1 and 2 Samuel are crucial for the bringing in of the kingdom; there was a desperate need for one like Samue who was one with God, according to God’s heart, and who cared for God’s people to the extent that he didn’t want his own kingdom or monarchy but rather wanted to bring in the kingdom of God on earth.
May we be such ones. God has an intention, a heart’s desire; for this, He needs a kingdom, a realm in which He can rule and reign, a realm in which He can carry out what is in His heart.
Who on earth is open to the Lord to give Him a way to do what He wants to do? Who is according to God’s heart and knows His intention to the extent that they care not for their own interest or needs but for God’s interest and His need?
There are millions of believers on this earth, but who among the myriads of believers allows God to work Himself into them and give Him the ground to do what He wants to do?
Many times we come to the Lord with our needs and desires, with our problems and troubles; it is good to tell Him all, but we also need to learn to listen.
He wants to bring in the kingdom of God on earth and He will bring it, but He needs man’s cooperation.
Samuel cooperated with God in his age, and he realized that, even though the people of Israel wanted a king to replace God as their king, God uses this situation to bring in the proper king with the kingdom of God.
We need to learn to deny ourselves, put our interests and feeling aside, and simply join ourselves to the Lord through His word so that, what is in His heart becomes what is in our heart, His intention becomes our intention, and we are fully one with Him for what He wants to do on earth today.
Everywhere on earth there is rebellion against God; who gives Him the beachhead for Him to land and set up His kingdom?
Who on earth is learning to cooperate with God by enjoying the all-inclusive Christ to build up the church and set up the kingdom of God?
May we be such ones; may we be those who see God’s eternal purpose and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as our God-allotted portion, function as members of the Body to build up the corporate expression of Christ, and cooperate with God to bring in the kingdom of God.
It is God’s eternal purpose for Him to have a corporate expression of the Triune God in Christ constituted in you and me and in millions of believers so that we would be not only redeemed and regenerated but also renewed, transformed, conformed, and glorified, and we would together give God a way to bring in His kingdom on earth.
God’s Intention is to Bring in the Kingdom of God with Christ the King
In first and second Samuel we see how God not only raised up Samuel, David, and many others who are according to His heart, but how His intention is to bring in the kingdom with the proper king; this is a type of His original intention to bring in the kingdom of God with Christ the King (see 1 Sam. 8:4-22; 10:25; 13:14; 15:28; 16:1-3, 13).
In the book of Judges, we see a miserable situation, ending up in everyone doing what was right in their own eyes; there was an urgent and desperate need for one like Samuel (1 Sam. 2:35; 3:21).
God had an urgent need, a desperate need; when something is urgent, you can’t wait for an indefinite period of time – it has to be as soon as possible.
God had an urgent need, even a desperate need, for one like Samuel who was according to God’s heart and who was one with God to bring in the kingdom of God on earth.
Samuel was a Nazarite, a priest, a prophet, and a judge; this fourfold status qualified him to be the one who could bring in the king and set up the kingdom.
Although Samuel represented God on earth both in bringing God’s speaking to man and in judging the people according to God’s heart, this was not the goal of God; His intention was not to make Samuel a kingdom but to raise up David who would set up the kingdom.
In the same principle, when God chose Abraham, His intention was not that He would gain a single person or a group of people who would seek after Him; rather, God intends to have a kingdom on earth.
This is why in Rev. 11:15 there is much joy in heaven because the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; in the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem, there will be the eternal kingdom of God.
Samuel represented God on earth and attained the highest position, having a fourfold status; however, God still didn’t reach His goal.
And Samuel sensed God’s heart and realized that God desires a kingdom; God’s intention is to bring in the kingdom of God with the proper king, which was David, a type of Christ.
When Samuel was old and, because of the need, he set up his sons to judge over the people, the elders asked him to set up a king over them like the nations, because Samuel’s sons did not follow in his steps.
Instead of Samuel trying to build up a kingdom for himself as Saul intended to do, he brought this matter to the Lord.
As a Nazarite, a priest, a prophet, and a judge, Samuel brought all things to God, and God revealed to him the desire of His heart.
God desires to gain a corporate person – not some kind of spiritual hero but a corporate person who could bring in the kingdom of God.
First, there’s the need for this body of overcomers who brings in the kingdom of God, and then Christ the King comes with His kingdom.
What an indescribable joy it would be when we stand before the Son of Man on that day, before the judgment seat, and He testifies to us that our life was a factor in bringing Him, the King, to the earth with His kingdom.
This is what we want to do: we want that our Christian life and our church life in the context of our human life in all of its stages would contribute to the bringing in of the kingdom of God with Christ the King on earth.
We want to enter into the wedding feast, to be a co-king with Christ and rule with Christ.
The meaning and value of our life are that we rule and reign with Christ, having our whole being focused on Him, doing all things for Him – not even to get the reward, but for His interest, for His heart’s desire.
For Samuel to be a priest, a prophet, and a judge was not God’s goal; God’s intention was to set up a kingdom with a king (1 Sam. 8:7; 13:14).
Even though the people of Israel wanted to be like the nations around them and, succumbing to Satan’s temptation, wanted to replace God as their King, God allowed this to happen, and eventually, David was brought forth.
Samuel was very displeased with the matter, yet he brought it to the Lord in prayer, and God help him realize that it was Him that they rejected, not Samuel.
But praise the Lord, God raised up David, a man after His heart, one who cooperated with God to bring in the kingdom of God on earth.
It is not enough for us to just want some sort of kingdom in the church life; we need to enthrone the Lord as King and put aside our own concepts and opinions of what a king should be.
