The Sins and Signs of Saul
A Word on Salvation
According
to Scripture, (1 Samuel 8:1- 1 Sam. 31:13) Saul’s sins were,
1. Not completely destroying everything in an evil city in Israel. He allowed
the king and the livestock to live.
2. Not waiting on God’s Man, Samuel to come and do the sacrifice,
3. And by going to a witch with a
familiar spirit for guidance, instead of going to God.
I have always felt sorry for Saul. It seems
like he is judged harshly by God for his sins. He loses the kingship, and he is
killed by his enemies along with his son and ultimately his family. (1 Sam.
31:1-13) I look at my own life, and I have done so many things, that it makes
me feel as though I have done worse than Saul. So, if God treats Saul this way,
how will He treat me?
Now, over
the years I have heard preachers use this story of Saul to preach a works based
doctrine of salvation, saying that Saul was slain for disobedience, so you
better obey too, or you’ll be slain or suffer. I have also heard this text
being used to claim that a person can lose their salvation.
But, as I
studied Saul’s life, I believe the Lord showed me that this story is actually a
picture of all of our salvation experiences, and that Saul never really
accepted the Lord. This story is a picture of someone rejecting Christ. Yes,
Saul disobeyed, but his disobedience was in specific areas that spell out
something bigger. It is not that Saul sinned, we all sin. But, Saul sinned in
such a way that it paints a picture, and God uses that picture to show us
something.
First,
Saul is called by God to be king, not because of anything Saul has done. God Himself
chose Saul, after the people called for a king. Likewise God calls us. He calls
all humans to come to Him and to have an inheritance, and to rule with him as
priest/kings. It’s not because of any good we have done, or any special thing
about us. We can accept or we can hide and reject. It can be argued whether
Saul really accepted or not. He became king. But, did He accept the Lord? Did
he confess God as his King? (1 Sam. 8:1- 10:27)
Second, Saul
did not wait on God’s man Samuel to show up to do the sacrifice. He let the
world around him dictate what he should do, instead of what he knew to do. So,
he did the sacrifice himself. (1 Sam. 13:1-14)
This is a
picture of a person who seeks to save themselves instead of letting God’s man
Jesus Christ save them. Jesus Christ is the sacrifice that washes away all sin,
give it to Him. You cannot do the sacrifice. You cannot save yourself. The fact
that you think you can save yourself or help God save you, or rid yourself of
sin, is proof that you do not realize how wretched you and I are. Saul did not
see the depth of the evil in the people who corrupted the land, and he did not
see the reason why he could not do the sacrifice for himself. You do not want
to stand before God, doing the sacrifice for yourself.
Next we
see that Saul went forth to battle; as king his main job was to remove the evil
from the land, especially as it resided in the Canaanite people who lived there
before. Their past associations, with demonic entities, and demonic bloodlines
utterly corrupted them, and Saul was to totally destroy them, and everything
about them. If he left anything it would become a thorn in the side of the
people of God. But, Saul did not do it. (1 Sam. 15:1-34)
Likewise,
we are to be broken by our own past sin and wickedness in our “land” or lives.
We are totally depraved and evil. We are in the camp of the Enemy, and
associating with demons. We are to realize this about ourselves, as God reveals
it to us. We are to desire to get rid of this within us, even though we do not
know the entire depth of our evil. We are to want God to wipe it out and
cleanse us. Just like cleansing out the evil in the land. We want all of it
gone and killed off. If we try to keep our pet sins, those things will grow up
as a thorn in our side, and plague us.
Saul was
not totally grieved and totally opposing the enemy in Israel. He did not see
how corrupted the Canaanite people were, so he allowed evil to continue. We
need to desire for God to cleanse us of all unrighteousness, and remove it all
from us. Things we leave behind can get worse and make us worse. Here is where preachers will preach works.
Yes, you need to struggle with the things in your life that is not pleasing to
God. He often leaves those things for us to struggle with and grow from, and to
keep something worse from coming upon us. But, you must realize that you cannot
get rid of Sin yourself. Only He can do that. Only he can kill it all. Give it
to Him. Like Paul’s thorn in the side, His grace is sufficient for us. There
are things we won’t get rid of, but we must still desire for it all to be gone.
The
fourth thing is that Saul went to seek help or instruction, or salvation from
something other than God. He sought help from the enemy or demonic entities,
not God. (1 Sam. 28:1-25)
Likewise,
we humans often seek salvation, help, wisdom, comfort, peace, or anything else
from things other than God. If your help comes from anything other than God,
then you have rejected Him, and embraced the enemy. I’m not saying that we
cannot study many subjects, but it needs to be under God’s guidance, and be
looked at through the lens of what He wants us to know to be true. We reject
God in many ways in our lives. We sin. We have idols. But, that is not the same
as totally rejecting God. Just turn back to Him, and tell Him about it, asking
Him to forgive and save you.
So,
that’s the bottom line. Saul is a picture of a person who God has called, and
even did miracles for, but he never really accepted God. The person never saw
how wicked they are, or to have the evil removed from the ‘land” of their
life. He is a picture of someone who sought
to solve the problem of sin for himself instead of trusting God, and letting
God make the sacrifice through Jesus Christ.
He is a
picture of someone who sought salvation everywhere but with God, and found the
Enemy and death instead. We must realize how utterly evil we are and throw
ourselves on God’s mercy confessing Jesus is the Lord, and letting Him save us.
Anything else would be like Saul. (Romans 10:9-10)
I would
like to add that Saul is an example of God using His Word to show us layers of
truth. Because, while everything I said above is 100% true. It is also true
that Saul is a picture of the Anti-Christ to come. It is a picture of what is
coming upon the Earth, before the return of Jesus.
First,
like Israel in the story, the world will be lawless, and the people will reject
God, and desire a King to rule over them. God will let them have their own way,
and the King that they elect will be the Anti-Christ. He will be anointed as
their savior in times of trouble. He will prophecy, and have a form of
godliness, and spirituality, but not from God.
Second,
he will stop all efforts to remove evil from the land. He will oppose all
that’s good, and make war with the saints, and overcome them. He will let the
evil one have his way, and grow.
Third, he
will make the sacrifice himself, in the temple of God. He will claim to be God
most high.
Finally,
he will open himself up to an evil Spirit, which will be Lucifer himself. And
he will be destroyed in battle.
These
things are coming quickly. Be determined in your work to serve the Lord, and
lead people to know Him. Get on fire, and step out. He will be with you.
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Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called "The Future is Coming" and is a collection of dystopian short stories.
Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/
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Photo by the Author. The Bald Knob Cross of Peace in Southern Illinois.
