Chapter 2 - The First Rejection of the King (Part 6 of 6)

What Makes a Godly Human King?

Over the last two weeks, we have examined the request—or maybe “demand” is a better word—made by the elders of the Israelites in 1 Samuel 8 for an earthly king. We learned how they not only said, in so many word, that they no longer wished to be set apart as God’s Chosen People, they also rejected God as their king. They wanted to replace His Law with “the ways of the nations around them,” and more importantly, they wanted to replace Him with a king “like the other nations have.”

As God predicted they would.

He did so in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. In these verses, God instructed the Israelites on how they were to set up such an office. He predicted they would say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us (v. 14).” When they reached this decision, according to verse 15, they were supposed to appoint over them a king of God’s own choosing. This king was to be from among their fellow Israelites. No foreigners were allowed to sit on the throne. This king was not supposed to acquire great wealth, never make God’s people return to Egypt, nor marry multiple wives so that his heart would not be led astray (vv. 16-17). He was also supposed to copy down the Law, with the help of the priests. He was to read it and meditate on it all the days of his life so that “he may learn to revere the LORD his God” and follow all the law and decrees (vv.18-19). He was not to think of himself more highly than his fellow Israelites. He was not to deviate from the Law one wit. If he was this kind of obedient, godly king, then the promise from God was that he and his descendants would reign over Israel for a long time (v. 20).¹

The kind of king referenced in Deuteronomy 17 was very foreign to the concept of earthly kings. No earthly king up until that moment had lived like this. Yet, this “type of king” referenced in Deuteronomy 17 was to be qadosh (holy). He was not to be a foreigner, i.e., something other than an Israelite. He was not to get rich off the backs of his people. He was to meditate on the torah all the days of his life. He was to revere God. He was to be humble. He was to lead as God directed and do God’s will in the process. He was to be content. He was to be the man of but one bride (i.e., not marry multiple wives). And most importantly, he was to be appointed by God to be the king.

Does this sound like anyone in the Bible?

Yes. Our Lord Jesus.

How Ungodly Desires Poison a Nation

However, in 1 Samuel 8, a subtle but profound shift in how these Israelite leaders asked for a king takes place. Instead of asking for a king to lead them as they all learn to revere the Lord their God, they said this to Samuel: “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead (i.e., judge) us, such as all the other nations have.” On the surface, it sounds kosher. They had had judges for many years up to this point. Samuel served as both a judge and a prophet (1 Samuel 3:20; 7:15).

As we mentioned over the last two weeks, Samuel’s sons were not godly leaders. Therefore, the elders had every right to ask for replacements.

They should have asked for two new judges to replace them. However, that’s not what they did. First, they asked Samuel to appoint a king over them. Only God could do that. They also wanted a “king,” and they wanted that king to “lead” them, or it could be translated “judge them,” such as all the other nations have.

Notice how they did not say, “such as God described for us in Deuteronomy 17.” They were not after a king who would seek God’s will, teach God’s Law, and demand that they all follow its instructions and teachings, including the king himself. These elders were after a king who would judge them like the other nations have kings who would judge them.

Not by God’s Law, but by the laws of men.

Big difference.

And if we happen to miss the heart of the request by these elders when reading this eighth chapter in 1 Samuel, God sure didn’t. A displeased Samuel comes to Him and shares what is going on (v. 6). What was God’s response? 

“Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods…” (vv. 7-8; emphasis added; NASB 1995).

Like Samuel, a judge was to lead Israel. Judges in those days were similar to the judges today in one way: They were part of the legal system of the Theocracy. The judges helped to mediate the Law of God when disputes arose, but God served as the King over both the judges, the prophets, and the nation. But in these verses, God pinpoints the issue. They no longer wished to be God’s chosen people. They wanted to be their own people, with their own laws, and have their own kings.

We see God’s subsequent warnings in 1 Samuel 8:9-18 about a human king (or emperor, president, prime minister…pick a title, doesn’t matter) coming to light every day in the news. We’ve recorded it in our history books. The story may change continents. The people’s faces and skin color may look different. Their language may sound different, too, but the storyline is just how God described it through the prophet Samuel. Our sons go to war for our “kings.” Our daughters are employed as slaves for our “kings.” The “kings” take our land when it suits them. They tax our land. They tax the profits made by the fruit of our labor. They give those monies to their supporters. The kings grow fat while the people suffer and struggle to make ends meet.

Sound familiar at all? If it doesn’t, reread 1 Samuel 8:10-14.

However, the biggest point of this entire debate is that they rejected God as their leader. As their King.

God wasn’t good enough anymore.

