Tag: God’s Anointed

The Unfortunate Separation of Books

Old Testament: 1 Samuel 29-31

Poetry: Psalm 69

New Testament: Galatians 5:1-15

1 Samuel and 2 Samuel are, in your Bible and maybe in your mind, two different books. 

However, they are one story. We should not really end 1 Samuel without going on to 2 Samuel, the same way ending your movie marathon of the Lord of the Rings after just watching “The Fellowship” is lacking. 

1 Samuel ends with Saul and Jonathan and the other sons of Saul dead on Mount Gilboa, their bodies first desecrated and then given a proper burial by the men of Jabesh-gilead. 

But it is David’s response that is striking, and that comes in 2 Samuel. Forgive me for reading ahead, but look at what David does in 2 Samuel 1. 

He kills the man who claimed to kill Saul (even though we know Saul killed himself) because this man did not respect the Lord’s anointed. 

He laments, not only over Jonathan, but over Saul his enemy. 

His heart is broken because of this man who really and truly hated him. 

1 Samuel has been a journey, and I am glad you have allowed me to go on it with you over the last two weeks. Here has been my take-away:

Be David and do not be Saul. 

Saul did not start off wrong. He began as a shy, possibly humble, man who was given the gift of kingship. But instead of living up to that role, he first consistently and then later constantly rejected the will of God. He offered sacrifices on his own, he directly disobeyed the commands of God so the people would be impressed by his power. He lifted his hands against the Lord’s anointed constantly. When he couldn’t get an answer from God, he turned to demons. As a friend of mine said, Saul is the cautionary tale. 

David started off right. A humble young man who worked the field, he was also given kingship. He was found to be a man after God’s heart, who obeyed God. He made mistakes, but he sought God’s forgiveness. He sought to do God’s will, to bless those who blessed him, but to let God give justice to those who cursed him. He gave compassion to the Lord’s anointed, but fought against the enemies of God. At his best, he is a model king, a model disciple, and a model man. Even in his failings, he repents and turns towards God. 

My brothers and sisters, 

May you start off from this moment right. God can and will forgive you for everything in your past and start you off with the salvation offered through the death of Christ. By “putting on” Christ in baptism, you become a son or daughter of God, a child of the King of the Universe. You are given a type of kingship, and the power of God, the spirit of God, to do all that this kingship requires. You are training to reign with Christ in his Kingdom, and so you are to show love to all people, to show justice to sinners (telling them of God’s justice), to show compassion to all repentant (expressing God’s mercy), and to show honor to God’s anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Bless you as you become “Davids”, following the son of David. Amen

-Jake Ballard

Reflection Questions

  1. In what ways or times have you had a touch of Saul in you? What did it look like? What did God want to see instead? Have you confessed and repented?
  2. How do you treat God’s anointed?
  3. What does it take to become a David? What will you do today to make is so?

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Jake Ballard is pastor at Timberland Bible Church. If you’d like to hear more from him, you can find Timberland on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TimberlandBibleChurch/ ) and on Instagram (https://instagram.com/timberlandbiblechurch?igshid=t52xoq9esc7e). The church streams the Worship Gathering every Sunday at 10:30. Besides studying and teaching God’s word, he is raising three beautiful children with the love of his life, plays board games and RPGs, and believes it was fine that Tom Bombadil was not in the LotR movies. If you’d like to reach out to talk Bible, talk faith, or talk about how the LotR movies might be an improvement on the books, look Jacob Ballard up on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jacob.ballard.336) or email him at jakea.ballard@yahoo.com. 
God bless you all!

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Just Say the Word

Old Testament: Hosea 4 & 5

Poetry: Psalm 122

New Testament: Matthew 8

In Matthew 8, Jesus is recorded as miraculously healing several distinct individuals that represent three classification of people who were viewed with lesser status in Jewish eyes. The first is a leper, who is considered unclean for a Jewish man to touch (vv. 1-4). Next is a servant of a Roman centurion, who was a Gentile foreigner and likely part of the oppressive Roman Empire, which Jews considered to be their enemy (vv. 5-13). Lastly, Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law (vv. 14-15), which is unique as women were not looked upon with much recognition or significance in Jewish society. In addition, the passage also reveals that Jesus healed numerous other people who were demon-possessed around Capernaum as well (vv. 16-17).

In verses 5-10 when Jesus is approached by the centurion, he concedes to the centurion’s request to come and heal his servant. Jesus’ agreement to come to the centurion’s home is quite a startlingly turn of events in this passage as a Jewish person would be deemed ceremonially unclean if they entered the house of a Gentile (cf. Jn 18:28; Acts 10:28). But nevertheless, Jesus humbly agrees to go and heal the man (vv. 5-7).

But the centurion replies quickly to Jesus expressing his “unworthiness” for Jesus to make the effort to come to his house. Rather, the centurion reveals a keen understanding of Jesus’ authority to speak with the power of God. The centurion explains that he knows what authority means because he speaks, and someone obeys, and the task is accomplished. In the same way, he claims that Jesus only needs to speak the “word,” and according to the authority of his “word,” the centurion’s servant will be healed (v. 8).

This proclamation amazes Jesus because the centurion understood the power and authority of God that Jesus represented. And in response to the centurion’s understanding of this reality, Jesus declares, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith” (v. 10). What an unsuspecting pronouncement—that Jesus would confess such a great faith from this Gentile that superseded any he had seen in all of Israel. The emphasis here is that even a Gentile, who was not considered a member of God’s people, will see the power of God at work when they trust in Jesus, God’s Anointed.

What the passage can teach us is that God’s power flows in response to the exercising of faith (trust) in God as the source of all power and in Jesus as God’s Messiah. If we want to see God’s power at work in our lives, it begins by recognizing that God moves when we believe and trust in him, knowing that he is able to do even what may seem impossible in our eyes. Our trust in God doesn’t make God move; rather, God responds when we trust in him. And we must also trust in his character—that he responds as the good and loving God that we know he is.

-Jerry Wierwille

(originally posted on March 11, 2018 for SeekGrowLove)

Reflection Questions

  1. What do you learn about Jesus in Matthew 8? What makes him worthy of celebrating and following?
  2. What has Jesus done that his followers ought to do too? How can you do that this week? What did Jesus do that only he could do?
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