From Time To Time - Part Sixteen Jan 14, 2024 by: John Herbert | Series: From Time to Time Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T035_20240114.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon 1 Sa 16:1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.” Today we will look at another facet of David as a type of Christ. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday January 14th 2024 From Time to Time – Part 16 1). 1 Sa 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD'S, and He will give you into our hands.” 48 So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. We had seen in David’s encounter with Goliath a foreshadowing of the final and complete destruction of Gentile world power by the One who is the greater Son of David following the end of the tribulation. And what we had seen pictured through Goliath also anticipated that which was to be revealed later through the great image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel Chapter 2 and the four great beasts of Daniel’s vision in Daniel Chapter 7, both of which end with exactly the same conclusion as that pictured through Goliath’s death; shown in the destruction of the image in Chapter 2 and the destruction of the fourth beast in Chapter 7. And not only do we see in Goliath’s bronze apparel the allusion to the third form of the Babylonian kingdom from the great image, out of which the fourth form will come, but also bronze is a metal that is used in Scripture to represent judgment. We will remember the bronze alter and bronze laver from the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The bronze apparel then signifies God’s judgment upon Goliath in the historical account and God’s judgment upon the one of whom Goliath is a type, the man of sin, when the events pictured are fulfilled in the antitype. And God’s judgment was indeed fulfilled in history which necessitates the certainty of its fulfillment in that future day typified through David striking Goliath on his head and then removing his head with Goliath’s own sword, symbolism that takes us back to the promised judgment given upon the serpent in Genesis Chapter 3, that the serpent’s head would be crushed. a). In the encounter with Goliath then, David is a type of Christ, and the encounter pictures how the Antichrist and his armies, the fourth and final form of the Babylonian kingdom, the summation of Gentile world power throughout its history, will be judged by the Lord, concluding with the battle we have come to call Armageddon – Re 19:11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. 17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the great supper of God, 18 that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.” And there is another detail from the life of David, where he is again seen as a type of Christ, that goes hand in hand with the encounter with Goliath, this time presenting matters from the perspective first revealed to us in Genesis Chapter 3, that of Christ and Satan - Ge 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” We have known from the beginning of the Scripture that the Seed of the Woman, the Seed of Abraham, the Son of David, would crush the head of that serpent of old. And we have known from the first thirty-four verses of Genesis that this promise has to do with the rulership of the earth in the Seventh Day. b). And we have also known from the first thirty-four verses from Genesis that rulership in the Seventh Day necessitates a Man and a Woman together in a marriage relationship. And within the type provided through the account of Saul and David, we can find all these elements brought together within the framework of God’s predetermined timing. Timing that takes us from the time of the kingdom of Satan to the time of the Kingdom of Christ. c). Saul we will remember was the first king over Israel. A king that the Jews had desired to rule over them, either consciously or not, instead of the God of their fathers - 1 Sa 8:10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked him for a king. 11 And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. 12 He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. 14 And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. 16 And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. 18 And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day.” 19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20 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.” 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the LORD. 22 So the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.” And Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Every man go to his city.” And the motivation for national Israel to have a king was so that they should be like all the other nations. Having a king to judge them and fight their battles for them, that which had previously been the prerogative of the God of their fathers. And this determination on the part of the Jewish people to have a king to function for them in the place of the God of their fathers is alluded to in the account of Cain and Abel, Joseph and his brothers, Moses, and his brothers; all finding its ultimate conclusion and fulfillment in the rejection and killing of their Messiah and national Israel’s allegiance pledged instead to a pagan, Gentile world ruler. An event which of itself foreshadows the covenant to be made with the man of sin yet future – Jn 5:43 I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. In the Scriptural account of the reign of Saul, Saul’s actions were of such a nature that God rejected him as king over Israel – 1 Sa 15:17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel? 18 Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” 