O God, do not keep silence. Do not hold Your peace or be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make an uproar. Those who hate You have raised their heads. They lay crafty plans against Your people. They consult against Your treasured ones. (Verses 1-3)
Samuel, the prophet of God, was aging and his sons showed no promise as prophets to replace their father. The Israelites were tired of the uncertainty of trusting in God day-to-day. They wanted a king like other nations had. Of course, they weren't like other nations. The Lord God had been their king - the sovereign over their political and private lives. Samuel was offended, not only for himself, but for his God. When the prophet spoke to the Lord concerning the nation's request, God's response was: "Obey the voice of the people in all they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you." I Samuel 8.
The God Who led His people out of bondage was always too hard to follow. Too capricious. Every day the people had to look to Him for everything. A king would make things so much easier. There would be this place to go to - this person to bow before - in real time. Besides, they were tired of being the only nation without a sovereign. It is clear why this hurt the heart of God. He was not good enough. So He chose a tall handsome man. Samuel anointed Saul as king. And there were kings for a while. But it was never God's best. And He was always king over the kings. Israel paid a price for this desire, though. The Lord told them the consequences of having an earthly ruler: Your children will go to war, conscripted into the army. You will be taken to plow his grounds and build his weapons. Your daughters will work in his perfumeries and bakeries (virtual slaves). The king will take the best of your fields from you and give them to his own servants. He will take the best of everything you have and a tenth of all your crops. You shall be his slaves. "And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day." (I Samuel 8)
I couldn't help but think of this scenario during Easter this year. The plea in this psalm is for God to be a king. To come against armies that come up against us, His treasured ones, for we are now His chosen people along with Israel. Just as nations plot against Israel even today, hating them and wanting their demise as a nation, so we are prey for the enemy of our souls. The Jews interpreted Scripture to believe Messiah would come as an earthly king. Set up a kingdom and rule them. The King of the Jews.
"Are you the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked.
"My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from the world," Jesus replied.
Jesus was beaten almost beyond recognition as a man, made to carry His own cross to Golgotha, then brutally crucified beneath a sign that read: The King of the Jews. Seemingly powerless. Dying in shame. Bereft of all his friends except John. Jesus couldn't be Messiah. No king there. And though the sky turned black in the middle of the day, the earth shook with the violence of man's rejection of their king once more, and the veil of the temple tore miraculously in two, the ones who should have recognized Him most, understood Him least. But God could not be silent. Nor still. The body of Jesus lay in the tomb for one quiet day while all who followed the Rabbi mourned not only His physical death, but also the death of their dreams for His kingship. Sitting to His right and left. Wielding power, crushing Rome. Desperation and disappointment for those who thought Jesus to be Messiah. Justification and righteousness for those who knew He couldn't possibly be. He was no king.
But God...never wanted an earthly king, you know. Messiah's death became the death of that dream. For God doesn't rule over mere men, but over everything. The kingdom of earth is too small a thing for the one Who conceived it and created it to be the exclusive master of. The triune God is sovereign. Even over death. For the tomb on Sunday morning was emptied of its contents. Jesus got Himself up and went back to the Father to sit at His right side, ruling and reigning forever. Fully in charge of future events. The Lamb now King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The title written on His thigh and on His robe. Certainly the Lamb's kingdom was not of this world. It would've played out like all earthly wars, with His band of zealots fighting a physical fight. But Jesus knew, our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6) This battle takes a different kind of king. One Who sees past the illusions of power on this earth and understands the real enemy whose desire it is to rob, kill and destroy us (John 10). Someone Who knows the beginning and the end of all things, not just the things with which I struggle right now.
Little kings set up their realms and would lord over us, taking what is rightfully ours and using it for themselves. Principalities and powers as well as rulers of this present darkness. God has not sat silently by nor kept still. He has set His foot on planet earth to show us what the kingdom of God is like. It transcends mere pomp and circumstance, outlasts the human aging of a mortal. The kingdom not of this world - as it is in heaven - is ruled and willed by the King of Kings. Our God at last establishing on earth the kingdom about which He dreamed. Telling those who belong to Him to die to the hopes of a puny earthly king in order to embrace the risen Lord of Lords. All hail, King Jesus!
