Tonight, the title of my sermon is Jesus in the Book of 1 Samuel.
So this is a series that I've been doing where I'm going through every single Old Testament
book and just preaching about Jesus from that book and showing Jesus in that book.
Now some books, it's more obvious than others.
Some books of the Bible in the Old Testament, Jesus literally makes a physical appearance
where we actually see God in the flesh, you know, walking and talking with man.
Like for example, when he wrestles with Jacob and Jacob says in Genesis 32, I've seen the
face of God and he called the name of the place Peniel, which means face of God.
Or in Joshua chapter 5, when Joshua meets the captain of the Lord's host and he tells
him to take off his shoes.
So there are some literal physical appearances of Christ, but in all of the books of the
Old Testament, all 39 books are pointing us to Jesus.
The Bible says to him, give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins.
So whether you're in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, any of those books
of the law, or when you get into historical books, the Psalms, the prophets, it's all
pointing us to Jesus.
So even if there's not a literal image of Jesus or even a clear prophecy about Jesus,
Jesus is often symbolized by Old Testament characters.
So the main character that I want to focus on in tonight's sermon is Jonathan, how Jonathan
actually points us to Jesus and how Jonathan pictures Jesus Christ.
Now the obvious person that I could have preached about tonight in 1 Samuel is David, but that
would have just been a piece of cake because David is one of the clearest foreshadowings
of Jesus.
But I got to save that for the 2 Samuel sermon and the 1 Chronicles sermon.
So David's already going to get a lot of preaching.
So that's why I wanted to focus on other things in the book of 1 Samuel, like Jonathan, for
example.
But before we get into Jonathan, I want to show you a little bit about Samuel picturing
Jesus.
Okay.
Now in chapter one here, 1 Samuel, we're introduced to this woman, Hannah, what we just read about
how Hannah's womb had been shut by the Lord.
She was barren.
She was unable to have children, but she prays to the Lord and Eli blesses her.
And then God opens her womb and she gives birth to that child, Samuel.
Well there's actually some symbolism here in foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ
where Hannah is similar to Mary and Samuel is similar to Jesus.
Okay.
So get one finger in 1 Samuel and go to Luke chapter one.
And I'm going to show you some similarities here between Mary and Hannah, because after
Hannah is blessed with this child, she ends up saying a prayer of thanksgiving to God.
And then when Mary in Luke chapter one hears about how she's going to give birth to Jesus,
she gives a blessing and a thanksgiving unto God as well.
And watch how strikingly similar these are.
So get one finger over there in 1 Samuel chapter two, and then your other finger in
Luke chapter one.
And look what it says in verse 46 of Luke chapter one, Luke 1 46 says, and Mary said,
my soul does magnify the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior.
Okay.
Now let me stop and point out here that Mary had a savior.
Her savior is Jesus.
What does the Bible say savior means?
It says that his name would be called Jesus because he will save his people from their
sins.
The reason that she had a savior is because she had sins.
Mary was not a perfect God-like goddess type person that had no sin.
She's a human being.
She was a good person, but she was not without sin.
Jesus was her savior.
And so she said here that her heart is rejoicing in God, her savior.
Let's compare that to 1 Samuel chapter two, verse one.
It says, and Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord.
My horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation.
So they start out both by rejoicing in salvation or God, the savior jumped down to verse three
in 1 Samuel.
It says in verse three, talk no more.
So exceeding proudly, let not arrogance.
He come out of your mouth for the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are
weighed.
Okay.
Let's compare that to Luke 1 51 Luke 1 51 says he had showed strength with his arm.
He had scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
So Mary said, God's my savior.
And then she says, he's scattered the proud and then Hannah praise and thanks God for
salvation and then said, talk no more so proudly.
Don't be arrogant, right?
So they're both talking about the same subject matter.
Look if you would at Luke chapter one, verse 52.
He had put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree.
Let's compare that to 1 Samuel two, four.
He had put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree.
Look at 1 Samuel two, four, the bows of the mighty men are broken and they that stumbled
are girded with strength.
Okay.
Now look at verse number five.
They that were full have hired themselves out for bread and they that were hungry ceased.
Okay.
Look at Luke 1 53.
He had filled the hungry with good things and the rich he had sent empty away.
So do you notice that just over and over again, they're both hitting the same points about,
you know, God being the savior, the proud being brought down, the mighty being brought
down, even using those words, proud, mighty, and then saying that he filled the hungry
with good things.
The rich were sent away empty, the full were sent away empty and on and on.
So you see a lot of similarities between those two prayers.
Now when it comes to the two sons, Jesus and Samuel, think about this.
Jesus had an incident in his childhood where we get this little snippet of him at age 12,
which is pretty interesting, right?
Because usually we talk about the birth of Christ and then boom, you know, he's, he's
30 years old, but there's that one little story the Bible gives us about when he's 12.