22 So Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.” And so, because Saul had ‘rejected the word of the Lord’, by failing to do that which he was commanded, a deliberate choice on his part by which he had placed himself above God’s command, his actions are described as rebellion. And it is in Saul’s rebellion against the God of Israel through elevating himself above that which he was commanded that he forms a type of Satan. The one whose rebellion through trying to exalt himself above God, caused God to reject him from being king over the earth. d). And God, having rejected Saul from being king over Israel, had already chosen the individual who was to replace him as ruler over His people – 1 Sa 16:1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.” And this of course was David. And as we consider Saul’s rejection and the anointing of David as king in his place, it would be good for us to remember what the Scripture teaches with respect to the appointment of rulers – Da 4:17 ‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers, And the sentence by the word of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over it the lowest of men.’ It makes no difference whether we are dealing with Saul and David or Satan and the Christ, the removal and placement of rulers within and over the kingdom of men remains solely within the purview of the Most High. And what we learn through the account of Saul and David is exactly that which we already know concerning Satan and the Christ, rejection does not necessitate immediate replacement. Satan was rejected as ruler over the earth in the dark distance of ages past, at a time before the restoration of the ruined creation and the creation of Man to rule in Satan’s stead. And even though the Christ has been appointed as King over the earth, as we know from – Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. Ps 2:6 “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.” 7 “I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today [for this Day – the Seventh Day] I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. And even though the Christ Himself is the Son of God, He cannot replace Satan as King until God the Father removes Satan first and then places His Son on the throne; and there is a timeframe established for this that cannot be altered. And this is what is pictured for us through the type of Saul and David. e). Saul had been rejected as king over Israel and Samuel had anointed David in his place, but Saul was not immediately removed as king, and so two anointed kings were present in Israel. Saul continued to rule, as both awaited the time when God would remove the one and establish the other. f). And this elapsed time between Saul’s rejection and David’s ascension, in complete accord with that which we have learned from Daniel 4:17, has been set in the type to reveal profound Scriptural truths, concerning the present system of rulership and the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom. 2). At present there are two anointed rulers over the earth, the Christ and Satan and in accord with Daniel 4:17 and the type set through Saul and David, Satan will continue to rule until God the Father replaces him. And as we have previously seen and have known from the first thirty-four verses of Genesis, the Christ CANNOT rule until He has a Wife to complete Him, just as the Woman, built from a part of Adam’s body completed Adam, and the time that the Lord has allotted to search out a Bride for His Son is not yet over, and therefore the Bride has not yet been identified. a). In the type given through Saul and David, David, although anointed, still had to be proven worthy to take the crown previously given to Saul. And we will remember that Saul had been rejected as king because of his rebellion, because of his choice to ignore that which God had commanded him, placing himself above God’s wisdom. b). The challenge then that faced David was would he trust the Lord and act in accordance with His Word, or would he act in accordance with his own wisdom? – 1 Sa 24:1 Now it happened, when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, “Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3 So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.) 4 Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’ ” And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe. 5 Now it happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe. 6 And he said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.” 7 So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way. There was more than one occasion when David had the opportunity to kill Saul and take his crown. And had David been of the same nature as Saul, he may well have interpreted these opportunities as God given. Rather than this, because Saul remained ‘the anointed of the Lord’, David would not violate God’s established order, trusting the Lord to place him on the throne at God’s appointed time. David’s actions form the type for the Christ, and the antitype is to be found in the Christ’s encounter with Satan in the wilderness to be tempted forty days and forty nights – Mt 3:16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. The Lord’s baptism in the Jordan River which we see in v16, had nothing to do with repentance as did the others who came to John but had everything to do with a foreshadowing of His death, burial, and resurrection, as a result of which God the Father would say, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we might well hear those words, ‘This is my beloved Son’, these days and know exactly what God the Father was declaring as He made reference to the promise He had given to David – 2 Sa 7:12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son…………………….. 