The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Seven - D May 27, 2018 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/05-27-18_Part-D.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon 2Sa 1:8 "And he said to me, 'Who are you?' So I answered him, 'I am an Amalekite.' We will continue to look at the types seen through Saul and David today. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday May 27th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 7D ‘His Special People’ 1). 1Sa 22:1 ¶ David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him. We had seen last time how Saul and David provide a type of Satan and Christ and provide a broad, brushstroke picture of how things have existed with respect to the rulership of the earth throughout the course of this age. a). Just as Saul, Israel’s first king, had his kingdom torn from him because of rebellion and David was anointed to be king in Saul’s place, so Satan, the earth’s first ruler, has been rejected as the earth’s ruler because of rebellion and Jesus the Christ has been anointed to be King in Satan’s place. b). But, we had seen from our type with Saul and David that although Saul had been rejected as king and David was accepted to replace him, Saul was not immediately removed from his throne. In fact, he reigned for a good many years beyond this point, the total length of his reign being 40 years, before he was finally removed. c). And in this time gap between Saul’s rejection as king and his removal we see the type for the time gap that has existed since Satan’s rebellion and which will continue until his removal at the end of the Tribulation – Re 20:1 ¶ Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. d). And it is a Biblical principle that an incumbent ruler will only be replaced by God when the one to replace him is on the scene and proven worthy to do so. e). And it is the outworking of God’s purpose to accomplish this replacement of the earth’s ruler that began with the restoration of the ruined creation in Genesis Chapter 1, with the creation of the Man and the Woman on the 6th day for regal purposes, with the opening 34 verses giving us God’s timetable for its completion - 2Pe 3:8 ¶ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 ¶ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Then we know from the opening Chapter of Genesis that a Man and a Woman, together in a marriage relationship, must be in place before rulership can happen. And through the type of the Woman taken from the Man’s body, after he had been put into a deep sleep we are given detail of what will happen yet future when the Bride of Christ will be removed from the Body of Christ at the Judgment Seat following the resurrection/rapture of the Church; something that is only possible because of the Lord’s death and resurrection – 1Pe 1:3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. f). And if we go back to the verses we began with this morning we can see David, separated from Saul’s kingdom at the cave of Adullam forming a type of the Lord’s ascension to the right hand of the Father, separated from Satan’s kingdom. And implicit in the type of David’s ‘escape’ to the cave of Adullam is the Lord’s resurrection – without resurrection there could be no ascension. g). And it is while David is in the cave of Adullam that we see his brothers and all his father’s house, all those distressed, in debt and discontented joining together with him, which forms a type, with respect to Christ and Christians, of what has been going on throughout the course of this present dispensation when those from the Father’s ‘house’ who are distressed, discontent and in debt with respect to Satan’s kingdom are joining together with Christ - Eph 2:4 ¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. h). Not only do we find the picture here of what is taking place in our present, but also what we are to learn from these events, because those joining David at the cave do not picture every Christian, but rather those who have a particular focus and a specific goal - 1Pe 1:9 receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls. The 400 men with David would give another facet to the picture of the Bride taken from the body. i). And the first thing we would want to note with respect to this is that those who went to be with David knew that he had been anointed as king and aligned themselves with him knowing that they would have to wait for the day when God would place him as king. j). And this is where we find ourselves – we know that our Lord is the King of kings, but we also know that we must wait for the completion of God’s 7 day calendar, incorporating the procurement of the Bride, the repentance of Israel and the overthrow of Gentile world power, before this will happen – and because we know this it must govern the way we conduct ourselves in the present - Ps 37:34 ¶ Wait on the LORD, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. 2). 2Co 6:17 Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you." 18 "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty." These verses would undoubtedly describe the actions of those gathering themselves to David – they came out from among those in Saul’s kingdom and did not touch that which had been rejected and was therefore unclean. And because of this David received them and became their captain. a). And these verses describe what our own actions must be as well – we are to separate ourselves from Satan’s kingdom - Ro 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And we are not to touch that which is unclean - Jas 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Although, with regards to our physical location, we find ourselves in Satan’s kingdom our heart, our mind and our hope are to find their location elsewhere Joh 17:15 "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 ¶ "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.18 "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. 