The Manner of God's Kingdom

"Samuel explained to the people the regulations of the kingship"

1 Samuel 10:25-27

In following the history of Samuel and his ministry at this crucial moment in the history of Israel. In the last chapter we took note of the other life that was to become bound up with that of Samuel -- the life of Saul, whom Samuel would anoint as king over Israel.

You will recall the reason why Saul came to be anointed king -- the children of Israel came to the point where they requested a king so that they would be like all the other nations. Up until that point, God had provided judges for them, who saved them at crucial points in their history. There were times when their enemies had gained the upper hand, and the Israelites were threatened by Philistines, and Midianites, in fact, by a variety of Canaan tribes. The judges delivered them, so to enable them to take possession of the land of promise, the land of covenant blessing. The provision of the judges was one way in which God singled them out as a people apart.

But all the other nations had kings; none of them had judges. All of them had figures who sat on thrones, crowned in splendour, who went out with their armies to fight and make war. The children of Israel wanted to be like them, like the rest of the nations. Instead of realising the privileges and blessings they had, and the responsibilities they owed to God, they called for a king.

Samuel warned them about what could happen if they chose a human king instead of giving obedience to God (chapter 8). He warns them against this great defection -- turning from the one true king to trust in a human king, from their theocracy to a monarchy. The only reason for this was so that the lines of distinction between the covenant people and the Canaanites would be blurred even further.

The interesting thing was that even although God's people had turned from Jehovah; it was clear that Jehovah had not turned from them. Their decision was a rejection of the rule of God in their lives, and of the rights and claims of God on them. They turned from him, and refused his kingship. They turned their back on him; but the glory of his grace shines through these great chapters of Old Testament history -- he did not turn his back on them. Far from leaving them to their own devices in the establishing of a king, we find God at work even in the anointing of Saul, so that even Israel's rebellion works out the purpose of God, and his glory shines through the darkness.

There is a lot in the Bible about sin, human rebellion, and the native tendency of fallen man to reject the doctrines of the Bible and the claims of truth. There is much that is dark -- that condemns us as being without God and without hope. Yet throughout the Bible story, there is a light shining -- the light of God's grace, goodness and glory, breaking through through the clouds of sin and darkness in salvation and covenant redemption. The Bible speaks of human rebellion and waywardness, but there is a greater story -- of the grace that brings salvation, which has appeared to all men (Titus 2:12).

And there are people all over the world who praise God that that is the case, people in whose experience these things have found an echo. Where sin abounded in their lives, grace abounded all the more. People who gave themselves over to all kinds of sin in their pre-conversion days, in their days of ignorance and lostness and estrangement from God, who were unrestrained in their sin, and rejected the Christ of God in the Gospel. Perhaps they spent many years in complete rebellion and rejection.

Yet God did not turn his back on them -- God came to save the very like of them. Grace shone in their experiences so that instead of continuing in sin, they became trophies of God's grace and heirs of his righteousness by faith. God's people, who know about the power of sin in heart and life, who know only too well the loss they sustain when they move away from God, and trust instead in themselves or others, in their own strength or in that of others, who know the power of sin in heart and life, have a reason to thank the God of the covenant that even when they turned their back on him, he never turned his back on them.

My Christian friend, you know that the secret of continued success in the Christian life, and the power of your Christian witness does not lie in the hold you have of Jesus, but in the hold that he has on you. You are a member of his flock, he is the Shepherd, who says 'They will never perish'. He does not promise that his sheep will all be sinless all the time, or even sinless some of the time. He does not say that they will never fail and disappoint him, but in spite of their wanderings and strayings and rebellion, they will never perish. No-one can pluck them from his hand.

And this is here, in the very heart of the Old Testament -- Israel has turned from God, but he is the faithful God of the everlasting covenant as much now as ever he was. And even when they are in the process of placing Saul on the throne, God is working out the great purposes of his covenant and redemption, for his people, in whose interests he continues to work despite their sin and rebellion.

