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Israel’s First King – 3
And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. – 1 Samuel 12:21

Good advice for an aspiring politician (prospective leader of the people), is it not?

A young Saul is anointed King of Israel and the heavy mantle of leadership soon burdens Saul’s shoulders.

1 Samuel 13

[Readers may view the entire chapter in another tab by clicking on the link above.]

Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel, 2 Saul chose three thousand men of Israel.
- King for one year
- Raises an army of of 3000 in year two.
- 2000 men with Saul in Michmash in hill country of Bethel [v.2]
- 1000 men with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin
³Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.” ⁴And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.
- a garrison is troops stationed in a town to defend it, typically a small number of the entire army.
5 And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven.

Imagine that after a short time in office and you announcing a great victory (really, a small battle won by your son in a border town) that you discover that your neighboring enemy, Philistia, is bringing an army of 30,000 men and 6 thousand chariots against your army of 2000 men who are mostly shepherds.

What next? Saul is in danger of immediate defeat.

⁶When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns, ⁷and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

God’s great nation of Israel is fleeing the heathen Philistines and Saul leads those who do not desert to temporary safety.

⁸He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.

Can a dead King defend the towns of Israel from the caves of the hills of Benjamin?

King Saul is practically impatient. Saul has had instructions from GOD through Samuel. What are they? WAIT! Wait seven days.

Could the LORD who parted the waters of the sea and crumbled the walls of Jericho not defeat a mere army of men and horses?

Yet Saul does not believe Samuel and the LORD are true to this time to redeem the threatened nation.

… And he offered the burnt offering.

10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?”

Can a King, President, Premier or Prime Minister lead without God?

Yes. Throughout recorded history it happens daily and in many places.

Yet no nation can claim God without obedience to God’s will.

Saul has forsaken the word of the Lord. Saul has rejected the promises he made before the Lord’s Prophet, Samuel, and the people of Israel who follow him as King. Saul seeks to intercede as Priest before the LORD, usurping Samuel’s lawful role and his sworn allegiance to the will of GOD.

13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue.

The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart,

and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people.

It is clear from history and scripture that Samuel speaks of the anointing of David, a servant in Saul’s household, yet more importantly, ‘a man after God’s own heart.’

15 And Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal. The rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the army; they went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin.

And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men.
- 30,000 Philistines on foot and
- 6000 Philistine charioteers stand ready to attack
- Samuel and his men left for Gilgal
- King Saul now has only 600 men.
- The small army of Saul departs for the battle at Gibeah
- None of Saul’s men have spears or swords, only Saul and Jonathan! [v.22]
What a predicament! Saul is surrounded. He is stripped of his kingdom. The King has few followers. AND GOD is NOT on his side.

Yet in spite of all that, GOD wins the battle by the hand of Jonathan. You can read about it in 1 Samuel 14.

The book of First Samuel is essentially the story of King Saul. David now enters in the later chapters. The timeline of Saul is approximately:
- 1043 B.C. Saul becomes King
- 1041 B.C. Saul’s War with the Philistines & Jonathan’s Miraculous Victory
- 1028 B.C. Saul’s Disobedience and Samuel’s Rebuke [ch.15]
- 1024 B.C. David anointed King [ch.16] & David kills Goliath [ch.17]
- 1011 B.C. Saul Slays the Priests of Nob [ch.22], David flees Saul, Samuel dies
- 1010 B.c. Saul consults a witch at Endor [ch.28]
- 1010 B.C. David flees to the Philistines, is sent away & defeats the Amalikites
- 1010 B.C. Saul & his sons killed in battle 1 Samuel 31
A question of Legacy for Leaders

What will be your legacy:

O King or Premier,

Honorable President, Prime Minister?

What will be your legacy:

Frail leader of men,

Lowly servant of all?

Compare King Saul to David, a man after God’s own heart:

Psalm 18: KJV

[[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,]]

I will love thee,

O LORD, my strength.

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

my God, my strength, in whom I will trust;

my buckler, and the horn of my salvation,

and my high tower.

I will call upon the LORD,

who is worthy to be praised:

so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

A thousand years after Saul, a captive Jerusalem looked for a King like Saul to redeem them from Rome. Rather, a King of the Jews entered the gates humbly and redeemed our souls on a cross.

Three thousand years since King Saul and war still looms large in the hills near to Jerusalem. The war of ungodly men still seeks to destroy both the power and the mercy of God.

Christ Jesus has led the captives of sin right up to these last days.

Our Lord and God has conquered death and calls us to an eternal New Jerusalem.

