Morning Light – May 8th 2015
Today: [1 Samuel Chapter Ten]: Bringing Your Prophetic Word to Pass. When you receive a prophecy you are as much a part of bringing it to pass as God is. If you don’t get this your prophecies will lie inert in your life without power to change even the slightest circumstance. Samuel prophesies to Saul in this chapter about becoming captain over the people. What Saul does and does not do next is a real example to us about how to align with the prophetic word over our lives and see it come to pass on an expedited schedule.
[1Sa 10:1-27 KJV] 1 Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured [it] upon his head, and kissed him, and said, [Is it] not because the LORD hath anointed thee [to be] captain over his inheritance? 2 When thou art departed from me to day, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel’s sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are found: and, lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses, and sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son? 3 Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine: 4 And they will salute thee, and give thee two [loaves] of bread; which thou shalt receive of their hands. 5 After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where [is] the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: 6 And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. 7 And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, [that] thou do as occasion serve thee; for God [is] with thee. 8 And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, [and] to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do. 9 And it was [so], that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day. 10 And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
The people have cried out for a king for over 400 years during a time when every man did that which was right in his own eyes. During that time the 11 tribes of Israel massacred the tribe of Benjamin down to a mere 600 men. In order to give them wives they looked the other way while these 600 men kidnapped available women and forced them into marriages. Saul’s father was one of these 600. Therefore Saul is very likely born of rape. The people cry out for a king which is against God’s plan and he gives them a king from the very tribe they nearly wiped out as a form of balancing the scales of divine justice.
When God speaks to Samuel about Saul he says that Saul will be a “captain” over Israel such as a Gideon, a Samson or a Jephtah. In using this wording God is giving the people an opportunity to say “we repent for desiring a king”. He is giving them the option to receive Saul on HIS terms and not their own. Now when Saul is anointing this reference is repeated. Saul is anointed to be “captain” over the people – a deliverer such as the many deliverers sent by God in the time of the Judges. The people however look at Saul as a king. What is the difference? They were looking to Saul for what they should have been looking to God for. We should let this be a measure of our own perceptions and fidelities. Where is our trust? Are we anchoring our security in something other than who God is in our lives? Are we looking to others for what we ought to be looking to the Lord for? Are we allowing others to look to us for what they ought to be looking to the Lord for? If we do so we should walk circumspectly for we might wind up with a Saul solution or God forbid become a Saul ourselves and lose out with God.
Notice when Samuel anoints Saul he kisses him. During Saul’s visit with Samuel he comes to love him as a son. Perhaps he sees in Saul an innocence that was long absent in the character of his own sons now corrupted by power. Samuel does not neglect to confirm to Saul that the problem of the missing livestock is taken care of and then begins to prophetically map for him the next season of his life.
He tells Saul he will meet a group of men with three loaves of bread and a flagon of wine. He says that the men will give Saul two loaves and AFTER that he will come to the “hill of God” probably Shiloh. Now if you read this with a revelatory eye remember that Jesus said in John 6:48 that He is the bread of life. We know that after Saul comes David who himself is the quintessential type of Christ, the son of David. The two loaves of bread speak of two dispensations. 1 Co. 10:4 says that Christ was the rock that followed the Israelites in the wilderness out of which came water in the desert. The first loaf is Christ given in the Law and the Prophets (John 5:39). Jesus said that the Old Testament scriptures all pointed to Him. The second loaf is who Jesus is in the New Testament dispensation which we are in now.
Many people think they can pick and choose by becoming a modern day Judaizing believer clinging to the Law and the Prophets. But remember (Ex. 16:20) that yesterday’s manna always breeds worms. You can live on who Jesus was yesterday. Every day requires YOU to go out and find fresh manna, a current application of who Jesus is in your life today. Then Saul is told he would come to the HILL (or government) of God. Hosea said that the Lord would come in one day, revive us in two days and in the third day we will live in his sight. This 1st day, 2nd day, 3rd day of the Lord corresponds to the three loaves of Saul. We have had two thousand years of the character of Saul in the church but our David is coming. A new day is about to dawn – a fresh manna of the bread of God that you and I are about to walk in – even the sure mercies of David. We cannot say with clarity what that will look like but we know that the culmination is the kingdoms of the earth becoming the kingdoms of our God and His Christ.
