1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 23:1-6, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41.
A). ANOINTING A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART.
1 Samuel 16:1-13.
Saul had rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD had rejected Saul from being king (cf. 1 Samuel 15:23), much to the grief of Samuel (cf. 1 Samuel 15:11) - but the LORD already had another man in mind for Samuel to go and anoint (1 Samuel 16:1).
Samuel was fearful in the going (1 Samuel 16:2). After all, Saul and he had not parted on the best of terms (cf. 1 Samuel 15:34-35). Perhaps there was nothing strange about Samuel going to make sacrifice, but the city elders in Bethlehem were also a little puzzled and alarmed (1 Samuel 16:4).
Nevertheless, as Samuel had told Saul (cf. 1 Samuel 15:22), the best path is the path of obedience. Samuel instructed the elders to sanctify themselves for the sacrifice, and personally sanctified Jesse and the seven sons he had with him for the sacrificial feast. Yet they would not sit down, said Samuel, until his secret mission was fulfilled (1 Samuel 16:11).
With hindsight, we can surmise that it had been the LORD’s purpose all along for Israel to have a king. Samuel still had to learn that the ideal king was not the tallest (1 Samuel 16:7), as had been Saul (cf. 1 Samuel 9:2), but must be ‘a man after God’s own heart’ (cf. 1 Samuel 13:13-14). None of the seven sons of Jesse who passed before Samuel’s eyes was the accepted one - it must be that other one, tending the sheep out in the fields - “Bring him,” was the terse command of the Seer (1 Samuel 16:11).
How easy it is when the church finds God’s chosen man to slip back into our own criteria. The writer draws our attention to all the usual attractions: his healthy red face, his beautiful countenance (or is it ‘an eye for beauty’?), his good looks: but these are not what commend him to God - it is what is within, as we have learned (1 Samuel 16:7). “Arise, anoint him, for this is he,” said the LORD (1 Samuel 16:12).
Samuel obediently took the horn of oil and anointed the young man amid his brethren. Oil is associated with the Holy Spirit, and after the anointing the Spirit ‘rushed upon' David (named for the first time here). Significantly, considering Saul’s loss of the Spirit’s presence (cf. 1 Samuel 16:14), the Spirit remained upon David from that day forward (1 Samuel 16:13).
There is another King in Israel who can be described as ‘a man after God’s own heart,’ who could say of Himself, ‘I am He’ - or just simply ‘I Am’ (cf. John 18:5-6). This King, in His inaugural address, announced that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, because He had anointed Him to proclaim the gospel (cf. Luke 4:18-19). This King is Jesus - known to some as ‘great David’s greater Son’ - in whose name we are gathered today.
B). THE SHEPHERD PSALM.
Psalm 23:1-6.
1. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD.
Psalm 23:1-3.
When King David was a boy, he used to look after his father’s sheep - so he knew what he was talking about when he spoke of the LORD as his shepherd. As we all know, a “shepherd” looks after sheep. David led the sheep, but the LORD led David.
Yet one day the LORD called David away from that life of looking after sheep, and after many adventures David became king of Israel (Psalm 78:70-71). Instead of leading sheep, he was to lead God’s people. Now, more than ever, King David needed to follow the leading of the LORD God.
King David could look back on his life as a shepherd boy, and remember the times when God had helped him. One time a lion tried to steal a lamb. Another time a bear tried to steal a lamb. Both times the LORD helped King David rescue the lamb (1 Samuel 17:34-35).
Psalm 23:1. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not lack anything.”
Another Psalm tells us that there is ‘no good thing that the LORD will withhold’ from the people who walk in His righteous way (Psalm 84:11).
Jesus said that when we seek God’s kingdom, and His righteousness, He will provide for us all that we need (Matthew 6:33).
Psalm 23:2. “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” For a sheep, this means delicious green grass.
“He leads me beside still waters” – rather than scary noisy fast-running water in which the sheep might drown.
Sheep sometimes do silly things. I can remember seeing a sheep that had wandered onto the shore because it saw a nice piece of grass in the shallow water. When the tide started to come in, that silly sheep nearly got drowned.
God does not give us permission to go into silly places.
Psalm 23:3. “He restores my soul.” The shepherd rescues the sheep from dangerous and forbidden places. The LORD restores the life of His people.
“He leads me in the paths of righteousness” – the shepherd knows where the right paths are, and leads the sheep there. The LORD has given us His Word, the Bible, to guide us and to teach us in His ways.
“For His name’s sake.” The shepherd looks after his sheep properly so that people do not think that the shepherd is silly. When we disobey God, we dishonour His name.
Jesus is the good shepherd, who gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11). The shepherd calls His own sheep by name, and He leads them out. Those who hear the voice of Jesus will follow Him, and He leads us beside the still waters, and into the paths of righteousness (Psalm 23:2-3).
Jesus is the Shepherd of Israel (Psalm 80:1): but His flock (His people) includes those out of every nation, throughout all of time, who follow Him.
2. A SHEEP’S RESPONSE TO THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
Psalm 23:4-6.
