The Voice of God Gets Through

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I was listening quietly, while my wife read a children’s bible story book to my little 3-year old grandson. She was reading about God calling out to Samuel for the first time. Most people will remember that this account shows Samuel as a little boy sleeping in the Temple near Eli, the high priest, that is, in the Temple court in the place provided for the priests who attended the duties of the Temple. Samuel awoke from sleep by the sound of God’s voice calling out to him. Naturally, he assumed it was Eli calling him, because he had no past experience of God speaking directly to him. So, he went in to Eli and woke him from his sleep, asking what he wanted. Eli told him he hadn’t called him and to return to his bed and go to sleep.

This went on for three times, and three times Samuel went to Eli, asking what he wanted. By the third time Eli realized it was God speaking to Samuel, so he directed Samuel what to do, if he heard the voice again.

Some folks may think I am crazy, but while I was listening to my wife, I began to think of the three times Jesus went to the three disciples in Gethsemane, and I began to see a similarity—perhaps a fulfillment in Jesus’ life of what occurred to Samuel.

As I understand Jesus’ Gethsemane experience, something had to have happened to Jesus on his way to Gethsemane from the upper room. What I believe occurred is that Jesus began to feel the weight of men’s sins, as he crossed the Kidron Valley to Mount Olives. Recall that it was there that Josiah the King had cast all of Judah’s idols and altars they had erected throughout Jerusalem. In a real way, the valley represents the depth of disobedience committed by the Jews against God. Gethsemane was an olive garden on the mount where olives were pressed to acquire the precious oil. Actually, a “gethsemane” is an olive press, which seems to stress what was actually occurring in Jesus’ experience. He was being pressed down because of our sins. In any event Jesus mentioned to his disciples that he was so depressed that he was at the point of death. Why?

Most folks believe that Jesus began to have second thoughts in the garden, implying his human spirit crying out to God, but that in the end he submitted to the will of God. As far as I am concerned, this is a very worldly manner in which to view the Scriptures. How can Jesus who is God have an opposing will to that of his Father? Jesus is not schizophrenic. He always does the will of God. He brings the invisible God into physical perception. To think that Jesus was having second thoughts would abandon that very identifying characteristic. Jesus’ struggle was not with sin—it never was. That is why we have security in him. In the world we are tempted, but in Christ we are saved out of temptation. One cannot pursue the goals of the world while at the same time seeking Christ. The two are diametrically opposed to the other.

What then was depressing Jesus? The prophet Isaiah claimed that our sins have separated us from our God (Isaiah 59:2). If my understanding is correct, then for the very first time Jesus could not hear the voice of his Father. This is what depressed him, and this apparent ‘separation’ due to his bearing men’s sins is what he asked his Father to remove, but not according to Jesus’ will but according to his Father’s. Now we can see that this understanding keeps Jesus’ will—which is to be in communication with the Father—in line with the Father’s will to be in communication with men, but especially with Jesus. Nevertheless, in order for Jesus to live out the part of our Redeemer, he had to experience this apparent ‘separation’.

This is where the similarity with Samuel comes in. Samuel wasn’t familiar with the voice of God, but Jesus was. Samuel went three times to Eli to find out what the Voice wanted. Jesus went three times to the disciples looking for communication from God to come through them. He did this, because Peter had already shown that the Father was speaking to him when he declared that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Jesus acknowledged that this wasn’t man’s idea, but the idea came from the Father (Matthew 16:16-17). Jesus was seeking this kind of second-hand communication from his Father, and he came looking for it in his disciples, but they slept (like Eli). Nevertheless, if Samuel is a type of this account concerning Jesus, the fourth time God spoke to Samuel, he connected. According to Jesus’ account the fourth time came through the angel sent by God. He was strengthened with the presence of the angel, knowing he was in communication with his Father.

Sadly, I never feel like I am at the point of death, if I am drawn away by the world and my communication with Jesus is no longer apparent. This event in Christ’s life stands out in contrast to the condition we have come to understand as “ordinary.” Isn’t it odd that we should find it “extraordinary” to read of people, like George Muller, who are so comfortable in God’s presence that their prayers are always answered? If you are like me, I find myself wishing it would be true of me as well, but how can it be when I understand the apparent separation between me and God is something ordinary?

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Speak Lord!