Question to a Sinner Redeemed

Fellow sinner redeemed,

Will you bow down to Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior?

Blessed be God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;

Who is and was and will be forever.

Amen.
October 3, 2015
Interrupting Jesus 12 – interrupting sin

`… to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy… build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince… the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. Daniel 9:24-25 KJV excerpt

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus answering the religious leaders. Luke 5:32 KJV

The following is the conclusion of a 12-part series on Interrupting Jesus.

What interruption are you expecting to your day today? What interruption to your mission and ‘to do’ list? Who has stepped into time you thought was your own?

Will you take time, like a loving and merciful God, to love those who get in the way of what you had planned for today?

Jesus made people the focus of His time. No sinner was too unimportant to receive His love and healing. You are not so important or unimportant for God Incarnate to grant you grace, forgiving your sins.

The LORD had interrupted men like Abram, Moses, David and the Prophets. The LORD made covenant and promise. He has given the Law to Israel and made judgment on nations. God IS the LORD!

Why would the eternal GOD interrupt the time of history, even the measured mortality of one man or one woman?

The LORD is Almighty, yet God loves the world – the sons and daughters of the generations – enough to interrupt the rebelliousness of our sin with the love, mercy and grace of a Perfect Heavenly Father.

God interrupted the sin of mankind in the Person of Christ Jesus.

Jesus loved every sinner who interrupted His mission and ministry; from His mother at the wedding where He turned water into wine, to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, to the tax collector Zaccheus in the tree, to you and me.

Jesus Christ loves the people of the world with a personal love and forgiveness of God the Father.

Every generation has looked for God or selfishly ignored God.

The LORD may not have appeared to your grandfather Abraham and your father and mother. The LORD may not have promised a home to your twelve children in a land of milk and honey. The LORD may not have given your leader the Law or appeared to your High Priest. The LORD may not have called you to rebuke kings and nations or given you writing on the walls of history.

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 1:17

The LORD God is known. The LORD IS. In the Person of Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit, God is present to those who believe, repent and obey His will; those who believe in Him, as a faithful child follows a loving Father.

Ungodly men seek to do as they please and lead other men into their own sinful ambitions. Israel and all nations look to strong men to lead us into a promise of land and riches for our own ambitious pleasures. False prophets and evil leaders of men will seek your sacrifice for their gain of land and riches.

Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple had been destroyed. September 21, 520 B.C., Temple rebuilding resumes and is completed in 515 B.C., only to be destroyed once again. A faithful exiled Hebrew Prophet had predicted this and more from Babylon (modern day Iraq) under Nebuchadnezzar and later under Cyrus II of Persia (modern day Iran) who overthrew Babylon and allowed some of the Hebrew captives to return to Judah.

Daniel, Prophet of God, lives a godly and high priestly life in a foreign land from about 605-535 B.C. Here the testimony of God through Daniel:

Daniel 9:

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— ²in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years…

“O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

⁵we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

⁶We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame…

¹¹All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside,refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. ¹²He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity…

¹⁵And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly…

The Israel of Moses and Joshua had not yet received the true promise of the promised land. Jacob and the twelve sons of Israel did not reap the harvest of the leading of God. David and even Solomon would suffer defeats of a mighty kingdom and evil kings to follow did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Prophets of the LORD, like Jeremiah and Daniel had warned the people of their sin, yet like us… like those leaders of defeated Judah who lived comfortable in their ‘religion’… most souls will not have the ears to hear the LORD. Israel did not expect the kind of Messiah the LORD had sent to personally give accountability for our sins. Jesus was not a leader like them.

Five hundred years after the Prophet Daniel, Herod the Great [37-4 B.C.] envisioned himself as the kind of King Israel should have to restore the kingdom. Many others recognized the true godliness of a Prophet like John the Baptist.

John 1:

¹⁹And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

During the time of the Messiah in the Person of Jesus Christ, men of Judah, living under the strong rule of a Roman Empire, expected a Messiah King to restore their land to the glory of David and Solomon. Jesus Christ, a Son of Man, came to us that all might be restored to the glory of God by receiving forgiveness of our sins through His Holy and Perfect Sacrifice.

The LORD God is just. The Lord God is a loving Father. Christ Jesus IS sacrificed for us. He IS risen to return once more to judge all souls in the Light, forgiving those who repent and turn back to the righteous LORD.

Three years of earthly ministry of Jesus Christ lead to the gates of Jerusalem more than once, a final time as the Passover Sacrifice for the sins of all mankind on a Cross. An interruption of the centuries and generations by Almighty God gives rise to all nations and all mankind – hope to all the generations for the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with the LORD God, our Father in Heaven.

