From Tribes to Kingdoms

When I start writing a sermon, Im never sure what the Lord is going to give me to say.

With this particular subject, I didn’t expect to have much to say. I initially thought it would be a rather short message.

But, it turned out to be one my longest, so bear with me.

There is some real nourishing meat for your walk with the Lord. Lets just jump right in.

- The Promise of a Barren Woman

When we last saw Israel, there were in the promised land, of Caanan.

You and I know this land as modern day Israel, named after the patriarch Israel, who’s name used to be Jacob until God changed his name after wrestling with his spirit one night.

They were a confederation of loose tribes, and chiefs according to each tribe.

Their only central Ruler, was God.

God’s Word - through the law of Moses, then judged by God appointed Judges.

Moses, Joshua and Caleb, and all who witnessed the hand of God in His delivery of them from Egypt were dead.

The descendants of them now flourished in the land,

The exact same way, you and I now live in this great land, though we did not contribute to the hard fight that won the land.

The Israelites were living in the land but each in their own neighborhood -or tribal land allotments.

The Law of God left to them from Moses, and re-iterated through Joshua, was their highest Ruler.

When ever they strayed from the Word of the Lord, their enemies got the better of them, and the suffered

Then they would remember Yahweh, and cry out to Him.

To which He would raise up an anointed Judge to Judge then according to the Word of the Lord.

During the time of the Judges, we were abruptly introduced to a shift in the story line with the introduction of

Ruth, and Boaz the great grandfather of David.

Boaz was the son of Rahab the prostitute who helped the Joshua’s two witnesses escape from Jericho.

We now pick up the story at the end of the period of the Judges with the opening of the first book of Samuel

There was a woman who was barren.

Her name was Hannah.

She pleaded with the Lord for a son, which opens up the story of our next character, the prophet Samuel

- A Prophet is Born

1 Samuel 1:10–11 (CSB)

10 Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. 11 Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Armies, if you will take notice of your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.”

The Lord blesses her request, and she names her son Samuel, who was the second mentioned Nazarite in scripture.

The first being Samson.

She keeps the child Samuel with her until he is weened, then, she keeping her promise to the Lord, she delivered him to

the Priest, Eli.

The boy grows up in the presence and service of the Lord serving the priest Eli.

Then one night, a voice came calling to him.

1 Samuel 3:1–5 (CSB)

1 The boy Samuel served the Lord in Eli’s presence. In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread. 2 One day Eli, whose eyesight was failing, was lying in his usual place. 3 Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was located. 4 Then the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “I didn’t call,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

This happens three times.

God called Samuel three times, until Eli the priest understood what was going on

1 Samuel 3:9 (CSB)

9 He told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Now, we come to the pivotal verse that sums up my entire calling into ministry.

- I’m Listening

It is my all time personal favorite verse of all Scripture, and the undergirding of my heart in ministry.

1 Samuel 3:10 (CSB)

10 The Lord came, stood there, and called as before, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel responded, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Its similar to my all time favorite Spanish Christian song, Called, “Yo Te Busco,” meaning I look for you. or I search for you.

Now obviously, its not meant to convey that God can’t be found, but rather its an expression or a proclamation of the heart.

I will always be listening, or I will always be on the lookout for you in my life.

1 Samuel 3:10 (CSB)

10 The Lord came, stood there, and called as before, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel responded, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

On my epithet, I would like written: “Lord, your servant heard you.”

From here, Samuel grew in the Lord, and eventually becomes the last Judge in the era of the Judges.

He was the first prophet to the nation of Israel in the land of Israel.

(https://www.tyndale.com/sites/tyndalebibles/samuel-israels-last-judge-and-first-prophet/)

He Judged over all Israel.

But he was getting old, and the people did not have confidence in his sons as successors.

Besides, they wanted to be organized like the nations around them, like the Philistines etc.

So, they tell Samuel, “Hey, we love ya, but we’d rather have a king.”

So Samuel takes this news to God broken hearted, feeling as thought he failed them or they rejected his service to them.

But God grants them their request for a king and comforts Samuel explaining, that they didn’t reject Samuel,

- God Traded for King

They rejected God.

1 Samuel 8:5–9 (CSB)

5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.” 6 When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand wrong, so he prayed to the Lord. 7 But the Lord told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king. 8 They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods. 9 Listen to them, but solemnly warn them and tell them about the customary rights of the king who will reign over them.”

You know, I don’t think it stopped there.

We ourselves are still committing this act aren’t we?

Jesus came, and gave us the opportunity to be washed of our sins, and forgiven thereby receiving eternal life.

But, living in this world has proven comfortable to many of us.

We have told Jesus, “You know what, I think your message is getting old, and we’d rather have a different judge.

As a matter of fact, we’d like a different king all together,

Its called, existentialism.

Meaning, what ever we feel like doing is best for us right now.

Kinda like Israel was before a king,

Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

So, its not salvation your are rejecting, because you want that,

But rather its Jesus as Lord over your life.

When you live this way, you have thrown off the protection of the most high and have in fact, jumped right back in to the Egypt God delivered YOU from.

From what ever it was that held you captive like a slave, chained to

addiction,

despair of a bad love relationship

Bad financial habits,

Or what ever else that had you in bondage to this world.

God broke you out of there, just so you could kick dirt in his face, and push him off the throne of your life?

-Digress-

Its not salvation you have rejected, but Jesus over your life.

You see we all want a savior, but not all are will to accept a Lord.

So, Samuel did want the Lord told him and went to anoint the first King of Israel,

Thereby ending the period of the Judges in Israel.

