To Rightly Remember

Okay, let's get started. We'll begin with a prayer. Lord Jesus, as we open up Your Word, we ask that You would open our hearts and our minds.

Send Your Holy Spirit and help us to understand Your Word, so that we may know what it is that we are to believe, teach, confess, and do.

We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. I feel like last week was one of those weeks where the conversation something happened.

That's the best way I can put it. We had an in -house conversation last week. And I don't want anyone to feel that they cannot ask questions they can.

The idea is that last week there were things that apparently needed to be addressed and discussed, and they were.

So, we're going to do a do -over today. A do -over in this sense. We're going to try to reset the table and talk about what we will be studying probably through the whole summer.

It's going to take us a wee bit of time. And we're going to, again, be answering the question over that period of time, what is the

Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven? When Scripture talks about these things, what on earth is it talking about?

When we pray, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, what on earth are we praying for?

What does that mean? How does it impact our lives today? How does the

Scripture talk about this kingdom stuff? And we noted last week, although I will review it here, that the very last sentence in the book of Judges, this is the last part of the

Old Testament where there is no kingdom, so to speak. And the last sentence reads,

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. That's the transition sentence into what begins the

Old Testament narratives regarding the kingdom. Now, I'm just going to ask this question.

I know I've probably asked one similar to it. When you guys read something, do you remember stories more than you remember user manuals?

My apologies to the one who dreams in Excel. But with almost no exceptions, one notable, the things that engage us, the things that engage us are story.

Am I right? And I think it's important that we understand that Scripture, oftentimes in teaching us a doctrine, doesn't give us a bullet -pointed, here's what you've got to believe kind of thing.

Instead, it gives us a story. Now, from those stories, we glean out, we tease out what the doctrine is.

But when it comes to the kingdom, you're going to note this, that the Scripture doesn't sit there and say, okay, the kingdom of God is this, this, this, and this.

And it's not that, that, and that. Instead, the kingdom of God, well, it's like the story of Israel.

When they had no king, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes, and then they wanted a king.

The kingdom of God is like this. And over and again, you're going to note, especially during the summer, when

Jesus teaches parables regarding the kingdom, he says the kingdom of God is like, well, a fellow who found buried treasure in a field.

And then he went and sold everything that he had and bought the field. Or the kingdom of God is like, well, a net that a fisherman throws into the sea and drags in all of the fish, and then after they're dragged into the boat, he sorts through the fish and throws the bad ones out and keeps the good ones.

The kingdom of God is like that. The kingdom of God is like a sower who goes out into the field and sows seed.

Some falls on a path, some falls on rocky soil, some falls where there's weeds, and some falls on good soil.

And you sit there going, what is he saying? But you're going to notice, over and again, Jesus prefaces these stories, which are a wee bit challenging to understand, but he prefaces these stories by saying the kingdom of God is like.

Makes you wonder. I want you to think about this. Maybe it's that the kingdom of God is so difficult for us to understand because of our sinful nature that the best way that we can understand it is by getting little word pictures of it and keeping all of that in mind.

Because Scripture over and again reveals that what is coming is beyond our ability to think or imagine.

I can't even say to you, when Christ returns and you see

Him face to face, and you see the heavenly Jerusalem come out of heaven, and you hear the announcement from the

Father that God now dwells with man on earth, and you are there in the wedding feast of the

Lamb, and then you are new earth forever, the best way

I could put it is even those pictures pale in comparison to what it's really going to be like.

We have no memory of what it means to be human without being sinful.

No memory of it. Not by experience.

Even your best day doesn't even compare. So that being the case, over and again,

Scripture gives us stories. And these stories give us clarity, and at the same time, they leave a lot of loose ends.

They give us clarity on certain things, and they leave a lot of loose ends. But one thing that they do, when you rightly understand these stories, is they give us a hope.

And from that hope comes a yearning. And that yearning is for the things that are to come.

