5:2,4

(A) lesson may be learned from the incident before us. When the Philistines had beaten the Israelites in battle and captured the sacred chest called the Ark, they boasted and gloried as though they had defeated God Himself! They evidently regarded the golden casket as the very choicest part of the spoil and they placed it as a trophy in the chief temple of their god, Dagon, to show that he was mightier than the God Jehovah who was unable, as they thought, to protect His people. This touched, at once, the honor of Jehovah, and because He is a jealous God this was good for Israel. The fact that God is a jealous God has often a terrible side to us, for it leads to our chastisement when we grieve Him. This, indeed, led to the defeat of Israel.

But it has, also, a bright side towards us, for His jealousy flames against His foes even more terribly than against His Friends! And when His name is blasphemed and honors that are due to Him are ascribed to a mere idol—or He is declared to have been defeated by a false god—then His jealousy burns like coals of juniper and He makes bare His right arm to smite His adversaries as He did on this occasion. He thinks it meet to punish His offending people, but when Philistia says, “Dagon has defeated Jehovah,” then the Lord will no longer suffer Philistia to triumph!

Dagon’s Ups and Downs by C. H. Spurgeon

Provoking God

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And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies…And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. – 1 Samuel 4:3,10,11

Almost to the death has the so-called “Church” come down when her ministers, like Hophni and Phineas, have allied themselves with the temporal power, for God will do His work by His own instruments and in His own way. He will not be indebted to the might of flesh but will defend His own Glory by His own mysterious power. He uses for His instruments His consecrated ones who wear the white linen, which is the righteousness of saints—not the blood-stained men of war arrayed in coats of mail and glittering breastplate of steel.

Whenever, at any time, infidelity or superstition shall so prevail as to discourage your minds, take comfort out of this—that in all these, God’s honor is compromised. Have they blasphemed His name? Then He will protect that name! Have they gone further than they used to do in foul utterances against Him? Then they will provoke Him and He will make bare His holy arm! I pray that they may so provoke Him! All His Church will say, “Amen!” to that, so that He may arise and perform the glorious works of His strength and of His love among the sons of men and put the adversary to confusion by proving that He is still with His people—and still the same mighty God as He was in the days of yore.

Dagon’s Ups and Downs by C. H. Spurgeon