A Heavenly Perspective
1 Samuel 13:14; 16:1-13
Turn to 1 Samuel 16.
“Then Yahweh said to Samuel, ‘How long will you be grieving over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I see among his sons a king for Me.’”
1 Sam 16:1 (LSB)
Imagine having 20/20 vision? And I am referring to 20/20 vision regarding insight into choices and looking into the future. Now in some ways knowing what lies ahead would take some of the joy and adventure out of life. I mean, it is a lot of the unknown that makes victory or success all that much better. When your sports team is down 3-1 in the third period, part of the joy of the comeback is the fact that we were not certain it would happen. Imagine having 20/20 vision regarding politics or financial decisions, where we would know beyond a shadow of a doubt what would be the best thing to do or what is the right thing to do. Although, speaking about the “right” thing is frowned upon a little today in our culture, where we are taught that each person can have their own opinion of what is right, and that one opinion is not better or above another.
We could talk about politics or raising children or whatever the hot topic of the day is and we might conclude, well, you see it this way and I see it that way. And there is some value in that as we all know people who we might describe as “opinionated,” those who speak as if they are the authority in everything they talk about. Now I will give my opinion on matters that I might know a little bit about. Yet on things I don’t know much about, I am pretty good at listening. And then there are things such as sports that I just like to give my opinion, knowing all along that I could be right or wrong, but I just like to ramble on.
However, in our culture today it is usually considered wrong to suggest that my point of view is superior to the view of someone else. Instead of truth versus lies or better versus worse, we have been taught to consider that someone else may just have a different perspective on a subject. And they both can be diabolically opposed, yet somehow, they can both be right. John Woodhouse said that the “mature, sophisticated, postmodern, tolerant approach to differences is to try to understand and appreciate other points of view and accept their validity.” And this comes into play today with religion and Christianity, as we are not really forbidden to believe in God and teach the Bible, but not at the expense of someone else’s faith in another religious believe. So, I suppose we might say that Jesus Christ is the way, but be careful that we would not say that He is the only way/
I am sure that many today would look at Christianity and not denounce it or condemn it but just consider it as a person’s point of view because of the way they were brought up, or that sometime in their life they were influenced by a Christian. But it is simply that, just a point of view. So, from a cultural standpoint, we might say that we all have different points of view. In other words, there is the perspective of humans. I may believe one thing, you may believe another thing, and someone in the culture may believe something else. But then there is the perspective of God, as I have entitled today’s message, A Heavenly Perspective.
Now admittedly, my personal perspective on matters is quite limited. If you asked me my opinion on something politically, socially, or financially, my perspective is going to be limited. Now I may know more about some things than others, but my opinion could never be described as 20/20. Why? Because I do not know everything about something, and I do not know the future. I suppose we could say we know that two plus two equals four, and we know certain things are wrong. We know that it is good to work hard and good to be responsible. But knowing that two plus two equals four, does not make us experts in say becoming the finance steward of Canada, or that by working hard, we would always know which job opportunity to take. In other words, I might have my perspective of what Canada should do financially and you might have yours. I might think that this job is better to take, and you might thing the other job would be better.
It is interesting in our study thus far in 1 Samuel, so much has been about the prophet Samuel and King Saul, and we know that when the people of Israel asked the Lord for a king, He gave them King Saul. And King Saul was God’s choice in the sense that God determines the end from the beginning. We know this from the Scriptures, as God said:
“For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My counsel will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.”
Isa 46:9b-10 (LSB)
So, God’s sovereign choice was to allow Israel to have a king. But then look at the end of verse 1, “for I see among his sons [Jesse’s sons] a king for Me.” In some of your Bibles, God says, “I will provide for Myself a king.” As what we are getting throughout 1 Samuel is an overwhelming emphasis that God is saying that Saul was your choice, and now I am going to make My choice. 1 Samuel 8:5, the people said, “now appoint a king for us.” That was Saul. 1 Samuel 8:18, God said to Israel that you will cry on that day “because of the king you have chosen.” That was Saul. 1 Samuel 8:22, God said the Samuel, “Listen to their voice and appoint them a king.” That was Saul. 1 Samuel 12:13, God said to the people, behold the king that you have chosen. That was Saul. 1 Samuel 12:25, God said to the people, “But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away.” That was Saul. So, I suppose we could say that this was the people’s choice from their perspective. They saw the advantages of having a king from the nations around them and their opinion was that it would be good for them to have a king.