Because I can tell you, as somebody who's lived on this planet a few years, not as many as some, but the older I get, the more

I think that this life is for the birds. It really is.

All of the hopes and dreams I had when I was young and ignorant have given way to the school of hard knocks.

And this life as an adult is truly lived in the knowledge of good and evil, experienced in great quantities on either side.

And you don't know what tomorrow is going to bring, which is why our parents and our grandparents always told us to count our blessings.

Count them, because tomorrow may not be filled with blessings. Tomorrow may actually be filled with a big, fat boot to your teeth.

Or at least it'll feel like that. Or it might have something that will literally leave a mark on your life for the rest of your time on this planet.

You don't know what's coming. It's good and evil mixed together. So with that, we're going to kind of let the

Scriptures begin to tell us and inform us what it means when we talk about the kingdom.

And it's filled with a lot of stories. And as we work through the different stories, we'll kind of evaluate as we go, what is this telling us regarding the kingdom?

Now, a while back, and not very long ago, I read through and taught in Sunday school the book of Ruth.

It's on our website, in our archives. I would strongly recommend find some time between now and the next time we meet in two weeks to go back and listen to me teaching on the book of Ruth and refresh yourself, because that's the first kingdom story in the

Bible. And then ask yourself this question. What do these four chapters in the book of Ruth teach me about the kingdom?

What do they teach, not just me, but us? What do they teach us about the kingdom? And you'll note that it ends with a genealogy.

Mucho importante, because that genealogy shows up, that portion of it shows up in the genealogies of Christ.

So there's important things there regarding the kingdom, but the best way I could put it is the book of Ruth, which is a wonderful story.

It is the ultimate chick flick in all of Scripture. It's even better than Esther. If I had to choose a chick flick in Scripture, I'm going to go with Ruth.

It's a love story extraordinaire. It really is. Esther is a harrowing story and quite frightening.

Did you know that God's name is never mentioned in the book of Esther? Isn't that weird? Fascinating thing about Esther.

But that's a different story altogether. That's a story of exile. You see, when you talk, there's different epochs.

You've got creation, exodus, kingdom, exile. And they all inform our understanding of Scripture.

So the exile stories are very important as well. We've got to put them in their proper place. Today we're going to really dig in to kingdom.

So, homework assignment, Kongsvingerchurch .org

In the search bar, type in Ruth. Not the sermons, but the

Bible teaching. And you'll find the lesson that I gave not too long ago on Ruth. Just walk back through it and then ask this question.

What is this teaching us about the kingdom? The kingdom of God is like a

Moabite woman who is saved by her kinsman,

Redeemer. The kingdom of God is like that. What does that mean for us?

Today, then, we're going to start a study, an in -depth study, starting in 1

Samuel. 1 Samuel, chapter 1. There was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was

Elkanah, the son of Jehoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zoph.

What a great name, Zoph. What's your name? Zoph. And he was an

Ephrathite. He had two wives, which means he's very foolish. The name of one was

Hannah, and the name of the other was Penenah. Penenah had children. Hannah had no children.

Now real quick, I want you to note, what tribe of Israel is this fellow from?

Of the 12 tribes, which tribe is he from? It's an open book quiz.

Ephraim, right, Ephraim. Are Ephraims permitted, according to Torah, to be priests in the temple?

No, they're not. So this is an interesting thing that's going to happen that we're going to read about.

Just keep that in mind. Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh of hosts.

A little bit of a note on the Hebrew here. Yahweh Tzavaoth. Does anyone know what

Tzava means in Hebrew? It says the

Lord God Almighty. Well, that's one way of talking about it, but it's Yahweh Tzavaoth.

Hebrew word is Tzava. If you grew up as a man in Israel, when you turn 18, you are required to join the

Tzava, the army. So when you hear the Lord of hosts,

Yahweh Tzavaoth, that is the Lord of armies. Fascinating. Just a little bit of a note there.

