Before God ever gave us words, he launched the dictionary of life in the visible world of trees and ants, stars and soil and water. Whenever we use a word, it comes with a physical counterpart in the tactile universe of material things. A stallion is not merely a word, but a strong, virile horse whose beauty and power have captured men’s imaginations for centuries.
In his endless wisdom, God has also established physical works of redemption whereby He may reveal himself to us. We are invited to:
1) see the “Genesis flood” as cataclysm and judgment for sin's pernicious effects,
2) experience the “Red Sea” as mighty deliverance from Egypt and unto God (in the Promised Land),
3) feel thunderous Mt. Sinai (Ten Commandments or Decalogue, meaning “ten words”), fearful revealer of man's distance from God's holy standard,
4) gasp at Solomonic wisdom as precursor to Christ, who made unto us wisdom (1 Cor. 1:30)
5) wince at Jonah’s “ship-to-shore” obedience, sign of Jesus' earth-bound death (Mt. 12:39). The Bible is certainly graphic and pictorial.
Christ: God in Pictures
So, when Jesus is termed the Word come in flesh (John 1:1-14) we eventually realize that ere Jesus came we had already understood the purpose of words, (i.e., “a means of communication whereby thoughts are transferred from one mind to another”). Jesus is exactly that! Thoughts from God’s mind are transferred to ours via the person of Jesus Christ. We know God through Jesus. He is much more than that, yes, but he is not less. So important was this to our faith that John once again reiterates Jesus’ incarnation in empirical terms:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life . . .
Hot Means HOT!
After a child repeatedly disobeys the parents’ “do not touch,” the subsequent discipline connects pain with their warning, and makes future correction easier--hopefully. When very young, our son, David kept trying to touch our kerosene heater until we turned it off, let it cool to a tolerable temperature and then let him touch it. The pain then became associated with the word “hot.” Thereafter, when urged to comply with Mom or Dad, he knew it was for his own good. But "hot" was always thereafter MORE than just a word!
Defining “Good” and “Bad” Kings
God wisely chose Saul, who was “head and shoulders” above all Israel. Yet, Saul was most certainly not to become the “poster boy” of kingship according to God. No, that position was to fall to David, a “man after God’s own heart.”
Now, here’s the point of this illustration, God chose Saul presumably because he fit with what man tends to find attractive in order to prove to man the folly of such reasoning. After Saul had been rejected as king, Samuel was sent to anoint one of the eight sons of Jesse to be the next king. Upon what basis would he choose him? What would he look for, what characteristics, gifts or tendencies? The presumption would’ve been to take the eldest.
The main point here is that God, through Saul’s failed reign built a memory that set the table for the serving up of the next king. After viewing and rejecting Eliab, the eldest son, God “took advantage” of their brief history and stated, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance [which is how they ended up with Saul], but the Lord looks on the heart[David]” (1 Samuel 16:7).
Since Sunday School days, we had learned this lesson, one that does not appear in a manual of faith, but in actual, flesh and blood. To reinforce this lesson, God had to lay the groundwork for it in the failed reign of an otherwise exceptional candidate for the position to underscore that that alone was not a “deal-maker.” God sees differently than man. Merely to say that is not nearly so affecting as reading the horribly grave account of Saul and Jonathan. Forever etched on our hearts, we go forth not just with memorable stories but with living truths. Narratives draw the pictures that words build upon and drive home to the heart.
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