20 ¶ "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; And we can see from these verses in John 17 that we are separated from the world by the Word of Truth and it will be our adherence to this Word that will keep us from the evil one. And this is exactly what we read in Romans Chapter 12. b). So, to summarize for a moment – it is through the Word of Truth that we understand the present system of rulership and God’s timetable for the change in this system of rulership. We understand that our Lord’s current position is that of High Priest and not King - Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. [age] Heb 8:1 ¶ Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, And we understand that our time for rulership is not now but awaiting the Millennial Kingdom - Heb 2:8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet." For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. c). And as we wait for the Millennial Kingdom to come we understand that we are in a time of testing and probation that through our faithfulness to The Word we will be counted worthy in that Day. d). And it is interesting to note that the testing that David and his followers go through has a major focus on their relationship to Saul – 1Sa 26:9 And David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the LORD'S anointed, and be guiltless?" Saul continually sought David’s life and the lives of his followers, even stretching out his hand against the priests of the Lord because he thought they had helped David - 1Sa 22:18 And the king said to Doeg, "You turn and kill the priests!" So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests, and killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod. 19 Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep-with the edge of the sword. Yet, despite the depths of his wickedness Saul remained the Lord’s anointed and as such David would not touch him, knowing that Saul’s outcome was in God’s hand, not his - 1Sa 26:10 David said furthermore, "As the LORD lives, the LORD shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish. e). And just as Saul was killed in battle, in the Lord’s timing, so we have already seen today from the Book of the Revelation that Satan will be bound and cast into the pit at the end of the battle in which Gentile world power is destroyed and it will be at the end of another battle at the end of the Millennial Kingdom that Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, in God’s timing, for all eternity - Re 20:9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Now to the natural eye it would appear that David’s safety would be found in killing Saul – if the one seeking his life was dead then he would be safe. But, in a marvelous spiritual paradox David’s safety was in letting Saul live and not raising his hand against him, because in doing so he was kept by the power of God through faith. David was never safer than when he staid his hand from killing Saul. f). But, had he touched Saul he would have exalted himself above God by leaning on his own understanding and made God his enemy where there would have been no safety whatsoever. g). Needless to say, there is an obvious lesson here for us to learn – regardless of how we might like things to be, which really is of no consequence, we must submit ourselves to the scripture and the scripture plainly tells us - Eze 28:14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. Satan is God’s anointed ruling angel, a position which he retains to this day – Joh 14:30 "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world [age] is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 2Co 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Satan and his angels are greater and mightier than we and we appear like grasshoppers in their sight, but this is not the point. For many the weekly ritual of binding, casting out, digging a hole and burying, either out of fear or spiritual arrogance affords a feeling of safety, but safety is the thing farthest from the truth. Safety from our enemy comes from doing exactly as David did, leaving him alone and trusting in the Lord - Eph 6:10 ¶ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And as we have seen from previous studies, the whole armor of God is God Himself – He is our shield and protection through our faithful obedience – 1Pe 1:5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. But, if we step outside of that which the Word teaches and begin to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil then our safety is gone, and if unchecked this could lead us to a conclusion we would rather not experience. h). And one facet of this experience is shown to us through the account of the Amalekite who took Saul’s life and the crown from his head – 2Sa 1:13 Then David said to the young man who told him, "Where are you from?" And he answered, "I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite." 14 So David said to him, "How was it you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the LORD'S anointed?" 15 Then David called one of the young men and said, "Go near, and execute him!" And he struck him so that he died. 16 So David said to him, "Your blood is on your own head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, 'I have killed the LORD'S anointed.'" And I wonder if we might find a parallel here with these verses from – Mt 7:21 ¶ "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' The Lord’s own commentary on this in the verses that follow provide a good summary of what we have been discussing - Mt 7:24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." 3). There is one last part to this picture concerning ourselves that we need to set in place. And this last part comes from the account of Saul’s death. a). Saul is as we have seen a type of Satan, but we can find a secondary teaching surrounding the events of his death that we can apply to ourselves – 2Sa 1:5 So David said to the young man who told him, "How do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?" 6 Then the young man who told him said, "As I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul, leaning on his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. 