We presently find ourselves in a unique place in prophetic history. Ministries are tearing apart other ministries daily on social media. Our news channels are filled with moral failings of those in leadership, from the political arena to that of the Church. Historical bedrock doctrines are being replaced with the shallow hyperbole (man-made doctrines) of the man-pleasing carnal mind. While these new doctrines placate the flesh, they are nothing more than cisterns that cannot hold the water of the Kingdom! Even to the casual observer, we are standing on the precipice of what the writer of the book of Hebrews wrote about in Chapter Twelve, Verse Twenty-Six through Twenty-Nine.
Hebrews 12:26–29 (ESV)
26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
How long this shaking will continue or even where we are in the process of God’s planned revealing would be speculation on my part. However, the command of Almighty God requires the Remnant warrior to ensure that he is not divided in his allegiances. The days of riding the fence and casual Christianity are over. When the dust settles in this divine intervention in the lives of men, you will either be entirely in the Kingdom or on the outside, staring in.
In this article, I want to examine some of the perils of leadership. Over the past few months, the Holy Spirit has been continually focusing on the life of King Saul in my private devotionals. There has been a holy fascination with the cautionary tale of King Saul. Every minister (and every Remnant warrior, too) must address the lessons provided in the story of Saul. Truth be told, there are dangers in leadership at every level: from just beginning to move in leadership to those of established, successful leadership. Saul’s cautionary tale is that of success and comprised allegiances.
Saul’s Leadership Began with a Church Split
1 Samuel 8:1–6 (ESV)
1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.
In 1 Samuel Chapter Eight, Israel found themselves in a leadership crisis. While Almighty God served as both the God and King of Israel, his servants (i.e., judges) were causing problems. The sons of Samuel had become corrupt, a danger that persists even in the second generation of households that have been incredibly blessed by God. The blessings that originated in a faithful generation can be considered as a right to be abused by the next. The corruption of Samuel’s sons caused the people to reject the theocracy that God had established in Israel. Because of the sins of Samuel’s sons, the people rejected the kingship of God over them. The only other leadership form they were familiar with was the system of the world – a man serving as king. The children of Israel had not yet learned that when you begin following the ways of the world, the leaven of Babylon quickly begins to tentacle itself into the very fabric of your culture. You cannot follow the example of the world without eventually taking on the spirit of the world.
God Gives Saul Every Advantage to Fulfill His Role in Israel
1 Samuel 10:1 (ESV)
1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.
First, Saul was selected by God to fulfill the new leadership role. Then, Samuel anointed him to serve over Israel. Saul was chosen and then anointed, which can be said about every faithful minister of the Gospel. But God does not stop there. Saul’s instructions continue in this chapter.
1 Samuel 10:5–6 (ESV)
5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.
Now, Saul finds himself among the prophets in a praise and worship session. The Holy Spirit rushes upon him. This moment in Saul’s life was similar to an Acts Chapter Two experience. The Holy Spirit came upon Saul to serve in his new leadership role. In an Old Testament prophetic shadow, Saul was, in a sense, born again. Almighty God adopted the kings of Israel; therefore, the Spirit of Adoption came upon him, and he became another man!
The Hebrew word for another is ‘acher (akh-air’), which means “another, other, or different.” [1] The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT) points out that this word can mean “to be transformed” and can be used when referring to “another god.” [2] The latter definition is to explain the contrast in who Saul was before this event and what he had become after it: Saul became another man. Like the believer today, Saul had two natures dwelling in him: the old man and the new.
The Dichotomy in Definitions
As I read through 1 Samuel Chapter Eight, I noticed that the people and God were using two different words to express Saul’s role in Israel. The people demanded a “king.” The Hebrew word the people used was melek (meh’-lek). Melek only has one definition, that of king. [3] However, God had something else in mind.
1 Samuel 10:1 (ESV)
1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.
God did not appoint Saul to be king over Israel; He appointed him to be a prince. The Hebrew word used in this declaration from God is nagiyd (naw-gheed’). According to HALOT, nagiyd means “prince, officer, court official, head of a family, cult official, or leader.” [4] There is a vast difference between a prince and a king. In the United States, we are familiar with a democratic republic. We have been too far removed from a monarchy to fully appreciate what is being expressed in the Hebrew text. Especially in the ancient world, a king was a sovereign. In other words, a king is answerable to no one and can do anything that he pleases. We see this fact clearly in the book of Daniel with pagan kings. However, a prince is a son. A prince may serve as a leader in the family, an officer in the military, and a court official, but he had better heed the instructions of his father, the king! Throughout human history, many a prince has lost his head due to traitorous disobedience to his king/father.
God placed Saul in a position of delegated authority as both an adopted son and prince. If Saul feared the LORD and moved in obedience, Almighty God continued to anoint him for leadership, gave him military victories, and blessed all of Israel.
However, the people did not treat Saul as a prince; their expectation was for a king. The dynasty belonged to God and not man. Since Saul was adopted, the delegated position as an adopted son could be passed on to whomever the LORD Himself selected. The way the people of Israel treated Saul was like how nations in the pagan world treated their kings. Their expectations led Saul to shift from delegated authority to illegitimate authority, one drawn from the people. Saul slowly moved from the fear of the LORD to the fear of men.