We see glimpses of this dynamic all the time. They are microcosmic examples of the larger issue. For example, our children get upset as they grow up. They don’t like our parental rules. They break them often. Suffer the consequences. Ask for forgiveness and pledge to do what is right in the future. Then, they turn around and break the same rules again. Sometimes, they even get themselves into serious trouble and plead for us to come and save them from their folly. We do, of course, and usually, consequences for their actions follow. As parents, we expect it. We did it when we were kids. Our parents did it when they were kids. Every relative down through our family tree did it when they were kids. Theologically speaking, it’s called “a sinful nature.”

I had a professor in college, Dr. John Tyson, who said that (and I’m paraphrasing here) “children are living proof of the Doctrine of Original Sin. You never have to teach them how to do wrong. They come by that naturally. As a parent, what are you always teaching your children to do as they grow up? To do the right thing, correct? But you never have to teach them how to do wrong. It doesn’t take them long to learn that after they are born. They learn how to do wrong naturally.”

So, as parents, we understand that truth. Just as God dealt with Israel’s rebellion time and time again, we too deal with our children’s rebellion in a similar fashion.  

The truth we, as parents, have a hard time accepting is when our children want to divorce us from their lives. When they yell something like this: “I hate you! I don’t want to be your son anymore! Get out of my life! I’m moving out! I’m going to live at Johnny’s house. I want parents like his. His parents let me do whatever I want!”                         

Those are the words that cut deep when you are a parent. Especially when your son or daughter actually acts on his or her words and physically moves out. Why? Because you are being rejected as the parent and being replaced with another “parent” so your child can live “like the other kids,” or we could say, “like the other nations.” At this stage, it’s not about your house rules any longer. Your child has now rejected you as his/her parent.

As his father. As her father.

As her mother. As his mother.

It is in these moments when we begin to get a glimpse of the pain Israel caused God in 1 Samuel 8.

God’s people liked being citizens in a fallen, human kingdom better than being members of God’s kingdom and following His teachings and instructions, even though they were being persuaded and influenced behind the scenes by Satan himself.

Mark this, dear reader, for this concept will come into play later as well.

And mark this: It happened at Ramah (v. 4).

 

Thought For The Week:

It is amazing how we are always looking for something new, something fresh, something improved, just like the elders in 1 Samuel 8. We, too, want things that prop up our sinful nature and make us feel good about ourselves. Simply watch modern commercials, and you get inundated with same, tired rhetoric. If we’re not “Eating Fresh” at Subway, we “deserve a break today” at McDonald’s. If a product isn’t “New and Improved,” then we question its worth. We’re never content because we believe we deserve better.

Take some time and listen to people talk around you. It seems everybody believes “you deserve it” or “I deserve it.” Whatever “it” may be. We deserve to be treated better by others. We deserve a raise. We deserve more for our money. We deserve more time off. We deserve a vacation. We deserve better seats at a sporting event. We deserve a better table at a restaurant. We deserve a better automobile, better schools, better homes, better appliances, and better countertops in our kitchens. Everything must be better because that’s what we deserve. And we want things to be better for our offspring than “what we had growing up.”

However, the Bible is very clear. The only thing we “deserve” is death (Romans 3:9-18; 23; 6:23). We were separated from God when we sought Him and found Him the very first time. Yet, it was His gracious hand that sprinkled the Blood of the Lamb on the altar of our hearts and cleansed us from all unrighteousness. It was His loving hand that touched our infirmities and made us whole. It was His merciful hand that reached out and helped us escape the grasp of death and the grave.

When a Christian comes to this monumental epiphany, then contentment in His sovereign will gets easier and easier, for His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. Demands for better things and situations start to die and bow their will to His will, as the Christian understands that the eternal life he now enjoys is all because of the Kingdom of Heaven that is at hand. Blind, deaf, and mute beggars who all of a sudden can see, hear, and speak want nothing more than to be in the presence of the One who saved them from their weaknesses, for they appreciate the gifts they have received, undeserved as they were. It is a “transforming of the mind” (Romans 12:1-2), from one centered on sin and self to one centered on God alone.

So I ask you, what do you deserve? And what more can a Christian need than God?

 

NEXT WEEK:

We take a look at the second rejection of the king found in scripture as we jump into Chapter 3.

 

Endnotes 

 

1. Israel had forty-two rulers in all (forty-one kings, and one queen for a brief time). Three of the kings served the nation before it became divided: Saul, David, and Solomon. After it divided, the nation Israel, first ruled by Jeroboam, had nineteen kings and one queen before being exiled to Assyria because of sin (cf. 2 Kings 17:7ff). The nation Judah, first ruled by Rehoboam, had twenty-two kings before being handed over to King Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chronicles 36:15ff; 2 Kings 25).

