The Lord's Glory and Man's Dignity

In chapters four through six we are introduced to one of Israel’s most prominent antagonists: the Philistines. Not much is known about the Philistines throughout history. Some people think that they were the great sea people’s that we see in history as an early opponent to the Roman republic and Grecian peoples during this early period. Nobody really knows where they came from. Some suspect the north western region of Europe but who can say for sure. What we do know about the Philistines is that they were a idolatrous and pagan people group that heavily opposed Israel. We see this first conflict between the two nations when Israel very proudly marches the Ark of the Covenant into battle. This Ark was not a boat but was a very important aspect for Israel’s worship. It resided within the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and contained some very important Jewish artifacts including the ten commandments. So Israel brings this out to battle which wasn’t uncommon. But rather than humbly looking to the Lord for victory in battle the Israelites looked to the Ark as if it were their mascot. Because of their pride in battle the Israelites were whooped and the ark was taken back to the camp of the Philistines.

Key Theme: God opposes the proud but He exalts the humble

The Philistines take the Ark to their camp and put it with the engraven images of their gods that they worship. When Eli heard that the Ark was stolen but also that his two sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed in battle he fell out of his chair and died leaving Samuel the sole judge of Israel. So the Philistines have the Ark of the Covenant in their place of worship. The statue of Dagon, that the people worshiped, his head fell off and fell face first before the Ark. The Philistines stacked him back up and the next day his hands and head fell off towards the Ark. More than that the Lord caused a plague to break out among the Philistines. After seven months the Philistines gathered their religious leaders together and in a desperate attempt to help their people they put the Ark of God on a cart slapped the cows on the rears to get them to steppin’ and sent the Ark back to Israel out of fear of what God would do to their people.

Twenty years passed and the Philistines continued to war against Israel. Idolatry had become common place among the people but they came together and appealed to Samuel to pray on their behalf that God might intervene with the Philistines. Samuel charged the people to destroy their idols and come together so that Samuel could pray on their behalf. Then as Israel went to battle against the Philistines the Lord thundered loudly against them and caused the Philistines to become confused allowing the Israelites to have victory over them.

This story really sets the tone for what we are going to be talking about tonight. Our God is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is holy and sovereign over every nation. He has called us to humbly follow Him and trust in Him as our defender and protector.

Can we trust God?

This question is the most important question we could ever answer. It means the difference between eternity with Him in heaven and eternity separated from Him in hell.

Can we trust that the His story is true?

Historical evidence to the death and resurrection

When we approach the question, “Is Jesus the Son of God?” we have to realize that Jesus is one of three things. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. If Jesus is not the Son of God he is a liar and a con man. Jesus claimed several times to be God. He also performed several miracles to prove He is God. If He is not then He has deceived billions of people. It would mean that none of our sins are paid for. It would mean we have no hope for eternity. It would be the biggest con in the history of the world.

If Jesus is not the Son of God He is a lunatic. What kind of person walks around claiming to be God if Hes not. If you met a guy walking down the street and started telling you he was God and that he can raise people from the dead and existed in the beginning and created everything, you’d say, “Hey, that guy is crazy.”

When we look at the evidence we are left with only one conclusion. Jesus is who He said He was.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” -C.S. Lewis

Eye witness testimony of the disciples

Were they really there?

Yes. The men that wrote the Gospels either walked personally with Jesus or were closely associated with someone who did.

Matthew and John walked with Jesus

Mark was a close friend of Peter and likely used Peter as the source for his Gospel

Luke gathered information from a variety of sources for his account that he sent to Theophilus and was closely associated to the Apostle Paul, who although he did not walk with Jesus, was witness to the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus.

Can they be verified?

Yes. After the resurrection there were over 500 eye witnesses to the resurrected Christ. More than that there were people who knew Jesus and walked with Jesus. If Luke or John had made something up about Jesus there would have been hundreds of people who would have known that to be untrue and would have called the writer out on it. The time between the last book of the new testament written and the events of Jesus are only 60 years max. Some think it was even less due to the fact that none of the New Testament authors mention the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, an event that Jesus predicted in the Gospels. We know that John wrote the last book of the Bible and that he died during the reign of Domitian which would have put his death with in the first century around 90 AD. Jesus died and was resurrected around 30 AD, which means that every book of the New Testament was written within 60 years and would have been corroborated by eye witness testimony.

Have they changed their story?

Did the Gospels change the historical events depicted within them? It would be as if someone today wrote a book about 9/11 or the first Star Wars movie. How do we know its true? Well because they saw it. How do we know that the story of Star Wars hasn’t changed since its initial release? Because there are people who were there who saw it in theaters. Sure the graphics may have been updated but that doesn’t change what Star Wars is. It is still the same movie.

After the Gospels were written their is something called a chain of evidence we can follow from the time they were written to the major church councils where they formally established the New Testament Cannon. Through those couple hundred years we know that the contents of the New Testament books were not changed or altered. Things like the miracles were not added in later but were descriptions of the historical event that actually took place.

Do they possess a bias?