In this tenth chapter, Saul, who has already been told that the kingdom is his, and that God has singled him out to be king, is to be anointed in the eyes of the people, and he is to occupy this high office. Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it over the head of Saul. Saul was Messiah, the anointed one, the occupant of Israel's throne.

Have you noticed that Samuel does not say 'I've anointed him because YOU've chosen him king"; he says 'I've anointed Saul because GOD has chosen him to be king over His inheritance (10:1).

Now, I do not want to spend time looking at Saul's life and rule -- our interest is in the life and ministry of Samuel. These stories intersect, of course; but I do want you to note that the very things that had originally troubled Saul are dealt with. The missing donkeys, for example, that had started Saul on his search, are found (10:2). God does not allow things like that to stand in the way of his purpose; in fact, he fulfills his prupose through such obstacles; stumbling-blocks become stepping stones for the people of God!. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.

Samuel goes further, reminding Saul that the Spirit of the Lord would come on Saul. That is an interesting detail of the narrative; Saul would prophesy, and did so. The signs were fulfilled. It became a proverb, or byword, among the people -- 'Is Saul also among the prophets?' (10:11). Saul had never prophesied before; but the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. But Saul was not a believing man; the life and death of Saul make clear that he was not a child of the covenant, and yet he prophesied. And he did do through the work of the Spirit of the Lord. He tasted, in other words, this heavenly gift of prophecy, and experienced the power of the world to come. The Holy Spirit used the life and lips of Saul to declare the truth; and yet, I believe that Saul was a stranger to the truth of the covenant.

It is a very solemn thing to realise that it is possible to prophesy and yet be lost. It is possible to prophesy by the power of the Spirit and still be lost. It is possible to speak the truth in the name of Jesus and still be lost. Did not Jesus say that many would come to him at the end and say, 'Lord, Lord, in your name we prophesied, and cast out devils, and did many wonderful works' (Matthew 7:22-23). He will not deny the turth of it; Jesus will not deny what they did. He will not refute their claim; they will have prophesied, and they will have performed miracles; yet one may do all of this and still be ignorant of the truth as it is in Jesus.

It is possible to have all the apparent evidences of Christian orthodoxy and still be lost. Paul is not content to say that he has prophesied, or preached, or planted churches; he does not rest on his usefulness or success. Listen to him: 'I take my body and put it under subjection, lest, having preached to others, I myself should be a castaway' (1 Corinthians 9:27). It is no guarantee of salvation to preach to the conversion of thousands, or to work miracles, or to have great experiences in the name and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Please don't misunderstand me -- it is impossible to be a Christian without these experiences, and those who are truly born again will have the Holy Spirit in their lives and in their hearts. But it is possible to have great experiences and still not be a Christian. Paul knew that salvation is grounded not in anything we can do for Christ, but solely in what Christ has done for us. Evangelism and miracle power and prophesying were not the ground of a sure hope -- it is possible to have many goo things in a human life and still be ignorant to the saving work of Jesus in the Gospel.

What a tragedy to have done much and never to have known Christ! Salvation is rooted not in experiences of Spirit power, but in knowing the Lord in a personal and in a saving manner. That is the fundamental issue. Saul prophesied by the power of the Spirit. He was among the prophets; but he was still a Saul and a stranger to God and his grace.

Well now, they gathered together under Samuel's direction, to Mizpeh. We have been there already, to that place of repentance and renewal and rededication. Then the choice was made. What happened? God told them what they had done; he reminded them of the fact that they had rejected his sovereign rule over their lives. Now the tribes gather before the Lord. There they were; all the children of Israel in Mizpeh, and a choice was made.