Of the thirty-nine rulers after Solomon, Israel did not have one king who did “right in the eyes of the Lord.” One king (Jehu) was used to kill off the house of Ahab because of how wicked Ahab’s house had become. Another king, Shallum, only reigned for one month and was assassinated, so there is no record of his standing with God.

Judah had several kings who did “right in the eyes of the Lord,” but they didn’t remove the high places, which were locations where people worshipped foreign gods like in the days of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel (These kings were Asa, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jotham). Two others, Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah did remove the high places as well as all the other idolatrous things infecting the Israelites. However, the top prize goes to Josiah (see 2 Kings 22:1 - 23:30). Josiah was the only king who took God’s Word to heart, besides David, and lived it before the people, like Deuteronomy 17 requires. The nation Judah existed longer because they had kings who tried to do what was right from time to time, but in the end, both they and Israel gave in to the pressures and lived like all the other nations around them. As a result, God gave them over to their desires, and they paid dearly by being invaded and taken captive.

And let me add that this was why God referred to David as a “man after His own heart” (Acts 13:22). David followed the pattern in Deuteronomy 17. Was he perfect? No. Did he sin? Yes. Yet, even in his sin, he lamented and repented, while paying a heavy price for it. He sought after God’s precepts. David was the first king who wanted to be qadosh, and that made him different from every other ruler God’s chosen people ever had. As a result, God followed through on His word in Deuteronomy 17 by establishing that king’s throne forever (See 2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17; Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38).

Pictures courtesy of  Pixabay and the following photographers/artists:

"King Jesus" by Couleur

"NO Hand" by Luisella Planeta Leoni LOVE PEACE

"Child Shouting" by Lee Murray

"Jesus Hand" by Treharris

Chapter 2 - The First Rejection of the King (Part 5 of 6)

 

The Sin of 1 Samuel 8

Before we get started today, read 1 Samuel 8 to help set the context in your mind. Then, come back, and we’ll proceed.

As we noted last week, the elders of Israel decided they needed an “earthly king,” using Samuel’s sons as the excuse for why God’s plan for Israel—i.e., being a theocracy—was antiquated and needed to be replaced.

Recapping 1 Samuel 8:1-5, the smart move, and the right move, on the part of the elders of Israel, as they stood before the prophet Samuel, would have been to turn to God for direction when his sons failed to live up to God’s torah. The elders couldn’t help the fact that Samuel’s offspring chose not to be set apart, which is a sidebar lesson to be learned here in the area of becoming a child of God. As a dear saint told my wife and me years ago, “God doesn’t have any grandchildren.” We can’t ride into glory on the coattails of our ancestors, regardless of how godly they were. Our decision to be qadosh, to be “set apart,” to be that “living sacrifice” mentioned in Romans 12 is an individual one. It is an act of the will, that inner drive every human being has to make decisions and to act upon his or her beliefs. It is not the legal piece of paper read after a funeral. It is a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual act to love God as He set forth in His Word (Matthew 22:37-40; cf. Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18).

Or not.

Hence, the concept of free will. Free to choose. Free to accept. Free to reject. God does give us that ability. And He gave that ability to the leaders of Israel in 1 Samuel 8.

We know that if the leaders of Israel had simply asked, God would have given the Israelites a new leader. A new “Samuel,” if you will. Or at least God would have dealt with his sons and replaced them. All they had to do was ask (cf. Matthew 7:7-12). However, they didn’t ask for a godly leader who would help them learn how to be set apart again. They didn’t ask for godly judges to replace Joel and Abijah. Instead, they wanted to be like their pagan counterparts.

Why is that bad, you ask? As we have stated thus far (see last week’s blog), the act of asking for a king so that they could be like the other nations around them meant the nation Israel was rejecting God’s Law in the process. They wished for God to rethink the entire “theocracy” notion and replace it with what they believed would be better. That was the elders’ first big mistake, and as we learned, history is littered with the ravages of that particular war between the kingdom of men and the Kingdom of God.

Israel’s Second Big Mistake

However, this request by the elders in 1 Samuel 8:4-5 also carried with it another catastrophic error. In asking for an earthly king like their pagan counterparts, God’s chosen people were rejecting God as their King (vv. 7-8). (Please note where this occurred—Ramah—for this will be significant later.)

As soon as the words left their mouths, God could have wiped them out and been done with the entire “chosen people” experiment. He not only acknowledged their rejection of Him as their king (v. 7), but He also recounted how this rejection dated back to their days in Egypt and had been an ever-present desire since then (v. 8). 