So he went to go sacrifice to Yahweh Tzavaoth at Shiloh where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were priests of Yahweh.

On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Penanah, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters.

But to Hannah, he gave a double portion because he loved her, though Yahweh had closed her womb.

And this introduces us to a very difficult doctrine.

Who closed Hannah's womb? The Lord. Doesn't say why, does it?

It just says that he did. The result of this was what in her life?

Misery. And this is the kind of misery that is so dark that you don't even want to live.

Listen to what happens. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because Yahweh had closed her womb.

So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of Yahweh, she used to provoke her.

Therefore, Hannah wept and would not eat. Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep?

Why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?

I told you this man was foolish. Told you. This is not a comforting statement at all.

So notice it says year after year. This went on. So Penanah has sons, daughters, and every time she goes up to Shiloh, she feels blessed, and the

Lord has closed Hannah's womb. And what does she do? You are a barren old hag.

You are an old maid. You have no children. I'm blessed. You're cursed. And what does this result in?

Agony. Suffering. She wasn't physically suffering, but she was mentally, spiritually, emotionally made to suffer.

And this was brought about by whom? God. That's a tough thing to take into consideration.

Who's acting like the king right here? Yahweh is.

Yahweh sabaoth. Who's in charge? He is.

So we receive from God good and misery, bounty and lack.

There are good times, and then there are horribly difficult times.

Huh. It's a little tough, isn't it? He is.

Notice he doesn't chastise her. But you know what's missing in all of this? Why isn't he rebuking

Penanah? Why isn't he saying, just because God has blessed you with children does not give you the right.

Well, he sees the misery going on, and it happens with regularity. And he knows exactly why she's upset.

Why? Am I not more to you than 10 ,000 children?

No, he knows. He knows. He knows. He does know. He's not putting a stop to it.

So there's no relief in sight for this misery that she's going through. Now, I want you to stop for a second.

This story is a picture of salvation. And it has to do with the kingdom.

It is a picture of salvation. So in her case, the misery that she's going to hearkens to the difficulties that we have in this life as a result of our sin that have come upon us.

Because who is the one who invoked a curse on humanity at the

Garden of Eden? God did. So all the suffering that we're going through,

God has in His sovereign will said this is what you're going to go through.

And we cannot wait until it finally lifts. So this is a little bit of a picture of salvation.

Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons? He knows what's going on.

So after they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. And now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh.

She was deeply distressed. And she prayed to Yahweh. And she wept bitterly.

That's a prayer. That is a prayer. And it's a good one.

Let me give you an example from the Psalms real quick. Let me duplicate this real quick so I don't lose my place.

Look at Psalm 13. Something I want you to consider.

The Psalms are a prayer book. The Psalms teach us to pray.

Jesus Himself, this was His prayer book. And He knew the tunes that went along with these prayers and these

Psalms. Which kind of begs the question, when Jesus was on the cross and He cried out,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Did He cry it out or did He sing it? Something to keep in mind.

You want to learn how to pray like Jesus prayed, this is His prayer book. And listen to this prayer. How long,

O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart?

All the day long. How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord, my God. Light up my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death.

Lest my enemies say I have prevailed over Him. Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

Has there ever been a time in your life when you have been able to pray this prayer? Yeah. But watch where the turn is.

But I have trusted in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me. This is raw stuff.

Raw. So we see this playing out then with Hannah and Peninnah.

She is prevailing over Hannah. And she is unjustly and ruthlessly abusing her.

And she's now crying out to God. So she was deeply distressed.

Prayed to Yahweh and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, O Yahweh, Sabbaoth, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your servant and remember me and not forget

Your servant, but will give to Your servant a son, I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life and no razor shall touch his.

She promised to give her son to the Lord and that he would be a Nazarite. But notice what she's praying for.

That God would remember her. What did the thief on the cross say to Jesus?