Not only does Jesus interrupt history with a resurrection of His soul, as one might expect; but the greatest interruption of all: Jesus rises from the grave of death in the body and appears to more than five hundred over a time of fifty days!

The Prophets and the Psalmist had spoken and written of the Messiah, who would be King of the Jews. The Scriptures had spoken of the King to whom all will bow down. It was not to happen on earth, in the brief lifetime of Jesus of Nazareth or in yours or mine. Yet Scripture and the promises of the LORD will be fulfilled.

Another interruption is yet to come:

Daniel is not the only true Prophet to see the handwriting on the walls of what the LORD will surely do. Read more of the Prophets about the day of the LORD.

Jesus Christ, our Lord, also warned of His return on the clouds. The Apocalypse written at the close of the New Testament is well-known to the world as an interruption of history yet to come, though the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John is little understood even by believers.

Do you live your life in expectation of the return of Christ our Lord on the clouds?

Revelation 21

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…

Do you give the souls who interrupt your day the same love and compassion Christ Jesus has given us by showing a most personal interest in our forgiveness of sins?

Revelation 22 KJV

11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

LORD, interrupt our mortality with your own loving immortality.

Amen.

September 21, 2015
Interrupting Jesus 11 – a last supper in Jericho

Jericho, best known as the place where the Hebrew nation, led by Joshua, began their conquest of Canaan with a march around the walls of Jericho, strategically central to inland trade routes to the Mediterranean.

Along a barren highway to the west, about a 15 mile walk to Jerusalem after an ascent from the small town of Bethel. Galileans, Judeans, Samaritans and of course, Roman soldiers, traveled these highways through Jericho. It would be the path to the festival of the Passover, this one the time of the Sacrifice of Jesus.

The crowds have traveled with the popular Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth. In just days they would lay palms before His triumphal entry into the gates of Jerusalem. Like Joshua, His Hebrew Name means: “Jehovah is salvation.”

Jesus IS the Christ, the Messiah.

Into the town of Jericho crowds enter. People allign the streets as if awaiting a King with riches or celebrity you must see once in your mortal life. One of the town’s lesser citizens is a resented tax collector. (Perhaps you have heard how the Jews hated the men who collected taxes for Rome.) In fact, one of the purported followers of Jesus used to be a tax collector. Perhaps you have read his Gospel.

Luke 5:

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

The Messiah came to save sinners: seductive women, adulterous men, liars, thiefs and even tax collectors.

Jesus did not come to save the regular attenders of church (synagogue). Jesus has tax collectors and sinners following Him as Disciples and as part of the crowds – sinners like you and me – sinners like Zacchaeus.

In fact, Luke reports a parable Jesus had told about a Pharisee and a tax collector. Here is a story we can relate to about good ‘church’ people and the corrupt public official in their midst:

Luke 18:

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: ¹⁰“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee,standing by himself, prayed thus:

‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

¹²I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

¹³But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying,

‘God,be merciful to me, a sinner!’

¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Do you, dear claimant of Christ, good observer of God’s ordinances, come to the LORD pleading for mercy while showing no mercy for your fellow sinners?

Matthew, the tax collector who quit to follow Jesus, and the other repentant sinners of the crowds knew that the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus, was a merciful teacher. Not only the Gospel of His miracles preceded Jesus as He entered Jericho, but also the wisdom and compassion of His teaching of scripture. A tax collector like Zacchaeus might just have a chance to see this man of mercy traveling to Jerusalem through his town of Jericho.

Luke 19:

He entered Jericho and was passing through. ²And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. ⁴So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.

⁵And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”

Imagine, the leading teacher and prophet comes through town with crowds of followers. Jesus pauses where you are and looks up to you! He calls you by name. Further, this well-known teacher boldly tells you (in front of all of the witnesses around Him) that He has to come to your house for dinner. Unthinkable! Nobody wants to associate with tax collectors and corrupt politicians, let alone have dinner.

Have you ever been looked down on by others, rejected by everyone of importance?

Jesus did not think himself to be so important as to not interrupt His journey to Jerusalem to have dinner with a sinner. Zaccheaus

⁶So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

⁷And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

⁸And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

⁹And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.

¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jehovah is salvation: Jesus has interrupted the journey of His high sacrifice about to take place at the Passover. The Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, has come to the house of a sinner for a feast.

What is your response to Christ Jesus? Have you repented of your sins and accepted the grace of God?

Lord have mercy on us. Christ have mercy on us.

Therefore, let us keep the feast, beloved fellow forgiven sinner.

September 12, 2015