May we fight against the tendency to change the nature of the Lord’s recovery to make it similar to organized Christianity, to be like them.
Our King is our dear Lord Jesus, and we want to cooperate with Him to bring in the kingdom of God with Christ the King!
Lord Jesus, we fully open to You; make the desire of Your heart become the desire of our heart. It is Your desire to bring in the kingdom of God with Christ the King; we say Amen, Lord, may Your kingdom come! We enthrone You in our being. We do not want to set up our own kingdom in the church life, neither do we want to build up someone’s kingdom here; we are here for the kingdom of God to be brought in with Christ as the King. Amen, Lord, may our Christian life and church life in the context of our human life in all its stages contribute to the bringing in of the kingdom of God with Christ the King on earth! May Your kingdom come in the church life, and may Christ rule and reign as King among us today!
The Bringing in of the Kingdom and the King Depends on the Involvement of the Divine Trinity with His People
1 and 2 Samuel reveal that the bringing in of the king and the setting up of the kingdom depended on the involvement of the Divine Trinity with His people.
We may wonder where and how do we see this, because this is not that evident since God is One who hides Himself.
However, we need to realize that the Divine Trinity is the structure of the Bible and of 1 and 2 Samuel, and we see some indications here and there concerning the Divine Trinity.
Without the Divine Trinity bringing forth Samuel, without the Divine Trinity being involved with his mother, with her prayer, with her consecration of her infant boy, and with the way she offered him to God when he was young, there would have been no Samuel and therefore no kingdom of God.
In order for such a one as Samuel to be raised up and carry out his commission, there was a need of the Divine Trinity (1 Sam. 1:10-11, 20; 10:1, 6; 16:1-3).
In 1 and 2 Samuel we see a detailed, fine revelation of the Divine Trinity; the crucial point in the history recorded in 1 and 2 Samuel is that there was the need of the Divine Trinity (2 Sam. 22:1-3; 23:1-3; 24:25).
It would be good for us to try to read 1 and 2 Samuel and identify the indicators of the Divine Trinity; if we do this, we will realize that He is everywhere.
He is the structure of the whole Bible, though hidden behind the scenes, operating and doing everything for His heart’s desire.
The desire of God’s heart was duplicated in Samuel, who did not intend to build his own kingdom in Israel, though God set him as a priest, a judge, and a prophet.
The only thing Samuel gained at the end of his life was a tomb to be buried in, and not even his sons were set up as judges after him (since they didn’t follow in his ways but went after unjust gain, took bribes, and perverted justice – see 1 Sam. 8:1-3).
When the people of Israel came to him and asked him to appoint a king, Samuel was not offended by anything related to his sons; rather, he was offended by their desire to replace God (vv. 4-7).
He was a Nazarite according to his mother’s vow and by choice, and never sought to gain anything for himself; his heart was only for God and His elect.
Therefore, God used Samuel to anoint first Saul and then David; Saul sought to have a monarchy, but David was a man according to God’s heart and brought in the kingdom of God with the king.
The kingdom of God came first under David, when God’s throne was established in Jerusalem.
In Matt. 21:43 the Lord told the Jewish leaders that the kingdom of God will be taken away from them, indicating that the kingdom of God began in the Old Testament – not with Abraham or Moses but with David.
It is amazing to see Samuel’s history, how God perfected and raised him under Eli’s custody, teaching him in a very fine way, building him and establishing him as His proper priest.
As such a priest, Samuel became a judge to judge Israel, a prophet to prophesy for God, and someone who prayed for God’s people before God, an intercessor.
As such a one, he brought forth the kingship so that the kingdom of God would be established on earth.
May we be such ones like Samuel and David, those who enjoy Christ to such a degree that what we have enjoyed of Christ will become a kingdom, which is the church.
Today in the church life we need to enjoy Christ to the extent that our enjoyment of Christ becomes the kingdom of God, which is in the proper church life.
In Matt. 16:18-19 we see the kingdom and the church are identical; the kingdom of God today is the church, and within the church, there’s the intrinsic essence – the Body of Christ.
Lord Jesus, we open to the operation and work of the Divine Trinity to bring in the kingdom of God with Christ the King. Amen, operate in us and work Yourself into us in Your Divine Trinity to make us the proper persons who bring in the kingdom of God on earth. We want to enjoy You, dear Lord Jesus Christ, as our God-allotted portion with the saints in the light. May our enjoyment of Christ increase and be enlarged until it becomes the kingdom of God, which is the church! Amen, Lord Jesus, keep us in the kingdom of God today in the church life, living in the Body of Christ as the intrinsic essence of the church! May Your kingdom come and may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas, and portions from, Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel (msgs. 2-3, 6-7, 9), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 1, entitled, The Central Thought of and the Divine Trinity as Revealed in 1 and 2 Samuel.
- Hymns on this topic:
– The Lord enthroned within our hearts / His Kingdom doth establish there, / Assuring His full right to reign / And for God’s purpose to prepare. / ’Tis by His reign within our hearts / That life to us He e’er supplies; / When taking Him as Lord and King, / His wealth our being satisfies. (Hymns #942)
– Lo, the kingdom of the world is now the kingdom of the Lord! / O what joy to all the saints does His eternal reign afford! / Let us swell the mighty chorus of His praise in one accord— / The victory is won! (Hymns #1101)
– By reigning in His kingdom / God worketh all His will, / And under His dominion / His purpose doth fulfill. / ’Tis only in God’s kingdom / His blessing we may know; / ’Tis from His throne almighty / The stream of life doth flow. (Hymns #941)
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