‘All we like sheep have gone astray’ (Isaiah 53:6). Yet when we know Jesus as our Good Shepherd (John 10:14), we have full bragging rights (Psalm 23:1-3). One of the distinguishing marks of the Good Shepherd is His compassion towards an otherwise leaderless people (Mark 6:34).
Having told the other sheep about the Good Shepherd, the sheep now addresses Him in person. “You” are with me; “your” rod, and “your” staff comfort me (Psalm 23:4). “You” prepare a table before me; “you” anoint my head with oil (Psalm 23:5).
Finally, just in case the sheep still has fears in the dark valley (Psalm 23:4), the Psalm ends with the reassurance of a personal reflection (Psalm 23:6). The Lord is our Shepherd (Psalm 23:1), we might say, and His compassions they fail not (Lamentations 3:22-24). ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us’ (1 Samuel 7:12).
In the valley, death is only a shadow (Psalm 23:4). Since I am walking in the paths in which the Good Shepherd is leading me (Psalm 23:2-3), I need not yield to fear, for He is with me; His rod, and His staff they comfort me (Psalm 23:4). Countless times in the Bible we hear the LORD, His angel, and Jesus saying, ‘Fear not’ (e.g. Isaiah 41:10; Luke 2:10; John 16:33).
The “comfort” of the rod and staff is that they ward off enemies, but also keep me on the right path (Psalm 23:4). We have the ‘comfort’ of the Holy Ghost (John 14:26). This includes both direction and discipline.
The “table” is a place of feasting (Psalm 23:5). For the sheep, this is a plateau, previously prepared by the good shepherd. Cleared of noxious weeds, it is lush with the best grass.
There are both literal and spiritual applications of this concept for the believer. Just as the LORD provided manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16:31), so He provides our daily bread (Matthew 6:11). Yet in the Bible He also feeds us with His words, and they are a delight to us (Psalm 119:103); ‘the words that I speak,’ says Jesus, ‘they are spirit, and they are life’ (John 6:63).
Enemies (spiritual predators) can only look on when I am in the care of the Good Shepherd (Psalm 23:5). Our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, is pacing up and down, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Yet he can come no nearer than the Lord allows (Job 1:12; Job 2:6).
“Anointing” (Psalm 23:5) is salve for healing, and the application of oil to deter parasites. It is also grease for the rams’ horns, to stop them from battering each other to death! The Lord tends to our spiritual injuries, and daily applies the ministry of the Holy Ghost to our individual situations.
The “overflowing cup” (Psalm 23:5) speaks of the kind of medicine that the shepherd might administer to the sheep in times of chill. It is a metaphor for the abundance that the sheep finds when it rests under the good shepherd’s care. The concept of blessings ‘running over’ appears also in the New Testament, as a response to our obedience to Jesus (Luke 6:38).
The cup of Christ’s suffering, which he drank to the full (Mark 10:38; Mark 14:36), fills our cup with an abundant overflowing of spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). Whatever we are suffering, He has been there already: rest in Him!
In the final verse, the sheep reassures itself that the mercy and love of the good shepherd have ‘got my back.’ David is saying, on our behalf, “my dwelling will always be with Him” (Psalm 23:6). This is a response of faith to all that has occurred so far, a response of confidence in the present, and a response of assured hope concerning all that is yet to come.
Let us pray (Hebrews 13:20-21).
C). AWAKE THOU SLEEPER!
Ephesians 5:8-14.
I. Paul contrasts what believers once were (darkness) with what we now are (light in the Lord) (Ephesians 5:8).
i) We are to walk IN the light (1 John 1:7), for the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:22-23) IS the fruit of light (cf. Ephesians 5:9);
ii) We HAVE the light of life (John 8:12), because the promise was and is “Christ SHALL give you light” (Ephesians 5:14);
iii) We need to recognise that there is a sense in which we ARE the light (Matthew 5:14; Acts 13:47): We are “now light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8).
We are to live accordingly “as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8), operating from the perspective of our native environment (the light). This will inform both our style of life - “discerning what is acceptable to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:10); and the kind of company we keep - “having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” (Ephesians 5:11).
It is light that overcomes darkness, not vice versa (John 1:5): so we are not to be assimilated to the world around us, but rather to influence it for the better by living out our lives in “all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9).
LIVE by the light, and you will expose the darkness (Ephesians 5:11-12). This does not involve us self-righteously criticising others, but simply BEING WHO WE ARE: “light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8). It is possible that even the very darkness (which our souls once were) might yield to the intrusion of light (Ephesians 5:13).
