Destroy All

1 Samuel 15:3, 8, 9

“Destroy all” was a simple command from the LORD to King Saul. Amalek had attacked Israel in Exodus 17 while Israel was on the journey to the Promised Land. God is not slack in His judgment, so He now orders Saul to repay Amalek by destroying everything that they have, animals included. Saul had other plans though.

Typical of man operating under rebellion, Saul felt that he had a better plan, which included the destruction of the people of the Amalekites, but the sparing of the best of the sheep and the oxen and the fatlings, and the lambs, “and all that was good” (15:9), as well as King Agag.

Where Saul failed in his discernment of spiritual things is found in his failure to understand that there is nothing good with that which God has cursed. Amalek was under the judgment of God’s hand, thus they had nothing to offer God’s chosen people. By destroying Amalek, God was not only judging them for their actions, but He was sparing His own people and their future generations from dealing with these heathens again.

Saul leans to that side of himself that is still prevalent in mankind to this day: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Saul felt that he could identify that which was good and that which was evil. This is why he refused to destroy things that he felt could be useful to him and to his army, though God had specifically order such extermination. He even categorizes other things as “vile and refuse” and thus worthy of destruction. He did not know the heart of God in this matter which viewed ALL of it as “vile and refuse”.

Amalek is a type of the flesh and of sin, and thus all of it is deemed unusable by God. Christ came to completely destroy the power of sin and the flesh, leaving none of it unresolved at the cross. His death was a complete and total victory over the forces of darkness, not even sparing Satan himself. Jesus said of the devil that he was cast out as a source of power when God’s judgment came pouring into the body of Christ (John 12:31). Paul also said that Jesus “spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).

As if to show us what happens when sin is left unresolved, Saul is ultimately killed at the hand of an Amalekite (2 Samuel 1:13), in an enormous piece of Biblical irony, that was not at all coincidental. Thank God that we do not have to fear the return of our old man of sin, but that Jesus has already destroyed Satan’s power in our life. Our heavenly Saul “hewed Agag in pieces” just as old Samuel did when he arrived (1 Samuel 15:33). We are free from the fear of tomorrow because our Amalek has been dealt with today.

The Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 9:10

Did you know that there is a proper and an improper fear of God? David said that, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever” (Psalms 19:9), showing us that proper fear is pure and clean and it will last for all of time. Paul wrote to the Hebrews, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). Here, we see that there is “godly fear” which comes only from those who “have grace”.

Jesus was confronted by the devil in the wilderness with various temptations. One of those temptations was to take possession of the earth without going to the cross. Satan offered all of it to Christ if Jesus would only worship him (Luke 4:6, 7). Jesus refused, and said, “For it is written, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve’” (Luke 4:8). Notice that Jesus said, ‘it is written’, meaning that He is quoting from the scriptures. The only problem is that what He claims was written is not written!

Jesus puts two verses together, both from the book of Deuteronomy:

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 6:13).

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 10:20).

In neither verse do we see, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God”, yet Jesus says, “It is written”. In fact, the phrase, “Thou shalt worship the Lord they God” never appears in the Bible until Jesus says it in the wilderness. Rather than assume that Jesus is mistaken, we must take into account something of more importance.

Jesus is the author of Deuteronomy! John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, and then he writes, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus was there in the beginning and He was the inspiration for all of the Old Testament scriptures. As the author of the Old Testament, he retains the right to change the wording in the New Testament, thus, when He speaks to Satan in the wilderness, He is not confused, He is simply changing the wording to reflect the Spirit of the New Testament.

With the arrival of grace and truth in the form of Jesus Christ, God no longer wants man to have an unhealthy fear of Him. Now, instead of fear, Jesus changes the words to “worship the Lord thy God”. Every time you read of the fear of the Lord in the Old Testament, you have the right to insert “worship” in its place, for this is how New Covenant believers live. We do not fear our heavenly Father; we worship Him because He is so good.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). As a believer in Jesus Christ, remember that now, “The worship of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. The man who is wise enough to worship the Lord for who and what He is is truly wise indeed.

The Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 9:10

Did you know that there is a proper and an improper fear of God? David said that, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever” (Psalms 19:9), showing us that proper fear is pure and clean and it will last for all of time. Paul wrote to the Hebrews, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). Here, we see that there is “godly fear” which comes only from those who “have grace”.

Jesus was confronted by the devil in the wilderness with various temptations. One of those temptations was to take possession of the earth without going to the cross. Satan offered all of it to Christ if Jesus would only worship him (Luke 4:6, 7). Jesus refused, and said, “For it is written, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve’” (Luke 4:8). Notice that Jesus said, ‘it is written’, meaning that He is quoting from the scriptures. The only problem is that what He claims was written is not written!

Jesus puts two verses together, both from the book of Deuteronomy:

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 6:13).

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 10:20).

In neither verse do we see, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God”, yet Jesus says, “It is written”. In fact, the phrase, “Thou shalt worship the Lord they God” never appears in the Bible until Jesus says it in the wilderness. Rather than assume that Jesus is mistaken, we must take into account something of more importance.

Jesus is the author of Deuteronomy! John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, and then he writes, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus was there in the beginning and He was the inspiration for all of the Old Testament scriptures. As the author of the Old Testament, he retains the right to change the wording in the New Testament, thus, when He speaks to Satan in the wilderness, He is not confused, He is simply changing the wording to reflect the Spirit of the New Testament.

With the arrival of grace and truth in the form of Jesus Christ, God no longer wants man to have an unhealthy fear of Him. Now, instead of fear, Jesus changes the words to “worship the Lord thy God”. Every time you read of the fear of the Lord in the Old Testament, you have the right to insert “worship” in its place, for this is how New Covenant believers live. We do not fear our heavenly Father; we worship Him because He is so good.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). As a believer in Jesus Christ, remember that now, “The worship of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. The man who is wise enough to worship the Lord for who and what He is is truly wise indeed.

No Fear

Luke 4:5-8

We looked at Jesus in the wilderness a couple of days ago, showing you how Christ overcame the devil with the knowledge that He was God’s beloved Son, and that the Father was well pleased with Him. Now we return to that story, this time from Luke’s gospel. Satan left something out when he tempted Jesus, choosing not to remind Jesus that He was “beloved”. Jesus does some revision of His own, changing the wording of a passage of scripture when overcoming the devil.

The scenario is the second temptation recorded from the wilderness. In it, Satan takes Jesus to a high mountain and shows Him all of the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and offers Him the power and authority of the world. Satan has this right at that time, for the world had yet to be redeemed back to God through Christ’s finished work at the cross. His temptation was to give Jesus all that the cross would purchase, without the pain of going through with the sacrificial work. Whether Satan understood all of this or not is not completely clear, but Jesus overcame this in the same manner as before; by returning to the Word.

Jesus answers the devil, saying, “Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Luke 4:8). When the text says, “for it is written”, we know that Jesus is quoting from the Old Testament. In this case, it is from Deuteronomy 10:20:

“Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.”

When Moses writes it in Deuteronomy it says, “Thou shalt fear the Lord…”, but when Jesus quotes it in Luke, he says, “Thou shalt worship the Lord…”. Why the change? Does Jesus not know the text? I think we can agree that Jesus knows His scriptures, as does the devil, and Satan doesn’t call Him on this error either. This is because it is not an error. Jesus, as the author of the original text, reserves the right to change it when necessary!

Christ is introducing the manner with which New Covenant believers should think of God. Instead of seeing Him as distant and angry, one to be feared and revered, He wants us to worship Him and feel His wonderful love for us. The Christian need not be afraid of their heavenly Father, for His entire wrath has been exhausted in the body of Jesus at the cross. You and I now worship Him in spirit and in truth, free from the fear of judgment.

This freedom to worship is in us because of the marvelous grace of God. Under Law, even Moses shook with fear when he heard from God (Hebrews 12:21), but “let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). Only those who rest in His grace have true, godly, holy fear.

Let the grace of God change your unholy fear of a wrath-filled God into a reverential, godly fear of a Father whose good pleasure is to give to you the kingdom. God bless!