Saul's sin is that instead of fearing the Lord and obeying
His voice he has feared people and obeyed them.
How difficult is it to see the reality that the God who made everything
and holds it in place is also the God who can bring it to an end in judgment
and therefore we should fear Him alone and obey His voice? Logic is one thing, that makes perfect
logical sense but because we see people we have fear of them rather than He who
is unseen. Flesh is weak and yet it
controls the spirit. Saul is a man like
many of us, believing the truth but lacking the courage of his
convictions. Ultimately his failure, his
sin, cost him the kingdom. Samuel did
him the favor of going with him and therefore not embarrassing him before the
elders of the people, Saul still has some desire to be well-thought of, but
Samuel never saw him again. When it says
the Lord regretted making Saul king, does it mean He didn't see how this would
turn out? No, the people needed to see
the folly of an earthly king who fit the part before they could desire a king
after God's own heart.
Luke says it isn't just dawn when the women went out, it was
early dawn, as soon as it was possible to go to the tomb without breaking
Sabbath. They couldn't wait to perform
this burial service for their Lord, the one who had loved them and whom they
had loved. What they find has them
completely perplexed, the stone rolled away and no body. They receive the truth as an angelic
visitation, and the reaction of the apostles shows that it will require some
special revelation for anyone to receive this word as truth. The first people who didn't believe Jesus was
resurrected from the dead are those closest to Him. They weren't prepared to hear and believe
such things, they knew better, no matter what Jesus had said and promised. They were certainly not prepared to believe
based on the testimony of women, who were not allowed to testify in court. No, they needed their own encounter before
this even seemed to be a plausible explanation for an empty tomb.
I understand the healing of Aeneas, paralyzed and bedridden
for eight years. It is certainly an act
of compassion to restore life to a man whose life had been virtually lost to
paralysis. Why though should Peter
restore life to Tabitha? She was a
disciple, a woman apparently beloved by
the community of believers at Joppa. Why
would she want to come back to this life if she had entered that greater,
eternal life? Her earthly service was
not yet done, and even this bliss she was willing to lay aside in order to
continue to serve the Lord in this life.
We are told that because of this miracle many in Joppa came to
believe. The reality is that God is
moving and revealing Himself all the time to those who have eyes to see Him and
hearts prepared to receive. We need eyes
of faith, not just eyes of flesh, if we are to see Him.
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