Introduction to 1 Samuel

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 99
• Hymn
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith
• Scripture Reading — 2 Samuel 18:19-33
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn
• Scripture Reading — Ruth 4:13-22
• Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — Before the Throne of God Above
• Benediction — Romans 15:5-6

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Sermon Title: Introduction to First Samuel — The Eternal, Expansive, and Servant Kingdom

Scripture: Ruth 4:13-22

I. The Kingdom of God Is an Eternal Kingdom

A. The book of Ruth bridges the period of the Judges and the monarchy, ending with the genealogy of David

B. The book of Judges closes on a dark note: Judges 21:25 — "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes"

C. The genealogy in Ruth 4:18-22 traces from Perez, son of Judah, pointing forward to David

D. The everlasting covenant seed planted with Abraham blossoms progressively through redemptive history

1. God promises Abraham that kings will come from him and that his covenant is everlasting — Genesis 17:5-7
2. Jacob blesses Judah: the scepter shall not depart from him until all peoples render obedience — Genesis 49:8-10
3. The Davidic covenant confirms the throne will be established forever — 2 Samuel 7:16
4. Matthew's genealogy (Matthew 1:3-6) repeats the same genealogy from Ruth, extended from Abraham to Christ
5. Jesus inaugurates his ministry with the announcement of the eternal kingdom — Matthew 4:17

E. First Samuel is about God's providence moving redemptive history toward its fulfillment in David and ultimately in David's greater son, Jesus Christ

II. The Kingdom of God Is an Expansive Kingdom

A. The Abrahamic covenant promises blessing to all nations — Genesis 17:5-7; Genesis 49:10

B. Ruth, a pagan Moabite, is praised as more precious than seven sons — Ruth 4:15

1. She would have worshipped Chemosh, not Yahweh, yet she is honored above Hebrew sons
2. Her inclusion signals the kingdom's reach beyond Israel

C. The genealogical line of the king is filled with unexpected outsiders and sinners

1. Perez — born of Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law, through a scandalous union — Genesis 38
2. Boaz — son of Rahab, a pagan prostitute from Jericho — Matthew 1:5
3. Boaz marries Ruth, a pagan Moabite
4. Solomon — son of Bathsheba, born through David's adultery and murder
5. Jesus — son of a carpenter, with prostitutes, pagans, murderers, and sinners in his line

D. The kingdom of God has always been for the filthy and unexpected — the entire fallen world — coming through an unlikely king

III. The Kingdom of God Is a Servant's Kingdom

A. The kinsman-redeemer theme in Ruth points to God as the ultimate redeemer

1. Levirate law required a family member to marry a widow and preserve the family line
2. Boaz fulfills the kinsman-redeemer role by marrying Ruth
3. Yet it is the Lord, not Boaz, who gives conception — Ruth 4:13 — the only second time in Ruth where God is the subject of the verb

B. The child's name, Obed (meaning "servant"), reveals the character of the coming kingdom

1. God redeems his people through a servant king
2. David is repeatedly called "my servant" — a king after God's own heart because he serves the true sovereign

C. The servant king pattern is fulfilled in Jesus Christ

1. Isaiah prophesies the exaltation of the suffering servant — Isaiah 52:13; Isaiah 53
2. Paul identifies Jesus as the ultimate Obed: though equal with God, he took the form of a servant, humbled himself to death on a cross, and was therefore exalted — Philippians 2:6-9
3. God visits his people by giving conception to Mary, providing the servant who ushers in the kingdom

D. First Samuel traces David's pattern of anointing followed by suffering before exaltation — pointing to Christ

1. David is anointed in 1 Samuel 16 but spends the rest of the book suffering under Saul's persecution
2. Jesus, anointed at the Jordan, sets his face toward Jerusalem and the cross — Luke 9
3. Through the cross, the servant king is exalted as eternal king over every tribe, nation, and tongue