Remember me. Remember me. There's one person in the universe

You want to remember You. And that's God. Because the reality is this, if Christ tarries and decides

He's not coming back for another 1700 years, or maybe 10 ,000. Yeah, I know.

Can you imagine? He decides He's not going to come back for any length of time. We will have all been in our grave for a long time.

And Kongsvinger continues on to preach the Gospel. Aside from your name and date of birth and death on that tombstone out there, do you think there will be anybody who remembers what you were like, what you looked like, or what you sounded like, or how you wore your hair, or the clothes that you wore, how you laughed?

No one will remember you. Yeah. With the death of everybody in here, we're all forgotten.

Every one of us. But God, He remembers you.

Your name is written. So it's everything when God remembers you. It's salvation, is it not?

And so like I said, this is a picture of salvation. So Lord, remember me. And as she continued to pray before Yahweh, Eli observed her mouth.

Hannah was speaking in her heart. Only her lips moved. And her voice was not heard.

Now a little bit of a side note. There's a group of people within evangelicalism today that say that in order to have your prayers answered, you have to speak things into existence.

That your words have power. And so they decree and declare things. Did she say anything with her mouth?

Did God hear her prayer in her heart? So don't ever think for a second

God cannot hear you if the only way you are praying is in here and not just with your mouth.

Does that make sense? You go ahead and you pray any old way you want to. Your words don't need to be spoken for God to hear them.

So there she is. She's praying and she's weeping. And she's got to be a mess. I don't know if you've noticed this about human beings.

When we weep, we tend to get disheveled pretty quickly. Quite the ordeal. The eyes turn red.

The waterworks are flowing. Oftentimes mucus starts running uncontrollably out of your nostrils.

It's just a horrifying scene. So here's this woman. She's weeping and pouring out her heart to God.

And she's not saying any words. Her lips are moving, but everything she's saying is inside of her heart and she doesn't care about anything around her.

And so Eli the priest said to her, actually he took her to be a drunken woman, and he said to her, how long will you go on being drunk?

Put your wine away from you. And now Hannah speaks. No, my

Lord. I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before Yahweh.

Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman. All the day long I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.

Okay. Important word to note. Worthless.

This is a recurring word in the Old Testament. Worthless is a word used of those who persist in sin and unbelief.

It's a scary word. So don't consider me one of them. I've been vexed in my soul and I've been pouring out my heart to Yahweh.

So Eli answered, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.

And she said, Let your servant find favor in your eyes. And then the woman went her way, ate and her face was no longer sad.

So there you are in the midst of your sufferings and trials and tribulation. You feel like God has totally abandoned you. Where are you,

God? You pour out your soul to him and just let it flow. And when you're done, wash your face, put on some nice clothes, get back to work.

So they rose early in the morning, worshiped Yahweh, and then they went back to their house at Ramah.

Elkanah knew her wife, Hannah, knew Hannah, his wife. Important word here, yadah.

In Hebrew, this is an important word, and it doesn't mean know, as in know the facts.

It's not data. This is talking about intimacy with his wife.

And over and again, scripture also refers to those who persist in unbelief as those who do not yadah,

Yahweh, who do not know him. So Elkanah knew his wife,

Yahweh remembered. Important words.

This do as often as you drink it into the remembrance of me. Who's remembering?

In due time, Hannah conceived, bore a son, and she called his name Samuel. For she said,

I have asked for him from the Lord. And Samuel means heard of God.

The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to Yahweh the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow.

Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him so that he may appear in the presence of Yahweh and dwell there forever.

Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him. Only may Yahweh establish his word.

A little bit of a note here. Culturally, this is going to be tough for us to understand. But in the ancient Semitic world, weaning of a child took place around the ages of four and five.

And I don't get it. When our kids were young, nursing, as soon as they got teeth or could talk, they were done.

I know there are people who are into that today. I don't get it.

But just keep it in mind. You need to understand, the age at which Samuel is going to be dropped off is not one and a half.