So it gives a little childhood story about Jesus where he's lost by his parents.
His parents think he's with another relative and he ends up getting left behind in Jerusalem
and then they find him three days later.
They must have been a little stressed out for those three days.
I've never lost my kid for that long.
And then they find him in the temple and remember, he's actually talking to these scholars and
scribes and doctors of the law and they're astonished at his understanding.
The questions he's asking at age 12 and then that's when he makes that famous statement.
I must be about my father's business, right?
Well, it's interesting.
Samuel also has a little childhood story given where it gives his birth and then a little
childhood story and then his ministry and in the childhood story again, Samuel is seen
to be more spiritual than the adults around him.
Just as Jesus was ahead of the scholars and scribes, Samuel as a little child gets a vision
from the Lord and he's actually more spiritual than Eli and Eli's sons and all the people
that are around him.
So they were both born at a time when Israel had turned away from God a little bit and
they were both born at a time when the priests were corrupt, okay?
Because remember in Jesus' day, the priests were of the Sadducees and they were denying
key doctrines like they didn't believe in the resurrection, they didn't believe in angels,
they didn't believe in heaven and hell and then of course in Samuel's day, you have the
sons of Eli that were wicked and so forth.
So there are a lot of parallels between Jesus and Samuel, they're both prophets, they both
had these songs sung when they were born and so on and so forth.
But let's get into Jonathan.
This is the main thing I want to talk about.
Go to 1 Samuel chapter 18, 1 Samuel chapter 18.
Jonathan is a great character in the Bible.
He's most commonly known for his close friendship with David.
But I'm going to show you how the character Jonathan actually pictures the Lord Jesus
Christ as well.
And I'm going to give you 10 points on how Jonathan actually pictures Jesus.
So number one, first of all, is that Jonathan was the son of the king, right?
He's the son of King Saul.
Jesus, of course, is the son of God.
But look at 1 Samuel 18 verse 1, it came to pass when he made an end of speaking unto
Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as
his own soul and Saul took him that day and would not let him go home, no more home to
his father's house.
So number one, Jonathan was the son of the king.
Number two, Jonathan made a covenant with David.
And number three, Jonathan loved David.
Now in this parable or in this allegory where we look at Jonathan as picturing Jesus, basically
David represents us in this illustration, okay?
So if you think about it, when he made a covenant with David, that represents Jesus Christ who
made a covenant with us.
Now another word for covenant is Testament.
Okay, Testament and Covenant are used interchangeably in the Bible.
And of course, Jesus Christ said, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, this due
in remembrance of me.
And so Jesus Christ brought in the New Covenant or the New Testament.
And of course, just as Jonathan loved David, Jesus Christ loved us, okay?
Now look at verse number three, then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved
him as his own soul.
Verse four, and Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it
to David and his garments, even to his sword and to his bow and to his girdle.
Now flip over if you went to Philippians chapter two.
What we see here about Jonathan is that Jonathan is the son of the king and yet we see him
in this passage.
And remember, David represents us because he makes the covenant with David, he loves
David just as Jesus Christ has made a covenant with us and loves us.
But Jonathan strips himself of his garments.
So he's wearing all these royal garments that the son of a king would have.
He's got his fancy armor and equipment and everything.
He strips himself of all that gear and of those royal clothes and he puts them on David.
Now this is a picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us.
He basically stripped himself of his riches and glory of being in heaven, right?
And came to this earth, made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form
of a servant.
Why?
So that we could become a son of God or a daughter of God, right?
So he took the garments off him and puts it on David.
That's a picture of what Jesus did for us.
Look at Philippians chapter two, verse five.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took
upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.
And being found and fashioned as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name that the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth
and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father.
So we see here that Jesus Christ, he was in the form of God and he thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation.
So before Jesus Christ was in the womb of Mary and ultimately born and laid in a manger
in Bethlehem, Jesus Christ already existed before that.
Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God, he was already up in heaven and so he's up in heaven.
The Bible talks about in John 17 five how the father and the son, they shared glory
before the world even began.
And so the father sent the son to be the savior of the world, but Jesus Christ was up in heaven.
He has all the glory that he shares with the father, but yet he made himself of no
reputation.
He took upon himself the form of a servant.
The Bible says in Hebrews that he took upon him the nature of Abraham.
He became a human being.
He shed off all the perks of being the son of God up in heaven and glory and became a
humble servant who walked the earth and didn't even have a place to lay his head.
And if you think about when Jesus Christ was on this earth, he went through everything
that we go through in the sense that he was hungry.
He was thirsty.
He was tired.
He became sad, angry.
He had people betray him and he went through physical hardships and he went through everything.
The Bible says he was tempted or tested in all points like as we are and yet without
sin.
And in fact, Jesus Christ, when he walked on this earth, did not know everything.
