The story of the apostasy of Dan in Judg. 17-18 is a warning to us all today, for it is common in Christianity for someone to set up a different center of worship under the guise of the worship of God, therefore not abiding by God’s ordination concerning the unique place of worship to God.
Micah had a house of gods, full of idols; this is a picture of Christianity today. If we look at the Roman Catholic church, we see so many idols there – even physically.
And if we look at many of the denominational churches, maybe they don’t have as many physical idols, statues, sculptures, or sculptured idols, but they have crosses and the picture of Jesus – all these are idols people use to replace Christ.
One of the brothers in the line of the Lord’s recovery, John Nelson Darby, was used by the Lord to release so many truths, and he tried to be very pure in following the Lord.
He did not want to have any picture taken of him; he didn’t want anyone to know what he looks like in order to idolize him.
He might have been one of the greatest gifts given by Christ to His Body in the last two thousand years, but we can hardly find a picture of him. He didn’t want anyone to idolize him.
And he has this quote, which is so precious, The joy of having nothing, being nothing, seeing nothing, except Christ and this Christ in glory.
He doesn’t want to be remembered or idolized, but he wants Christ to be remembered and worshipped.
But if we look at Christianity today, with all the grandiose buildings and the megachurches with big donors, having a good show and great and charismatic leaders, many people are drawn not to Christ but to these outward things.
They may have a choir, with good vocalists and great solos, and many come to listen to them, for they think that these ones worship God when they put on such a show. Oh, Lord!
According to the Lord’s principle, however, He doesn’t want us to become great; He wants us to be small, even to be like the small man Jesus, who didn’t get a great following outwardly when He was on earth but died as a seed and produced many believers through His death and resurrection.
We shouldn’t try to make an idol for ourselves, neither should we idolize anyone. It doesn’t matter how good, how zealous, and how useful a person is in the Lord’s hand, in God’s economy we worship and appreciate Christ and Christ alone.
All of us are members of the Body, and Christ the Head is exalted in all things. We may become a channel of life and we may be used by the Lord to do this or that, but all the glory goes to Him – nothing for man!
In Christianity we see many “houses of Micah” such as the Roman Catholic Church, the state churches, the denominations, and many of the independent groups; they are full of idols and replacements of Christ.
May we return to the pure word of God and to His heart’s desire, remain small and humble in our worship of God, and do things according to the God-ordained way in His word.
Beware of Setting up a Divisive Center of Worship after being Successful in Gaining Christ
While the house of God was in Shiloh, the children of Dan erected for themselves the sculptured idol in Dan, setting up the sculptured idol that Micah had made the whole time that the house of God was in Shiloh (Judg. 18:30-31).
Some men from the tribe of Dan came to visit the house of Micah, saw what was going on there, reported back to their people, and six hundred men came and raided his house, took his idol, the molten image, the ephod, and the Levite who was serving as a priest.
The Danites told him that it’s better for him to serve a whole tribe than just to serve a family; he would have a better job serving a whole tribe. What an apostasy!
We seldom talk about such things in the church life, but if we look in Christianity, many who “serve God” go where the pay is better and the audience is greater. Oh, Lord!
And the Danites, who were looking for a place, found this city of Laish, they destroyed all the people there and established their own place there; they set up the idol there, and called the name of that place Dan.
On one hand the tabernacle was in Shiloh, and the priesthood was there also, but Dan set up a divisive center of worship in Dan.
The apostasy with Dan was the setting up of a divisive center of worship (Judg. 17:9-10; 18:27-31; 1 Kings 12:26-31).
They seemed to be successful in gaining the land, so they set up a divisive center of worship.
We see this also in 1 Kings with the sin of Jeroboam, who was the king of the kingdom of Israel to the north, ruling over ten tribes.
He made two golden calves and set up one in Dan and another one in Bethel, in the north, telling people that they don’t have to go to Jerusalem to worship, for the golden calf is Jehovah, and they can worship it in these two places.
The way God ordained for the worship of God is to have only one center of worship, in the location and place of His choice; however, throughout history, there have been many who set up a divisive center of worship after being successful in gaining Christ.
Today in the church life we want to return to the unique place of worship that God desires, our mingled spirit, to worship God in spirit and truthfulness and on the unique ground of oneness of the Body of Christ.
Others may invite us to their majestic and glamorous worship place, where everything is so proper, so inspiring, with great praise and worship music and eloquent speakers, but we want to take God’s ordained way.
Others may have charismatic leaders who give inspiring speeches and comforting sermons, and they may have comfortable chairs, great refreshments, and a good playground for kids to play while the parents attend the worship – but we want to remain in the spirit and on the ground of oneness.
Christians today are so free to set up their own place of worship, their own worship center, having no consideration for God’s ordination.
And by doing this, they become a rival to what God wants to do. Dan fought as a young lion to gain more land, but after being successful and victorious, he became proud, individualistic, and independent (see Deut. 33:22; Josh. 19:47; Judg. 18:27-31).
Moses prophesied that Dan is like a lion’s whelp that leaps forth from Bashan; he is like a young lion leaping forth not for prey but for looking for a territory. In a sense, that is not bad, for God wants to give them the land.
We may want to gain more Christ, and we may fight and gain the victory, thus gaining more Christ; we may even be aggressive to gain Christ, but after being victorious, we may become proud and independent. Oh, Lord!