He's not an infant. He's going to be almost kindergarten age. That's how that works.

And by the way, they kind of used that as a form of birth control back then too. It's fascinating how that all works.

Yes, sir. Ma 'am. In my book here, there's a note that says

Samuel. Yeah, it means heard of God.

Heard of God. God has heard. So you can ask. It's asking with the idea that God has actually heard.

Does that make sense? So do whatever seems right. So the woman nursed her son until she weaned him.

And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her along with a three -year -old bull, an ephah of flour, a skin of wine.

She brought him to the house of Yahweh at Shiloh. The child was young. They slaughtered the bull and they brought the child to Eli.

And she said, O my Lord, as You live, my Lord, I am the woman who is standing here in Your presence praying to Yahweh.

For this child I prayed, and Yahweh has granted me my petition that I made to him.

Therefore, I have lent him to Yahweh as long as he lives. He's lent to Yahweh.

Hannah prayed and said, My heart exults in the

Lord. My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in Your salvation.

Now a little bit of a note here. I'm going to point this out. How does the Gospel of Luke start?

I know that Advent was 6 1⁄2 months ago. How does the

Gospel of Luke begin? It is an open book test.

Luke. The Gospel of Luke. How does it begin? What are the stories at the beginning of Luke 1?

Zacharias and the birth of who? John and Elizabeth. And who else?

Mary and Jesus. Notice, as we get into the first book that talks about the kingdom, we begin with a woman who miraculously conceives.

Notice that? Do you think that's a coincidence? There's a theme going on here.

Now I want you to take a look at Luke 1. And I want to read out part of the Magnificat to you.

In fact, I can probably read it all out. So remember when Mary goes to visit

Elizabeth and the baby inside of Elizabeth jumps and leaps and she's filled with the

Holy Spirit and she prophesies. And you know, what have

I done for my Lord to be here, right? Mother of my Lord. And Mary, who is the woman who conceived miraculously the

Messiah, listen to her response. My soul magnifies the

Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant.

For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is

His name. And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm.

He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.

He has filled the hungry with good things. The rich He has sent away empty.

He has helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy. And He spoke to our fathers

Abraham and to His offspring forever. Now hear

Hannah's song and tell me they're not the same song.

Hannah prayed, My heart exalts in Yahweh. My horn is exalted in Yahweh.

My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in Your salvation. There is none holy like Yahweh, for there is none besides You.

There is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly. Let not arrogance come from Your mouth, for Yahweh is a

God of knowledge and by Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength.

Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.

The barren has born seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.

The Lord kills and brings to life. He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich.

He brings low and He exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts up the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them He has set the world.

He will guard the feet of His faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness. For not by might shall a man prevail.

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Against them He will thunder in heaven, and the

Lord will judge the ends of the earth, and He will give strength to His King and exalt the horn of His Messiah.

Now thematically, these are identical thematically.

How the Lord saves, He exalts the humble, and casts down the proud.

The one who has many children is now forlorn. The one who had no children now has seven.

You see, it's the big reversal. And you'll notice it comes identically with how

Jesus comes. So Luke 1 and Samuel 1, they are cross -references to each other theologically.

They are cross -references to each other regarding the understanding of the kingdom.

This is a picture of our salvation. And it points us to Christ.

So when you look at the Old Testament, I don't know if you've noticed this, there are so many women in the

Old Testament who have the darndest time conceiving. And ultimately, the

Lord has to open their wombs. And once their wombs are opened, something amazing happens as a result of the child that's born.

And then we get to Jesus, the ultimate closed womb.

There is no womb tighter closed than a virgin's womb. And God opens her womb and puts his

Messiah in it. You see? So we get a little picture of Christ here in the story of Samuel.

Hannah is a stand -in for Mary a little bit. And here we've got this child who isn't even of the tribe of Levi who now is operating as a priest.