You say, well, how dare you say that?
Because it says in Mark chapter 13, but of that day and hour knoweth no man.
He said, no, not the angels in heaven nor the son, but my father only.
So Jesus Christ said that he did not even know the day of his second coming when he
was on this earth.
And obviously when he was born as a baby, he didn't just come out as a newborn baby
and he just knew everything and just started talking.
And he's just, you know, he's just, he's just an expert on everything.
No, the Bible says he grew in wisdom, right?
He learned, he grew up, he went through the whole human experience of being born and growing
up.
He learned how to walk.
How to talk and everything like that.
Look, that was a major downgrade from being up in heaven, from creating the whole world
and doing all this stuff.
You know, he shed that glory.
He shed some of his power and even his knowledge and things to, to humble himself and come
down to this earth as a humble servant, as a, uh, a man, the son of man to walk the earth
and go about doing good, et cetera.
So you can see how Jonathan is such a beautiful picture of this.
When Jonathan strips himself of his robes, he strips off the armor and he puts it all
on David.
Okay.
And the Bible says that, that he had made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
So not only did Jesus Christ take upon himself, the sins of the world and the sins of ours
and, and, and everyone's were put onto Jesus's account.
But the Bible also says that the righteousness of Jesus is imputed unto us.
So we're clothed in that robe of righteousness.
We've put on the righteousness of Jesus.
And that's pictured by David putting on Jonathan's clothes and putting on Jonathan's armor in
1st Samuel.
So go back to 1st Samuel chapter number 14, actually go to 1st Samuel 14.
And while you're going there, I'll read for you 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9.
This is a powerful verse for you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, and this is when he's up in heaven, I mean, the streets are paved with gold.
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine.
It says though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, that ye through his poverty
might be rich.
Right?
So here's David, just a humble shepherd boy, right, and he slays Goliath.
And then Jonathan comes to him, and he takes off the rich garments.
He takes off the fancy armor.
He puts it all on David, he becomes stripped down so that David would have all that wealth
and a picture of Christ's righteousness being imputed us the riches of Christ.
Samuel said that grace stands for God's riches at Christ's expense, right, so that's a beautiful
picture of that.
So number 1, Jonathan was the child of the king.
Number 2, or the son of the king, just like Jesus is the son of God.
Number 2, Jonathan made a covenant with David.
David represents us, the New Testament, the new covenant.
Number 3, Jonathan loved David, just like Jesus loved us.
Number 4, Jonathan stripped his royal garments and gave them to David, just like Jesus shed
his glory and came down to this earth as a servant and became poor, that we might be
made rich.
But number 5, and this is the story where we're first introduced to Jonathan in the
Bible.
The first time we see Jonathan in the Bible is 1 Samuel 14.
Jonathan enlists his servant into the fight, but Jonathan's the one who does the hard part,
and Jonathan gets all the glory, okay.
Now who's this servant that he enlists?
What's his name?
What's the armor bearer's name?
We don't know.
I don't know what his name is, right, because he's not really the important part of the
story, right?
The important part is Jonathan, but this is a pretty cool story.
I'll just kind of explain to you the story.
Well first let me just read you verse 1, and then I'll explain to you the story.
In 1 Samuel 14, 1, Now it came to pass upon a day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said
unto the young man that bare his armor, Come and let us go over to the Philistines garrison
that is on the other side, but he told not his father.
So Jonathan enlists this young man that bare his armor, and he says, hey, let's go over
to the Philistines garrison that's on the other side.
He doesn't tell his father, he just goes over there to fight this battle, okay.
And when Jonathan gets there, he finds the Philistine soldiers there waiting, and he's
trying to kind of motivate his servant, his armor bearer a little bit, telling him, look,
you know, God's not limited to save by many or by few.
Even just the two of us, even just the two of us can do a great thing here.
We can have a victory.
So he gets his armor bearer motivated to go and fight this battle, and he basically ends
up going to this hill, and the Philistines are up high on the hill, and he says, if they
want to come down to us, then, you know, God's probably not going to save us.
We should probably just get out of here.
But if they say to us, come up to us, then God has delivered them into our hands.
So Jonathan's kind of looking for a sign, you know.
If they come down the hill, we should probably get out of here.
But if they invite us up, God's delivered them into our hands, right.
So look at verse 12.
And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, come up to
us, and we will show you a thing.
So they're kind of just talking a little trash there.
And it says, and Jonathan said unto his armor bearer, come up after me, for the Lord had
delivered them into the hand of Israel.
And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet.
Just to show you how steep this is, he had to use his hands and run up on all fours to
get up to the Philistines.
Now, look, they have the advantage.
They have the high ground.
But Jonathan believes that God's going to give him the victory.
So he just scrabbles up the hill, climbs up on all fours.
And the Bible says, Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet and his armor
bearer after him.