These men gained nothing from their testimony and have no reason to lie about what they saw.

Not power

Not status

Not wealth

What did they gain from their testimony?

poverty

persecution

death

Even the way the men depict themselves in the Gospels lends itself to the accuracy of their accounts. These men didn’t make themselves look intelligent by any means. Time after time the disciples are seen as confused, misunderstanding Jesus mission, and as cowards.

Can we trust that His sacrifice is sufficient? Did Jesus’ death really pay for sin?

I would like to preface that if Jesus’ death and resurrection did not pay for every sin we are without hope. If His sacrifice was not sufficient it would mean two things

Jesus was not a perfect and sinless sacrifice

We know this isn’t true. God cannot sin it is against his nature. Yes Jesus was fully man and had the weaknesses of man but He was also fully God. He fulfilled the letter of the Law flawlessly. We see even the Father attest to Christ’s sinlessness in His baptism.

some sins are stronger than God’s ability to forgive

We know that this isn’t true either. In His death and resurrection Jesus has conquered sin and death. All authority has been given to Him. There is nothing stronger than Him. For a sin to be too large would mean that God was not the ultimate power in the universe. God has power to forgive sins and He allows us to come to Him in faith, poor in Spirit, and cast ourselves at the foot of the cross. He doesn’t force His grace on us but instead offers it as a free gift

Can we trust that He knows what is best for us?

If Jesus really is who He said He was and if His death and resurrection really paid for all our sins we can trust Him with not just our everyday lives but our eternity as well. He has gone to great lengths to prove Himself faithful and trustworthy. More than that He works all things for our good because God’s glory is our good. If it brings Him honor and praise than we can trust that it is what is best for our lives. If anyone knows what is best for us it is God. He knows more about us than we do.

So if we can trust God for all these reasons, because He has revealed Himself to us and shown us who He really is, the King of kings, because He has given us victory over our enemies, because He rules over us and leads for His glory and our good...

Why do we want to be like the nations?

This question is one that Israel struggled greatly with.

There came a day when Samuel was old that the people of Israel wanted to be like other nations having a king. It was not enough for them the God was their king. They wanted to look and feel like other nations. So the people went to Samuel and asked for a king. Samuel was disturbed by this. Why would the people pose such a request? So Samuel goes to the Lord with the request and the Lord says this

1 Samuel 8:7–22 CSB

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.” 10 Samuel told all the Lord’s words to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “These are the rights of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and put them to his use in his chariots, on his horses, or running in front of his chariots. 12 He can appoint them for his use as commanders of thousands or commanders of fifties, to plow his ground and reap his harvest, or to make his weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots. 13 He can take your daughters to become perfumers, cooks, and bakers. 14 He can take your best fields, vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He can take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and give them to his officials and servants. 16 He can take your male servants, your female servants, your best cattle, and your donkeys and use them for his work. 17 He can take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves can become his servants. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you’ve chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won’t answer you on that day.” 19 The people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. 20 Then we’ll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.” 21 Samuel listened to all the people’s words and then repeated them to the Lord. 22 “Listen to them,” the Lord told Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.” Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Each of you, go back to your city.”

One day there was a Benjaminite named Saul who went in search of some donkeys. When he and his servant searched and found nothing they decided to go to Samuel for assistance since he was a man of God. Now Benjamin was the smallest tribe in all of Israel. So Saul goes into the city in search of Samuel and when he finds him Samuel anoints him as king over Israel. The Lord had told Samuel the day before that he would send someone to meet him at that time of day and that he would be from the tribe of Benjamin. Samuel anointed Saul and sent him back to his family. He told him that along the way we would be transformed, his heart would be changed, and he would be equipped to lead God’s people.

God’s majesty

Psalm 8:1–2 CSB

1 Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with your majesty. 2 From the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you have established a stronghold on account of your adversaries in order to silence the enemy and the avenger.

God is incomprehensible in His attributes yet He uses the humble to silence the proud

Let the Children Come to Me (Matthew 21)

Saul from the smallest tribe exalted to king of Israel

Psalm 8:3–5 CSB

3 When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place, 4 what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him? 5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor.

God is high and exalted yet He cares for us

Psalm 8:4–9 CSB

4 what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him? 5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild, 8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!

God is sovereign over all yet He delegates His authority

God cares for us and has entrusted us with a great responsibility

God equipped Saul and changed his heart. When He calls us to His mission He does the same

Hebrews 2:6–11 CSB

6 But someone somewhere has testified: What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you care for him? 7 You made him lower than the angels for a short time; you crowned him with glory and honor 8 and subjected everything under his feet. For in subjecting everything to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. As it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him. 9 But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death. 10 For in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God—for whom and through whom all things exist—should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,

God is Holy yet He has offered forgiveness through His Son

All things in subjugation to Christ (Saul [a human and a king] the picture of Jesus [fully God, fully Man, yet king of all]

Closing questions

Have you been trying to live as the nations?

Have you trusted Jesus as your king?

Have you accepted your place and role in God’s Kingdom?