We are getting ready for the birth of Jesus Christ. The coming of Jesus Christ was anticipated for a very long time. God promised King David that the messiah would be born from his family tree. I’d like to take a little time to tell you a story how the lives of Hannah, Eli, Samuel, and Saul were twisted like a grapevine in the life of David.
Last week, we learned about giving our best to God by visiting with Hannah. Today, we are learning about God giving a promise or covenant to his people. Hannah gave her son, Samuel, to God before he was even born. God answered Hannah’s prayer that Samuel would be a man of God. People’s lives are intertwined with other people of faith and with God. Samuel’s life is part of the story of David. Hannah believed her son would be a man of God. Her son grew up having faith. Hannah spoke with faith and God answered.
Samuel learned to listen to the voice of God in the middle of the night. God kept calling Samuel, but Samuel thought that it was the Priest Eli calling from inside the temple. Eli told Samuel to listen for God and to answer God when he called. Samuel finally answered God after the third time God was taking to Samuel.
In 1 Samuel 3:10 “The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” Samuel’s story as a young boy teaches us about listening for God’s voice in our lives. God speaks to us. We can learn to recognize God’s voice. It took Samuel three times that night to recognize God’s voice. How many times has God called to us and we haven’t recognized his voice?
Samuel was blessed to see history unfold before his eyes. Samuel had the faith to believe that God would come to the aid of the Israelites when they were threatened by the Philistines. Samuel delivered the Israelites from the hands of the Philistines before the boy David ever did. Hannah’s son, Samuel, listened to God. Samuel was able to tell a nation what God said to him. Samuel was able to protect the nation from outside attacks because he believed in God’s protection and favor.
Samuel was an old man when the Israelites begged for a king to lead them. He learned from God that kings were not as good as just following God. Samuel knew that the nation would have many kings.
Some of the kings would be good and other kings would be evil when they ruled over Israel. Samuel would anoint the first two kings of Israel. The first king of Israel was Saul. In 1 Samuel 10:1 “Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured in on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you leader over his inheritance?”
Saul was king for forty-two years, but King Saul disobeyed God. The power and money of being king corrupted Saul. In 1 Samuel 13:13-14, Samuel told King Saul, “You acted foolishly. You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you, if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
King Saul was evil. God decided to look inside of the next king’s heart to find the right king to rule after Saul. God told Samuel that one of Jesse’s sons would be king in place of Saul. Jesse had many sons.
Samuel initially thought that one of Jesse’s older sons named Eliab would be king, but God told Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7 “Do not consider Eliab’s appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
David was chosen to be the king of Israel, not because he was the tallest, strongest, or the smartest. David was chosen because God looked into David’s heart and God saw a heart like God’s own. In 1 Samuel 16:12-13 it says “Then the Lord said, Rise and anoint him; he is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.”
We know the story of David and Goliath. It is a great story to learn as a child. I love the words that David said to Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:45 “David said to Goliath, the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled.”
God choose David because the boy David had a good heart. David also had the wisdom at a young age to fight a giant in the name of the Lord Almighty. David was a teenager when he had the faith to totally trust God to fight Goliath the philistine. David was a mighty warrior in battle as he grew older because he fought in God’s name. David was very loyal to King Saul, but King Saul became jealous of David when David had great victories against their enemies.
King David had a very close relationship with God. David was the second king of the Jewish people. David committed adultery with Bathsheba. David was lectured by the prophet Nathan when he strayed from God and sinned. David learned from his mistakes and returned back to God. David made mistakes and sinned during his lifetime, but he always repented and came back to God. We also make mistakes and sin. We just need to ask God for forgiveness.
The story of King David is a special one because of his faith, his relationship with God, and a promise that God made to David. God made a promise or a covenant to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-14. It says “When you days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.” Verse 16 says “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me your throne will be established forever.”
The Lord promised David that Jesus Christ would be born from David’s own family tree. God told David that God would be the father of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ would be his son. God promised that Jesus would come from David’s offspring. God also promised that Jesus would reign forever.