The Bible tells us that the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot (10:20). Yes, the lot is cast, but God guides the fall of the dice and the choice that is made (Proverbs 16:33). Now, I guess that the more spiritual among the Israelites ought to have remembered that God had already appointed the tribe of Judah as the tribe out of which the lawgiver and the ruler would come (Genesis 49:10), whereas the tribe of Benjamin had been likened to a ravening wolf who would divide and conquer (Genesis 49:27). But there is little spirituality left. God causes the lot to fall on the tribe of Benjamin, and out of the Benjamites the family to which Saul belongs is chosen. Saul, who knew all this already, had run off to hide, perhaps sensing his inadequacy in the face of all that Samuel had told him. Then he returned, and stood head and shoulders above the rest and said 'God save the King!' (10:24).

I want to emphasise what happened next. The first thing Samuel did at that point was that he told the people the MANNER, or rule of the kingdom. In chapter 8 he had warned about the manner of the king they would choose. Now he is emphasising God's law for the regulation of the kingdom, and the way in which the kingdom is to be lived and carried through. The choice of God has focussed on Saul. But now the great prophetic word comes on the people -- he sets before them what God says about the life of the kingdom before dismissing the people.

The prophet told them the manner of God's kingdom. What is the Gospel about if it is not this? When Jesus began preaching he began preaching the gospel of the kingdom. When he went about preaching the good news, he said 'Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!'. And in his public ministry he made it clear that the business in which he was engaged was the business of the kingdom.

That is what Samuel set before the people -- the manner of the kingdom; the fact that they were still accountable to God, and still had to listen to God's word and law. Samuel directs their attention to what God required of his subjects. I tell you that the same is true in the New Testament. Those who exercise a prophetic ministry and whose concern it is to speak forth God's word are concerned to demonstrate to men the manner of God's kingdom! This is the very heart of the Gospel.

As Jesus gathers the disciples together for the Sermon on the Mount, what is he doing? He is outlining the principles of his kingdom, describing the citizenship of his kingdom. The pure will see God in Christ's kingdom; the mourning will be comforted; the hungry filled. He is outlined the way in which all those who belong to his kingdom are to live in this fallen world; the manner in which they pray, and tithe, and serve their Lord. He came to establish his rule in the hearts of men. God had a kingdom in the world, and he has a kingdom still.

In the Old Testament, his kingdom was confined to the literal kingdom of Israel; but that is not the case in the new covenant. Now it is not Israel after the flesh that are called; God's kingdom extends throughout the whole world, in the experience of every sinner subject to God as king.

His kingdom is not of this world; it is not meat and drink. You'll not find some corner of the world where God has built a palace, where he sits to feast and to organise government and to enact laws. There is no place where he banquets like earthly monarchs. God sits on his throne of holiness, and his kingdom is love and joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. Show me a man in whose heart the Spirit of the Lord dwells, and I'll show you the kingdom of God in Christ. Show me a man who has come to embrace Christ through the power of the Spirit, who loves the Lord more than life itself, and I will show you the kingdom.

The great Gospel issue is -- where are we in relation to his kingdom? We do not need to go to Israel; it is not necessary that we go back in time to be physically present with Jesus. There were people who heard him and saw him, who witnessed miracles and felt the power, but they did not belong to his kingdom. But in every age he has his subject; he has built his kingdom in the hearts of his people, and his kingdom has no end at all.

Do we belong to his kingdom? Have we bowed in subjection to his sovereign throne? Do we know what it is to delight in the law of God? To confess everything in our lives that did not, and does not, correspond to the manner of his kingdom? To have bowed before him and said 'My Lord and my God'? To have acknowledged him as king over our religion, over our relationships, our play, our home life, our public life, our private life?

That is the kingdom of God in Christ, and it is the very essence of the Gospel. According to Paul, Christ came to translate sinners out of the kingdom of darkness and bring them into the kingdom of his own dear son (Colossians 1:13). Either we belong to the kingdom of darkness, or of light; either of Satan or the Son; either the kingdom in which men live without God and without hope, or that in which men acknowledge the kingship of Christ, and where men want to bow under his yoke because they have discovered that that is the place where freedom alone can be found -- under the yoke of Jesus.