Can one who gains Christ become proud? Yes, he can.
We can become individualistic and independent if we are victorious in gaining Christ; we need to beware of this.
We may be aggressive in gaining Christ, and in our gaining of Christ – after being successful and victorious – we may become proud, and we may be presumptuous to the extent of desiring to make another center of worship, thus being divisive. Oh, Lord Jesus!
May the Lord have mercy on us and shine in us and on us so that He may expose our pride, our being individualistic, and our being divisive; may we remain one with the Lord and with the saints, and may we worship Him in the way He ordained and in the place He chose to put His name in.
Lord Jesus, we desire to gain more of Christ as the good land. We want more of the good land to become ours for our enjoyment and experience. We stand in You as the victorious One to take possession of the allotted portion of the good land. Amen, Lord, we open to You so that You may continually shine on us and expose anything of our pride, individualism, and independence. Save us from being proud as a result of having the victory in gaining Christ. Save us from setting up another center of worship besides the one set up by God. Oh Lord, we want to gain more of You and to worship You in the way ordained by God and in the place where God chose to put His name! Keep us in our mingled spirit and on the ground of oneness, worshipping God in spirit and truthfulness and in oneness with all the saints!
Caring only for Ourselves and not Caring for other Parts of the Body is the Source of Apostasy
Some believers may say, What is so wrong with setting up another center of worship for the people of God to come and worship God? We don’t set up a pub, a club, or a gambling place, but a place for God to be worshipped – what’s wrong with that?
In Judg. 18:27-31 and Deut. 33:22 we see that Dan was successful in gaining a portion of the land, and they became proud and individualistic; they cared for themselves, not for others, so they set up a divisive center of worship.
They disregarded God’s ordained ground of oneness; Shiloh was at that time the place where God’s tabernacle was, and people went there to worship God, but the Danites disregarded that.
They cared for themselves and their comfort but did not care for the rest of the people of Israel, so this became the source of apostasy.
Not caring for other parts of the Body but mainly caring for ourselves and our comfort is the source of apostasy and leads to division. Oh, Lord Jesus!
No matter how successful we are in our work for the Lord, how useful we are in the Lord’s hand, we need to remember that we are just a member in the Body of Christ; we are not all-inclusive, neither are we commissioned by the Lord to set up worship centres besides the One He chose to put His name on.
We need to consider that there are other members of the Body around us, and we are just a member. The source of Dan’s apostasy was in not caring for the other tribes; not caring for other parts of the Body is the source of apostasy.
Today we live in the age of the Body; the age of “spiritual giants” is over. We live in the age of the Body to be brought forth as the one new man so that the bride of Christ can be prepared to bring back the Bridegroom and close this age.
All the individual giants had their place in the previous centuries; God used them.
But today we are clearly in the age of the Body, and no person is above another, neither is a church better than another.
The Lord has raised up brother Watchman Nee and through him and his co-worker Witness Lee, the light concerning Christ and the Body of Christ has been made more clear; however, we do not worship these brothers, neither do we set up a church in their name.
They are gifts given by the Lord to His Body, and the Lord is recovering the genuine church life on the ground of oneness.
What we have before us is the vision of the Body of Christ – we all are members, organically joined and connected together.
We shouldn’t venture off by ourselves, thinking that we are able, we are capable, and we can gain the victory on our own.
Nothing throughout the history of Israel was more sinful or more damaging to God’s people than Dan’s apostasy in setting up a divisive center of worship (Gen. 49:16-18; Deut. 33:22; Judg. 18:1, 30-31).
Similarly, throughout the church history, nothing has damaged the Body of Christ more than the setting up of divisive worship centers by zealous and fervent Christians who were used by God.
Many Christians sought the Lord, gained something of Christ, saw something further in the Word of God, and were useful in God’s hand; then, they set up a center of worship for those who followed them to meet.
This may seem so positive and actually quite common, but this is done by the self and for the self, and it is a divisive center of worship. May the Lord save us from this.
Lord Jesus, save us from being individualistic and caring only for ourselves in the church life. Save us from being independent and self-centred. May we realize that we are members in the Body and, no matter how much God would use us, we are all members one of another under Christ as the Head. Keep us in the oneness of the Body of Christ. Save us from being divisive by caring only for ourselves and not caring for other parts of the Body. Save us from being in apostasy by setting up a divisive center of worship according to our preference and desire. Lord Jesus, we return to You and to Your ordained way for us to worship God, meet, and keep the oneness in the Body!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msgs. 102-103), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 6, The Intrinsic Significance of the Book of Judges and the Apostasy of Israel in the Worshipping of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– All the saints of Christ are / Members every one; / All coordinating / Into oneness come. / Though the gifts are many, / Yet the Spirit one; / Many too the functions, / But one Lord, the Son. (Hymns #854)
– As in a team we’d never / Act independently, / But in coordination, / Each would dependent be; / Not acting by our choosing / But following the flow, / Distraction never bringing, / The Spirit’s way we’d know. (Hymns #867)
– All the preaching of the Gospel, / All the teaching ministry, / Every other kind of service / For the church alone should be…Lord, deliver us from our work, / From the work of any sect; / For Thy Church alone we’d labor / And its building up effect. (Hymns #914)
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