TEXT: Judges 21:25

SUBJECT: Christ in the Old Testament #13: No King in Israel

Today, with God’s help, we’ll continue our study of Christ in the Old Testament. Although His name does not appear in Judges, the Lord Jesus is its central figure. If you read it without Him, you find little more than a Mythology, with its flawed heroes and moral lessons.

But it is not a Myth and mustn’t be read as though it were. It is Salvation History. The Book shows us what we really are and what God did for us in Christ.

The text for today’s sermon is the whole Book of Judges. Which is summarized in one verse,

What does the verse imply? That Israel needed a King. Why did they need someone to rule over them? If you read the Book, you know why. Israel needed a King because…

…They were not able to rule themselves. Joshua and the leaders who outlived him kept the people in God’s service. But as soon as they died, 2:11-12,

"The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD,

When religion goes down, morals go with it. The Book reads like today’s newspaper. For example, we have the National Leader caught in a sex scandal. We have a pastor who corrupts himself for money. We have rioting homosexuals. We have a woman cut up into twelve pieces by her husband. We have civil war. We have a soldier seizing power and ruling as a dictator. On and on it goes.

Israel needed a king because they couldn’t govern themselves. That’s one reason. Here’s the other…

…They couldn’t protect themselves from foreign powers. In almost every chapter, we find Israel attacked, occupied, and oppressed by the enemy. First, we have the Mesopotamians, then the Moabites, the Philistines, then the Canaanites, the Midianites, then the Ammonites, and just to round things off, the Philistines once again.

In those days, Israel had no peace or security. They were in a constant state of war—and for the most part, on the losing side. Judges were given to lead the charge and to save them from their enemies.

What got them into such a mess? I’ve hinted at it already. It was sin. When they forsook God, He forsook them. The sins were both negative and positive. Negatively, they didn’t finish the job God gave them to do. They were told to annihilate the people of the land. To kill every last one of them—man, woman, and child. But, because of sloth and pride and foolishness, they didn’t obey the Lord and suffered the consequences, 2:20-21,

For centuries the people suffered conquest and oppression and deadly wars all because of what they didn’t do, 1:28,

If that wasn’t bad enough, what they did made things worse. They quit God and served idols. This provoked the Lord to wrath and He turned them over to their enemies time and time again.

The chaos wasn’t a short-term thing. It lasted for three hundred years. All this time Israel staggered from one crisis to another.

Why? Because they needed a King, but didn’t have one.

Did they want a King? Yes they did. They offered it to Gideon, though he wisely declined. His son, Abimelech, wasn’t so humble and took power, only to be killed in a civil war. Many years later, when they had a great Judge, Samuel, they demanded a King and wouldn’t rest till they had one.

Were they right in making the demand? No they weren’t. It’s true that Israel needed a King, but they wanted the wrong man for the wrong reason.

They didn’t want a King to rule them for God. No, they wanted a King to rule them instead of God.

Gideon knew what they were after. When offered the throne, he said,

And, of course, God knew the same. When they rejected Samuel, the old Judge was hurt, but the Lord told him not to be, for, He said,

"They have not rejected you,

They wanted a King, not so they could become more godly, but so they could be …like all the nations".

Israel needed a King. Not the man of their choice, however. They needed,

The LORD would give them a King. But in His own good time. God is not at our disposal. We can’t blackmail Him into doing what we want by holding our breath till we die! Or by throwing a temper tantrum or by sulking till He gives in.

The LORD can outwait us. With Him, "A day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day".

The LORD will give His People the King we need. But not yet. The people must wait.

In the meantime, however, God is still with them, giving them leadership in war and peace. The men (and one woman) are called "judges".

Who were they? They were persons chosen and equipped by God to lead His People.

Were they an impressive group? For the most part, they weren’t. Gideon had little courage and even less faith. Barak hid behind a woman’s skirt. Jepthah was impulsive; Samson was immoral; the others were pretty much nondescript.

Yet God used them to save His people from their enemies and to give them peace and prosperity.

Why did He choose such a sorry lot wimps and womanizers? I Corinthians 1:29,31 tells us why,

He chose these pathetic losers so that everyone could see that it wasn’t the muscles of Gideon or the wisdom of Jepthah or the holiness of Samson that saved the nation.

The Judges served two purposes, one was immediate, the other long-term. The former is obvious: They saved Israel from their enemies.

But that’s not all they did. The Judges also served a prophetic function. They pointed to something beyond themselves.

What was that? That pointed to the King God would give His People one day.

What they could do partially and for a short time, He would do fully and forever.

Who was that King? The writer of Judges probably thought he was David. And for good reason. The Judges pushed back enemies, but never fully conquered them. David did. He not only beat the foreign powers, but put them under tribute. They became part of his Empire.

Moreover, the Rule of David would not die with the king. When Ehud died, for example, Israel went back to its old ways and was occupied once again. But David would bring an everlasting peace to the nation. His Kingdom would know no end.

The writer of Judges—I think—looked to David as the fulfillment of the Judges. At long last, there was a King in Israel!

David was a fulfillment, of course. But not the whole thing. That must await a king more worthy than David.

Has He come? Yes He has. He is the Son of David, Jesus Christ out Lord.

What the Judges did in part, for a short time, and for a few people, Christ does fully, forever, and for a multitude no one can number.

Fully. The Judges saved God’s people from outward sins and visible enemies. They kept knees from bowing to Baal, but they couldn’t change hearts. No one can—no one but Christ.

He does. He not only changes what we do, but also what we are. Unlike other rulers, Christ rules us from the Inside Out. He gives us a new heart to love Him. This love for Christ enables us to keep His commandments.

Forever. When the Judge died, his influence died with him. But Christ lives forever. That means He gives us not just life, but eternal life. Eternal, both in its quality and in its quantity. That’s the argument of Hebrews 7:25,

For many. The Judges saved one nation (often only a part of the nation). But Christ didn’t come to save one Tribe or one nation, but

Christ came to redeem the world. And redeem it He will.

This means we are safe in Christ. The Judges not only fought for Israel, but they won for Israel. Despite their many flaws, every one of them saved the people from their enemies. Even Samson, at the cost of his own life.

As long as the Judge was alive and well, Israel was safe. The same is true for us. As long as Christ lives, we are secure. How long is that? He says,

We can trust ourselves to Christ. Nothing will separate us from His love. Not unpaid bills. Not the loss of a job. Not cancer. Not a runaway child. Not depression. Not fear. Not war. Not a bad president. Not a lifetime handicap. Not even death itself.

As long as Christ is here, we are safe.

The coming of Christ also means we must quit "Doing what is right in our own eyes". We have a King and He is Enthroned at God’s Right Hand. We must make our choices, therefore—not by what we want—but by what He wants.

The Lordship of Christ is more than words, more than a controversy, more than a doctrine. It is a choice you and I must make every day. For Him or against Him!

If He’s not King, let’s stop saying He is. But if He is King, let’s prove it—not by fine words—but by consistent and sincere obedience. In short,

The text for today’s sermon was the last verse of Judges,

Those days are over. There is a King in Israel—the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, His people, renewed by His Spirit, and led by His word, commit themselves to doing what is right in His eyes.

Jesus Christ is King.