I know another fellow who is not of the tribe of Levi who operates as a priest.

His name is Jesus. Priest in the order of Melchizedek. You start to see how this all works.

See, these little details, they're not throwaway. The question is how do we pick them up and put them into the puzzle that points us to Christ?

Because that's really what's going on here. And then you'll note there that in Hannah's words is an explicit mention of Christ.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to His what?

King. And exalt the horn of His, and I'm going to leave it in Hebrew, Messiah.

Anointed there means Messiah. The Hebrew word is Messiah. Direct prophecy regarding Christ.

So now we have mention of a coming King. The Messiah would be the

Lord's King. Kind of starting to get it? I'm throwing it out there, slowing it down, just kind of churn on these things.

Churn on it. This is not a coincidence that Luke and 1 Samuel, they're picking up on the identical themes both at the same time and they're telling the story.

The Holy Spirit knows what He's doing. And if you know your Old Testament well, when you're reading the

New Testament, when you're reading the Gospel of Luke, you're sitting there going, I have heard this before.

I know this story. But somehow the names are a little different.

But it's the same story. Starting to get it?

Because now keep this in mind. Christ is prophet. Moses said a prophet like me will come.

He's priest. And He's King. So we get little pictures of this here and there.

So let's continue. So Elkanah went home to Ramah. The boy was ministering to Yahweh in the presence of Eli the priest.

And here's that word again. The sons of Eli were what? Worthless.

Worthless is the direct translation. Worthless. I want you to think about this.

The kingdom of God is like a fellow who went and sowed seed in a field and all by itself it grew up.

And at the harvest, he took a sickle to the grain and he harvested the grain, took it to the threshing floor, and he threshed it, and he kept the kernels and the worthless chaff he gathered up and burned in the fire.

The kingdom of God is like that. Worthless is a theologically charged word because those who persist in sin and unbelief are described as worthless.

They are likened to chaff. Chaff has no worth.

Chaff is burned up. Scary, isn't it? The kingdom of God is like that.

Now the sons of Eli were worthless. They were worthless men. They did not yadah.

And there it is. They did not yadah Yahweh. Remember Elkanah yadah his wife, knew his wife.

Here it says, the sons of Eli did not yadah Yahweh.

Know is not just mental assent to facts. Yadah is knowing the facts and knowing the person intimately.

Have any of you ever noticed that when a couple has been married for a long time, they become more and more like each other?

Has anyone seen this phenomenon where the longer they're married, the more they can complete each other's sentences, that without even communicating verbally, they know what each other are thinking?

It's the look. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a little bit more than I was trying to paint the positive picture.

You see, because I've experienced the laser beams from the eyeballs too. And I'm not saying I didn't deserve those laser beams.

I probably did. But yadah is when you know somebody so well, they don't even have to say a word.

You know exactly what they're thinking and what they need and you get right to it. It's the weirdest thing.

That's yadah. So here, the sons of Eli, and what are they doing? They're serving as priests in the tabernacle and they don't even yadah the

Lord. Which type of false teacher are they? Cain, Balaam, or Korah?

Which is it? Cain. Religious motion. No faith.

So do you think their religious motion is going to save them? Scripture says they're worthless.

They're absolutely worthless. They spoke against what was happening to Hannah, but Eli was not.

Oh yeah, this is worse. He forgets this sin in the tabernacle. So the custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered to sacrifice, the priest's servant would come while the meat was boiling and with a three -pronged fork in his hand, and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot, and all that the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself.

Think of it this way. This was the price of the priestly work. And you'll notice that sacrifices were eaten.

It's kind of an important piece of theology there too because we eat our sacrifice as well.

But the priest, his portion, was kind of by lot, if you would.

You take a fork, and while it's in the boiling water, stick the fork in, and whatever comes out, that's yours.

But these fellows didn't like that because what you do with the sacrifice is you drain all the blood out.

