Why, today, are we not reigning in the church life? What keeps us from entering into the reality of the kingship, and from living out this victorious and reigning kingdom life among us today? The church life today is all about the birthright, and the birthright is given to those through whom God can move the dispensation. The book of Samuel is at the transition from the fallen priesthood to the kingship at a moment of dispensational change. In this book and at such a critical turning point, we see not only the raising up of Samuel as a priest, prophet, and judge, but also the failure of Saul; in this book, we see a battle against the flesh, and how even those with a promising beginning in the Lord, through the rejecting of the Word of the Lord and the preservation of the flesh, can be rejected by God, losing the birthright and the reigning kingship. Today, at the threshold of an era to come, the reigning, powerful church life requires each one of us to be judged so that we can claim the birthright as our inheritance to enter into the kingdom.
The birthright & the word of God
From the creation of man until today, God has desired His firstborn sonship, the one to whom the double portion is given — both the earthen and heavenly inheritance, the priesthood and the kingship. The book of Samuel opens with Hannah desiring a son, too; as the favored wife of her husband, she was given a double portion during their yearly sacrifices to Jehovah. And she prayed for a son, and gave him to Jehovah to serve Him. We know that Samuel would be raised up to be a powerful priest, prophet, and judge. But how was a person like Samuel able to come into a significant position to be used by God to turn the age?
Samuel had a lowly beginning: born out of the mercy of the Lord and given into the priestly service by the Nazarite vow, his life and his serving were completely by the Lord’s hand, nothing to do with his genealogy, background, or estate. This process was not even just a result of Hannah’s seeming piety or vow to Jehovah; actually, in some ways, Hannah was simply a wife and mother like many other women in the Bible, fighting for a son. Yet this process was specifically ordered and executed by God for His administration at the turning of the age from a fallen priesthood to the kingship. The birthright includes this kingship — this reigning, powerful condition that allowed Samuel to be used by the Lord at such a crucial turning point. He was not born with the birthright, and yet he was brought in through a “side door.” Most of all, Samuel respected the word of Jehovah and thus had a definite power in his serving. This obedience to God’s words, being led by the works of His hand, makes Samuel an important figure in moving the dispensational age forward in God’s economical plan.
First Samuel, therefore, gives a new understanding of how the word of God is incarnated in us in the present church life — in the reigning, overcoming church life to turn the age. When we say “the word” of the Lord, we don’t just mean reading or memorizing the Bible, or even doing spiritual activities, like fellowshipping or prayer. All of these things are only useful when they find their source and substance in reality — in the Word that became flesh. This Word is the One that reigns, is eminent among us, and is leading us in our lives day by day. Who is the eminent One among ourselves? Who is our leading part, our substance and our reality? It is the One who made this Word as the foundation of everything — who is this very Word. It is the explosive, creating power of “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). That is the eminent Word on which the church life is built. The Word of the Lord defines the attributes and the nature of our serving. Serving is not by our credentials or good speaking. It depends not on our choosing, our virtues, or our effort, but on whether the word is incarnated to us, in us, aligning and defining us — as it was to Samuel, bringing him into a unique position not only to prophesy, serve, and anoint kings, but also to judge through the word of God. By His words, under God’s sovereignty and mercy, Samuel entered into full function and reality to reign, to hear, to obey, and to execute God’s judgment according to the Word of God and carry out the administration of His works.
First Samuel, however, not only shows us the positive picture of Samuel, but also gives us a very clear contrast through Saul’s life. Samuel had a lowly beginning, but was raised up as a powerful servant of God. Saul, on the other hand, had a glorious beginning, chosen and anointed by God through Samuel to be king over God’s chosen people, Israel. And yet we know that Saul’s life had a tragic ending, even as someone who was favored by God and given a position to reign. He was ordained to be king, and enjoyed all the privileges of the kingship. And yet through even seemingly small deviations, Saul violated that privilege; his actions were critical and fatal by nature because they violated this very specific administration that God is executing for His will. Ultimately, he was rejected by God from the kingship (1 Sam. 15:26). What a warning to us!
The church is the manifestation of the Word, where the Word becomes flesh and tabernacles among us. With this reality, we should be firm, powerful, and reigning in the truth. Just like Saul, we all began in a very promising way. We all were given this glorious, reigning position. And yet it is the subtle deviations, even the seemingly good “sacrifices” and speakings, that cause us to be rejected. We see that Saul did not make grand, showy, outward rebellions. In fact, every move he made had a very reasonable and logical explanation. But Saul was not innocent. In every subtle move, we see an intention — a defiance — in him, which ultimately challenged God’s administration. Saul was a man who was very promising, but who, unlike Samuel, rejected the Lord’s words, displaying the flesh, which has no place in God’s kingdom. No matter how glorious our beginning, if we violate the Lord’s word — His administration and economy — we can lose the birthright.