However, He’s a God of Love as well. His patience is long-suffering. God had already vowed to wipe out Israel twice in Exodus 32 and Numbers 14, and this was after completely destroying everyone on Earth, except Noah and his family, during the Flood in Genesis 6. Both times, Moses prayed to God, asking Him to change His mind. God did so, although He had plans to wipe out Abraham’s descendants and start a new nation with the descendants of Moses. On the heels of these decisions by God, as well as others noted in the Old Testament leading up to 1 Samuel 8, it is truly needless to say their request for an earthly king here in Ramah was not going to be received very favorably.

One would think that this scene would have been the proverbial straw on the broken camel’s back. Yet, instead, God spoke through the prophet Samuel, giving the elders something to think about before they simply swallowed the serpent’s bait—hook, line and sinker—in 1 Samuel 8:10-18 (ASV):

“And Samuel told all the words of Jehovah unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, ‘This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them unto him, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots; and he will appoint them unto him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will set some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots.

And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.

And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.

And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.

And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.

He will take the tenth of your flocks: and ye shall be his servants.

And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king whom ye shall have chosen you; and Jehovah will not answer you in that day.’”

Wow! Now, that’s something to think about...Carefully! Mull over it. Pray over it. Have constructive dialogue about the pros and cons. Decide unanimously as a whole group, either for it or against it. Maybe even go back to the Israelites and consult other respected leaders for godly counsel.

And think about it, they did.

For about two seconds.

It only took the elders of Israel the white space between verses 18 and 19 to reach their final answer! There was no call to prayer and fasting. No call of gathering the assembly of Israel together for a conference. They didn't even step off to the side and have a brief discussion. Instead, Samuel's words were met with obstinance.  Their response is found in verses 19-20: 

“But the people refused to hearken unto the voice of Samuel; and they said, ‘Nay: but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles’” (emphasis added).

Didn’t they hear anything God said through His prophet, Samuel? Yes. Did they believe it? Apparently not. Instead, they believed the Accuser, and in the process, a skewed, unrealistic, distorted view of a king and how a king was to handle himself permeated Israeli leadership.

Even today, Jewish people await the coming of the Messiah, expecting Him to be a king who will lead them, go out before them, and fight their battles, on a white horse, with sword drawn, and an army of angels behind, for the purpose of wiping out their oppressors and reestablishing Israel to her Promised Land while vanquishing all her enemies. This improper understanding of "kingship" was how they missed the Suffering Servant Messiah in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. In their minds, a king doesn’t conquer anybody by being a lamb led to slaughter.

That’s not how kings conquer.

Earthly kings, that is.

God told Israel that their “earthly king” would be sinful. He would be corrupt. He would extort. He would pillage his own people. He would rule with an iron fist. He would institute a military draft. He would take boys and make them into soldiers. Some of those boys would be cannon fodder for the king’s military pursuits and personal gains. Other boys would remain in the king’s service as they moved up the ranks, pledging their allegiance to the king, or they would be his weapons manufacturers, or his farmers, supplying everyone loyal to the king their food (vv. 11-12).

He would take their daughters and force them into a form of government-approved servitude in the king’s palace. And unfortunately, that often meant they were used for other things as well, depending on the vileness of the king (v. 13).

He would seize their property and some of their livelihood and give it to his loyal supporters (v. 14). He would exact a tax of ten percent of everything they produce and use it to build and maintain his war machine (v. 15).

He will even take the butlers and maids, employed by the common people, along with a portion of their livestock and put them all to work to help support the king’s lavish lifestyle. All the while, the common people, the middle and lower classes, if you will, will be the king’s servants (vv. 16-17).

And when the king gets too oppressive, the elders and their descendants will cry out like they did in Egypt. However, this time around, God will not answer them in that day (v. 18).

If that doesn’t describe every nation, empire, and kingdom of man throughout all of history, to include America today, I do not know what does. We, as human beings, definitely like our debauched leaders. We keep thinking it’s a better way. We keep saying our ways of government just need to be tweaked when something goes awry. So, we go from one form of government to another and back again, searching for that panacea that doesn’t exist within human means and human understanding.

However, there is one alternative. It existed in the days of the elders of Ramah. It existed before them, and it has existed long after they bit the dust.

What is that alternative? God. He is the best King. He is the only true King. And He is the only one that is to be served and worshipped (Exodus 20:1-3).