And I don't know if you've noticed this, but steak with no blood in it is no fun. I really like my steak to have a nice juicy red.

Oh, yeah. No kosher steaks for me. I want those non -kosher pagan steaks with the blood still in them, right?

So the custom of the priest, he got that, and so he thrust it, and all the fork brought up, that would be the priest's, what he took for himself.

And that's what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.

So these fellows are literally changing all the rules in their favor, and rather than eating meat that's had the blood taken out of it and boiled, they want steak.

And so they're going to take it by force. So if a man said to him, well, let me burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish, he would say, no, you must give it now, and if you will not,

I take it by force. Well, that sounds like godly behavior.

This is so Jesus -like, it's not even funny, right? These fellows have no faith. They have no fear of God.

They have no knowledge of Him. Now they're abusing the Lord's sacrifices and those who are bringing them.

Thus the sin of the men was very great, not just great, very great in the sight of Yahweh, for the men treated the offering of the

Lord with contempt. Samuel was ministering before Yahweh, a boy clothed in a linen ephod, not of the tribe of Levi, and his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

That had to actually be cute. That's one of those little details that tells you this is real historical narrative because the love of his mother is still there.

And funny enough, there's a little bit of a picture here of Christ in the temple when he's 12 years old.

There's a little typological anchor here. So Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say,

May the Lord, Yahweh, give you children by this woman for the petition she asked of Yahweh so then they would return to their home.

So indeed, Yahweh visited Hannah. She conceived and bore three sons and two daughters.

And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord. And there's that little hook that reminds you of Jesus.

Let me show you in the Gospel Luke chapter 2 real quick. It's the account of where Mary and them lost

Jesus. Can you imagine losing the Messiah? Okay. Luke 2, verse 41.

His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. Notice the theme here. It says of Hannah, and they would go up to the temple every year.

And now we have Mary and Joseph doing the same. They went up to Jerusalem at the Feast of the

Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy

Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it. But supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey.

But when they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him.

After three days, they found him in the temple. You've got to pay attention to that third day stuff in Scripture. Just saying. And sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions.

And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished.

And his mother said to him, Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.

And he said, Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house?

And they did not understand the saying that he had spoken. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.

And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Look at our text in 1 Samuel. And Samuel grew in the presence of the

Lord. Similar things. You should be saying to yourself, I've heard this stuff before.

This can't possibly be a coinkidink. Because it is not a coinkidink. The Holy Spirit knows what he's doing.

Now, how many of you, how many of you, for years used to think, that Old Testament is the

Old Testament. It has nothing to do with the New Testament. Why do we even have that Old Testament? Oh, the

Old Testament's amazing. Because who does it keep pointing to? Jesus. Right, yeah.

That's a good question. I think part of it, and this is going to have to be, you're going to have to send, this is a speculation, because you're asking a why question.

And without a text, I can't speak for God. So let me take a guess. If I had to guess. And so you can take it or leave it.

If I had to guess, it helps us understand how to rightly understand God's Word.

It gives us a way of knowing that we're on track. Does that make sense? And so by us saying,

I've heard this story before, and then when you see the cross references, it actually kind of, I don't know about you, but for me, it kind of gets me excited about what's in the text.

And it makes me think, I think I'm on the right track. Because it's all about Christ.

And when I can see the parallels, then the book actually comes to life. Otherwise, when you read the

Bible without really seeing these things, you read it and you sit there and go, why did I read that story?

What does this even mean? Who cares? You know, this is nonsense. But when you can see how it relates to Jesus, you sit there and go, oh my goodness, this is actually kind of cool.

You know, I think it helps in that sense. Plus, at the same time, because we human beings, we learn by story.

Over and again, we hear the story. We want to hear the story. We want to be a part of the story. We want to be engaged by the story.

So it's a lot like, well, when you have kids. Little kids. When you read them their bedtime story, what's the word that comes out as soon as you get to the end of the story?