And they fell before Jonathan.
And then look at this last phrase.
And his armor bearer slew after him.
And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about 20 men.
So here's what happened.
I mean, this guy's bold.
This guy is brave.
This is the first time we're introduced to Jonathan in the Bible.
He runs up the hill having to use his hands because it's so steep.
He comes upon the Philistines and he just starts slaughtering the Philistines.
He's just wiping them out.
He's got a sword in his hand and he is just tearing through them one after the other.
And the Bible says that his armor bearer slew after him.
OK, so just picture this.
Basically, Jonathan deals a blow to somebody.
He wounds them.
And then all the armor bearer has to do is pretty much just finish him off.
So basically, Jonathan is the one doing the fighting in the front and it says they fell
before him and then the armor bearer slew after him.
Now let me ask you this.
Do you think that this young man that was the armor bearer was necessarily just a great
warrior?
This isn't that hard of a job.
If I had to be an Old Testament warrior, I want this guy's job where all I have to do
is just finish off those who are already dazed and wounded by Jonathan.
You know, he doesn't have to actually be in the front fighting the guys that are fresh
and you know, after they're already dazed and wounded and already fallen, all this guy
has to do is just finish them off.
OK, so he's not necessarily the greatest warrior in the Bible.
He doesn't even give us his name.
He's not really the key to the story.
You know, in reality, Jonathan probably could have grabbed another guy and done the same
thing if you think about it, right?
Because Jonathan's doing the hard part.
I mean, he's doing the serious work here.
And of course, when we think of this story, we don't say, man, that armor bearer.
That guy was a fighter, you know, he really, he finished those guys off.
That's not where the emphasis is, right?
The emphasis on Jonathan, OK?
Now think about this, OK?
Think about our lives, OK?
Jesus Christ basically enlists us into the fight, right?
He enlists us into the battle.
He motivates us.
He preaches to us sort of like Jonathan's preaching to his armor bearer because he keeps
repeating to his armor bearer, you know, God's going to deliver them into our hand and God's
not limited by the size of our force.
He can save with many.
He can save with few.
He can do it.
You know, come on, the Lord, come on, let's go.
Let's go, buddy.
Now I will say this, the armor bearer had to have guts because two versus 20.
Those aren't very good odds, right?
Two guys.
Hey, hey, let's just the two of us.
Let's go fight against 20 Philistines.
Hey, God's not limited.
That's like, OK, yeah, sounds great.
I'm right behind you.
So what did the armor bearer really need?
He just needed to obey.
He needed to have faith in the Lord and he needed to have guts to go climbing up that
hill with Jonathan.
And you know what?
He really had to have faith in Jonathan.
Because if Jonathan does what he's supposed to do, hey, it's going to be a piece of cake,
man.
You just got to finish him off.
You know, you not.
He sets him.
Jonathan sets him up and you knock him down.
It's just piece of cake, right?
But he had to just follow and obey and have faith and trust and just just do what he's
told and just have the guts to just do it and just trust the Lord and trust Jonathan.
So think about Jesus Christ.
You know, he invites us into the battle.
He invites us to spiritual warfare in 2019.
He invites us to the front lines of the battle between good and evil, standing between the
living and the dead, going out and not preaching or not, not, not fighting a carnal battle,
not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and against
the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places.
And we are out there preaching the gospel, trying to pull people out of the fire.
And you know, when Jesus Christ enlists us into the spiritual battle, guess what?
He does the hard part.
He does the most of the work.
He did the hardest part, right?
Our part in comparison with Christ is pretty easy when it comes to getting people saved.
He did the hardest part.
He did most of the work.
Okay, who gets the glory when we get someone saved?
He gets the glory, right?
Is the emphasis on us?
Is it all about us and who we are and everything?
No, because all we are is just a humble servant being used by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now in order to be an effective servant for the Lord Jesus Christ, you know what?
You need all the same attributes that this armor bearer had.
You just got to answer the call.
You got to be willing to go.
You got to trust in him.
You got to follow orders and you just got to get in there and have the guts to do it,
right?
That's it.
You say, well, you know, I'm just not that talented.
I'm not that great of a speaker.
I'm not that intellectual.
I'm not that knowledgeable.
You know what?
I don't think this armor bearer had a lot of special skills either.
But if you're willing to go, if you're willing to get in the battle with Jesus, he'll do
the hard part.
And guess what?
He'll guarantee victory.
He will ensure victory.
Just get behind him, do as you're told.
You're going to get a part of the victory.
Now I'm sure that this armor bearer was pretty happy he followed Jonathan.
I mean he's going to be telling this story for a long time, right?
We're still talking about the story thousands of years later.
He's glad that he jumped on board Jonathan's idea and fought this battle.
And so you can see how this is a picture of serving Christ.
Serving Jonathan's like serving Christ.