We serve a mighty King, and his Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). He even came down to this world to show us the Way back into His Kingdom (John 14:6), to reestablish His theocracy, if you will. And that’s the key point to grasp onto here. If we truly serve Christ, if we truly believe in His Name, if we truly are followers of the Almighty, then we must have our minds transformed into Kingdom of Heaven thinking. Our kingdom of men mentality just doesn’t cut it. Never has. Never will. So, why do we keep championing it, like it will save the world? Why do we devote our lives to the “causes of our earthly kings”? Yes, we must obey the authorities and pay our taxes (Mark 12:13-17; Romans 13:1-7). Those are ordered by the Lord. However, there is a difference between living a life that is God-honoring (Matthew 5:14-16) and one that is man-centered (or you could say king-centered, president-centered, nation-centered, etc.). When those of us who call ourselves disciples of Jesus get the kingdom of men confused for the Kingdom of Heaven, then we risk the same punishment as the elders of Ramah. We will cry out to God, and ask Him to bless us, bless the country we live in, and rescue us from the evils of kings with massive egos when needed, but He will not hear. He will not respond, because we have made our “leader” our king, instead of God Almighty.

For when God is your King, your view of this life changes dramatically, and the Kingdom of Heaven and its expansion become the desire of your heart, mind, soul, and strength. All other kings and kingdoms fade into the background. All the “important stuff” mankind deems necessary becomes frivolous. Even living within an oppressed society does not stand in the way of kingdom expansion.

Think about it: Jesus lived in a day when the Roman Empire was at its zenith. Nobody was more oppressed than the nation Israel at this time in human history. Yet, when the people clamored to make him take on the mantle of a human king, he refused and retreated (John 6:15). That’s because He was working at expanding His Father’s Kingdom, not earthly, human ones.

Therefore, doing our Father’s Will and expanding His Kingdom should be our desire as well.

Thought for the Week:

How clearly do you see the Kingdom of God around you? How well do you view the world around you through the eyes of the Almighty? This passage in 1 Samuel 8 is the first in a series of passages we will examine, but they all point to the same major truth: God wants us about His business, which is Kingdom building (Kingdom of Heaven, that is).

He wants us to see this life not from a sinful, tainted, worldly vantage point, but from His perspective. He wants to be our priority. He wants to be the center of our universe. He wants to be the face we see in the mirror. He wants to sit on the throne of your heart. For when that happens, life becomes full of joy. Life gets calmer. Life takes on new meaning. Life becomes exactly what He intended it to be, as much as it can be, in this sin-tainted world that groans for regeneration as much as we do (Romans 8:19-22). And when we face trials, He will be there to guide us through them.

Therefore, do the kingdoms of men blur your ability to see this life through the eyes of the Almighty at all? If so, how? And how can you change that?

NEXT WEEK:

We wrap up Chapter 2 with a bang.

Pictures courtesy of  Pixabay and the following photographers/artists:

"King" - Open Clipart-Vectors

"Field Workers" - Lueluet

"Jesus on Cross" - lbrownstone

"White House" - Pexels

"Lion and Lamb" - Jeff Jacobs

"Hands over Bible" - Godsgirl madi

"Jesus and child" - Vicki Nunn

Chapter 2 - The First Rejection of the King (Part 4 of 6)

The Tipping Point of the Old Testament

In the earlier posts of this “Chapter 2,” we addressed how Israel was a theocracy at its conception, and how the people of the nation Israel were to be set apart, consecrated, different, and holy as God is holy. We also discussed the events of the Exodus and looked at their time with Joshua as they entered the Promised Land. In each instance, the critical things to remember were wrapped around the Israelites being “set apart” and serving/worshipping God alone.

In our chronological view of the life of the nation Israel, we are now pushing the fast-forward button to 1020 B.C. It is long after the events of the Exodus. Long after the Israelites vowed in Joshua’s presence that they would serve God only. Judges have come and gone, and the people of Israel, who made all those promises to Moses and Joshua, are now dead.

It is in the days of 1 Samuel 8, and we are introduced to their descendants—specifically the elders of Israel, and sons of Samuel the prophet and judge (vv. 1-3, NKJV). It is this moment of Israel’s history when we reach the tipping point in their relationship with God:

Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

It is unfortunate that Samuel’s sons were unfaithful to God and sounded more like politicians and government officials in today’s landscape. Their unfaithfulness, not unlike any unfaithfulness committed by those who profess to be followers of God before and since their time, led to a much bigger issue, however. Two big issues, actually, and we will look at one of those this week and tackle the second big issue next week.

Israel’s First Big Mistake

The first big issue finds its roots in the request made by the elders of the nation Israel (1 Samuel 8:4-5; NKJV):

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us, like all the nations.”

