Thank you for joining us in this ongoing study on the Kingdom of God.  For the introduction to this study, read the blog here. Follow this link to find the workbook for this study. Follow each of these links to see Week 1, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, and Week 7. Visit the YouTube Channel for teaching videos.

I highly recommend completing the worksheets for a week before reading the blog or watching the teaching video – listen to what God has to teach you through His Word.

In studying a topic that is rampant throughout Scripture, we have found ourselves on an unexpected stroll through the history of the entire Bible. I apologize a little for that, because I know it can be overwhelming, especially if you have not been able to spend much time in this history in the past. But the history of the Bible can certainly be fascinating and it is essential to understanding the context of what we’re studying.

Last week, we did go through a pretty brief sketch of Genesis-Judges. We also looked at what defines a kingdom, even from a human perspective, and how God established His kingdom in such a way that it should have been recognizable to men. A human kingdom requires land (check – God promised Abraham a land and later took his people through an epic journey back into that land); it requires a people (check – God chose one family, who, over the course of 400 years, became a sprawling nation); it requires a law code (check – God gave one of those to his people through Moses at Mount Sinai); and it requires a sovereign who promises to protect his people (check – God not only delivered His people out of slavery in Egypt, but also conquered many nations on their behalf as they moved into the Promised Land). The entire first eight books of the Bible make it pretty clear that God was able, and had intended, to establish his kingship over these people He had called to Himself.

Recall, though, how we left it. The book of Judges has as its final words, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). We’ve clearly seen that the first half of this statement was not true, inasmuch as Israel HAD a king. They simply chose to ignore him, because isn’t it just that much more convenient to do what is right in one’s own eyes?

Thus, we move into the book of 1 Samuel. Samuel was a priest raised up by God to be the transition – though he certainly didn’t know that at the time – out of the time of judges (who were individuals God chose to set over certain regions of his kingdoms at various times to exact his justice and overcome the enemies set against his people) and into a new era. This new era begins with His people doing what they do best – whining.

The people are unhappy with the current judges – Samuel’s own sons, who do not follow his ways – and they demand a king, so they can be just like everyone else, with a human being on a throne over them. God tells Samuel to give the people what they want, as they have rejected God as king over them, but to fully warn them what a human king is like – demanding land and servants and armies and livestock, all of which would come from the people. He ends with a warning, “And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day” (1 Samuel 8:18). Basically, God is saying, “As your king, it was my duty and my honor to rescue you when you cried out in the midst of your own mess. But when you get into a mess with a human king over you, cry out to him, because it’s not my job anymore and I won’t answer.”

This information does not deter them. “No! But there shall be 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” (1 Samuel 8:19-20). To which I, more than a little indignant on God’s behalf, want to put my hands to my hips and say, “Excuse me?! To do what?! Isn’t this exactly what God has been doing for you all along?!” Beginning at the Red Sea, in Exodus 14:14, we see the people being explicitly told, “The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” In Deuteronomy and Joshua, as they meander over to the Promised Land through one battle after another, they are repeatedly reminded, “The LORD will fight for you.” In Judges, God, through Gideon as judge, literally wins a battle for them while his armies hold a torch in one hand and a trumpet in the other – no weapon in either hand – while the enemy goes nuts and starts attacking one another. They have never ceased to have a king who would fight for them.

But human memories are very short indeed. With generations rising and passing between battles, each new generation seems to say, “Well, I haven’t seen it, so it must not be relevant to me.”

And so God sets before them a king. Saul. Saul, when we first meet him, is not very interested in being king. In facts, even though he has already been told by Samuel that this will happen, on the day of the choosing of the king he hides from Samuel and, presumably, from God. But can anyone ever actually hide from God? And when the people see him, standing a head taller than everyone else, they take in such stature and think, surely, this man is right for the job!

And, thus, Saul begins his kingship – humbly at first, but with increasing arrogance and disregard for God’s leading. And the drama of Saul’s leadership hits a pinnacle when Samuel gives him God’s very clear instruction: defeat the Amalekites and do not spare a single person or thing. Every animal, every person, is to be struck down.

This is one of those instructions that is hard for us, especially in the modern age of the west, separated from continual battle and the overthrowing of kingdoms, to swallow. In the great melting pot of America, except for those who live in extremes, we tend to see individuals rather than kingdoms – one individual is not necessarily indicative of an entire kingdom – so the idea of wiping out every single person seems excessive and, maybe, cruel. But in a day and place when their own kingdom is continually at threat of being overtaken by a conquering army, killing even the root of the threat is necessary. And only God, in his foresight, being outside of time and place, can see the consequences of leaving any living thing to remain.

But this instruction seems wasteful to Saul – why kill the king, when you can take him as prisoner – a trophy, of sorts – and why kill perfectly good cattle and livestock, when they could be useful? So, as the king, he leads his people in disobedience. The people are still doing what is right in the eyes of men, but now it’s just the one man – Saul. The disobedience is maybe less scattered, but it’s still direct disregard for the instruction of the Lord. Thus, God rejects Saul as king.

Saul was not atypical or simply an extreme example. The way of Saul, as we end up seeing throughout the rest of Israel’s demise, is the way of men who have been given authority they are not worthy to wield.

But before we see this point proven, God raises up another king, one after His own heart, that will be an example, a standard to the people, of what a king is capable of, if following the leadership of God. A godly king is not impossible but, as we see, certainly improbable.

We first meet David when Samuel is sent to anoint the new king – not one of the great men of stature that Jesse has raised up, but the youngest, a mere shepherd boy in the fields, not even worthy of being called in for important family meetings. But we don’t see the heart of David until the people of God are facing an impossible challenge.