You know, he's the one with the vision.
We just get out there and do what he told us to do.
And one person sows, another person waters, but it's God who gives the increase, right?
And it's Christ who gets all glory.
When we get to heaven someday and we earn rewards, we're going to be casting our crowns
at the feet of Jesus and say, hey, you're the one that's worthy to receive all the honor
and the glory and the power and the blood.
You know, it's all you, Jesus.
You get all the glory.
You get all the praise.
You know, who are we?
We're nothing compared to you.
Just like this armor bearer is nothing compared to Jonathan.
So this is another great picture of Jesus, but if you would go to chapter 19 and let's
look at a sixth point.
So so far we've seen number one, Jonathan was the son of the king.
Number two, he made a covenant with David who represents us.
He loved David who represents us.
He stripped himself as royal garments and gave them to David, which represents us.
Number five, Jonathan enlisted his servant into the fight, but he did the hard part and
he got the glory, right?
And all the servant had to do was just be willing to obey and do his part.
So number six, Jonathan interceded for David.
This is one of the biggest things about the story with Jonathan is that he's constantly
interceding for David, just as Jesus Christ intercedes for us, okay?
Look at 1 Samuel 19 verse four.
And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father and said unto him, Let not the
king sin against his servant against David, because he had not sinned against thee and
because his works have been to thee word very good.
Look at verse six and Saul hearken unto the voice of Jonathan and Saul swear as the Lord
liveth he shall not be slain.
Verse seven and Jonathan called David and Jonathan showed him all those things and Jonathan
brought David to Saul and he was in his presence as in times past.
So in this story, Saul has it in for David, you know, Saul wants to kill David.
Now, let me say this, Jonathan's a great picture of Jesus.
Saul's not really very great picture of God the Father.
So don't you know, don't look at that part of the illustration too hard or no illustration
of the Bible is ever going to be perfect, because, you know, we're talking about human
beings representing deity, right?
Anytime you pick a man to represent Jesus, even if we talked about David as being a picture
of Jesus, it's never going to be perfect, because people aren't perfect, right?
But the imagery is still there.
So Saul has it in for David, and Jonathan intercedes and through Jonathan's intercession,
then David is forgiven by Saul, and he's brought into the house and, and basically, Jonathan
presents David to King Saul, you know, this is exactly how it is with our salvation where
Jesus Christ has made intercession for us.
He made intercession for the transgressors, the Bible says in Isaiah 53, and he will present
us one day unto the Father, just as Jonathan presented David unto King Saul.
Look at verse number or flip over to chapter 20.
Chapter number 20.
So point number six was that Jonathan interceded for David, and not only did Christ intercede
by dying for us, but the Bible tells us he ever liveth to make intercession for us.
So Jesus Christ is continually making intercession for us.
The Bible also says in First John chapter 2 verse 1, my little children, these things
write I unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
What is an advocate?
A lawyer, right?
An advocate is just another word for a lawyer.
Is that what they call it in Spanish?
Avocado or something?
An avocado.
What's that?
Avogado.
There we go.
I was close.
All right.
You know, I just really love avocados.
You know, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speak it.
But anyway, an abogado, I knew it was something like that.
Not an aguacate.
All right.
So an abogado is a lawyer.
Am I right?
Help me out, Spanish.
I got the Spanish section here, okay?
So an advocate or an abogado is a lawyer, right?
It's somebody who gets up in court and what do they do?
They defend you.
And they plead your case and they say why you should be declared not guilty.
So basically, the Bible says that we're not supposed to sin, right?
Jesus told several people, hey, go thy way and sin no more.
Go sin no more.
A lot of people will twist that and say, well, the Bible says sin no more.
So if you want to go to heaven, you got to stop sinning.
Well, good luck with that.
I'd like to meet the person who stopped sinning.
And then they'll even point to verses in 1 John chapter 3 that they're misunderstanding
and twisting to say that if you're saved, you won't sin.
It starts out in 1 John chapter 1 saying if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us.
That's why he says in the next breath in chapter 2, my little children, these things write
out unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin, because guess what?
It's going to happen.
If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he
is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of
the whole world.
But look, we have an advocate with the Father.
And the Bible talks about how the devil is the accuser of the brethren.
Well, that would be like the prosecutor.
So we've got the accuser of the brethren, which is the prosecutor, Satan, and then we've
got the defense attorney over here, Jesus.
You know, some people just hate defense attorneys, but you know, Jesus is the greatest defense
attorney of all time.
And the prosecutor is the devil, you know, I'm just saying.
So basically, you know, the devil gets up and says, hey, you know, NAR committed this
sin, and you know, and then Jesus says, objection, your honor, NAR has placed his faith in the
Lord Jesus.
He's placed his faith on me.
That's all washed away.
It's all covered by the blood.