They demanded that Samuel change their nation’s entire political, social, and theological structure. How exactly? They wanted “an earthly king.”

Why is that bad, you ask? Simply put, the nation Israel wanted to be like their pagan neighbors. They even said as much in verse 5: “Now make us a king to judge us, like all the nations.”

In other words, the elders were not wishing to be “set apart” any longer. They no longer desired to be “sacred,” “different,” or “consecrated” unto God. It had become undesirable to them (cf. Joshua 24:14-15) to be a theocracy. And because of this theological shift, it caused them to desire a political and sociological shift as well. The wanted a king like the other nations already had. And to have such a king, there would be political and social ramifications (which we will address next week).

The major focal point of this week, however, is bound up in the excuse the elders used as the basis for their request. They pointed at the sins of Samuel’s sons as the reason for monumental change. Apparently, they didn’t learn a concept I was taught years ago: “Never tear down a fence until you know why it was erected in the first place.”

Satan’s Ploy

It is here that we must understand what is happening, and why these elders made such a shocking request. When a person wishes to no longer be obedient to God, then finding the “lowest common denominator” is the satanic ploy of choice. Find a person who says he or she is following God and His ways but is not living up to those standards, or better yet, find an entire group of those kinds of people. Then, use that person or that group as the poster children for demanding revolutionary transformation, instead of realizing that those “hypocrites” may be the problem, for it is not God and His instructions and teachings (torah).

We see this ploy used all the time. Outside the Church, in the institutions of the world, it goes something like this:

• Step One: The hypocrites are used as an excuse for why God’s Ways are antiquated and irrelevant for today’s progressive society. They need to be replaced with something more helpful.
• Step Two: Therefore, because God is the enemy, and His Ways “cause” such sinful behavior from supposed followers of God, the way of doing things must be drastically changed, or better yet, eradicated from society and replaced with something totally different and alien to God’s Ways.
• Step Three: Find the alternative system and implement the changes needed.

In the world, as viewed in 1 John 2:15-17a, this is the way of revolutions, coups, and takeovers. This is the way of mankind following his own instructions and teachings. We are seeing this play out before our very eyes in the name of erasing “systemic racism,” “hatemongering” against certain segments of society, and what’s being called “social justice.”

For what end do these groups work? Simply put, it is so people and groups who are blatantly anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-Church (judging by what they support and champion, even on their own websites), can start telling the world that God is not the answer, but their movement is?¹

As we have noted before in previous blog posts, and will do so in future ones, it really becomes a battle between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light. The kingdom of men and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Never have groups who oppose God ever been good for human society, period. And never has God commanded His people to lock arms with such, regardless of the cause or issue. As was the case with the Israelites in the myriad treaties into which they entered with the Egyptians, and Assyrians, and other countries, when the Church blindly joins hands with these anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-Church groups, it becomes idolatry. They no longer view God and His Ways as good enough to handle the human problems facing them. Instead, they seek human solutions to spiritual dilemmas.

Satan’s Ploy Reaching Out for a Wink and a Handshake

The Bible warns against falling prey to this philosophy, believing that there can be some good garnered from reaching across the aisle with an eye on compromise, because it all flows from the pit of Hell itself. Paul addresses this very problem in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (ASV):

"Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, ‘I will dwell with them, and walk with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come ye out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. And touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and I will be to you a father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty’” (emphasis added)Notice in this passage, in the midst of commanding God’s Church not to fall prey to the devil’s schemes, one way to combat the temptations of Satan and keep from sinning against God is to “come ye out from among them and be ye separate.”

In other words, instead of “being like all the other nations around us,” like the elders of Israel in 1 Samuel 8:4-5 desired, Paul directs us to be “set apart,” “different,” “sacred,” “consecrated.” A true believer in Christ cannot walk hand-in-hand with anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-Church groups who espouse doctrines and beliefs contrary to God’s instructions and teachings. Regardless of how “great” the cause sounds to common, human reasoning, or how well-intended it seems, God has a different way to exact change that would accomplish many of the same things, but it would do so according to His will. As a matter of fact, God’s ways would accomplish a great deal more because hearts would be changed in the process, eternally redirecting their desires toward God Himself. This is the difference between the Kingdom of Heaven and the kingdom of men. Both lead to eternity, but one leads to everlasting life in the presence of God, and the other leads to everlasting damnation and separation from God.