In 1 Samuel, Chapter Fifteen, we find that the fear of men had taken hold of King Saul. He was instructed by God to destroy the Amalekites. When you read what Samuel told Saul in the first part of the chapter, Almighty God had a scorched earth policy regarding the Amalekites. Even the animals were to be destroyed. Yet, Saul did not completely carry out God’s instruction.
Saul kept back the best of the animals so that the people could take a spoil from the war they waged against the Amalekites. Saul also allowed the king of the Amalekites to live. (It is also believed that the queen of the Amalekites was able to escape. She would become an ancestor of Haman in the story of Esther.) It was a tradition among the pagan nations around them for the king of the conquering nation to spare the life of the defeated king, and then to make a public show of him. God’s ways are not the ways of the world. The Remnant warrior must always be aware of this fact and seek the ways of God’s kingdom in every situation. It is at this point that Samuel must confront Saul.
1 Samuel 15:17–26 (ESV)
17 And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22 And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” 24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” 26 And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
There are several essential things that we must take note of in this dialogue between Samuel and Saul.
The fear of men opened a door in Saul’s heart to justify his disobedience to God.
Saul’s disobedience fully manifested itself in a crucial time in both physical and spiritual warfare. His disobedience had prophetic implications that reached into future events of Israel.
Samuel informs Saul that his rebellion (i.e., disobedience) was a form of witchcraft, and his presumption of being like the world was both a form of idolatry and iniquity.
Even though Saul confessed that he moved out of fear of men in his disobedience of God, God’s judgment was final. God had taken back the kingdom from a man who forgot his place. God had made him a prince, but he chose to believe he could move into the kingship that the people had bestowed upon him.
When we read on in First Samuel, we discover that God did find another man to serve as His prince over Israel. This man’s name was David. Although the Spirit of God was upon David and enabled him to slay a giant and destroy the enemies of both God and Israel, the rejected leadership of Saul sought the life of the very one that God had anointed to become the next leader.
The sad truth is that historically, the same dynamic has played out repeatedly throughout Church history. The rejected Sauls of yesterday’s leadership have sought to destroy the anointed leaders of tomorrow. The same can be said of various movements of God. As a new wave of biblical truth is being rediscovered, the old guard of the former reestablished truth will seek to stop it from moving forward.
Although David was not perfect, he knew his place in God’s eyes. David saw how God raised Saul to power, how Saul forgot his place, and was rejected by God. In David’s heart, he was always an adopted son and a prince under the authority of the true king of Israel – Almighty God. David always feared God and heeded the voices of the prophets, even when they called out his sin. This allowed God to establish a dynasty in the house of David that He could not establish with Saul. It will be on the throne of David, in which one day, the Messiah will sit upon during the millennial reign.
As Remnant warriors and leaders, what we allow into our hearts and the actions we take have consequences that can far outlive us. It is paramount that we walk in the fear of the LORD and reject the fear of men at all costs.
The Solution is Found in the Bond Servant
The Jewish apostles of our faith fully understood the lessons of both Saul and David. While the leaders of their day, who moved in illegitimate authority drawn from the people, sought to lord it over the people, the apostles chose to be bondservants.
The word used in the original Greek by the apostles for servant/bondservant is doulos (doo’-los). Doulos means, “servant, bondservant, slave, and metaph., one who gives himself up to another’s will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing His cause among men.” [5] While various translators will vacillate between translating this important word as either “servant” or “bondservant,” I am convinced biblically that the proper translation should always be bondservant when referring to biblical leadership in the Church.
Understanding the Dynamics of the Bondservant in the Torah
The law of the bondservant has an unusual place in the instruction of God. We find the law of the bondservant in the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 15:12–18 (ESV)
12 “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, 17 then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.
You will find the instructions for the bondservant nestled in between the instructions of the Sabbatical year (Deut. 15:1-11) and the Passover (Deut. 16:1-7). The Sabbatical year is prophetically connected to the Millennial Reign of the Messiah and the Passover to the completed work of Christ on the Cross. Only through Christ can anyone achieve a faithful bond servant’s heart. Each of us must strive for that moment in which we become bond servants of the Lord. How is this accomplished? Only through having our ear nailed to the Lord’s doorpost – the Cross! This watershed event is paramount in the life of every minister of the Gospel. From that day forward, we only hear the voice of our Lord: whether He speaks directly to our hearts or through the wise counsel of another seasoned servant. It is only through this process that we can press through the temptation to surrender to the fear of men and drink from the cistern of illegitimate authority.
Michael K. Lake, Th.D., D.R.E.
Founder of Biblical Life College and Seminary
Co-host of the Kingdom Intelligence Briefing and the Kingdom War Room Podcasts
Best-selling Author — The Shinar Directive, The Sheeriyth Imperative, The Kingdom Priesthood, and The Kingdom Warrior.
