Man Takes Center Stage

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The Children of Israel said to Moses,

“You speak with us, and we will hear;
but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exodus 20:19 – NKJV).

God heeds their request and establishes Moses as their leader — the “go to guy” to hear from God. Eventually Moses dies and Joshua succeeds him followed by a series of judges, ending with Samuel.

“Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him,

‘Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make 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.’ So Samuel prayed to the LORD.

And the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them’” (1 Samuel 8:1, 4-7 NKJV, emphasis mine).

Notice the reason Samuel was displeased. He’d judged the Israelites for many years. As he got older his sons inherited the position of “judge and mediator” of the people. But even the average Israelite noted that Samuel’s sons “did not walk in his ways” and seemed to fall short of the shoes they were trying to fill.

“But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice” (1 Samuel 8:3).

This could not have escaped this man of God’s attention. After all, Samuel had risen to the position as Israel’s spiritual leader specifically because the Priest Eli refused to restrain the evil behavior of his children. It’s curious therefore, that the Bible does not record that Samuel was “displeased” with his sons dishonest activities, he is (however) displeased that the Israelites want a new leader.

When Samuel brings his concern before the Lord, God neither addressed Samuel’s wrong motivation for displeasure or the Israelites “need” for new leadership, He simply makes a statement:

“Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7 – NKJV, emphasis mine).

Living on the ‘Outs’

God had kind of got used to this arrangement of being forced to live in the background as a “man” took center stage. But Samuel wasn’t used to being “ousted.”

It wasn’t God’s plan to have Moses be mediator of the people, or Joshua, or the judges, or Samuel or their new king — but He worked within their beloved system, looking forward to a day when he would once and for all end the mediatorship of men.

Father God’s answer to humanity’s inherit and recurring “need” for human mediators was eternally satisfied with, “No man comes to the Father” except through Jesus (John 14:6). Father put His foot down. Human mediatorship would end with the “man” Christ Jesus — one “man” He could trust to not keep the spotlight on Himself.

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:3-5 NIV)

This man, would be different, He would speak of Father. He would bridge the relationship.

Eventually, the day came

Remembering His words to Israel so long ago,

“Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come …  in the sight of all the people” (Exodus 19:10-11 – NKJV, emphasis mine).

The “third day” was coming when Jesus — Israel’s rightful King — would rise from the dead and establish His Kingdom throughout the world. No more mediators.

And when that day did come, everything went like clockwork. Christianity was an unstoppable force. Men and women met house to house and the “good news” of this reconciled relationship between God and man spread region-wide. With a heart-felt and unstoppable desire that required action, Father even sent Jesus to have one-on-one encounters with individuals like Paul on the Damascus road. Soon the light was spreading throughout Jerusalem and Judea, beyond Samaria and even to the uttermost parts of the world.

But that was before the Roman empire’s influence affected even church politics — days before the Roman Catholic Church and it’s later Reformation that yet fell short of putting a relationship with God first.

Bottled Up Relgion Sold Here

The devil had learned much about human nature while God was patiently moving toward his game changing masterpiece: the cross and resurrection. One thing he learned was that people love religion.

“The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so.” (Jeremiah 5:31)

Another thing he’d learned was that people are generally more eager to please “flesh and blood” than an invisible (albeit all-powerful) God. And he had his cliff-notes from Jesus’ time on earth, “A little leaven, leavens the whole lump.”

With strategy in hand, Satan took a big breath and said, “If you can’t beat them — join them” and Catholicism was born, complete with priestly positions, rules, and plenty of tradition. After all he’d learned that “traditions make the Word of God without effect.” That was a powerful platform to home base on.

For those of you not history majors, future posts will expose you to a condensed version of “Church history.” It’s quite an eye-opener.
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Next up: Finding Our Roots
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