But as we have said there have been hints all along that there was a better choice. Not from the perspective of the people of Israel, but from the perspective of God, where God says I am now going to make My choice. This becomes really apparent back in 1 Samuel 13 when Samuel said to Saul:
“But now your kingdom shall not endure. Yahweh has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as ruler over His people.”
1 Sam 13:14a (LSB)
And then the final straw came last week when Samuel said to Saul that God had rejected Saul as king and then Samuel said:
“Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you.”
1 Sam 15:28b (LSB)
Now it is important that we remind ourselves again that God does not view all this coldly, as the Scriptures tell us that God’s heart is grieved over this whole situation. And we also see God’s heart through God’s spokesperson, Samuel. As Samuel has his own perspective in all this. Yes, he speaks for God, but he is not aware of the future, nor does he have all knowledge like God does. And we do see a love and care from Samuel toward Saul. We saw in 1 Samuel 13 where Samuel told Saul, you have acted foolishly. And last week we saw where Samuel was angry because of all that had happened. 1 Samuel 12:23 Samuel even said that he would not cease to pray for Saul, and then he pled with Saul to fear Yahweh and serve Him. And then we notice in our passage this morning where the Lord says to Samuel (vs 1) how long will you be grieving over Saul? Samuel is a great prophet, as he loved Saul, and he loved the people of Israel, and he loved God.
And that is really a test for us in ministry. As some people are so invested in the ministry of a church, that their heart is grieved when others within the ministry are hurting, or when there is a serious issue that is occurring within the ministry. Some may tend to stand back a bit and give an opinion of the ministry, while others tend to be so much in the middle of it, that it effects their heart. And so, they are grieved when things are a struggle, and they rejoice when things go well.
So, in our story, the people had a point of view and desired a king, a king which the Lord gave to them, but which came with warning and the Scriptures are adamant that the king was the desire of the people. But God had a different perspective, as it was different from the human point of view. And we do not have God’s perspective as He does, as God over history will choose kings and rulers and Pharaoh’s that will work toward His purposes. And those purposes may not always be what we might choose. As in our elections today we might vote for a certain candidate, but God may be using someone else to bring a greater blessing or a greater judgment, as we do not know the mind of God, nor we do always know what God is doing. For we are limited, and God is not limited. We have limited experience, limited understanding, limited knowledge, but not with God.
So, in our postmodern culture, we could say there is a great exception to the thinking of our day. And that is that God’s point of view is not just another to consider, but that His point of view will be absolute and perfect. So, in that sense it would be silly on our part to not plead with God in matters and decisions and choices. To not discern from God His best for us and His desire for us. And we get a glimpse of this perfection in God’s perspective in the statement regarding David.
“But Yahweh said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.’”
1 Sam 16:7 (LSB)
And not that this is the only advantage that God has over us, but it is a major one, that God can see the heart of man and we cannot. In our Revelation series we saw in chapter one, where John spoke of the eyes of Christ as a flaming fire. Eyes, as in Hebrews 4:12, that He can pierce into the heart of man. John Woodhouse wrote:
“God’s point of view is determined by his own will and purpose. He sees according to his own intentions, his heart.”
John Woodhouse, Looking for a Leader 287
And we have here in our passage this statement by God, “for I see for Myself a king.” Imagine if we could get a glimpse of God’s perspective on the election in Canada or concerning the war in Israel or Ukraine. Lord, what is going to happen? That would be something to know, to know the future. But an even greater question would be to ask God this, Lord, why? Why is this candidate going to come to power? Why is the war going to result in this way? What is it that You are doing Lord? What is Your purpose? So, God is about to choose His king. And you know the story, Samuel goes to the family of Jesse and must select from his sons the new king. I did smile when I read:
“But Samuel said, ‘How can I go? Saul will hear of it and will kill me.’”
