The children of Israel have been roundly condemned in countless sermons for their demand on Samuel to give them a .king. Samuel's indignation was also aroused, but it was soothed by God, ". . . They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them" (1 Sam. 8:7). Many have assumed, by this statement, that God was unwilling that a kingdom should ever be established. This conclusion cannot be true, however, if we consider events that happened hundreds of years before.

When God repeated to Abraham the great blessings he would pour out on him, he said, in part, "I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come out of you!" (Gen. 17:6). Those who take the position that the kingdom was the brainchild of wicked Israelites might answer, defensively, "Surely, kings could come out of Abraham, but in one of those other nations that issued from either Ishmael, or one of his other children!" But, they should observe that God repeated this same promise to Jacob (whose other name, Israel, was applied to the nation he founded!) ". . . A nation and a company of nations (Israel and Judah, no doubt) shall be of you, and kings shall come out of your loins" (Gen. 35:11). No nations, other than those made up of children of Israel, ever sprang from Jacob. So, nearly a thousand years before the first king of Israel, God promised he would reign!

This promise is reinforced by the prophecy given by Jacob in Gen. 49:10. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be." The first king of Israel was a Benjamite, but from David on, Judah held the prominent place in the Kingdom.

The promise of God to Abraham and Jacob is further reinforced by the fact that God later provided laws through Moses to govern the conduct of Israel's future kings! They were to be chosen by God, they must not be foreigners, they must not turn the people back to Egypt to seek military strength in the "multiplication" of horses, they were not to have many wives, not to seek much gold and silver, nor to forsake the law of Moses (Deut. 17:14-17). These laws were destined to rest unused for some 500 years until a king was finally chosen.

Israel, at some time or other, violated every provision of this law! They made Abimelech a king, without regard to God's choice, in the days of the Judges (Judges 9:1-57). King Herod was a foreigner (an Idumean) and greatly feared being overthrown by a king of true Davidic lineage (Matt. 2:1-18). In the days of Isaiah, kings sought to strengthen themselves in alliance with Egypt (Isa. 30:1-5, 31:1-3). Several of the kings had many wives, but Solomon was the greatest offender (1 Kings 11:1-13, Neh. 13:23-27). They sought to gain much wealth (1 Kings 10:23-25). And, they often forsook the Law of Moses (2 Kings 22:8-23:3). It should not surprise us, then, to see that "the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and men of violence take it by force" (Matt. 11:12).

The fact that God conceived the Kingdom of Israel as early as the time of Abraham agrees well with his early design to establish the Kingdom of Heaven. Hundreds of years before the New Testament age, Daniel saw the sign of the coming spiritual Kingdom, "never to be destroyed," in the great variegated image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 2:44-45). Other prophets proclaimed the greatness of the future King (Zech. 9:9, Isa. 32:1). God gave a double meaning to his promise made to David,, "I will set up your seed after you . . . and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever" (2 Sam. 7:12-13). This promise was confirmed with an oath (Psalms 89:3-4, 132:11-12). Solomon, David's son, interpreted the prophecy, to apply to himself (1 Kings 8:17-26). But, the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy had to wait unto the day of Pentecost after Christ's resurrection. On that day, guided by the Holy Spirit, Peter proclaimed, "(David) being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne: he foreseeing this" spoke of the exaltation of Christ and wrote, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand . . ." (Acts 2:30-34).

The Kingdom of Israel was a "foreshadow," perhaps of the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ is certainly the counterpart of David (Hosea 3:5). The saved are the true children of Israel (Rom. 9:6-8, Phil. 3:3). The church is the Kingdom over which Christ reigns (Matt. 16:18-19). So, the orderly preparation of the Kingdom of Israel is followed by the orderly preparation of the Kingdom of God.

Surely, the careful preparation of the Kingdom of God must impress us with its importance in the eternal purpose of God. Any careful student of this truth should give proportionate glory to God, and bow the obedient knee of faithful service to Christ the King, and to the Kingdom that is distinguished by having an eternal destiny.

Truth Magazine, XVIII:9, pp. 10-11
January 2, 1974