They have come against the Philistines in battle and these Philistines are fortunate enough to have in their midst a giant – a man several heads taller than the tallest among the Israelites. We’ve already heard that Saul seems to be the tallest among the Israelites and, yet, where is he to be found in the face of this giant of a man? Cowering in his tent. All the people are cowering.

Until the shepherd boy comes – an errand boy at this point, basically sent to carry some lunch to his brothers on the battlefield. He enters just in time to listen to this foe repeat his daily taunt, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day” (1 Samuel 17:10). While the rest of the soldiers, accustomed now to this daily routine, either shiver in fear or stand completely unmoved, David looks around in shock. “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26). Not the armies of Saul. The armies of the living God. David understands who has really been fighting the battles of Israel.

As he faces this man that even the king of Israel – the man charged with the protection of the nation – refuses to fight, David makes this declaration which always raises the hair on my arms, that he will defeat the Philistines so “all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand” (1 Samuel 17:46-47). Though most of Israel seems to have forgotten God has the power to fight for them, at least one shepherd boy still knows.

This attitude of complete trust in the God of Israel carries David into battle against Goliath and, from that point on, in a continual race for his life from the man sworn to protect his nation – Saul, the current king of Israel. Their human king has come to fear for his throne and will do all necessary to cling to the power which has been granted him.

The one other story I wanted to look at together in our discussion of David is found just at the end of this time of fleeing Saul – literally the chapter before Saul dies and David is finally able to live out his anointing as next king over Israel.

In his fleeing from Saul and his armies, David has sought shelter in an unlikely place – among the land of his enemies, the Philistines. He meets a king, Achish, who allows David and his 600 men and their wives and children, a parcel of land, a city called Ziklag, to dwell in. David lives here for over a year. From this place, he carries out multiple raids on surrounding regions and then even prepares his men to go into battle on the side of the Philistines. The leader of the Philistine armies, fearing having a strong Israelite warrior on their side of the battle lines against Israel, sends David and his men home.

However, while this battle preparation was happening, their home, Ziklag, has been raided and burned down by the Amalekites – those same Amalekites Saul failed to wipe out several years before. All the women and children have been captured.

When David and his men discover this, these 600 men of David, grieved at the loss of all those they cherish, turn against David, ready to stone him.

This is when a lesser man, like Saul, would have buckled. Throughout the entire book of 1 Samuel, we see Saul acting rashly, without regard for God’s wisdom or leadership. The knee-jerk reaction would be to rally these men in their furor and turn their anger to the real enemy, immediately charging into battle.

“But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God” (1 Samuel 30:6).

When all the world seems set against him, circumstances that have caused many of his people to wail against God, rejecting Him for seemingly abandoning them, David turns to the LORD, not to accuse and question, but for strength.

He calls for the priest and he seeks the LORD for his next step. And the LORD carries David and his men into victorious battle against the Amalekites, while in another region Saul is losing his battle, and his life, against the Philistines.

David has proven himself worthy to lead his people – not according to the whims of man, or what is right in his own eyes, but in continual submission to the leadership of God. Meanwhile, Saul enters into his final battle after having sought a witch to connect him to the spirit of Samuel, who died years before, rather than God – these two stories intertwine in the chapters of our Bible to lie in direct contrast to one another. In one battle, David is victorious, and in the other battle of our split-screen view Saul is killed.

And, thus, we enter into the Davidic line of kings.

One cannot discuss David without at least a nod toward the one great fault we are given witness to in his life – his affair with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of her husband (2 Samuel 11). Even a godly king his not without his faults. Men fail. God does not.

I do want to point out, however, that David’s sin, while still not justifiable and definitely wrong and despicable, is different than that of Saul because it is not a direct rejection of God or his leadership. We also see that when Saul sins against God and Samuel calls him on it, Saul defends his actions. When David sins and the prophet Nathan is sent to confront David about his sin, David falls into utter repentance. He does not justify or turn against Nathan in arrogance. David confesses, repents, and mourns before God.

This is the godly response to human failure. Every single one of us, and every single man in leadership over men, will fail. The true sign of hearts is not in our failure, but in our response to our failures. Do our hearts break when we encounter the darkness within? Or do we stand in direct defiance, calling our evil good? Even through his darkest moments, we see a man after God’s heart, worthy to be called a godly king.

Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, while David shows us godly leadership is not impossible, the rest of the history of kings over Israel – documented in 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles – shows us that a godly man in leadership is certainly improbable. Adding up the number of kings over the two kingdoms that stem after David’s son, Solomon, and counting which ones God states to have done “what was right in the eyes of the LORD” (Note: Not what was right in their own eyes) compared to which ones “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” we see that the odds are not in favor for a man acting responsibly in a seat of ultimate authority.

The only way man can hope to thrive in the shadow of a human king is if that king is himself turned to God for leadership. And the evidence displays clearly that men, more often than not, will choose what is right in their own eyes, rather than what is right in the eyes of God.

In turn, both of these kingdoms are captured by foreign armies. After 300 years, the “human king experiment” of Israel has failed. No human king remains on the throne of Israel – nor will one return to an earthly throne again. The people of God were not ever designed to be ruled by man. The only hope for God’s people is to come under the authority of God, recognize Him as sovereign over them and submit to His guidance, His leadership, and His dominion.

And in the face of a scattered kingdom, God offers hope to his people. It may seem that His kingdom on earth has fallen apart, but this is not cause for worry, because He has a greater kingdom already in store for those who choose to be a part of it. Next week we’ll look at what the prophets had to say about a coming kingdom. Until then, consider for yourself what kingdom you would choose – the kingdom of man, or the kingdom of God?

For the introduction to this study, read the blog here. Follow this link to find the workbook for this study. Follow each of these links to see Week 1, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, and Week 7. Visit the YouTube Channel for teaching videos.