1 Sam 16:2a (LSB)
Not only is Samuel a little gun shy about going because of safety, but maybe he also thought, I don’t want to go through this again. We did this before with Saul, and it didn’t work out all that well. And then of course Samuel goes through the boys of Jesse and eventually lands at the most unlikely candidate, David. This takes us back to what God has said four chapters earlier, 1 Samuel 13, where God said that he would seek out for Himself a man after His own heart. This is David. Now this has been a troubling statement at times, for we all know some of the issues that David will go through in his life: his sin with Bathsheba; his murder of Uriah; and the Lord brings great chastisement to him for his pride in taking a census of the people. The Apostle Paul gives us a short commentary of this section of the OT and mentions the phrase, a man after God’s own heart.
“After these things He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And after He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, about whom He also said, bearing witness, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’”
Acts 13:20-22 (LSB)
Sometimes we will speak about someone today in ministry and say they are a man or woman after God’s own heart. Although we likely would not use that phrase of someone who committed adultery and murder. So, what is meant by this phrase, a man after God’s own heart. And the misunderstanding we may have with it is because we may be placing the emphasis here on David and not on God. This phrase means that David is a man after God’s own heart. In other words, we have seen the man chosen by the heart of the people, Saul; now we are going to see the man chosen by the heart of God, David. In other words, this is the man that the Lord has set His heart upon. Woodhouse writes:
“‘A man after God’s own heart’ is—if I could put it like this—talking about the place the man has in God’s heart rather than the place God has in the man’s heart.”
John Woodhouse, Looking for a Leader 287
See when God chose King David, it was not because David was some kind of a perfect believer. But what God was doing was choosing a man from the line of Judah, which was the tribe God had determined. This was god’s heart. He was choosing a man from the city of Bethlehem, (vs 4) Samuel came to Bethlehem, which was the city God had chosen. This was god’s heart. And He was choosing a man through whom He would extend His gracious and sovereign purposes for mankind in bringing to the world His Son Jesus Christ from the tribe of Judah and from the town of Bethlehem. This was God’s heart. See, this selection is much more about God’s grace and purposes, than it is about the quality of a man. Turn with me to 2 Samuel 7. Remember when David desired to build a temple for God and the Lord told him that his son Solomon would build the temple. And David responds by giving such honour and praise to the Lord for His great mercy toward him. And look what he says:
“Then David the king went in and sat before Yahweh, and he said, ‘Who am I, O Lord Yahweh, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in Your eyes, O Lord Yahweh, for You have spoken also of the house of Your slave concerning the distant future. And this is the law of man, O Lord Yahweh. And again what more can David say to You? And You know Your slave, O Lord Yahweh! For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your slave know. For this reason You are great, O Lord Yahweh; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You.”
2 Sam 7:18-22a (LSB)
One of the blessings of being your pastor is the time I can take studying God’s Word, and the fact that we love being at Elim Bible Chapel, as this passage has affected me more that any thus far in our study of 1 Samuel. I wish to leave you this morning with four lessons that somewhat build upon each other.
- David was better than Saul because David was God’s choice.
God had warned Saul that He had torn the kingdom from him and given it to someone better. Interesting that we certainly see a greater faith in David than we do in Saul. David sort of shines doesn’t he, as a man of faith. Now, from our perspective, if we made a chart this morning and listed the sins of David and the sins of Saul, we would likely give the nod to David as the better man. I have mentioned some of the serious shortcomings of David, but it would be hard to defend Saul. He disobeyed God by not destroying everything when fighting the Amalekites. Remember back a few lessons ago, he offered a sacrifice that he was not to offer. He will spend some time later on trying to kill David. Saul will order the murder of 85 priests. He even tried to have his son Jonathan killed. He will consult a witch for information. And he ended his life committing suicide. So, I suppose in that sense David was “better,” though we know that both men were sinners, and that David is no saint. And to say that David was “better” is sort of an odd thing to say only because he sinned less than Saul.
Yet, what this does is place such an emphasis on saving faith, as we also know what wrong David did in his lifetime, and therefore, his need of God’s mercy to him. The story seems to so much emphasize that David was God’s choice. Now it does mention his ruddy appearance and beautiful eyes, but those are not really to David’s credit, for this is how the Lord made him. And if we understand that this was more about the decision of God and God’s heart than it was about David, and that God purpose and intention to use David, explains why David was the better choice. So, we need to be careful about placing an emphasis on David, because then we might be tempted to believe ourselves that we were chosen by God for salvation because we were better, yet we were not, as our salvation is only due to the sovereign, gracious, choice of God. Samuel is told to go to Bethlehem to the house of Jesse and rummages through the boys to finally anoint this young lad for one reason, because the Lord willed this to be so. For David was the one for whom the Lord had set His [the Lord’s] heart upon.
