“The scriptures…are they which testify of Me.” (John 5:39).
Israel was in bad shape. “The sin of the young men was very great before
the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.” (1Sam. 2:17).
The Israelite leadership was corrupted, therefore the Israelite people corrupted
themselves. How much longer could the Lord protect them and provide for them?
Before He would have to destroy them, the Lord acted for their benefit.
He chose a godly man and his godly, humble wife, Hannah, to
provide a savior for Israel. God would bring suffering and then sanctify mother
and father in order for them to give birth to, and be more prepared to train up,
a more easily sanctified son.
But, this humble woman needed utmost humility, and Jesus
knew how to make her humiliation happen. In the end, He knew she knew
her eternal indebtedness for receiving a miracle child. For this son she had poured out
her soul, and vowed to give her firstborn for the service in the temple. One day all too soon, her only begotten son, in whom she would focus her long awaited love, must leave her until the end of her life and be sacrificed for the sake of her sin-loving people.
“Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about
after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel,
saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.” (1Sam. 1:20).
This was such an amazing miracle because she had been one of
those statistics—a woman fated to be barren for life. But in her desperation, her
desperate prayer and vow were heard by a desperation hearing God. Her
desperation, combined with His immutable promise, transformed her hope into faith and
quickened her lifeless womb into a vibrant, functional one. By her desperate
faith she was healed. Then by His nature, and her nurture and godly training, the
child would be conceived, born, and raised a dynamo of faith and love and purity.
“This is the LORD’s doing; it it marvellous in our eyes.” (Ps. 118:23). “Wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good
pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself:… according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” (Eph. 1:8,9,11).
Her husband, “the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to
offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. But Hannah went not up;
for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and
then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for
ever.” (1Sam. 1:21,22).
No outside influences were to interrupt her round-the-clock
loving attention and perfect preparatory training in holiness and godliness for her little boy’s holy, flawless priesthood. All her love
and godliness she poured into his loving heart and developing intellect. All of
her focus was on this precious child who she must give up to her great Lord, as
she had vowed to Him that day. As well, her focus was also on Jehovah and the great needs of His people. The nursing years seemed like days, for the love
that she had for him. All too soon the time arrived for the terrible
ordeal, the delivery date.
“And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with
three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him
unto the house of the LORD in Shiloh: and the child was young.
And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli.
And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am
the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD.
For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my
petition which I asked of him:
Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he
liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.” (1Sam.
1:24-28).
A separation must take place. The redemption of the people demanded
a covenant by sacrifice. Every other child and mommy could live together for life,
with all the joys that attend their union. But, not so for this child and
mommy. Pain of grief must be endured by both mother and son. For this Jesus eased her
distress by giving her more children. But, although she received five more to
lighten her heart’s burden for special, beautiful Samuel, a mother’s heart can never substitute one
child’s love for another child that is missing. She can and does always find
room in her heart for each new addition to her little brood, and mourns over
even a single baby absent from the fold. Thus, Hannah’s thoughts never ceased for Samuel 12
months of each year while she waited for the next Passover feast that would require
them to go to the tabernacle.
Likewise Samuel, all year long remained active and busy
with temple matters. But the umbilical bond with his mother that had existed from birth
constantly intruded into his thoughts as he accomplished his duties.
In little Samuel’s self-sacrifice to sanctify a corrupted people we “behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). We see “the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:8).
Jesus has been the Mediator between the holy God and our
unholy human race when He took our planet under His wing. “How often would
I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings.” (Matt. 23:37).
But, that role as our Mediator caused a separation between Father and Son. The Father lent to Earth the only begotten, “the Beloved” (Eph.
1:6). Jesus’ middle name should have been, Samuel. God gave His Son to us, to remain one with us forever. “He gave Him to the fallen
race. To assure us of His immutable counsel of peace, God gave His
only-begotten Son to become one of the human family, forever to retain His
human nature. This is the pledge that God will fulfill His word…. In Christ the
family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together. Christ glorified
is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is enfolded in
the bosom of Infinite Love.” The Desire of
Ages, p. 25.
But, long before His incarnation, due to His uniting with Adam’s
race after they allied with Satan, a separation naturally occurred
between the King and His Beloved Prince. God must remain completely aloof from
rebellion in order to maintain the strength of His kingdom from sin’s ravaging—and, therefore He must remain aloof from His Son. All the while, lonely years would
lapse for the Son who longed for the unimpeded union that He had originally had with His Holy Father
until He would be finally destroyed with our rebellion painfully goading His body, mind, and soul. All the rejoicing and peace that had daily pervaded every cell of His body, every fiber of His being, now turned to burning wrath wracking every cell and fiber. The tormented
Father would permit His only Begotten to bare our egregious sins; then His agonizing
body of sin would be put away forever, that our body of sin might be forever put away with His, our old man yoked to Him and crucified with Him.
Thus, until that impeccable sacrifice would be accomplished
the Father and Son knew the stress and pain of the necessary distance that put
the Son away from the Most Holy Place of the Sanctuary of strength. Because of
humanity captive in the chains of darkness, He must endure a separation that constantly graded on His soul,
remaining outside of His beloved, Holy Father’s presence, beyond the sight of Him, until His incarnation.
Then His incarnation would separate Them even further, He being encapsulated in
a body that had a woefully compromised faculty for communion. Their eternal Spirit made it all doable. Later still,
Gethsemane and Golgotha would put on the capstone for a total, fatal,
separation.
As Hannah grieved in the loan of Samuel to be a boy priest
until he would grow into a holy high priest and righteous judge, so must have the
great God terribly groaned from the beginning of the world by loaning His Son to be
Priest until the times of the abomination of desolation should be fulfilled.
Then, like Samuel, the Messiah-Prince would take upon Himself the specially
weighty work of High Priest in order to cleanse His Father’s Sanctuary of
Strength and seal His children from sin.
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son
of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and
they brought Him near before Him.” (Dan. 7:13).
“And I saw another mighty Angel come down from heaven,
clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it
were the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire: and He had in His hand a little
book open: and He set His right foot upon the sea, and His left foot on the
earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when He had
cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.” (Rev. 10:1-3).
“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have
the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Rom. 8:22,23).
Now no more separation from His Most Holy Abba! His Abba will have a chosen generation who have overcome all their sins, and will be awaiting their redemption!
“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and
unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto
salvation.” (Heb. 9:28).
When He will have accomplished the heavenly sanctuary cleansing, then will “Michael your Prince”, “the Prince of princes” (Dan. 10:21; 8:25) don His Father’s Kingly garb and depart from the heavenly sanctuary.
“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince
which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of
trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and
at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found
written in the book.” (Dan. 12:1).
Beaming with joy and power like the Sun in full strength, He will return to claim His precious purchased possession. Their separation forever ended His reward is abundant beyond measure and powerfully destructive to a world usurped by Satan.
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He
that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth
judge and make war.
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many
crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself.
And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His
name is called The Word of God.
And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white
horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He
should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He
treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written,
KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Rev. 19:11-16).