7 "Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, 'Here I am.' 8 "And he said to me, 'Who are you?' So I answered him, 'I am an Amalekite.' The irony of what we see here is strikingly poignant as we remember what the Lord had commanded Saul at the beginning of his reign - 1Sa 15:1 ¶ Samuel also said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the LORD. 2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 'Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" If Saul had done exactly what the Lord had told him and utterly destroyed the Amalekites, there would have been no Amalekite on Mount Gilboa to take his life and remove his crown. b). Then if we take this one step further, if Saul had done what the Lord had commanded him he would not have found himself defeated in battle in the first place as he would have had God’s protection - 1Sa 13:13 And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. c). The options presented here are easy to see – faithfulness leading to rulership and unfaithfulness leading to death. And these exact same options are there for us. If we will do that which the Word commands us there is the certainty of rulership with the Lord in the age to come. But, if we should choose unfaithfulness instead then separation from rulership is the only outcome. d). With this in mind let’s remember - Ro 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Eph 4:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, From one perspective then the Amalekite on Mount Gilboa is a type of our ‘old man’ who we are to ‘put off’, who we need to keep in the place of crucifixion. And then from another perspective we can see him as a type of the ‘deeds of the body’ - Ro 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Col 3:5 ¶ Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. The command given here is very direct, ‘put to death’. And given what we have learned from the example of Saul it would be wise for us to heed these words. e). And not having our crown taken from us is a subject addressed to the Church in Philadelphia - Re 3:7 ¶ "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens":……………….11 "Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12 "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 13 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."' Well the only person who could take our crown would be our ‘old man’, the one we have been commanded to put to death and with that in mind we are to ‘hold fast’ what we have – in the midst of trial, hold fast to the word; in the midst of persecution, hold fast to the word; in the midst of the onslaught of the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, hold fast to the word. f). And if we do hold fast and overcome the world, the flesh and the devil then we will go out to war no more, our battle with the old man will be over, the spiritual warfare will be over and we will receive the Lord’s new name for us – the new name He will give to the victorious man of the spirit, one of the Lord’s mighty men of valor and the crown of regality will be placed on our head and God’s purpose for creating Man will have been completed – 2Ti 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. Don’t miss this. More next time – if the Lord is willing. The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Seven - D May 27, 2018 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/05-27-18_Part-D.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon 2Sa 1:8 "And he said to me, 'Who are you?' So I answered him, 'I am an Amalekite.' We will continue to look at the types seen through Saul and David today. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday May 27th 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 7D ‘His Special People’ 1). 1Sa 22:1 ¶ David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him. We had seen last time how Saul and David provide a type of Satan and Christ and provide a broad, brushstroke picture of how things have existed with respect to the rulership of the earth throughout the course of this age. a). Just as Saul, Israel’s first king, had his kingdom torn from him because of rebellion and David was anointed to be king in Saul’s place, so Satan, the earth’s first ruler, has been rejected as the earth’s ruler because of rebellion and Jesus the Christ has been anointed to be King in Satan’s place. b). But, we had seen from our type with Saul and David that although Saul had been rejected as king and David was accepted to replace him, Saul was not immediately removed from his throne. In fact, he reigned for a good many years beyond this point, the total length of his reign being 40 years, before he was finally removed. c). And in this time gap between Saul’s rejection as king and his removal we see the type for the time gap that has existed since Satan’s rebellion and which will continue until his removal at the end of the Tribulation – Re 20:1 ¶ Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. d). And it is a Biblical principle that an incumbent ruler will only be replaced by God when the one to replace him is on the scene and proven worthy to do so. e). And it is the outworking of God’s purpose to accomplish this replacement of the earth’s ruler that began with the restoration of the ruined creation in Genesis Chapter 1, with the creation of the Man and the Woman on the 6th day for regal purposes, with the opening 34 verses giving us God’s timetable for its completion - 2Pe 3:8 ¶ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 ¶ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Then we know from the opening Chapter of Genesis that a Man and a Woman, together in a marriage relationship, must be in place before rulership can happen. And through the type of the Woman taken from the Man’s body, after he had been put into a deep sleep we are given detail of what will happen yet future when the Bride of Christ will be removed from the Body of Christ at the Judgment Seat following the resurrection/rapture of the Church; something that is only possible because of the Lord’s death and resurrection – 1Pe 1:3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. f). And if we go back to the verses we began with this morning we can see David, separated from Saul’s kingdom at the cave of Adullam forming a type of the Lord’s ascension to the right hand of the