We Profess Jesus

Jonathan advocated for David, saying to his father, “Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you. He took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?” [1]

Thus, King Saul, stopped persecuting his son-in-law, David. That is, until the Lord gave David another victory over his foes. Then, Saul reverted to trying to kill David once again due to his jealousy of David. [2]

David fled from his father-in-law, but his father-in-law sent messengers to arrest him. The Spirit of the Lord did an amazing intervention for David. What was it? The Spirit of the Lord came upon the messengers of King Saul and they began prophesying. Not, just once, but three times. He also came upon Saul so that Saul prophesied as well.

“Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. Then he also went to Ramah and came to the great well that is at Sechu. So, he asked, and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And someone said, “Indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah.” So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore, they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” [3]

Wow! Such grace! God let Saul and his messengers experience the Spirit of Truth. They had been believing lies against God’s anointed servant David. But when they went to destroy God’s anointed, God anointed them with His Spirit. God put truth in their mouths! Were Saul and his messengers forever changed by this experience? No, because they reverted back to a perverse spirit. The spirit of the antichrist! The antichrist spirit seeks to replace Christ with self. It is an hellish egoism from Lucifer himself.

The Satanic nature of Saul is illustrated by his leadership style. One day, he said to his servants, “Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of 1,000’s and captains of 100’s? All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me that my son [Jonathan] has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day.” [4]

Ah, but there was one among Saul’s servants who was willing to betray God’s Anointed One for the sake of the wealth that Satan would give him via Saul his servant. His name was Doeg. דָּאַג is Hebrew for “anxious” or “fearful.” The word is pronounced like our English word dog. Doeg was fearful and anxious about not having enough means to gratify his doggish flesh so he betrayed David and even went as far as putting to death an entire village of godly priests and their wives and children to earn Satan’s rations for him.

“Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, ‘I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.’” [5]

“Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, ‘Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me.’ But the servants of the king would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the Lord. And the king said to Doeg, ‘You turn and kill the priests!’ So, Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests, and killed on that day 85 men who wore a linen ephod. Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep—with the edge of the sword.” [6]

David wrote, “Because they [the wicked] do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them and not build them up. He [God] is the saving refuge of His Anointed.” [7]

The tide will turn against those who seek to be their own Messiah. Messiah means Anointed One. God is the saving refuge of His true Messiah. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that only Jesus Christ is Lord. [8]

Thus, we should glorify Christ alone: “Give unto the Lord, O you mighty one’s, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to His Name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” [9]

Only Jesus of Nazareth resurrected from the dead on the third day. “O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.” [10]

To scoff at Christ is to act foolishly arrogant: “When the scoffer is punished, the simple is made wise... A proud and haughty man —'Scoffer’ is his name; he acts with arrogant pride.” [11]

Because deliverance is from the Lord, not from human intervention: “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the Lord.” [12]

Another man named Saul acted with foolish arrogance against Christ until he met Him face to face. Jesus told Saul of Tarsus, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.” [13]

The Lord’s servant, Ananias, told Saul, “The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the Name of the Lord.” [14]

Saul did witness for Jesus Christ from that day forward.

Jesus declared, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” [15] The meek do not serve or fight for their egos. They acknowledge that God alone is God and they are not. And since God says that whosoever believes in His Son shall be saved, we believe in and we profess faith in Jesus God’s Son as our only Savior and our Redeemer.

[1] 1 Samuel 19:4-5
[2] 1 Samuel 19:6-17
[3] 1 Samuel 19:20-24
[4] 1 Samuel 22:7-8
[5] 1 Samuel 22:9
[6] 1 Samuel 22:17-19
[7] Psalm 28:3, 5, 8
[8] Philippians 2:7-11
[9] Psalm 29:1-2
[10] Psalm 30:3
[11] Proverbs 21:11, 24
[12] Proverbs 21:31
[13] Acts 22:6-8
[14] Acts 22:14-16
[15] Matthew 5:5