Your Leader

1 Samuel 12:1-2 – Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day.

1 Samuel 8:3,7 – But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice…And 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.

1 Samuel 11:15 – So all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king in the presence of the Lord. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the Lord, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.

Psalm 23:1 – The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

Micah 2:13 – The One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the Lord at their head.”

John 10:9-11,14-16,25-26,28,30 –  I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd…Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep…I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand… I and the Father are one.”

Application:

• ·         Anticipations of kingship in Israel are present already in the Pentateuch; Samuel is therefore instructed to listen to the people’s request.
• ·         Saul had previously been anointed in private by Samuel at Ramah and publicly selected as the king-designate at Mizpah. Now at Gilgal Saul is inaugurated as God’s chosen king and formally assumes the privileges and responsibilities of this office. Here the rejoicing is the expression of people who have renewed their commitment to the Lord, confessed their sin and been given a king.
• ·         Perversion of justice through bribery was explicitly forbidden in Pentateuchal law.
• ·         Shepherd was a widely used metaphor for kings in the ancient Near East, and also in Israel. In Psalm 23 David the king acknowledges that the Lord is his Shepherd-King.
• ·         Shepherds might risk danger for their sheep, but they expected to come through alive.
• ·         Jesus said that the good shepherd is willing to die for His sheep.
• ·         “I know…my sheep know” indicates a deep mutual knowledge, like that of the Father and the Son.
• ·         “The gate” is the one way into salvation. Inside there is safety, and one is able to go out and find pasture, i.e., the supply of all needs.
• ·         The thief’s interest is in himself. Christ’s interest is in His sheep, whom He enables to have life to the full.
• ·         “Other sheep” already belonged to Christ, though they had not yet been brought to Him. “Not of this sheep pen” are those outside Judaism. Here is a glimpse of the future worldwide scope of the church. All God’s people have the same Shepherd.
• ·         Eternal life is Christ’s gift.
• ·         The sheep’s security is in the power of the shepherd, who will let no one take them from him.
• ·         The Father’s power is greater than that of any enemy, making the sheep completely secure.
• ·         The Father and the Son are one in essence or nature, will and purpose, but they are not identical persons. This great truth is what warrants Jesus’ “I am” declarations.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV