Today, we begin a Christmas series titled Crowned: King of Kings, reflecting on Jesus as more than a baby in a manger—He is the ultimate King. Throughout history, the theme of kingship has shaped Israel’s story, from God as the original King of a theocratic nation to the people’s demand for a human king in 1 Samuel 8. God’s intention was always to lead Israel as their supreme ruler, but the Israelites, rejecting His kingship, desired a king like the other nations. Their decision reflected misplaced priorities and a lack of faith, despite God’s miraculous provision and victories. This narrative reminds us of the human tendency to forget God’s faithfulness and pursue worldly desires. Yet, even when we reject Him, God remains gracious, forgiving, and present in our brokenness. The arrival of Jesus as the King of Kings underscores God’s ultimate plan of redemption and His desire to reign in our lives, not as a distant ruler, but as Emmanuel, God with us.
God: The Original King
Today we begin a new series – titled Crowned: King of Kings – as we look toward Christmas.
This morning, here in this room with all its decorations, we see many symbols of Christmas: the manger, the trees with their lights. We sing about Emmanuel (God with us). We remember the stories of the shepherds and the angels and the wise men.
However, one theme of the Christmas story people sometimes overlook is that of Jesus as King. Yes, He came into the world as a baby laid in a manger among the animals, but His very existence threatened King Herod and prompted a visit by kings from the East. Even at Jesus’s death, Pilate had a sign hung over His head: King of the Jews. I have to give Pilate credit. He was close; but as we will see in a few weeks, Jesus was more than King of just the Jews. He is the King of Kings.
That’s really saying something when you consider all the kings who ruled through history as described in the Bible. Not only does the Bible have two books called “Kings” that describe the many kings of Israel’s history, but we read also of many, many enemy kings throughout the Bible. This theme of kings and kingdoms is a major aspect of the entire Old Testament – the only part of our Bible that had been written when Jesus showed up on the scene. For Jesus to be called The King of Kings is a pretty big deal! – not just in a historical sense, but for what it means for our own lives this very day.
Today I want to look back to where this whole line of Israelite kings began. It’s not at all what you would expect.
A Brief History of Israel’s Origin
Let’s start at the beginning – the beginning of the nation of Israel.
Israel was formed by a King who wanted a nation for which He would be the supreme, benevolent ruler. He would direct the leaders, establish the boundaries, lead the military battles and form the code of law. This King was God himself.
God Was the Original King
The Apostle Paul understood this when he wrote about God:
1 Timothy 6:15-16 – 15God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.
The nation God planned to form under His kingship would be set up as a “theocracy” – a form of government in which God is recognized as the supreme ruler, working through the authority of prophets and priests to carry out His rule. In a theocracy, all aspects of public and private life, including civil and criminal law and military and political matters, are governed by religious principles.
With the leader already established, all God needed was people, a homeland, and laws – the three elements that make up a nation. The beginning of the Bible tells the story of how God created Israel as a nation, beginning with a single man named Abraham. God promised him that he would be the father of a great nation, and his people would reside in the Promised Land.
As you read the first five books of the Bible, you see this story unfold as the Israelites become a nation of over a million people. God leads them out of Egypt, where they had been made slaves, and He gives them His laws. He then leads them to the land He promised to Abraham and tells them to go and take over the land. During this time when Israel is conquering the existing cities, kings, and people who live in this land, they are led by prophets like Moses, and then by judges like Gideon and Samson.
Through the entire history of Israel growing and establishing themselves in the Promised Land, they never had a human king. They didn’t need one. They had God. For hundreds of years, this arrangement worked really well.
The Failures of the Judges
However, as you keep reading through the Old Testament, you will come to a book called “Judges” in which each story seems to get a little worse than the previous one. The book ends at what I consider to be the nadir – the lowest point – in the whole Bible: a civil war between the tribes of Israel that almost wiped out the tribe of Benjamin. At the very lowest point, the last verse of the book of Judges reads:
Judges 21:25 – In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
Essentially, the terrible behavior of the nation is blamed on the fact that there is a leadership void.
Then, in the book of 1 Samuel, which picks up right where Judges leaves off, God raises up Samuel to be a prophet who also acts as a judge to lead the Israelites under God’s direction.
Now we pick up the story in 1 Samuel chapter 8. Unfortunately, like all the other good leaders before him, Samuel can’t lead the Israelite forever. He is becoming an old man, and the people don’t want to go through the same cycle they have seen played out before. Also, they look at Samuel’s sons and see that they are in no way qualified to lead the nation. The people want a change.
Israelites Demand a King
1 Samuel 8:4-5 – 4So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways, now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
This is the first time anyone in Israel asks for a king, and it’s understandable that they want someone to lead them. They know how bad things become when they lack anyone to lead them.
Quite honestly, you probably have seen how poorly teams function when there is no leader. (Just ask any Chicago Bears fan what happens when the leader fails to lead.) Groups of people can accomplish tremendous things when they work together, but that happens only when capable leaders bring everyone together. That’s why a strong leader can turn around a company, a strong coach can turn around a team, and a strong pastor can turn around a church. Leadership is crucial to flourishing! Seeking a leader was not the problem. The problem was that they were seeking a KING! And why a king? To be like all the other nations.
This is where the Israelites get themselves into trouble. A nation formed by God, to be led by God, and to be set apart from all other nations of the world should NOT seek to be just like those other nations! God’s Kingdom is not like any other! He always intended Israel to be different from the other kingdoms of the world.
On this side of the cross, where we are now invited to be citizens of the Kingdom of God, we must realize that His kingdom is unlike any other. We shouldn’t take our cues from the world, but from our King, who has given us an instruction book. I’m not saying the world has nothing to teach us. Reading, writing, arithmetic, how to bake a cake, how to change a tire – are all things the world can teach you. However, a lot of the “wisdom of the air” that floats around out there is contrary to God’s truth. As Christians, we must recognize those areas where the world is contrary to God’s plan, and we must shun those beliefs rather than embrace them.
I Samuel 8:6-9 – 6But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9Now listen to them, but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.
After leading the Israelites for a couple of decades, Samuel probably is taken aback by their request. And God must recognize how Samuel feels: that this request is a rejection of his leadership and of his own children to take his place.
That’s why God tells him, “Look, Samuel, they are not rejecting you – they’re rejecting Me.” And then in just a couple of phrases God quickly reminds us of all the stories demonstrating how the Israelites kept turning away from God even as God was trying to lead them to a land flowing with milk and honey.
What I find interesting here is how God and Samuel are feeling a sense of rejection while the Israelites have never said anything about rejecting God. In fact, if they had been asked directly, I’m sure they would have said they were in no way rejecting God’s rule. But here’s how life works: Choosing one thing is always a rejection of another.
Examples:
- When you ask one woman to marry you, you reject all others who might have become your wife.
- Ordering a burger and fries is a rejection of salad and a heart-healthy meal.
- In purchasing an expensive car, you reject other ways you could have spent those dollars. It’s called the “Opportunity Cost,” and many people fail to think this way. But God thinks this way. As their King when the Israelites demanded a king like the other nations, it was a clear rejection of God’s leadership.
How often do we behave this way? We would never say we are rejecting God, but that we are just enjoying some exciting new relationship or hobby above our relationship with God. We see in this text that God sees these situations. When we elevate other people, passions, or possessions above God, He sees it as a rejection of HIM. We are rejecting His leadership, His guidance, and the provision He gives to satisfy us.
Even as He is rejected, though, God allows His people to make their own decisions. Like a good parent, He doesn’t take away their sense of autonomy and self-direction. He allows them to make their own decision, even if He disagrees with it. First, however, He wants to make sure they understand the potential consequences.
In 1 Samuel 8:10-16, God describes all that a king will take from his people. The phrase “he will take” appears six times, describing all the ways a king strips a people of their family and resources. He will take your sons, your daughters, the best of your fields, a tenth of your grain, your male and female servants, the best of your cattle and a tenth of your flocks.