This is, this evidence you're bringing against NAR, it's inadmissible.
It needs to be struck from the record.
Jury, disregard what you just heard.
Judge, disregard this.
Why?
Because it's not admissible, because it's all paid for by the blood of Jesus, right?
So Jesus is our defense attorney that would jump to our defense when the devil would try
to attack us or accuse us.
So we have an advocate with the Father.
He makes intercession for us.
He ever liveth to make intercession for us.
He intercedes with us to the Father.
Just as Jonathan interceded for David to his father, King Saul.
Look at chapter 20 verse 32.
This is him again interceding for David.
And Jonathan answered Saul his father and said unto him, wherefore, wherefore means
why, wherefore shall he be slain?
What hath he done?
You know, why should he be killed?
What hath he done?
Watch the response when Jonathan makes intercession for David.
And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him, whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined
of his father to slay David.
So what we see here is that when Jonathan intercedes for David, he's actually putting
his own life at risk, and actually his own father actually attacks him.
His father seeks to assault him.
So if you remember, there was a time when Saul had thrown the javelin at David.
You remember that?
And Saul threw a javelin at David and David had to dodge the javelin.
Well now all of a sudden when Jonathan goes to bat for David, all of a sudden the javelin's
thrown at him.
Now think about Christ.
Okay, here we are.
We got this big javelin coming at us from the Father that says, hey, you're a sinner
and you're going to hell, right?
Jesus steps in and makes intercession for us and basically he takes the javelin for
us, right?
You know, he takes the punishment.
He is basically punished by God the Father.
Go to Isaiah chapter 53.
Isaiah chapter 53.
No image or allegory from the Bible is ever going to be perfect because we're using imperfect
human beings to picture the perfection of God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
But you can see these are some pretty powerful images from the life of Jonathan, of how Jonathan
was the great intercessor between his father and David and Jesus Christ is the intercessor
between us and the Father.
Look at Isaiah 53, 10.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
It pleased God the Father, the Bible, saying to bruise Jesus.
He, God the Father, hath put him, Jesus, to grief.
When thou, the thou is God the Father, shall make his soul, his soul is Jesus' soul, an
offering for sin, he, Jesus, shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
It pleased the Lord to bruise him.
He hath put him to grief.
When thou shall make his soul, an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Let's back up to verse eight and we could see more parallels with Jonathan.
Number eight in the life of Jonathan, did you know that Jonathan died for the sins of
others?
Did Jonathan die for his own sins?
No.
If you remember, Jonathan died as a result of Saul's sins, actually.
And he died because of the sins of Israel and Saul and other people.
It wasn't his fault that he died.
Look what the Bible says about Jesus in Isaiah 53.8.
He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people
was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked.
This is like Jonathan because remember he died with Saul and his brother.
They all died together on Mount Gilboa.
He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done
no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
Let me ask you this, was any deceit in Jonathan's mouth?
You know, if you look at Jonathan's life, he consistently, when he made a covenant with
David, he kept it.
He kept that agreement.
There was no deceit in his mouth.
You know, when he said something, he was sincere.
Not like Saul, right?
Saul had deceit in his mouth, where he would say, oh, I'm going to forgive David.
And then a few weeks later, he's going after David again, right?
But Jonathan was very sincere and honest about the things that he said.
Look at 1 Samuel chapter 20, verse 41, I'm going to show you the last couple of points
here.
1 Samuel 20, verse 41 says, and as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place
toward the south and fell on his face to the ground and bowed himself three times and
they kissed one another and wept one with another until David exceeded.
And Jonathan said to David, go in peace for as much as we have sworn both of us in the
name of the Lord saying, the Lord be between me and thee and between my seed and thy seed,
watch this, forever.
And he arose and departed and Jonathan went into the city.
So we see that Jonathan's covenant that he makes with David is an everlasting covenant.
He says to him, look, it's going to be a covenant between me and you and my seed and your seed
forever.
Just like Jesus Christ makes an everlasting covenant with us that he'll never leave us,
he'll never forsake us.
Now, of course, Saul goes back on his promises over and over again, but not Jonathan.
I mean, Jonathan stays consistent in his covenant with David.
And like I said, Jonathan's a great picture of Jesus.
Saul is not a great picture of God, the father, because, you know, we don't want to get this
idea that God, the father is an angry God and that Jesus is calming him down.
You know, the Bible says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have ever last time.
The Bible says the father sent the son to be the savior of the world.
So of course, God, the father loves us every bit as much as Jesus loves us.
But when we look at the story, though, Jonathan is a great picture of Jesus.
And then, tenthly, and last of all, and this is really the most important point, Jonathan
was known for his friendship.
If we were to just ask people who grew up in church or read the Bible, you know, what's
Jonathan known for?
What's the big thing about Jonathan?
What do they say?
Oh, well, he's David's friend.