II. Ephesians 5:14 might be translated: “Arouse, sleeper, and rise up from among the dead, and Christ will (shine upon, give light to enlighten) you.”
i) Perhaps sleepers sleep because they are sleepy. Still, we have to arouse with the bugle call, the alarm clock that warns us not to be late. Get yourself up and off to work while you still have a job to go to.
ii) Perhaps the sleeper is sick. To such Jesus says, ‘ARISE, take up your bed and walk’ (John 5:8). At the word of Jesus, that which was broken is mended. Jesus subsequently went on to use the same verb of the Father ‘raising’ the dead (John 5:21).
iii) Perhaps we are just sick of life, sick of sin, sick of self. To such Jesus says, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’ (Matthew 9:2) - for which is easier to say, ‘Sins are forgiven you’ or ‘ARISE and walk’? (Matthew 9:5).
iv) The sleeper here in Ephesians 5:14 is envisaged as in a worse state than these: it is the sleep of death. This is literal physical death, as explained by Jesus (John 11:11-14) - but over this, too, Jesus has the last word: ‘I go that I may AWAKE him out of sleep.’ Jesus called Lazarus by name, ‘and he that was dead came forth’ (John 11:43-44).
v) There is still another, yet worse, kind of sleep. It is to be ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (Ephesians 2:1). For such Christ is still standing outside the tomb of their life, just as surely as he stood outside the tomb of Lazarus: and still He graciously calls, “Awake, you sleeper!” (Ephesians 5:14). If we refuse, it is our own fault: and beyond this there is only the prospect of ‘the second death’ (Revelation 2:11; Revelation 20:14).
‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me’ (Revelation 3:20).
III. Ephesians 5:14 also resolves the tension between darkness and light which is thematic of Ephesians 5:8-14: “Christ shall give you light.”
i) This first calls us ‘out of darkness into His marvellous light’ (1 Peter 2:9).
ii) Then it informs us as we walk with Him: what shall I do, how am I to do it, how am I to understand this? Answer: “Christ shall give you light” (Ephesians 5:14).
D). A MAN BORN BLIND.
John 9.
This whole chapter contains the account of the healing of a man born blind, and provides a commentary on the significance of this the sixth “sign” in John’s Gospel. The man born blind (John 9:1) represents every man, for just as he was born without physical sight, so are we all born spiritually blind (Romans 1:21). Some of that spiritual darkness is even manifested in the disciples’ desire to pin the man’s specific illness to a specific sin (John 9:2).
Jesus is quite emphatic in stating that not every illness can be traced to a specific sin (John 9:3). Sometimes it can be, as seems to have been the case with the man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:14). However, we must take to heart the warning of Jesus about this kind of cruel and judgmental attitude towards the suffering of others (Luke 13:1-5).
The Lord suggested that the blindness was allowed so that God, through Jesus, could manifest His works in the man (John 9:3-4). Jesus had already proclaimed Himself to be the “light of the world” for all who walk in darkness in the second significant “I am” saying of John’s Gospel (John 8:12). Now Jesus presented Himself as the solution to this man’s blindness (John 9:5).
Jesus had healed the nobleman’s son with just a word (John 4:50; John 4:53), but on this occasion our Lord chose to use means. He made a mudpack of clay and spittle to anoint the eyes of the blind man, and then sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam (John 9:6-7). John is careful to inform us that Siloam means “sent” - and it is in going at Christ’s command that the healing process is completed (John 9:7).
Asked by his neighbours how it was that he was now seeing, the man born blind replied that “a man called Jesus” had anointed his eyes and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam (John 9:11). Confronted by the Pharisees he said: “He is a prophet” (John 9:17). As we reflect on what Jesus has done for us in bringing us out of darkness into light we have a growing perception of who He is.
There were some who doubted that the now seeing man was even who he said he was, so the man’s parents were summoned. They confirmed that this was indeed their son, and that he was born blind, but they said that they did not know how he had been healed. In reality, they were afraid that if they acknowledged Jesus they would be excommunicated (John 9:22).
The Pharisees summoned the man again, and told him, “Give God the praise” (John 9:24). Ironically, this is not an encouragement to praise God for the miracle, but rather a call to repent of his supposedly mistaken notions concerning Jesus. There is an ominous, threatening note, reminiscent of the summons of Joshua to Achan (Joshua 7:19).
The experience of the new convert does not always fit into the neat theological systems of the religious people who should be encouraging him. The man born blind did not pretend to have all the answers, but “this I know,” he said: “that, whereas I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25). Questioned again, he had had quite enough: “He opened my eyes” (John 9:30); “If this man were not of God, He could do nothing” (John 9:33).
The Pharisees were incensed with the audacity of this vulgar man daring to teach their superior selves, and there is a grave irony in the fact that they now pronounced that the man born blind had been “born steeped in sins” (John 9:34). Jesus had already indicated to his disciples that this was a wrong way of thinking (John 9:3). Unlike his parents (John 9:22), the man born blind was willing to face the social and economic consequences of his growing understanding and allegiance to Jesus: he was expelled from the synagogue (John 9:34).
The man born blind was now healed, but he was an outcast, ostracised by the society in which he lived. Jesus sought him out, and raised him from physical healing to saving faith (John 9:35-37). The ultimate level of spiritual perception concerning the Person of Christ came when the man professed faith, and prostrated himself at the feet of Jesus (John 9:38).
Jesus is the light of the world, and as such he brings the light of life to those who will follow Him (John 8:12). Conversely, the light only casts the shadow of judgement for those who will not come to Him (John 9:39-41; John 3:18-21). Significantly, Jesus accepts the worship of those who believe in Him (John 9:38).