Men and women have rejected the Bible and they still think they are free. But the person who is living without God is the greatest slave of all. But the person who serves Christ is the most free. Where is our citizenship? Do we listen to the Bible, to the prophetic word, to learn the manner of the kingdom, as the Bible heard it at Mizpeh? That is the word our generation most needs to hear. It is the message we need to preach at every opportunity -- the manner of Christ's kingdom, just as Samuel did long ago.

The kingdom of God is love and joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. Do we know the love of Christ in our hearts by the Holy Spiirt? Do we know what it is to love him because he first loved you? To have your love for the world eclipsed by a greater love? Do you know what it is to love his dear people, his precious church? John says we know that we have passed from one kingdom to another because we love the subjects of the new kingdom into which we have come (1 John 3:14). Do we love God's people? Do we love Christians in every age and generation -- do we love the great missionaries of the Christ who preached the Gospel for the sake of the kingdom. We love God's people in the glory; those around us here, who pray for us. Even those who hurt us, who say things they shouldn't; who sometimes rub salt instead of oil into our wounds -- do we love them?

What of the joy of the kingdom? Do we rejoice in the Lord? Do we have the real happiness? I don't mean the sham happiness of the world that can dance and sing till the lights go out and the happiness goes away. The world's happiness is confined to places, and people and experiences. But that is not the happiness God's people know -- a happiness that transcends places and experiences, trials and troubles. They have the Lord! The joy of the Lord is their strength! The Holy Spirit leaves them rejoicing.

Do we know the peace of God? That is part of the manner of his kingdom. Spurgeon once said 'When I look at Jesus, the dove of peace flies into my heart; when I look at the dove of peace, it flies away'. Do we know the secret of real peace and joy -- looking at Jesus. I do not know of any citizen of his kingdom who does not hang their very eternity on looking to him. That is their salvation -- what he is and has done for them. He is God, and there is none other.

Samuel set before Israel the manner of the kingdom, as God sets the manner of his kingdom before us in the Bible, and calls us to enter into it.

But look at how the story concludes. Saul went home; and there were men there whose hearts God touched. They went with Saul, because they had listened to the word of Samuel. God touched their hearts, and they acknowledged the sovereignty of God over the events they had witnessed. Though Israel as a whole was rejecting God, there were still some there in whose hearts and lives God was doing his own work, and who confessed God as king.

Can we identify with this? Has God touched our hearts? There is only one great test of whether he has worked in our hearts or not -- have we gone with his anointed one? Will you go with this man? I don't mean some earthly monarch. I am talking of an anointed one, a Messiah far greater than Saul or any other king. I am speaking of the one who is truly Messiah, the great king who is in the midst of the throne. Those whose hearts God has touched go with him.

But there were others who looked at Saul and said, 'How will this man save us?' They despised him. It is important to remember that although Saul was chosen as a result of Israel's rebellion against God, God had promised that Saul would deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. Israel had no reason to doubt God. Yet there were some who despised Saul and who said that he could never save them. They concluded that Saul was fit for nothing.

He was going to be God's means of deliverance and rescue, but they concluded that he could not save them. God was to use Saul to save his people; but there were some who looked at him and said 'He can't do anything for us'. They despised him. It is a terrible thing to despise God's anointed; yet how many are saying of Christ 'He can't save us', when he says clearly in his word that there is salvation in no other. He has been anointed with the Spirit without measure, and is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him.

And just as Samuel's word divided between those who trusted God and those who did not, so it does still. Here is the great Gospel issue -- are we in God's kingdom or not? Are we going with God's anointed or are we not? Do we know the manner of God's kingdom? Are we prepared to fall before the man of Galilee and to say like Thomas, 'My Lord and my God!'.

© Iain D. Campbell 2001