Unfortunately, like Samuel’s sons in 1 Samuel 8, the Church has not been living according to God’s instructions and teachings. And because of her sin, she has created her own group of “elders” who have been led astray. This phenomenon occurred in Jesus’s day with the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and teachers of the law. They created converts who believed in their convoluted, religious interpretations of God’s Word, and Jesus said they made those converts twice the sons of hell as they were (Matthew 23:15). Today in the Church, we have our own groups of Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, and teachers of the law, creating converts who are following modern-day, convoluted, religious interpretations of God’s Word too.

Paul says in Romans 2 that “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles” (v. 24) because of Jews who professed to be keeping God’s instructions and teachings but yet lived lives contrary to them (vv. 17-23). This problem is a human sin problem, and if the church had followed God’s commands from the beginning and adhered to them through the centuries, the world would look a lot different today. Race would be seen differently (Galatians 3:28). “Sexist issues” would be seen differently (Ephesians 5:15-33; cf. Galatians 3:28). Poverty and riches would be viewed differently (Proverbs 22:2; 2 Corinthians 8:9). Sin would be viewed differently (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). Everything would be viewed differently. But because the Church has followed almost the same, exact pattern as Israel did, God is being blasphemed among the non-believers who look at the Church as also being full of “sons of Samuel.” And this goes against what Jesus preached in His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:14-16 too.

Satan’s Ploy: Gospel-Style

However, there is another way Satan uses sinful followers of God (like Samuel’s sons) to his advantage. It’s not as drastic as the first ploy. The first one could be likened to “throwing the baby out with the bath water.” This ploy, on the other hand, would rather gently spritz the baby with a splash of water and sprinkle a little talcum powder on their “bums” once they’re dry. It intends to prove that change is needed, but only so much as to “improve” on the previous model, not abandon it altogether.  It’s a kinder, gentler approach to Church life, and this opens the door for more inclusive thinking that ultimately takes a more circuitous—they would call it a more “enlightened”—route. But it ends up in the same destination and in the same predicament as the first ploy.

Apart from God.

This second ploy is the way of religious progressivism and enlightenment. According to these proponents, God’s Ways are antiquated, but they just need tweaking or modernization. They can now allow lifestyles, that were proclaimed as sinful in the past (for example, Genesis 19; Romans 1:26-27; Jude 7), into the Church—with no consequence for sin (this is a crucial point of this group’s belief). The Old Testament God of wrath is no longer needed or even liked. He is now a “New Testament” God; a “loving God, full of grace and mercy and forgiveness” only. “There is now no condemnation” is their mantra, yet their theology is exactly what Paul argued against in Romans 6:1 and 6:15.

Sadly, and may I say unbelievably, this kind of false doctrine in modern times has been aided and abetted by the Church as she has overlooked certain sins—allowing them to be “okay” because of cultural norms, like the sins of Samuel’s sons. However, at the same time, she demanded that other forms of wickedness be held up as evil examples of sin to be shunned at all costs.

In today’s church, sins, such as divorce, gossip, lying, hate, coveting, even stealing in veiled ways (like cheating on your taxes) are frowned upon but viewed as “sinful, but forgiven, people just being human.”² They even rationalize these sins away, using the same rhetoric the people of the way of progressivism and enlightenment do, saying that:

• “We are fallen human beings with a sinful nature who sin in word, thought, and deed every day. It’s inevitable.”
• We need grace, mercy, the forgiveness of God, and His love…not to mention fire insurance.”
• “I’m not perfect, just forgiven.”  

When it comes to these “every day kind of sins,” they see forgiveness, repentance, and obedience as separate departments in God’s storehouse of blessing. You can just walk in the front door, get what you need from one department, and then check out.

Yet, these same “followers of Jesus,” who give a wink at divorce, think lying can be little and white, believe hatred directed at the “right” people can be accepted, see greed, coveting, and thus stealing as one and the same and just “business” and “not personal,” want to approach other sins, like homosexuality, murder, and abortion, very differently. Those who commit “those sins” should be held to a different, more stringent Biblical standard, as if they somehow corrupt society more and make God angrier than divorce, gossip, lying, hate, greed, coveting, and stealing.

As we will see, Jesus holds all sins up as examples of how to find your way onto the broad road that leads to destruction. God views them all the same as well. Sin is sin is sin. It is the sinful nature that tries to categorize sin into “little white lies,” “sins of omission,” “sins of commission,” and “just the cost of doing business,” versus “the biggies.”

Even Paul addressed this outrageous issue with the church at Corinth, where apparently the sin of some members in the church exceeded the sin of the people outside the church (cf. 1 Corinthians 5)! It’s in situations like this when you can understand why those outside the Church criticize it and ultimately deny and blaspheme God. We cannot allow Satan to use us in this way. Neither on an individual level as believers and followers of Christ nor as His Church collectively.