Then, after describing all the costs of placing a king over them, God concludes with the worst news of all.
1 Samuel 8:17-18 – 17And you yourselves will become his slave 18When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.
God is being so direct! This king the people think they need will take, take, take, to the point that they will regret their decision. But God is also telling them ahead of time that He is not willing to listen to them when they reach that point. He is saying, “Look, you are free to choose your actions, but you can’t complain if you don’t like the consequences. I’ve warned you.”
1 Samuel 8:19-20 – 19But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
First, I can’t understand why they want so badly to be like the other nations. Clearly they don’t understand the benefits of being in God’s Kingdom. Instead they are looking at the kingdoms of this world, wanting what they have. It’s a bit of the “grass is greener on the other side” mentality.
Unfortunately, this is the story of many teens who are raised in the church. They don’t value all the benefits of being part of God’s family, so they go out looking for something better in the world. They want to be like the world and have the fun and excitement they see on television. In doing so, they reject God and show that they have no value for all the immense benefits of being a part of God’s Kingdom and Family.
Second – a king to fight our battles?! Have they forgotten about God delivering their ancestors from the clutches of Pharaoh and all the chariots that were wiped away behind them in the Red Sea?
Did their parents not pass on to them the story of marching around Jericho until, with only a shout, the impenetrable walls of the fortified city came crashing down?
Or did they think it was no big deal that when Joshua surprised the five kings of the Amorites and they all fled and God rained down hailstones on them? Joshua chapter 10 tells us that more men were killed by the hail God sent than by the battle.
Or what about the time when Gideon had only 300 fighting men, each with a torch in one hand and a trumpet in the other, and with God’s help they caused such confusion and fear among a camp of Midianites (more numerous than could be counted) that their enemies all slaughtered each other?
Seriously, Israel’s God and King has been leading them into battle and fighting on their behalf for several centuries! But I’m sure there is a bit of thinking along the lines of “But what have you done for me lately?”
I know I fall into that trap. I have all sorts of moments when God has done incredible things in my life; but if I have a year or two without any clear moment when He shows up in my life, doubts start to creep in. It’s as though we need constant big moments to stay faithful, but that shouldn’t be the case! You need to have a little longer memory. You need to keep your God stories fresh in your mind so you don’t say stupid things like “God never fights for me.”
1 Samuel 8:21-22 – 21When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”
The Lord gives the Israelites exactly what they have asked for. It’s an example of God showing tough love, but sometimes the only way a person will learn is to experience the pain of failure and poor choices. That’s how God treats the Israelites here, and it’s how parents sometimes need to treat their unruly kids. I tend to say, “You made your bed, now lie in it.”
Perhaps you find yourself in a bit of this kind of situation right now. Maybe you are experiencing the negative consequences of running from God and choosing to follow something else that makes a far inferior king.
- The bad news is: the consequences of those choices are all yours. God isn’t going to sweep the consequences away for you. You have free will. You chose, and now the results are yours to deal with.
- But there is good news in the mess. God forgives. He never leaves you alone. He’s a God who stoops all the way to our level to meet us in our deepest moments of need. He is the God who is with us.
- We are reminded of this every time we think of Jesus coming to this earth. We earned all the consequences of sin – and that it a mountain of a mess! But God came down to redeem and save; and that’s the ONE consequence God, our benevolent and perfect King, did take away from us. Because of what God did for us, we no longer face an eternity apart from Him.
Conclusion
I’m amazed at how similar you and I are to the Israelites. We are quick to forget what God has done for us. We are easily led to focus on the next big thing in front of us. We want what the world offers.
In chasing those things of the world, without realizing it, we are rejecting our God and His leading, provision, and protection – all the things a good King offers.
Maybe we reject Him in favor of what we can see because it’s so hard to view the God of the universe as our leader – our King – in the here and now. We want a tangible king. It would be so much easier if God were like us, a human, to lead us as King.
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