11 And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What [is] this [that] is come unto the son of Kish? [Is] Saul also among the prophets? 12 And one of the same place answered and said, But who [is] their father? Therefore it became a proverb, [Is] Saul also among the prophets? 13 And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place. 14 And Saul’s uncle said unto him and to his servant, Whither went ye? And he said, To seek the asses: and when we saw that [they were] no where, we came to Samuel. 15 And Saul’s uncle said, Tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said unto you. 16 And Saul said unto his uncle, He told us plainly that the asses were found. But of the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spake, he told him not. 17 And Samuel called the people together unto the LORD to Mizpeh; 18 And said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, [and] of them that oppressed you: 19 And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him, [Nay], but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands. 20 And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken. 21 When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken: and when they sought him, he could not be found.
Remember that when Saul left Samuel he became another man. God places another spirit in him. Now the goodly man head and shoulders above the rest is nowhere to be found. Perhaps Saul sensed that he was caught up in events beyond his control that ultimately would work out not in his favor. He sensed the ungodliness of the people craving a king yet willing to reject God himself. This could have been a turning point for Israel and for Saul himself.
We also see Saul coming into the company of the prophets and prophesying himself. When you hang around the prophetic the prophetic will get on you. If you are in the room when people are being prophesied over you could also stand and prophesy. Then afterward that spirit would lift and you can’t even spell prophecy. That is why in our school of the prophetic in our advanced courses we draw people under the mantle of the prophetic office and at least for the duration of that course they experience what it is to walk in the office of the prophet. In all of this Saul is changed into another man.
What is Saul supposed to do in the midst of all of this? Does he just wait for things to happen. Many people despise the prophetic because they receive a prophecy as a word about what God is going to do rather than a word that includes a call for them to respond and align themselves with what God is saying. In verse 7 Samuel anticipates the question and tells Saul to “do as occasion serves thee…” In other words to LOOK for OCCASION to act upon the prophetic word. If you aren’t willing to do this then your words will remain inert and never come to pass in your life.
22 Therefore they enquired of the LORD further, if the man should yet come thither. And the LORD answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff. 23 And they ran and fetched him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that [there is] none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king. 25 Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote [it] in a book, and laid [it] up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. 26 And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched. 27 But the children of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace.
So Saul has been changed into another man. Instead of standing up with his chest out declaring “yes! I am he whom thou sleekest…” Rather he holds back. When God sponsors you there is no need for a promotional campaign. Stop trying to talk others into seeing you the way God has described you in your vision or a prophetic word. The word isn’t for them it is for you. They aren’t likely to get it until it is no longer necessary to have faith to believe it. It’s just human nature. Joseph did the opposite of this telling his brothers all the things God said about him and he suffered for it unnecessarily. Jesus said when you are bidden to a feast do not take the higher seat. Promotion will find you. (Notice that Saul was ON THE SCENE just not on the platform as it were). You have to place yourself ON THE SCENE in the SETTING where promotion and the prophetic word over your life can come to pass – but you still don’t make it happen.
Of course there are the “sons of Belial”. These will most often be your relatives, your siblings, sometimes your own parents. Other Christians will despise what God has said over you no matter who says it. They might accept what the same prophet says to them but will reject or pervert what is said over you. They will take a word of power and say to you “that means you are supposed to sit under my ministry, cut my grass, volunteer in the church….” You cannot listen to them. Neither can you answer them. Saul just held his peace. Never answer your critics. Never listen to your critics. Never retaliate against your critics when God delivers them into your hand. Even when your critics repent remember that without a true transformation their heart is unchanged. We have seen critics who would rail against us and when that didn’t work would begin to flatter us and tell us how great we are. We don’t listen to them either way. You simply keep on seeking the kingdom and God’s word for you will come to pass.