Although prophets would guide the king until the time of Solomon, from this point on,

Israel would be governed, king, and not the Word of God.

You, all of you who sit here today,

I have a question before we go any further

When you leave here today, how will your life be governed?

By the king of this world?

Or by the King of Kings?

Because make no mistake,

You WILL serve somebody, the question, WHO?

In Israel’s case, they chose to have a worldly king, of flesh and blood.

So, God gave them Saul.

Saul was the tallest man in all of the tribes at the time.

So, naturally he was someone they thought they could look up to, And who would defend them from their enemies.

God had Saul anointed by Samuel, and the time of the Kings began.

The scripture tells us that King Saul didn’t take God’s commands seriously.

You see, he was king now,

He would decide for himself, how closely he would follow the Lord’s commands.

Three times he failed to complete the tasks expected of him.

God declares that Saul’s reign will not continue, and he has selected another man to be king,

The total reign of Saul is contested due to some confusion of the Hebrew text and translations.

But Paul tells us in the book of Acts that Saul reigned 40 years.

Regardless of how long he reigned, his kingdom and legacy would not continue.

His kingdom was stripped from him.

Brothers and Sisters, I have learned in life when you at one time trusted in the Lord, and built a little

empire, or a foundation upon which to build, but then later strayed away or stopped giving God His due,

He has no problem stripping you of your little empire, down to the last article.

I’ve been a witness to it multiple times.

God is serious,

As I’ve heard it said, He says what He means, and Means what He says.

- The Kingdom Perspective

Ae we enter into this new series called, The Monarchy, let me put the following books into perspective.

1 Samuel details the kingdom of Saul

2 Samuel details the kingdom of David,

great grandson of Boaz and Ruth.

A direct descendant of Judah, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, whose mother was Tamar, the daughter in law of Judah, who had twin sons, Perez and Zerah

David was the 10th generation from Perez son of Judah.

3. 1 Kings details the reign of Solomon, their civil war, and divided kingdoms.

4. 2 Kings details the divided kingdoms eventual exile from the land.

5. 1 & 2 Chronicles parallel the books of Kings but through the perspective of the southern kingdom of Judah.

After the death of Saul, David’s reign began which we will survey next time we meet.

- The Tribe of Judah

But before we do, I want to call your attention to the over arching theme we seem to be running into.

If you haven’t caught on to it yet, here it is,

It seems the Bible is going out of it’s way to detail the continuation of the blood line from Judah.

If we remember back in the story of Joseph, the story shifted abruptly to an event in Judah’s life.

In which his two eldest sons died, leaving his daughter in law Tamar without an honorable husband.

He promised her his youngest son when he was old enough, but then because he thought her to be bewitched,

he was never given.

She dressed as a prostitute, they have a fling, and she gets pregnant having twins, Perez and Zerah.

Then the bible takes us by the hand down through the line of Perez to Salmon

Salmon marries Rahab another prostitute in Jericho

Then again we find the scriptures tell us the story of Ruth, why?

To show us that Rahab and Salmon gave birth to Boaz who would become King David’s great grandfather.

Why is all this Judah blood line important?

Well, as I have said before, all the Bible was written for one purpose,

Not so that you may read it and become a good person, though it has that effect

Not so that you may find comfort from life’s travails, although it does have that effect

Not so you receive some prophetic word for your lives, though it does have that effect.

No!

I was written to show you Jesus was there since the beginning.

He was there in the garden of Eden, in the Word.

It was He that spoke into existence all that is and is upheld by the Word of His testimony

We are covering the major Characters of Scripture this year.

Because of that, we thought it prudent to begin this year on page one.

Together these last six months, we have traveled back in time visiting,

the creation,

the fall,

the flood

The table of nations

The calling of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

The Egyptian Slavery

The Exodus,

The Conquest of the Promised Land

The period of the Judges and Ruth,

We are entering the age of the Monarchy,

All the while following along the trail of the blood line of Judah,

Why?

Because, the promise of God to the Serpent in the garden, about the seed of Eve that would be born and crushing the serpents head,

Was fulfilled in the person of Jesus, who came from David, who came from Judah, who came from Shem, who came from Seth, who came from Adam, who came from God.

You see, when Jacob was dying, he called his sons to him and gave them prophecy of their lives.

Listen to what Jacob said to his son Judah

Genesis 49:8–10 (CSB)

8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. 9 Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the kill. He crouches; he lies down like a lion or a lioness—who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah or the staff from between his feet until he whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.

It is from the tribe of Judah that God’s promised crusher of the serpents head would come.

- Judah’s Promise

And Judah is like a young lion, and the Scepter will not depart from him.

Meaning his kingdom will never be removed from him.

In our walk through the major Characters of the Bible, we will eventually reach the end in the book of Revelation.

Now, I know that many of you have already told me you are eagerly awaiting to here the teachings of the Book of Revelation from this perspective.

As I said, we are going from the beginning to the end, and I’ve demonstrated to you that Jesus was the point of the story all along.

They say Jesus didn’t actually write a gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did.

But, Jesus did write a gospel, its called the Book of Revelation. He personally dictated it to the Apostle John.

And in that Book we understand why its so important to understand who Judah was.

John tells us in

Revelation 5:1–5 (CSB)

1 Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals. 2 I also saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look in it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or even to look in it. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Look, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

This is why it was important to follow the line of Judah.

In the coming weeks, we will explore the Lord’s promise from Jacob and how we’ll explore how well the scepter did in the books to come.

Baptism

Invitation

Brothers and sisters, don’t leave here today without certainty that Jesus is the king of your lives.

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Dismissal Prayer