- The importance of deciding matters based upon God’s choice rather that from our perspective.
Now we may look at this and say, Mark, I thought we will not know such things. And I would agree, we will not, as we know we are limited. But the Lord has placed within us His Spirit, so that, we are able to know better the mind of God. The Apostle Paul somewhat battled with this a little as he said:
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will direct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
1 Cor 2:16 (LSB)
Many of the things the culture struggles with, trying to give credence to many different points of view. We do not, for we have the Word of God and the Spirit of God. I feel for so many young people in our culture, for some of the ethical issues they will face, they will do so without any reference to God’s truth other than their own conscience. Young people here this morning, you have reference to God’s truth, because He has revealed it to you in His Word. But we know what God has said, and John wrote that the Spirit would convict us. So, true, we may not have supreme insight in many matters of finance or work. and not everything we must decide as Moms and Dads is also one hundred percent clear, but we do have the truth. We have a wealth of information through the Word of God and the Spirit of God to direct us in choosing well. And the importance here of our lives being characterized by people of prayer, that we would seek out the mind of God in all matters, faithfully praying about important issues in out lives. Which brings us to the next lesson:
- The more we know about God, the more we know His heart.
What I believe drove David to God through his struggles as king was that he knew that the Lord had given him his position. David knew God far greater than Saul knew God, because David was God’s choice. Woodhouse wrote that the “security of David’s throne [rested] on the solid foundation of God’s promises, not on David’s performance.” And you and I must know this. If the security of you salvation rests on your performance, your salvation is so fragile, because no amount of goodness will ever be good enough, no amount of sacrifice will ever be sacrifice enough. As the only life that will be acceptable before God in the end is the life of His Son Jesus Christ, God’s perfect king, who came through the line of David and who came from the town of Bethlehem. In fact, to ever convince yourself that quality will contribute to your salvation, displays before a perfect and holy God an incredible lack of humility. And flies in the face of all that Christ has done for you. And only when we understand the great mercy and grace in God choosing us, will we ever be mouldable to become more like His Son. In other words, we must know our true state, for us to become what God desires for us.
See, David was better than Saul because David was God’s choice. And therefore, the importance for us to make decisions based upon God’s choice. And to do that, to know His heart, we must know more about God. And this is not just a point of view, this is the truth given to us in God’s Word. Therefore, we can rest in this, bringing us to our final lesson:
- God’s sovereign rule is our security.
God’s sovereign purposes will come to pass. Because what God has said, God will do. And we know that in the end, God wins, and the enemies of God lose. Ahis is the whole message of the book of Revelation. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, that in the end He will win. We saw last Sunday night that in the end, ultimately everything will come together, and make sense, because right will prevail. And as life and history is like one big event with all its triumphs, loses, hurts, victories, hopes, and disappointments, but ultimately things work out according to God’s perfect plan and design. And God’s good and gracious purposes depend only on His will, so that there can be no room for human pride. The key I suppose is determined by what side we are on, as what side we are on has massive implications in the book of Revelation. And we looked at this verse written in Ecclesiastes:
“The end of the matter, all that has been heard: fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the end of the matter for all mankind. For God will bring every work to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”
Eccl 12:13-14 (LSB)
In the end, ultimately, everything will come together, and make sense, and our response is to acknowledge God and His amazing grace to us. And that is a heavenly perspective that we would have never known outside of God’s Word. So, in this sense, we have been given 20/20 vision. Though we do not know all the particulars, we know the end result, that God is sovereign, and He will do all that He has said. See, our security is not that we must know everything. But our security comes from knowing that God does, and that He will do all that He determines. Let’s pray. Lord, may we base our faith on the security of Your great sovereignty, and not on the frailty of our performance. May we humble ourselves before a God who created all things and who has a divine plan from the end to the beginning, that includes the salvation of sinners such as us. May our security in Your sovereign purposes, be the foundation of our faith. And all God’s people said, amen.