The elders of Israel asked the prophet Samuel to make a king over them like the other nations have. When Samuel prayed about this, the Lord replied, “they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).
Through Moses, Joshua, and the ten judges (military leaders), the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has been leading them. Through God they did valiantly, though they were the smallest people going against large empires, poorly equipped men against the advanced weaponry of their day, weak ex-slaves pushing against battle-hardened warriors (idea from The Skeletons in God’s Closet, by Joshua Ryan Butler).
They rejected this God as king over them.
When we see what powers the world, we can be fooled. Advanced technology, massive armies, the biggest bombs, superior knowledge—all can lead us to a false security.
Forgetting God, we are being destroyed from within. TV and social media has upended our social landscape and turned us into idiots interacting with glowing screens. Our personal defenses have crumbled from within as the app vendors pay big bucks to psychologists to enslave us to their apps. We are not free. Our ideologies are ever clashing. The latest election cycles show a bitter division of people across many perspectives.
Jesus Christ has the power, knowledge and authority to rule over all enemies around and inside us. He has beaten death, sin, and the Devil. The very things hobbling every ruler on earth. He demonstrated that He is for us by leaving His throne above to live as a human being on earth, and taking the judgment for our sins onto Himself, which is death. Then He was resurrected in power.
He is coming to break every chain, up-end every ruling authority, and every person will bow before Him and confess Him Lord of all.
He let the ancient world have its way and ended it with a flood. He let Israel have its way and ended it with the diaspora. He let the modern world have its way and will end it with an apocalypse, where Christ and His holy disciples will rise up.
After many successful battles against overwhelming forces that were won not by might, nor by power, but by God’s Spirit, Joshua challenged the people with, “you know … in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you” (Joshua 23:14).
In his final speech, Joshua said to Israel, “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. … But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
If you have rejected or neglected the Creator of the universe from being king over you personally, let Jesus Christ reign over your heart and life, He who rose from the dead, and turn from those things and ideologies that presently rule your mind and heart. Present yourself to Him and ask His Spirit to lead you into all truth as you take up daily Bible reading and prayer.