Samuel, the prophet of God, was aging and his sons showed no promise as prophets to replace their father. The Israelites were tired of the uncertainty of trusting in God day-to-day. They wanted a king like other nations had. Of course, they weren't like other nations. The Lord God had been their king - the sovereign over their political and private lives. Samuel was offended, not only for himself, but for his God. When the prophet spoke to the Lord concerning the nation's request, God's response was: "Obey the voice of the people in all they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you." I Samuel 8.
The God Who led His people out of bondage was always too hard to follow. Too capricious. Every day the people had to look to Him for everything. A king would make things so much easier. There would be this place to go to - this person to bow before - in real time. Besides, they were tired of being the only nation without a sovereign. It is clear why this hurt the heart of God. He was not good enough. So He chose a tall handsome man. Samuel anointed Saul as king. And there were kings for a while. But it was never God's best. And He was always king over the kings. Israel paid a price for this desire, though. The Lord told them the consequences of having an earthly ruler: Your children will go to war, conscripted into the army. You will be taken to plow his grounds and build his weapons. Your daughters will work in his perfumeries and bakeries (virtual slaves). The king will take the best of your fields from you and give them to his own servants. He will take the best of everything you have and a tenth of all your crops. You shall be his slaves. "And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day." (I Samuel 8)
I couldn't help but think of this scenario during Easter this year. The plea in this psalm is for God to be a king. To come against armies that come up against us, His treasured ones, for we are now His chosen people along with Israel. Just as nations plot against Israel even today, hating them and wanting their demise as a nation, so we are prey for the enemy of our souls. The Jews interpreted Scripture to believe Messiah would come as an earthly king. Set up a kingdom and rule them. The King of the Jews.
"Are you the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked.
"My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from the world," Jesus replied.
Jesus was beaten almost beyond recognition as a man, made to carry His own cross to Golgotha, then brutally crucified beneath a sign that read: The King of the Jews. Seemingly powerless. Dying in shame. Bereft of all his friends except John. Jesus couldn't be Messiah. No king there. And though the sky turned black in the middle of the day, the earth shook with the violence of man's rejection of their king once more, and the veil of the temple tore miraculously in two, the ones who should have recognized Him most, understood Him least. But God could not be silent. Nor still. The body of Jesus lay in the tomb for one quiet day while all who followed the Rabbi mourned not only His physical death, but also the death of their dreams for His kingship. Sitting to His right and left. Wielding power, crushing Rome. Desperation and disappointment for those who thought Jesus to be Messiah. Justification and righteousness for those who knew He couldn't possibly be. He was no king.
But God...never wanted an earthly king, you know. Messiah's death became the death of that dream. For God doesn't rule over mere men, but over everything. The kingdom of earth is too small a thing for the one Who conceived it and created it to be the exclusive master of. The triune God is sovereign. Even over death. For the tomb on Sunday morning was emptied of its contents. Jesus got Himself up and went back to the Father to sit at His right side, ruling and reigning forever. Fully in charge of future events. The Lamb now King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The title written on His thigh and on His robe. Certainly the Lamb's kingdom was not of this world. It would've played out like all earthly wars, with His band of zealots fighting a physical fight. But Jesus knew, our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6) This battle takes a different kind of king. One Who sees past the illusions of power on this earth and understands the real enemy whose desire it is to rob, kill and destroy us (John 10). Someone Who knows the beginning and the end of all things, not just the things with which I struggle right now.
Little kings set up their realms and would lord over us, taking what is rightfully ours and using it for themselves. Principalities and powers as well as rulers of this present darkness. God has not sat silently by nor kept still. He has set His foot on planet earth to show us what the kingdom of God is like. It transcends mere pomp and circumstance, outlasts the human aging of a mortal. The kingdom not of this world - as it is in heaven - is ruled and willed by the King of Kings. Our God at last establishing on earth the kingdom about which He dreamed. Telling those who belong to Him to die to the hopes of a puny earthly king in order to embrace the risen Lord of Lords. All hail, King Jesus!
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