The scripture from 2 Samuel 23 lets us hear King David’s last speech before he died. David learned a lot about God during his lifetime. What do you think he would say in his speech? He had a lot of wisdom from a lifetime of knowing God. Where would he start? David decided to start his last speech by explaining who he was. David explained in 2 Samuel 23:1 that his dad was Jesse. “These are the last words of David: The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man exalted by the Most High, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, Israel's singer of songs.”
This first verse explains that David could really sing. David wrote a lot of the Psalms that we sing even today. David wrote Psalms when he was close to God and even when he wanted to get closer to God.
He said that he was exalted by God and that he was anointed by God to rule the Jewish people. Anointing is receiving the power of the Holy Spirit to do things that we can’t do without God’s help. David’s life was blessed with God at the center of his life. He also said that he was an oracle. The definition of oracle is a person who delivers authoritative, wise, or highly regarded and influential speeches or revelations.
Verse 2 of 2 Samuel 23 explained that God was speaking through King David. It was David standing in front of the people, but it was God speaking through King David. It was his tongue, but the words being spoken were straight from God. David explained the gift of preaching when we are willing vessels of the Holy Spirit. David also explained the gift when God uses him even when he knew that it was time for him to die.
It is easy miss the meaning of what was happening when we read 2 Samuel 23:2. "The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue.” David was willing to serve God when he was very young. Now, David was ending his life and he willing to serve God with his last breath on this earth.
I’ve been blessed to experience God speaking through me when I preach. My voice gets stronger. I become bolder when the Holy Spirit fills me. It is such a joy when I am emptied and the Holy Spirit fills me and uses me. I’m just the willing vessel. I feel like God is going to lift me off of the ground as I speak. It is our body and our voice, but it God’s words coming out of our mouth.
In the next verse, the scripture tells us that God is speaking now through David. 2 Samuel 23:3-5: “3 The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: 'When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, 4 he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth.' 5 "Is not my house right with God? Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant, arranged and secured in every part? Will he not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire?”
God and David are describing how a ruler who is right with God feels like the first rays of light at sunrise or the bright light of sunshine after a hard rain. If a nation follows God, God will bless that nation. The righteous ruler will bring people to God, but the evil ruler will destroy the people he is supposed to lead and protect.
That is the point starting with verse 6: “But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns, which are not gathered with the hand. 7 Whoever touches thorns uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear; they are burned up where they lie."
The evil ruler is like blackberry bushes which need to be cut down with an axe and thrown in the fire. The fire burns the weeds and thorns that are not wanted in God’s garden. These verses remind me of John 15 that describes Jesus as our gardener and we are the vine if we stay connected to Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us in John 15:1 says “I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener.”
People tell me that the Old Testament is boring and hard to read. The Old Testament tells wonderful stories about people just like us. These stories give us hope. Hannah prayed. God answered her prayer with a son. Hannah believed her son would have faith. Her son had faith. Her son, Samuel, learned to listen out for God. Samuel led a nation back to God. Samuel fought to protect that nation in the name of God. Samuel was there when the nation decided that they needed a king. Samuel anointed King Saul and later the boy David who became king after Saul.
David was able to do the impossible when he stood up to fight Goliath. Grown men were afraid to stand up and fight the giant. Little David was willing to fight for his nation because he knew that God was with him. David also knew that if God makes us a promise that God will keep that promise. God promised David that the messiah would be born from the house of David. God would have probably honored Saul if Saul had a faithful heart. Instead, it was David’s family who would raise the son of God.
David used his last speech to remind us that we should believe God when God promises us Jesus Christ. David believed God’s promise. We also should believe God’s promise. God didn’t just give Jesus Christ to King David. God gave Jesus Christ to us. Now, we know that an old woman had the faith to pray for a son who became a powerful spiritual influence on a future King named David. King David could sing God’s praise, have faith, lead a nation, and believe that God would deliver on his promises.
God hasn’t changed. God does deliver on his promises yesterday, today, and forever. God said in Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." We have one month to anticipate the birth of Jesus Christ. David had generations of his offspring to wait. Let us remember God’s promise to King David and to us over the next month. God promised us Jesus Christ. God is going to give us a wonderful gift this year on Christmas Day. Get ready! Jesus is coming! Amen!
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