Father, separated from Satan’s kingdom. And implicit in the type of David’s ‘escape’ to the cave of Adullam is the Lord’s resurrection – without resurrection there could be no ascension. g). And it is while David is in the cave of Adullam that we see his brothers and all his father’s house, all those distressed, in debt and discontented joining together with him, which forms a type, with respect to Christ and Christians, of what has been going on throughout the course of this present dispensation when those from the Father’s ‘house’ who are distressed, discontent and in debt with respect to Satan’s kingdom are joining together with Christ - Eph 2:4 ¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. h). Not only do we find the picture here of what is taking place in our present, but also what we are to learn from these events, because those joining David at the cave do not picture every Christian, but rather those who have a particular focus and a specific goal - 1Pe 1:9 receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls. The 400 men with David would give another facet to the picture of the Bride taken from the body. i). And the first thing we would want to note with respect to this is that those who went to be with David knew that he had been anointed as king and aligned themselves with him knowing that they would have to wait for the day when God would place him as king. j). And this is where we find ourselves – we know that our Lord is the King of kings, but we also know that we must wait for the completion of God’s 7 day calendar, incorporating the procurement of the Bride, the repentance of Israel and the overthrow of Gentile world power, before this will happen – and because we know this it must govern the way we conduct ourselves in the present - Ps 37:34 ¶ Wait on the LORD, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. 2). 2Co 6:17 Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you." 18 "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty." These verses would undoubtedly describe the actions of those gathering themselves to David – they came out from among those in Saul’s kingdom and did not touch that which had been rejected and was therefore unclean. And because of this David received them and became their captain. a). And these verses describe what our own actions must be as well – we are to separate ourselves from Satan’s kingdom - Ro 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And we are not to touch that which is unclean - Jas 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Although, with regards to our physical location, we find ourselves in Satan’s kingdom our heart, our mind and our hope are to find their location elsewhere Joh 17:15 "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 ¶ "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.18 "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. 20 ¶ "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; And we can see from these verses in John 17 that we are separated from the world by the Word of Truth and it will be our adherence to this Word that will keep us from the evil one. And this is exactly what we read in Romans Chapter 12. b). So, to summarize for a moment – it is through the Word of Truth that we understand the present system of rulership and God’s timetable for the change in this system of rulership. We understand that our Lord’s current position is that of High Priest and not King - Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. [age] Heb 8:1 ¶ Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, And we understand that our time for rulership is not now but awaiting the Millennial Kingdom - Heb 2:8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet." For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. c). And as we wait for the Millennial Kingdom to come we understand that we are in a time of testing and probation that through our faithfulness to The Word we will be counted worthy in that Day. d). And it is interesting to note that the testing that David and his followers go through has a major focus on their relationship to Saul – 1Sa 26:9 And David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the LORD'S anointed, and be guiltless?" Saul continually sought David’s life and the lives of his followers, even stretching out his hand against the priests of the Lord because he thought they had helped David - 1Sa 22:18 And the king said to Doeg, "You turn and kill the priests!" So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests, and killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod. 19 Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep-with the edge of the sword. Yet, despite the depths of his wickedness Saul remained the Lord’s anointed and as such David would not touch him, knowing that Saul’s outcome was in God’s hand, not his - 1Sa 26:10 David said furthermore, "As the LORD lives, the LORD shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish. e). And just as Saul was killed in battle, in the Lord’s timing, so we have already seen today from the Book of the Revelation that Satan will be bound and cast into the pit at the end of the battle in which Gentile world power is destroyed and it will be at the end of another battle at the end of the Millennial Kingdom that Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, in God’s timing, for all eternity - Re 20:9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Now to the natural eye it would appear that David’s safety would be found in killing Saul – if the one seeking his life was dead then he would be safe. But, in a marvelous spiritual paradox David’s safety was in letting Saul live and not raising his hand against him, because in doing so he was kept by the power of God through faith. David was never safer than when he staid his hand from killing Saul. f). But, had he touched Saul he would have exalted himself above God by leaning on his own understanding and made God his enemy where there would have been no safety whatsoever. g). Needless to say, there is an obvious lesson here for us to learn – regardless of how we might like things to be, which really is of no consequence, we must