Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Give Us a King

1 Samuel 8:4-22 ESV

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, "Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that 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. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them." So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. He said, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and 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." But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, "No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles." And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, "Obey their voice and make them a king." Samuel then said to the men of Israel, "Go every man to his city."

Rev. Dan Whang

We will be trying to build a full picture of the coming of Jesus. So we will start in the Old Testament and move through the word to get the full story.

Israel has been living in the period of the judges. Judges were sent by  God to Israel when they were in trouble. No royal line, no government. Israel is at their best during this period. Israel humbly cries out to God for deliverance during Philistine attack. God delivers them and they enjoy a period of peace. Samuel gets old and tries to appoint his sons as judges. They do a horrible job. So the elders confront Samuel and ask him for a king.

This request is okay, but the heart behind it was sinful. They wanted a king like all the other nations. This was a rejection of their invisible king, God. It was also a rejection of their call to be a holy nation, called apart from among those nations. They felt that a monarchy was better than what God had arranged.

What kings are we demanding? Money? Career? What do we look for security?

Lessons to learn

We may earnestly pray, but we hold tightly to the way we want Him to answer us.

We must learn to simply cry out to God in humble dependence.

So God lets them have their way...

Saul, David, Soloman... Civil war.
Israel has a problem: sin and rebellion against God. God's agenda is not to conquer the enemies of Israel, but to conquer the hearts of Israel. In sin, Israel was God's enemy.

Fast forward to the birth and we see God's solution to sin and rebellion, Jesus. Through Him we have restoration and reconciliation with God.

Jump back to the conversation between Samuel and the elders. God had Samuel warn the people. The king they ask for will exact a heavy toll. They will come full circle and this king that they ask for, will drive them to cry out to God again.

Summary

We think we know best, even when we cry out to God. We reject our King. So stop, receive our king, the perfect king, Jesus. He will take from us. He takes our idols. And He gives back...living water, peace, rest,freedom, and eternal life.