Resurrection Life of Jesus Church

SETTING THE SCENE
In the last message, the virtual time run showed the leaderless Israelites walking to their homes. Judges 21:24-25

It’s now been 3,060 earth years since the creation of Adam, but in heavenly time, it had merely been three days.

The next scene showed the tabernacle located in Shiloh.

• Eli is the high priest of Israel. He has two corrupt sons named Hophni and Phinehas.

• Hannah is a righteous woman who constantly pleads with God for a son. She had been crying for a long time about her inability to conceive.

• The Godhead decided to grant her request and this miracle boy would be raised on the tabernacle grounds by Eli.

• Samuel means “God has heard.”

SAMUEL’S CHILDHOOD
Like Moses, Samuel was going to operate as a judge and prophet. 1 Samuel 1:1-28

The Godhead used Eli to train Samuel to be a man of God even though he had failed miserably with his own sons. 1 Samuel 2:12-19

Eli honored his sons above God. verses 22-25

SAMUEL IS ACTVATED
Due to the sins of Eli, Hophni, Phineas, and the people of Israel, God had stopped speaking to the nation. One night Jesus contacted Samuel. 1 Samuel 3:1-9

It was bold of Samuel to relay the negative message which included Eli’s time coming to an end. verses 10-21

THE ARK IS CAPTURED
There was a battle in which the Philistines defeated the Israelites and took the Ark of the Covenant. To be clear, Jesus allowed the Israelites to lose the encounter and the prophecy of Samuel was fulfilled when Eli and his sons died. 1 Samuel 4:1-22

REPENTANCE IS THE KEY
The Ark of the Covenant was returned twenty years later and the people were crying out for the Lord to minister unto them. Samuel spoke to the nation that nothing short of total repentance would move God to forgive Israel. 1 Samuel 7:1-3

The Israelites repented and the protection of the Lord was in place when the Philistines attacked and they were subsequently driven out of the land. verses 4-14

PERSONAL FAILURE
Samuel loved the Lord, he was faithful in his calling, and judged Israel, but in the process, he neglected his children and it came back to bite him. verses 15-18

Samuel had been called by Jesus to be the leader of Israel. The same did not hold true for his sons. He failed to comprehend the importance of consulting God and appointed his sons to be judges of Israel. The irony is that they were just as bad as the sons of Eli. 1 Samuel 8:1-3

This nepotism caused a rebellion in Israel and the elders called for a national conference in which they told Samuel that he was old, his sons were not walking with the Lord, and the people wanted a king to rule over them. verses 4-5

PLOT TWIST
The Godhead paused the virtual time run with Samuel standing before the elders of Israel. The Godhead knew that a king would not be better for Israel because this man would try to keep the throne within the family and there would be corruption.

The Godhead is limited in their ability to intervene according to a stipulation from the trial of Lucifer. A 400 year period of judges ruling Israel did not prevent Lucifer from corrupting some of the judges and bringing the people back to idolatry. It was a wild rollercoaster in which Lucifer prevented the Godhead from ushering in the Redeemer.

The Godhead granted the request of the people with a warning that a king would be ruthless, abuse his power, and bring misery upon the people.

NO MORE THEOCRACY
This referendum was really a rejection of the theocracy set up by Jesus.

Samuel did not like what he heard and asked God to intervene. He did not receive the answer he sought. 1 Samuel 8:6

He was told by Jesus to protest the idea of a monarch before the people and inform them of the demands that would be imposed by a king. verses 7-18

The people of Israel made the wrong choice, failing to comprehend that God would eventually remove them from the Promised Land and they would never be independent again. verses 19-22

They were in the valley of decision, and having made the wrong decision, the nation would pay a heavy price for its sin. Joel 3:1-14