Bleating and lowing
But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatlings, and the lambs and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; but everything that was despised and worthless, this they utterly destroyed. (15:9)
What did Saul do that caused God to reject him? Under His administration, God had sent Samuel to Saul, and anointed Saul to reign over Israel. As His anointed one, Saul had the position to represent God’s divine authority on the earth. The first thing Samuel charged Saul to do was to “listen to the voice of the words of Jehovah” (15:1). In this, God’s command was to utterly destroy the Amalekites, and He specifically spoke to Saul to “not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, oxen and sheep, camel and donkey” (15:2-3). Saul, however, spared the best part of Amalekites: Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and the best of the sheep and oxen. From man’s perspective, we might think “What is wrong with this?” Perhaps Saul’s reasoning seems logical or righteous, or even smart. But from God’s perspective, this transgression was a very serious, unforgivable matter. The Amalekites represent the flesh; they were occupants on the good land but were altogether against God’s administration. God’s verdict on them was made clear to Saul, but something in him — idolatry, self-worship, desire, arrogance — caused him to spare the best of the flesh. God absolutely cannot stand anything in nature against His own plan — the rejecting of His word. Indeed, immediately after Saul spared the Amalekites, Jehovah told Samuel that He repented that He made Saul king (15:11).
But Saul’s exposure did not end there:
Then Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, saying, Saul went to Carmel and has now set up a monument for himself, and he has returned and passed on down to Gilgal. / And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of Jehovah! I have fulfilled the word of Jehovah. / And Samuel said, What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen that I hear? (15:12-14)
Samuel, God’s powerful servant and living judgment, went to Saul with a burden — to expose Saul’s true condition. Before Samuel could even speak, Saul spoke beautifully but deceitfully, boasting of his success: “I have fulfilled the word of Jehovah.” Not only did Saul disobey God’s words, but he also tried to cover up his transgressions. He did everything he could to make himself look beautiful, blaming and lying, reasoning and justifying. But there was a telltale behind Saul — the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen. Whenever we choose to preserve the flesh, and especially when we go through the church life relying on politics and religion to justify our flesh, the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen will follow.
Even after he should have been pricked by Samuel’s question, Saul continued to reason, blaming the people and even using Jehovah as his excuse: when challenged about the bleating and lowing, Saul said, “They have been brought from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to Jehovah your God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed” (15:13b,15). When we, as fallen, fleshly people, find ourselves in our iniquity and refuse to come out, our response always follows these two principles: being political and being religious. Saul not only blamed the people, but also used sacrificing to Jehovah as a reason to spare the flesh.
But amidst all Saul’s self-justification and white-washing of his wrongdoings, Samuel, in a powerful serving, was clear: “Stop, and I will tell you what Jehovah spoke to me last night” (15:16). Jehovah had spoken to him; Samuel had His word and was firm in his understanding to interact with Saul. In the church life today, we, too, have brothers and sisters who are Samuels to us. Before they approach us, Jehovah has already talked to them; when we are in our flesh, amidst our political and religious reasonings, they recognize the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen — the telltale of the sparing of flesh — and they serve us with a simple and firm “stop,” to expose our lies and to deal with the flesh through the sharing of His word.
And Samuel said, Does Jehovah delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices / As much as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? / Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, / And to heed, than the fat of rams. (15:22)
What was the price of Saul’s preserving the flesh? As soon as Saul disobeyed God’s word, and not only disobeyed, but insisted to be political and religious to God without repenting, we see that he lost his position; it indeed is possible for the firstborn to lose his birthright. Because he rejected the Word of God, Saul lost His relationship with and under God’s economy and dispensational move. He lost the Lord’s intimate leading and the works of His hand forever. What a vanity of religious speaking, doing, and “sacrifice”! In doing so, Saul only distanced himself from God. Saul rejected the word of Jehovah, and Jehovah ultimately rejected him from being king. Today, we all have our flesh. It is easy to identify and kill the despised and worthless parts. But do we recognize we are now brought back to Gilgal, and that there is still a portion of us that needs to be judged before we can move on with the Lord? Do we see what are our Agags, or our “good” flesh? Like Saul, we often spare the best part, the good aspects of flesh, as we go through our living. But when we do this, we deviate from the words of the Lord, and become separated from His grace and His administration. We may not see our transgression as serious — we even save them to “sacrifice” to the Lord! But through our calculations and subtlety, we preserve something altogether against His economy.
Indeed, to obey is better than sacrifice. In an attempt to preserve ourselves, we end up losing the work of God’s hand — His mark, His anointing on us. Dear brothers and sisters, that is a kind of loss that we cannot afford! In the church life today, there is no “middle ground” or “gray zone.” There is only to obey or to reject, to submit ourselves to this eminent Word or not. Our churching is not defined by good works or even by high teachings, but by this very Word reigning in us and through us. We all have been given the privilege to have this reigning life, but are we those who obey or who reject? The age indeed is coming to a close, and the Lord is seeking after those who can serve with power and precision through the Word — who can claim and exercise this birthright to coordinate with His economical move on the earth today.
(Above is part 1 of a series compiled from notes of fellowship taken from gatherings on 1/14/2022, 1/16/2022, and 1/28/2022, not reviewed by the speaker. Read part 2 here.)