18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD; and he said: “Who am I, O Lord GOD? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? 19 And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord GOD; and You have also spoken of Your servant's house for a great while to come [in the distant future] …………. And this is a declaration we have heard before with respect to another son Ex 4:22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. The declaration in Egypt was made to Pharoah, the Gentile world ruler of his day, and had to do with the son God had chosen to hold the scepter of rulership on the earth at the head of the nations, in the place of Egypt and the other Gentile nations, and the declaration in Matthew Chapter 3 was made to Satan and confirmed that the One coming from the waters of the Jordan, just as he would come from the place of the dead, is the Son that God has chosen to hold the scepter of rulership over the heavens and the earth in Satan’s place. This is the One, the Seed of the Woman, who would crush the serpent’s head. c). And in the foreshadowing of the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection through baptism in the Jordan, we find Son and Father in complete alignment – Jn 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. Jn 12:49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is age lasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” Jn 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. And to bring all of this together - Jn 12:27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name.” The Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, had come to ‘this hour’, the hour of His death to fulfill God’s purpose, to provide the means of redemption for His people Israel and the means of redemption for those who will become His Bride. Redemption is only possible through the action of Deity. d). And this is the context into which the Lord’s temptation in the wilderness must be placed. Now as the Son and the Father are one and the same there could never be any deviation from the purpose for which the Son had come to the earth. Nevertheless, in order to fulfill ‘all righteousness’, the Son’s right to the throne, as the Son of David, the second Man, the last Adam, had to be tested. However, the Lord’s experience of temptation could not be the same as ours – Jas 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But His temptation was for our benefit as we embrace His High Priestly ministry – Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The Lord was tempted ‘in all points as we are’, but He has no sin nature. We on the other hand do have a sin nature and are therefore susceptible to sin. And because of His own experience, the Lord can ‘sympathize with our weaknesses’, thereby providing the cleansing from sin that we need as we boldly go to the throne of grace to confess – 1 Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 3). Mt 4:2 And having fasted forty days and forty nights, after this He became hungry. 3 And having come, facing Him, he who puts to the test by his solicitation to do evil said to Him, In view of the fact that you are Son of God by virtue of your participation in the divine essence of deity, speak, to the end that these stones become loaves of bread. 4 But answering He said, It has been written and is at present on record, Not upon the basis of bread only shall the individual live, but upon the basis of every word proceeding out of God's mouth. [Wuest - Expanded translation] As we read this, let’s remember that the challenge here is not to prove that Jesus is the Son of God, Satan acknowledged that He is, but to determine that as God’s chosen Son, the last Adam, He is worthy to take the throne which Satan occupies. The enticement given is for the Lord to act in the capacity of His Deity rather than in His capacity as the second Man. And in the enticement to the One who is the Bread of Life to turn stones into bread because of hunger we may well hear an echo of Esau – Heb 12:16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. The two accounts in one sense parallel one another, the one, Esau, with a sin nature, despised his birthright considering the satisfying of his hunger of more importance. And the other, apart from sin, as the second man, esteeming every word that proceeds from God’s mouth as the only basis upon which life can be gained. a). And as He Himself is the very embodiment of the Words that proceeded from God’s mouth, to do anything else would be to deny Himself, an impossibility – 2 Ti 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. Mt 4:5 Then the devil takes Him with himself into the city set apart for the worship and service of God, and he caused Him to stand upon the wing of the temple, and says to Him, 6 Since you are Son of God by virtue of your participation in the divine essence of deity, hurl yourself down, for it has been written and at present is on record, To His angels He will give a charge concerning you, and upon their hands they will take you up lest at any time you strike your foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said to him, On the other hand, It has been written and at present is on record, You shall not put the Lord your God to an all-out test. [Wuest – Expanded translation] There were many high places that Satan could have taken the Lord to bid Him to cast Himself down but he took Him to the holy city of Jerusalem and to the top of the temple – 1 Ki 9:3 And the LORD said to him [Solomon]: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. This, however, will have to wait until next time if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed. From Time To Time - Part Sixteen Jan 14, 2024 Speaker: John Herbert Series: From Time to Time Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T035_20240114.