“And when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lord your God was your king. “Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired. And take note, the Lord has set a king over you.
Then Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” (1 Samuel 12:12-13,20-25)
In these tumultuous centuries of political and cultural depravity, it is not difficult to understand how mankind has arrived at this point of global darkness and insecurity. The masses continue to follow human leadership into the abyss of corruption and hegemony. In this day and age, the masses have sacrificed freedom and independence in preference for security and totalitarian authorities to tell us how to live and control all aspects of our lives. Yet, if you are a student of the Bible, you see this is no new thing. Ever since the days of Noah, people have continued to prefer the leadership of men versus the leadership of their Holy God.
One of the clearest examples is this story of Samuel who was God’s chosen high priest of the Jewish people for a time. Up until this time, God had worked through the patriarchs of the Jewish people to speak to and lead His chosen people. Starting with God’s covenant with Abraham and the ongoing leadership of Isaac and Jacob through countless generations of trying to steer God’s chosen people to follow God’s laws and principles, they never seemed to be able to stay on course as a people. For some reason, God chose a people whose hearts were as fickle as any ethnicity ever. God did tremendous miracles and demonstrated His might time after time for His chosen, only to have them continually “turn aside” to idols and gods of their conquerors. The people succumbed to any Jezebel or deviant lifestyle that came along through their enemies. Samuel was the last of the “judges” of Israel. Because all of their enemies had “kings” and “rulers” of earthly persuasion, the Israelis decided that they too wanted a “king” or government to rule over them in place of God and His prophets and judges…so God gave them what they wanted. The world is still paying the price for this choice.
God, through His servant Samuel, chose Saul of the smallest Jewish tribe to be the first “king” of Israel. It is ironic God chose Saul, but in some ways, it was befitting of human preferences. Saul was the tallest and most distinguished-looking of his tribe. The Benjamin tribe was the smallest and least distinguished, and that is how Saul stood out from the crowd. It seems to be a trait of God where He chooses the least to be the greatest at times, and while you would think such a person would be humble and grateful that God entrusts them with such power and leadership, in almost every case throughout history, such a leader becomes a despotic egotist who forgets the God they originally served. In addition, the people end up revering or following their human king instead of their God. Humanism had very early roots in this world and continues to run global politics ever since.
The key phrase in this lesson is “turning aside”. All people of the earth have “turned aside” from the truth of the historical God. Instead of measuring leadership by the Word of God, we choose the words of mortal men instead. Instead of asking God what we should do or how we should live, we simply pursue living by man’s laws and edicts. We now find our meaning in constitutions, monarchies, ethnicities, and institutional sectarianism. We define ourselves by race, class, parties, and religions. Most people have little sense of how God defines them.
I would suggest that from the time these people chose Saul as a king in preference to the leadership of God’s prophets and judges, we have basically seen one failed empire after another trying to “rule” mankind. This human rule has basically placed mankind on the brink of absolute destruction. The kings of today have their nuclear warheads aimed at each other from invisible silos around the globe. The kings of today battle for turf, manipulate one group of people against another to maintain power, and everything at the end of the day is about controlling money. These things haven’t changed in thousands of years. The wisdom of man is folly to the Lord.
So basically, because of our fallen nature and choices over thousands of years…we continue counting on kings and governments of men to rule over our lives. We MIGHT give God a position in our spiritual lives, but we have little trust in him to control the physical world. That is because a majority do not want true justice or equality under God. Man wants to rule man, and it is that egotistical despotism that rules the world through our body politic. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The Bible tells us that God laughs at the folly of nations and their leaders who don’t follow God’s ways:
Psalm 59:8 But You, O Lord, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.
Psalm 2:4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.
Psalm 37:13 The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming.
Obviously this is no laughing matter for those of us who understand and live under the rule of men. We are constantly working at surviving the false machinations of human leadership. The governments of man are perverse and corrupt. Large percentages of one’s wealth or productivity are taxed to support these corrupt, unGodly ways. Our taxes are used to make war on anyone our leaders want to take out. They are used to abort millions of babies every year. Our taxes line the pockets of secretive organizations and leaders worldwide who subvert truth and coverup misdeeds for decades. Yet, God laughs…
God has given man over to their depravities. He has a set plan that is fully in progress. He has promised to deliver those who are oppressed or forced into slavery to these systems. He has promised salvation and a New Kingdom that He is now preparing for us who believe. He tells us to be in but not OF this world and its systems. God continues to lead those who submit to His will and provides a way of escape even in the midst of persecutions or limitations of physical freedoms.
In Matthew 24 we have Jesus own words on signs and wonders before His new kingdom is established. We are seeing most all of those signs now and God will return at a time of His choosing…”when no one is expecting Him”. Even professing Christians today are questioning the return of Jesus to this earth…to their peril.
It never ceases to amaze me the pomp and circumstance we go through every time a leader or head of state passes away. This past week we observed the funeral of Prince Phillip of England who was almost 100 years old. The people revere these ruling families as if they were Godly people…or more likely gods of their own making. While we may marvel at the decades of change Prince Phillip saw in his lifetime, it is still nothing compared to the history of God’s universe. Just like anyone else, the Prince will one day stand before an Almighty God to account for what he did in this life. I will be curious to see if there is a special judgement for the kings and presidents of our earthly kingdoms. Imagine a judgment specifically for the likes of King Saul, David, Solomon on through to the great emporers such as the Caesars of Rome to the Ming dynasty or all the combined presidents of the USA. What an interesting judgment day that will be. There is much to be accounted for.
One of the greatest benefits of returning to faith in Christ is that I no longer sweat or fear the governments or machinations of men. They can only affect us in the physical world, but they cannot control our spirits or take away the treasures we are storing on high. We live for and focus on those things that dust and moth cannot corrupt. Our joy and peace is not based on political agreements or brokered peace of men that never last. There will never be the “social justice” that today’s society clamors for. There will never be world peace until the Prince of Peace returns to establish true law and order. May we not “turn aside” from that coming reality.
To that end, we continue praying “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.