He's a friend of David, right?
That was his close friend.
And you know what?
That pictures Jesus being the friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Go to John chapter 15.
John chapter number 15.
The Bible says a man that hath friends must show himself friendly and there is a friend
that sticketh closer than a brother.
A friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Look, David's brethren, they didn't really treat him that well, did they?
Remember David's brethren?
They accused him of just trying to get attention when he came to the whole incident with Goliath.
Oh, you just want to see the battle or you're just blowing off your mouth.
And they rebuked David.
But you know, Jonathan was at that same event and we see him treating David well.
And so Jonathan was a friend that stuck closer than a brother.
And David was a friend that stuck closer to Jonathan than a brother.
These guys were so close, they were closer than if they had been physical brethren, right?
So Jonathan was a friend that stuck closer than a brother and Jesus is our friend that
sticks closer than a brother.
Because remember, David represents us and Jonathan represents Jesus, right?
Look at John 15 verse 13.
Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.
Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth.
But I have called you friends for all things that I've heard of my father, I have made
known unto you.
And think about this.
Remember how Jonathan even told David?
He said, you know, whatever my father says, I'm going to tell you all of it.
I'm not going to hide anything from you.
You remember that part in the in the story back in first Samuel, where Jonathan is going
to talk to Saul and he's going to ask him, you know, hey, why are you mad at David?
Why do you want to kill him?
And he said, whatever he says, I'm not going to hide it from you.
I'm going to tell you what the father has said.
I'm going to tell you that.
And that's a picture of Jesus basically telling us the word of the father.
And here he says, all things that I've heard of my father, think Jonathan, right?
All things that I've heard of my father, I've made known unto you.
Okay.
See, our friends are people that we tell things to that we do and tell everybody else, right?
One of the things that makes someone a close friend is that you open up to them more, right?
If we're around people that we don't know very well, we might converse with them on
a more superficial level.
We'll talk to them and tell them a little bit about what's going on in our life.
But then we get on the phone with that close friend, or we sit down with that close friend.
Well, that's where we really open up and we tell them, hey, this is what's going on in
my life.
These are the details.
And we open up and Jesus said, you guys are my friends.
Everything that my father has said to me, everything I've heard of my father, I've made
it known unto you.
You're not just servants where I just keep you in the dark and say, hey, just, just shut
up and do it.
Cause I said, so, I mean, Jesus could have just said, look, I'm the King of Kings.
I'm the Lord of Lords.
Just shut up and do what I tell you.
But he said, no, no, no, I'm look, I'm going to tell you guys everything.
I'm going to get everything that my father has told me everything I've heard of my father.
I'm going to declare it unto you.
I'm going to tell them to you.
I want you to know the truth, the truth, knowing the truth makes you free, he said, and I'm
going to tell you the truth.
I'm going to share everything with you because you're not just servants.
You're my friends.
Now sure we serve Christ and you know, it's funny, a lot of the modern Bible versions,
they take all the versions, all the verses that talk about being a servant of Christ
and you know what they typically will change it to slave Paul, you know, Romans one, one
Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, or sometimes they'll even change it to bond slave.
I mean, look in the NIV, you don't get as good of a deal on salvation because you're
a bond slave.
And then instead of saying in my father's house or many mansions, you know, it says
the NIV and my father's house or many rooms.
So you know, if you're an NIV reader, you get like a room, like a hotel room and you
know, I've got a room just over the hill top.
You know, it just doesn't have the same ring to it.
You know, I've got a mansion.
Yeah.
So, you know, those who are saved and read the King James, God's got a mansion for them.
I wonder if God's going to punish the saved Christians who go to the NIV church.
He's just like, well, you guys want is what you want.
You chose the NIV.
Here's your room, sir.
You know, here's your room, buddy.
Right.
But but but my point is that, you know, we're not bond slaves.
Folks, I'm not a bond slave to Jesus.
I'm not a slave of Jesus Christ.
He's just like whipping me.
Get back to work, Pastor Anderson.
Go soul winning more.
You need to preach more sermons.
You know, you need to study more.
You need to read your Bible more.
You need to pray more.
You need to work harder.
Get back to work, Pastor Anderson, you lazy.
You know, it's like, I'm trying.
You think that that's my walk with God?
Is that your walk with God?
No.
We're his friends.
We're free.
We're free in Christ.
We are his servants.
Yes, we serve him gladly.
We serve him freely.
We serve him willingly.
And we have a loving relationship.
We have a father son relationship.
And we have a friend relationship with God.
Not a master and slave relationship of just, you know, we just do what he tells us to do
and we don't ask any questions.
Folks, he gives us all the answers right here.
You know, he brings us in and explains to us the intimate details of the workings of
salvation and of the gospel.
And he tells us so many wonderful things in the Bible.
And so we're his friends.