Thought for the Week:

Do you know of anyone outside the Church who uses the sins of Christians to justify their own sinfulness and animosity against God?

What about those who claim to be “inside the Church”? Ever hear them point at Christian leaders and espouse a distaste for “organized religion,” using it as a stepping stone toward rebellion against God and His Word?

The similarities to the elders of Israel who were in 1 Samuel 8 are stunning. They were followers of God and descendants of those who entered the Promised Land. They pointed at Samuel’s sons, who just happened to be judges, as their “escape clause” from the strictures of the Torah. Because of the sins of Samuel’s sons, the people of Israel wanted to abandon God’s instructions and teachings (torah) and instead become like all the other nations around them. In their reasoning, the Torah was faulty, and Samuel’s sons were living proof.

We realize there will always be people looking for excuses so they do not have to face God and admit their own sinfulness. Such is the situation of the sinful nature within the heart of mankind. However, Jesus made it very clear in Matthew 5:14-16. We are live our lives in such a way that no one looking objectively at us, even if they are not “God friendly,” would have anything negative to say about us, if they were honest. And even if they were not honest, and they pointed accusatory fingers at us, others would come to our defense and refute the false allegations.

But Jesus takes it a step further than that. He doesn’t want us living for the approval of men, as if that was the goal. He does not want us to be only concerned about whether or not we are being stumbling blocks to people. If that was only His concern, the servant in the parable who buried his talent in the ground would have been commended as well (Matthew 25:14-30). Jesus wants us living for God as well, like the two servants who earned another five talents and two talents. He wants us to be obedient. He wants us “being about His Father’s business” like He was (Luke 2:49). He wants us to be the conduits of Heaven, doing the will of God, just like He was (John 6:38-40). There is a “fruit” we should produce, and it should be good fruit (Matthew 7:15-20; 21:18-22). If there is no fruit, or if there is bad fruit only, both lifestyles take the person down the broad road that leads to destruction. God wants us to display the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth, for it is at hand and upon us.

How’s your “fruit tree” doing these days? What have you done with the “talents” God has given you? Are those around you seeing your good deeds and “glorifying your God who is in Heaven”? Or are you their “excuse” for turning away from God?

NEXT WEEK:

We delve deeper into 1 Samuel 8.

  

Endnotes

 

1. Anti-God groups have always existed. Many of them have even done so, purporting themselves as some form of “Godly renovation” to the current status of society. However, when you start to examine what they actually believe and support, you see the Serpent’s fingerprints all over their statements of faith and/or group’s guiding principles. Here are just a few who are part of the new revolutionary trends, and just like the elders in 1 Samuel 8, they no longer wish for God to be their king:

 

·       Antifa: In this group, anything that looks like fascism is a target of violence and mayhem. Religion really doesn’t play much of a part. Ironically, their god, antifascism, seems to have many of the same characteristics and tactics of the groups they oppose: https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/who-are-antifa

·       Black Lives Matter: In this group, the color of your skin, women’s rights, and LGBTQ+ rights are the gods of choice. Protests and political reform are the means by which to effect changes in justice, both social and racial. Religion is a diverse hodge-podge of beliefs, all needing to fall under the ideology of Critical Race Theory: 

       ABOUT: https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/;  

        MISSION STATEMENT: https://blacklivesmatter.com/transparency/#mission;  

        VISION STATEMENT: https://blacklivesmatter.com/transparency/#vision

·       Ku Klux Klan: In this group, the color of your skin is the god of choice as well. Politics are the means by which to effect change as opposed to protests. Religion (in this case, Christianity) is their justification, pulling certain passages out of context to make them fit the current, historical climate: https://kkk.bz/platform-2/

·       The Boogaloo Movement: In this group, a militia mindset, similar to those groups that existed during America’s revolutionary days, is prevalent. Restoring and maintaining their version of American Democracy is their god of choice. One wonders how long this group and others like it will stand by and wait until they feel compelled to begin a civil war: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/boogaloo-facebook-pages-coronavirus-militia-group-extremists_n_5ea3072bc5b6d376358eba98

 

 

2. Then, couple this behavior with Church leaders being exposed, seemingly every week, for the same sins Samuel’s sons committed: benefitting from dishonest gain, taking bribes, and perverting justice, and is it any wonder the Church has little influence in today’s society? As the Church of Jesus Christ, who is our King, truly?

 

 

Images taken from Pixabay.com:

"Corruption" by Sergeitokmakov

"Baby" by StockSnap

"Fig Tree" by Ben_Kerckx