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon 1 Sa 16:1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.” Today we will look at another facet of David as a type of Christ. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday January 14th 2024 From Time to Time – Part 16 1). 1 Sa 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD'S, and He will give you into our hands.” 48 So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. We had seen in David’s encounter with Goliath a foreshadowing of the final and complete destruction of Gentile world power by the One who is the greater Son of David following the end of the tribulation. And what we had seen pictured through Goliath also anticipated that which was to be revealed later through the great image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel Chapter 2 and the four great beasts of Daniel’s vision in Daniel Chapter 7, both of which end with exactly the same conclusion as that pictured through Goliath’s death; shown in the destruction of the image in Chapter 2 and the destruction of the fourth beast in Chapter 7. And not only do we see in Goliath’s bronze apparel the allusion to the third form of the Babylonian kingdom from the great image, out of which the fourth form will come, but also bronze is a metal that is used in Scripture to represent judgment. We will remember the bronze alter and bronze laver from the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The bronze apparel then signifies God’s judgment upon Goliath in the historical account and God’s judgment upon the one of whom Goliath is a type, the man of sin, when the events pictured are fulfilled in the antitype. And God’s judgment was indeed fulfilled in history which necessitates the certainty of its fulfillment in that future day typified through David striking Goliath on his head and then removing his head with Goliath’s own sword, symbolism that takes us back to the promised judgment given upon the serpent in Genesis Chapter 3, that the serpent’s head would be crushed. a). In the encounter with Goliath then, David is a type of Christ, and the encounter pictures how the Antichrist and his armies, the fourth and final form of the Babylonian kingdom, the summation of Gentile world power throughout its history, will be judged by the Lord, concluding with the battle we have come to call Armageddon – Re 19:11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. 17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the great supper of God, 18 that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.” And there is another detail from the life of David, where he is again seen as a type of Christ, that goes hand in hand with the encounter with Goliath, this time presenting matters from the perspective first revealed to us in Genesis Chapter 3, that of Christ and Satan - Ge 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” We have known from the beginning of the Scripture that the Seed of the Woman, the Seed of Abraham, the Son of David, would crush the head of that serpent of old. And we have known from the first thirty-four verses of Genesis that this promise has to do with the rulership of the earth in the Seventh Day. b). And we have also known from the first thirty-four verses from Genesis that rulership in the Seventh Day necessitates a Man and a Woman together in a marriage relationship. And within the type provided through the account of Saul and David, we can find all these elements brought together within the framework of God’s predetermined timing. Timing that takes us from the time of the kingdom of Satan to the time of the Kingdom of Christ. c). Saul we will remember was the first king over Israel. A king that the Jews had desired to rule over them, either consciously or not, instead of the God of their fathers - 1 Sa 8:10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked him for a king. 11 And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. 12 He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. 14 And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. 16 And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. 18 And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day.” 19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20 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.” 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the LORD. 22 So the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.” And Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Every man go to his city.” And the motivation for national Israel to have a king was so that they should be like all the other nations. Having a king to judge them and fight their battles for them, that which had previously been the prerogative of the God of their fathers. And this determination on the part of the Jewish people to have a king to function for them in the place of the God of their fathers is alluded to in the account of Cain and Abel, Joseph and his brothers, Moses, and his brothers; all finding its ultimate conclusion and fulfillment in the rejection and killing of their Messiah and national Israel’s allegiance pledged instead to a pagan, Gentile world ruler. An event which of itself foreshadows the covenant to be made with the man of sin yet future – Jn 5:43 I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. In the Scriptural account of the reign of Saul, Saul’s actions were of such a nature that God rejected him as king over Israel – 1 Sa 15:17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel? 18 Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” 