Just like Jonathan was the ultimate friend.
What made Jonathan such a great friend?
I mean, what made him such a great friend?
Well, what made him such a great friend was that he was consistent.
He was always there for David.
He didn't stab David in the back.
He didn't lie to David and hide things from him, but he was open with him.
He told him the truth.
He consistently defended him, stood by him.
He sacrificed for him.
And the Bible says a man that has friends must show himself friendly.
And in fact, that this is what I preached about a little over a month ago when I was
here last.
If you remember on Sunday morning, I preached about continuing fellowship and I talked about
being a good friend and being friendly and loving people and caring about other people
and what it means to be a good friend and so forth.
And we see all those things exemplified in the life of Jonathan, who's kind of just one
of the quintessential friends in the Bible, who's there through thick and thin.
And, you know, Jesus Christ is our friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
You know what that means?
It doesn't matter what you're going through in your life.
Jesus is going to be there for you.
He's not going to bail on you when you need him most.
He's always going to be there.
Okay.
And all you have to do is drop to your knees and pray and you can boldly come into the
throne of grace and you can obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
He's not.
He's a God that's near.
He's not a God that's far off, the Bible says, right?
He's there.
He's consistently there.
He's made known unto us all things.
We have the mind of Christ, the Bible tells us.
He has told us all things, whatever he's heard of the father, he made known to us.
He doesn't keep us in the dark.
And when we get attacked, you know what he does?
He defends us.
Now, if somebody attacks my friends, you know what I'm going to do?
I'm going to defend my friends, right?
I want to, I want to step up to the plate and defend my friend.
If somebody comes to me and starts lying about one of my friends or talking bad about one
of my friends, and you know, I'm going to say, Hey, wait a minute.
You know, I don't want to hear that.
That's my friend that you're talking about there, right?
You're going to step up and defend them.
Well, isn't it great to know that Jesus is going to do that for us?
And when people attack us, lie about us, deceive us, whatever, you know what Jesus Christ,
our friend is going to take them to task.
What did, what did God tell Abraham?
I'll bless them to bless you and I'll curse them to curse you.
And guess what?
That promise applies to us.
Why?
Because the Bible says that the promises were made to Abraham and his seed.
And if you're in Christ, then are you Abraham seed and heirs according to the promise.
So that promise, I'll bless him that blesses you, curse him that curses you.
That goes for every child of God, every servant of Christ, everybody who does what Christ
commands.
Cause he said in verse 14, you're my friends.
If you do whatsoever, I command you, you know, if we are following God's commandments and
we're obeying Christ, he'll go to bat for us.
He'll bless those who bless us.
He'll curse those who curse us.
He will defend us.
We have an advocate with the father and he'll defend us from man as well.
So Jesus Christ is the ultimate friend.
So we can see how Jonathan is such a great picture of Jesus for 10 reasons.
Number one, because he's the son of the King.
Number two, because he made a covenant with us.
Number three, he loves us just like Jonathan loved David.
Number four, he stripped himself of his Royal garments and gave them to us.
He gave us the Royal robe of righteousness.
He gave us that garment that the white robe that covers all of our sin, right?
And he has also, uh, interceded for us with the father and he defends us.
He goes to bat for us.
He was even willing to die for us.
Just like Jonathan put his life at risk and was attacked.
Um, he died for the sins of others just like Jonathan.
The covenant between Jonathan and David was an everlasting covenant.
Well, guess what?
Christ covenant with us is an everlasting covenant.
He said, I will never leave you nor forsake you him that come to me.
I will in no wise cast out.
And then lastly, number 10, Jesus is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
He's the closest friend that you'll ever have.
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to take everything to God in prayer, right?
Because it's just great to have that ever present help in a time of need.
So all throughout the Bible, folks, every character in the Bible or every story in the
Bible or every book of the Bible in some way, shape or form, it's all working together in
the Bible to point us to one great truth of the coming savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Even a character like Jonathan where you wouldn't normally think of Jonathan as being a picture
of Jesus because you're probably more focused on David because he's the obvious picture
of Jesus.
But even when you look into the life of Jonathan, you see these beautiful pictures of Jesus
even in Jonathan's life.
And you know, when we read our Bibles, we should always be looking for Jesus even in
the Old Testament.
He's all over the Bible and we can learn deeper truths and our heart can be stirred when we
think about these other aspects of Christ as our friend and our advocate and things
of that nature.
Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.
Thank you for the book of 1 Samuel.
And Lord, just help us to be a great friend like Jonathan.
Help us to be Christ-like.
And in being Christ-like, help us to pray and make intercession for people in our lives
that are in sin, Lord.
Help us to make intercession for them and be a good friend like Jonathan and help us
to stand up for our friends, defend our friends, be a blessing to our friends and stay with
them through thick and thin and be good friends like Jonathan and David were.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.