Again. Again. Again. I want to hear it again. That's what my girls did.

You read the story. In the great green room, there was a telephone and a red balloon and a picture of the cow jumping over the moon.

There were three little bears sitting on chairs and three little kittens in a pair of mittens and a, you know, and a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush and a quiet old lady whispering, hush.

Good night, moon. Good night, cow jumping over the moon. Good night, stars.

Good night, red balloon. And when you're all done, when you're all done, she says again.

Again. Read it again. So I think there's a sense in that too. Exactly.

Yes. And the repetition helps. And when you're sitting there going, I've heard this story before.

Now it's being reinforced and now you can see how the type and shadow gives way to the substance who is Christ and the two stories, they come together and you sit there and go, oh my goodness,

God's been telling the same story for thousands of years. How did

I miss it? How did I not hear it? And it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful.

Let's read a little bit more about these worthless sons. Now Eli was very old. He kept hearing that his sons, what they were doing to all of Israel, how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Good grief. And Eli's doing nothing to stop this.

And he said to them, why do you do such things? You should have said to them, here's your pink slip.

Go find another job. For I hear of your evil dealings from all of the people. No, my sons, it is not good report that I hear the people of Yahweh spreading abroad.

If someone sins against a man, who will mediate for him? But if someone sins against Yahweh, who can intercede for him?

But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of Yahweh to put them to death.

This should sound a lot like Pharaoh hardened his heart, Pharaoh hardened his heart, God hardened

Pharaoh's heart. Because I want you to think about this. Their daily work, what did they do?

They killed animals, which were the sacrifices for the sins of the people of Israel.

So here you have some fellow who's committed a sin against the Lord, and he knows he has sinned.

And he knows that he is to bring the sacrifice. And here's the thing. Do you think that those who really feel the burden of their sin can offer these sacrifices with no feeling?

So they witnessed, no joke, men and women who are showing up and here's this spotless lamb that they have picked from their flock.

And they get there and they're at the temple, which is the tabernacle at the point.

And they present themselves to Yahweh and this is a sin offering. And out come the tears.

I have sinned against Yahweh. I have done this, that and the other thing.

And these priests take that sacrifice and they kill that animal, which is a physical, tactile, bloody, horrible affair.

Because if you've ever seen a lamb sacrificed, it bleeds until its throat is slit.

And over and again, these men in their daily work see the cost of our sin.

And as soon as they're off work, they're out behind the tabernacle smoking a cigarette going, Hey baby, how's it going?

How about you and me, we hook up tonight? Here's my digits. That's a little too modern.

They would slit its throat. Oh, they were required to bleed that animal out.

Okay, and that's everywhere. Now I want you to think about this. So these guys have literally hardened their heart against Yahweh.

For them, this is a job. They're eating steak every night and sleeping with whoever they want to, while these people are coming to have their sins forgiven by the

Lord. And they have no fear of God at all. And this happens day after day after day, visually, with their own hands and their own ears and their noses.

They are seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting the cost of sin. And they don't care a bit about their own.

It was eaten. Part of it was actually burned up and was consumed. But part of it was eaten.

Oh yeah, when the sacrifices are made, a part of the sacrifice is eaten. And it becomes like a family meal.

No joke. For the people bringing the sacrifice. Yeah. So part of it's consumed in the fire.

Part of it is eaten. No. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Right.

When it's all done, it's totally consumed. You know, but part of it's eaten. So I want you to consider what's going on here.

So God at this point, because of their persistence in sinning against Him, and sinning against the sacrifices, has now willed their destruction.

Dangerous, dangerous stuff. Very dangerous. And this is the kind of passage that makes me as a pastor take heed.

Unfortunately, I've lived long enough to see men who've abused the pastoral office for their own gain. Whether it's political power, whether it's money, or even a mistress.

Very dangerous stuff. All right, we'll leave there today.