Finding Good News in the Wreckage of a Doomed Life

Highlights from 1st Samuel 

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

Sept. 10, 2023

Finding Good News in the Wreckage of a Doomed Life

Turn with me to 1 Samuel 28. This morning we are looking at the last 24 hours of King Saul’s life and there’s really no positive side to this – it’s a sad ending to a sad story. In a strange way it reminds me of the Titanic.

Two months ago four people paid a lot of money to descend in a submersible with the captain in order to get a glimpse of the wreckage of the Titanic and lost their lives when the submersible imploded. You couldn’t pay me enough to get into a flimsy little submersible and descend over 12,000ft to the ocean bottom but I understand the fascination. I have a book called Ghosts of the Abyss that contains stunning photos of the opulence and fanfare of the Titanic as it launched on its maiden voyage and haunting photos of the silent wreckage sitting on the ocean floor. What began so well ended so badly.

That’s true of King Saul as well. He began his reign with such promise. Hand-picked by God as the first king of Israel, anointed by the prophet Samuel, empowered by the Holy Spirit, Saul rallied a fractured nation to fight back against their oppressors and led Israel in a time of strength and expansion. His reign was launched with great pride and fanfare.

Then Saul got proud. He started caring more about what people thought than what God thought. He disobeyed God’s command and tried to cover it up in order to save his pride. When God chose David to succeed Saul as king, Saul became obsessed with killing the man God had chosen. At any point Saul could have humbled himself and changed course but instead he went full speed ahead on a collision course with God.

Chapter 28 records the final moments before Saul’s life hit the iceberg of God’s will and sank to the dark depths.

³ Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land. 1 Samuel 28:3

In one of his better moments Saul cast all witches and mediums out of Israel.

⁵ When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. ⁶ And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. 1 Samuel 28:5-6

Samuel was dead and God wasn’t speaking to Saul anymore. No matter what he did, God was silent.

It’s a scary thing when God stops talking to you. Someone says, “I’ll do what I want now and later I’ll give my life to the Lord.” But when later comes they might find they can’t change course just before hitting the iceberg. If we ignore God’s voice long enough, God may stop talking. That’s why the Bible warns us, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Heb 3:15)

Over and over Saul hardened his heart and now the heavens are as hard as brass. So he goes against all he knows to be right and looks for a medium who can contact the dead for him.

 ⁷ Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.” 1 Samuel 28:7

David inquired of the Lord, Saul inquired of the dead. How did his life get to this point?

The wireless operators on the Titanic received many warnings about dangerous ice floes but they were so busy relaying messages from passengers to family and friends they ignored all the warnings and didn’t them on to the captain.

Saul ignored the warnings. They were there – God kept thwarting his plans and elevating David. At any point he could have repented and changed course but he just pushed the throttle up and went faster. And now he’s asking a medium to contact Samuel’s spirit from the dead. And to her great surprise and terror, the spirit of Samuel comes back from the dead with a message for Saul. We’ll look at that message in a minute but first let’s consider a difficult question that comes up with this story.

Over the years I’ve talked to people – even Christians – who feel like they’ve gotten messages from departed loved ones. Can they point to this bible account to justify looking to the dead for guidance or for messages from beyond the grave? Some have found comfort feeling like their loved one is talking to them from the other side. And after all, it’s in the Bible.

In the late 60’s Episcopalian Bishop James Pike began to see strange poltergeist activity in his home and he became convinced his son who had committed suicide was trying to communicate with him. The guilt he felt over his broken relationship with his son and the part it played in his son taking his life drove him to resume the conversation that death had ended and he looked to mediums to help him understand what his dead son was trying to say to him. He held a televised séance and wrote a book about his efforts to talk to his dead son called The Other Side.

Does the Bible say - does this story indicate - we can and should seek messages from the dead? Some believe the apparition that appeared wasn’t Samuel at all. I think it was. But in no way are we to interpret this as condoning speaking to the dead. No where else in the Bible does a spirit come back from the dead to talk to someone and this passage isn’t attempting to teach us anything about the afterlife or the dead’s ability to communicate with the living. When we come to hard to understand passages, we need to let the clear passages help us interpret the difficult passages. And the clear teaching of the Bible is that we are NOT to attempt to talk to the dead.

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one

who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. Deuteronomy 18:10-12

‘As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. Leviticus 20:6

The Bible tells us when someone dies, we stop talking to them. Saul knew these passages but his life is firmly set in the direction of disobedience to God and he’s used to ignoring the warning signs. He is afraid and doesn’t know what to do, so he asks Samuel’s spirit what to do.

¹⁵ Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do.” ¹⁶ And Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? ¹⁷ The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. ¹⁸ Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. ¹⁹ Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.” Vv. 15-19

Samuel’s message is very dark and offers Saul no direction and no hope. God has turned away from you and has become your enemy. The Philistines will defeat Israel and you and your sons will die on the battlefield. You have 24 hours left to live.

God is the God of second and third chances but there isn’t the smallest light of hope in Samuel’s message. You are headed for the iceberg and nothing can change that now. Terror fills Saul’s heart – the kind of terror that saps everything out of us.

Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel. 1 Sam. 28:20

Saul has seen his future and it is nothing but doom. Chapter 31 tells us what happened the next day.

³ The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. ⁴ Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. ⁵ And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. ⁶ Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together. 1 Sam. 31:3-6

There’s no cheerful message we can derive from this. All we can do is look at the wreckage of his life and resolve we don’t want to go there. But if we take a step back and view the entirety of the Bible there is an awesomely positive message we can apply to this sad story: God doesn’t want our lives to end this way.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2 Pet. 3:9

God doesn’t want anyone to perish; He doesn’t want anyone to make a wreckage of their lives, so He gives time and He is patient, offering exit ramp after exit ramp for us to heed His word and His warnings and repent. Repentance is changing course from disobedience to obedience. From a life pointed away from God to a life pointed towards God.

I don’t know if Saul was saved or not. No speculation on where his eternal soul is. But he sure made a wreck of his life. Christians, we can be saved but make a wreck of our lives if we consistently point our lives and choices towards the flesh instead of towards the Spirit. Those who sow to the flesh reap corruption. Decay.

God gives us time and warnings because He wants to bless our lives. He wants us to enjoy an abundant life never a doomed life. Repent is a good word cause it means turn from death towards life. Turn from doom towards victory. Turn from futility towards faithfulness. Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. Let’s learn from Saul hardened his heart over and over again. We don’t want to go there.

For those who aren’t believers in Jesus, God has a serious message in this. Right now you may be able to keep yourself distracted with a million different things but there will come a day when all of us look eternity square in the face.

In that final moment will you hope there is no life after death? Or if there is that there is no judgment, just a white light taking you to a better place? Will you hope that Jesus was wrong when he said we can only be saved through faith in him, that no one comes to the Father except through him? In that moment, will your hope be that your view of reality is clearer and truer than Jesus’ view of reality, the one man in history who rose from the dead (and the historical evidence for his bodily resurrection is overwhelming compared to any other historical event and person). In that moment, what will you hope in? Face it head on now. I believe in that moment many will be paralyzed by a deep despair and terror – not just fear, terror – because they will know that Jesus is right and they are wrong.

So let me close with this appeal. Consider looking into the claims of Jesus now. If you examine them thoroughly, including honest answers to your questions – not from a biased viewpoint that you want to reach a certain conclusion but from a desire to get to the truth.

The good news is God is not willing that any should perish. God doesn’t want us to make a wreck of our lives. He doesn’t want us to be lost.

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16)

Jesus is reaching out to you right now. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart but reach out to him in faith and ask him to be your Savior.