22 So Samuel said: “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.” And so, because Saul had ‘rejected the word of the Lord’, by failing to do that which he was commanded, a deliberate choice on his part by which he had placed himself above God’s command, his actions are described as rebellion. And it is in Saul’s rebellion against the God of Israel through elevating himself above that which he was commanded that he forms a type of Satan. The one whose rebellion through trying to exalt himself above God, caused God to reject him from being king over the earth. d). And God, having rejected Saul from being king over Israel, had already chosen the individual who was to replace him as ruler over His people – 1 Sa 16:1 Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.” And this of course was David. And as we consider Saul’s rejection and the anointing of David as king in his place, it would be good for us to remember what the Scripture teaches with respect to the appointment of rulers – Da 4:17 ‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers, And the sentence by the word of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over it the lowest of men.’ It makes no difference whether we are dealing with Saul and David or Satan and the Christ, the removal and placement of rulers within and over the kingdom of men remains solely within the purview of the Most High. And what we learn through the account of Saul and David is exactly that which we already know concerning Satan and the Christ, rejection does not necessitate immediate replacement. Satan was rejected as ruler over the earth in the dark distance of ages past, at a time before the restoration of the ruined creation and the creation of Man to rule in Satan’s stead. And even though the Christ has been appointed as King over the earth, as we know from – Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. Ps 2:6 “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.” 7 “I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today [for this Day – the Seventh Day] I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. And even though the Christ Himself is the Son of God, He cannot replace Satan as King until God the Father removes Satan first and then places His Son on the throne; and there is a timeframe established for this that cannot be altered. And this is what is pictured for us through the type of Saul and David. e). Saul had been rejected as king over Israel and Samuel had anointed David in his place, but Saul was not immediately removed as king, and so two anointed kings were present in Israel. Saul continued to rule, as both awaited the time when God would remove the one and establish the other. f). And this elapsed time between Saul’s rejection and David’s ascension, in complete accord with that which we have learned from Daniel 4:17, has been set in the type to reveal profound Scriptural truths, concerning the present system of rulership and the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom. 2). At present there are two anointed rulers over the earth, the Christ and Satan and in accord with Daniel 4:17 and the type set through Saul and David, Satan will continue to rule until God the Father replaces him. And as we have previously seen and have known from the first thirty-four verses of Genesis, the Christ CANNOT rule until He has a Wife to complete Him, just as the Woman, built from a part of Adam’s body completed Adam, and the time that the Lord has allotted to search out a Bride for His Son is not yet over, and therefore the Bride has not yet been identified. a). In the type given through Saul and David, David, although anointed, still had to be proven worthy to take the crown previously given to Saul. And we will remember that Saul had been rejected as king because of his rebellion, because of his choice to ignore that which God had commanded him, placing himself above God’s wisdom. b). The challenge then that faced David was would he trust the Lord and act in accordance with His Word, or would he act in accordance with his own wisdom? – 1 Sa 24:1 Now it happened, when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, “Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3 So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.) 4 Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’ ” And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe. 5 Now it happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe. 6 And he said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.” 7 So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way. There was more than one occasion when David had the opportunity to kill Saul and take his crown. And had David been of the same nature as Saul, he may well have interpreted these opportunities as God given. Rather than this, because Saul remained ‘the anointed of the Lord’, David would not violate God’s established order, trusting the Lord to place him on the throne at God’s appointed time. David’s actions form the type for the Christ, and the antitype is to be found in the Christ’s encounter with Satan in the wilderness to be tempted forty days and forty nights – Mt 3:16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. The Lord’s baptism in the Jordan River which we see in v16, had nothing to do with repentance as did the others who came to John but had everything to do with a foreshadowing of His death, burial, and resurrection, as a result of which God the Father would say, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we might well hear those words, ‘This is my beloved Son’, these days and know exactly what God the Father was declaring as He made reference to the promise He had given to David – 2 Sa 7:12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son…………………….. 