submit ourselves to the scripture and the scripture plainly tells us - Eze 28:14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. Satan is God’s anointed ruling angel, a position which he retains to this day – Joh 14:30 "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world [age] is coming, and he has nothing in Me. 2Co 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Satan and his angels are greater and mightier than we and we appear like grasshoppers in their sight, but this is not the point. For many the weekly ritual of binding, casting out, digging a hole and burying, either out of fear or spiritual arrogance affords a feeling of safety, but safety is the thing farthest from the truth. Safety from our enemy comes from doing exactly as David did, leaving him alone and trusting in the Lord - Eph 6:10 ¶ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And as we have seen from previous studies, the whole armor of God is God Himself – He is our shield and protection through our faithful obedience – 1Pe 1:5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. But, if we step outside of that which the Word teaches and begin to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil then our safety is gone, and if unchecked this could lead us to a conclusion we would rather not experience. h). And one facet of this experience is shown to us through the account of the Amalekite who took Saul’s life and the crown from his head – 2Sa 1:13 Then David said to the young man who told him, "Where are you from?" And he answered, "I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite." 14 So David said to him, "How was it you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the LORD'S anointed?" 15 Then David called one of the young men and said, "Go near, and execute him!" And he struck him so that he died. 16 So David said to him, "Your blood is on your own head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, 'I have killed the LORD'S anointed.'" And I wonder if we might find a parallel here with these verses from – Mt 7:21 ¶ "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' The Lord’s own commentary on this in the verses that follow provide a good summary of what we have been discussing - Mt 7:24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." 3). There is one last part to this picture concerning ourselves that we need to set in place. And this last part comes from the account of Saul’s death. a). Saul is as we have seen a type of Satan, but we can find a secondary teaching surrounding the events of his death that we can apply to ourselves – 2Sa 1:5 So David said to the young man who told him, "How do you know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?" 6 Then the young man who told him said, "As I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul, leaning on his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. 7 "Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, 'Here I am.' 8 "And he said to me, 'Who are you?' So I answered him, 'I am an Amalekite.' The irony of what we see here is strikingly poignant as we remember what the Lord had commanded Saul at the beginning of his reign - 1Sa 15:1 ¶ Samuel also said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the LORD. 2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 'Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" If Saul had done exactly what the Lord had told him and utterly destroyed the Amalekites, there would have been no Amalekite on Mount Gilboa to take his life and remove his crown. b). Then if we take this one step further, if Saul had done what the Lord had commanded him he would not have found himself defeated in battle in the first place as he would have had God’s protection - 1Sa 13:13 And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. c). The options presented here are easy to see – faithfulness leading to rulership and unfaithfulness leading to death. And these exact same options are there for us. If we will do that which the Word commands us there is the certainty of rulership with the Lord in the age to come. But, if we should choose unfaithfulness instead then separation from rulership is the only outcome. d). With this in mind let’s remember - Ro 6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Eph 4:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, From one perspective then the Amalekite on Mount Gilboa is a type of our ‘old man’ who we are to ‘put off’, who we need to keep in the place of crucifixion. And then from another perspective we can see him as a type of the ‘deeds of the body’ - Ro 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Col 3:5 ¶ Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. The command given here is very direct, ‘put to death’. And given what we have learned from the example of Saul it would be wise for us to heed these words. e). And not having our crown taken from us is a subject addressed to the Church in Philadelphia - Re 3:7 ¶ "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens":……………….11 "Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12 "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 13 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."' Well the only person who could take our crown would be our ‘old man’, the one we have been commanded to put to death and with that in mind we are to ‘hold fast’ what we have – in the midst of trial, hold fast to the word; in the midst of persecution, hold fast to the word; in the midst of the onslaught of the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of this life, hold fast to the word. f). And if we do hold fast and overcome the world, the flesh and the devil then we will go out to war no more, our battle with the old man will be over, the spiritual warfare will be over and we will receive the Lord’s new name for us – the new name He will give to the victorious man of the spirit, one of the Lord’s mighty men of valor and the crown of regality will be placed on our head and God’s purpose for creating Man will have been completed – 2Ti 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. Don’t miss this. More next time – if the Lord is willing.