18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD; and he said: “Who am I, O Lord GOD? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? 19 And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord GOD; and You have also spoken of Your servant's house for a great while to come [in the distant future] …………. And this is a declaration we have heard before with respect to another son Ex 4:22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. The declaration in Egypt was made to Pharoah, the Gentile world ruler of his day, and had to do with the son God had chosen to hold the scepter of rulership on the earth at the head of the nations, in the place of Egypt and the other Gentile nations, and the declaration in Matthew Chapter 3 was made to Satan and confirmed that the One coming from the waters of the Jordan, just as he would come from the place of the dead, is the Son that God has chosen to hold the scepter of rulership over the heavens and the earth in Satan’s place. This is the One, the Seed of the Woman, who would crush the serpent’s head. c). And in the foreshadowing of the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection through baptism in the Jordan, we find Son and Father in complete alignment – Jn 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. Jn 12:49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is age lasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” Jn 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. And to bring all of this together - Jn 12:27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name.” The Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, had come to ‘this hour’, the hour of His death to fulfill God’s purpose, to provide the means of redemption for His people Israel and the means of redemption for those who will become His Bride. Redemption is only possible through the action of Deity. d). And this is the context into which the Lord’s temptation in the wilderness must be placed. Now as the Son and the Father are one and the same there could never be any deviation from the purpose for which the Son had come to the earth. Nevertheless, in order to fulfill ‘all righteousness’, the Son’s right to the throne, as the Son of David, the second Man, the last Adam, had to be tested. However, the Lord’s experience of temptation could not be the same as ours – Jas 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But His temptation was for our benefit as we embrace His High Priestly ministry – Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The Lord was tempted ‘in all points as we are’, but He has no sin nature. We on the other hand do have a sin nature and are therefore susceptible to sin. And because of His own experience, the Lord can ‘sympathize with our weaknesses’, thereby providing the cleansing from sin that we need as we boldly go to the throne of grace to confess – 1 Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 3). Mt 4:2 And having fasted forty days and forty nights, after this He became hungry. 3 And having come, facing Him, he who puts to the test by his solicitation to do evil said to Him, In view of the fact that you are Son of God by virtue of your participation in the divine essence of deity, speak, to the end that these stones become loaves of bread. 4 But answering He said, It has been written and is at present on record, Not upon the basis of bread only shall the individual live, but upon the basis of every word proceeding out of God's mouth. [Wuest - Expanded translation] As we read this, let’s remember that the challenge here is not to prove that Jesus is the Son of God, Satan acknowledged that He is, but to determine that as God’s chosen Son, the last Adam, He is worthy to take the throne which Satan occupies. The enticement given is for the Lord to act in the capacity of His Deity rather than in His capacity as the second Man. And in the enticement to the One who is the Bread of Life to turn stones into bread because of hunger we may well hear an echo of Esau – Heb 12:16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. The two accounts in one sense parallel one another, the one, Esau, with a sin nature, despised his birthright considering the satisfying of his hunger of more importance. And the other, apart from sin, as the second man, esteeming every word that proceeds from God’s mouth as the only basis upon which life can be gained. a). And as He Himself is the very embodiment of the Words that proceeded from God’s mouth, to do anything else would be to deny Himself, an impossibility – 2 Ti 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. Mt 4:5 Then the devil takes Him with himself into the city set apart for the worship and service of God, and he caused Him to stand upon the wing of the temple, and says to Him, 6 Since you are Son of God by virtue of your participation in the divine essence of deity, hurl yourself down, for it has been written and at present is on record, To His angels He will give a charge concerning you, and upon their hands they will take you up lest at any time you strike your foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said to him, On the other hand, It has been written and at present is on record, You shall not put the Lord your God to an all-out test. [Wuest – Expanded translation] There were many high places that Satan could have taken the Lord to bid Him to cast Himself down but he took Him to the holy city of Jerusalem and to the top of the temple – 1 Ki 9:3 And the LORD said to him [Solomon]: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. This, however, will have to wait until next time if we remain and the Lord is willing, and we have prayed.