God Reveals Himself Through His Word

God Reveals Himself Through His Word

February 2, 2025

In 1 Samuel 3, the author of Samuel demonstrated how God established Samuel as a prophet – one who would speak for God – for the people of Israel and how God brought about the judgment of the house of Eli. There is a movement here that the author of 1 and 2 Samuel wanted the original readers to see – that God established Samuel as a prophet. God was bringing down the house of Eli.  The people of Israel who received this would know that God, even in times of spiritual darkness, reveals himself through his Word. Today, we are going to see what the author has done in showing Samuel as a prophet of God’s word and we’re also going to consider how God reveals himself through His word in light of what we see in 1 Samuel 3.

I want us to note that this text does emphasize the theme of God’s Word. In this text you will see the idea of God speaking multiple times. Verse 1 – And the Word of the Lord was rare in those days. We also have God speaking his word to Samuel in verse 4 – The LORD called Samuel. This happens in verse 6, 8, and 10, and verses 11-14 where God gives a message to Samuel. Verse 17 speaks about the word that the LORD spoke to Samuel. Samuel is called a prophet of the LORD in verse 20 which emphasizes God speaking through someone.  We have also in verse 21 the emphasis that The Lord revealed Himself by his Word. The theme of God’s word or God revealing himself is one of the main emphases in this passage. 

But so also is the theme of God’s choosing Samuel to reveal himself through. As you think about how the books of 1 and 2 Samuel flow, there is this movement of God bringing up Samuel through obscure circumstances and bringing down Eli, who was the high priest,  and his household. Samuel was faithful to God’s call and revelation. Eli and his sons were not. We see here in this young man – maybe even a boy – someone not only to whom God spoke, but also a young man who was faithful and obedient to God. 

This helps to see the significance of this passage of Scripture for us right away. First, this text is significant because it reminds us of the glorious truth that God has and does reveal himself and that he does so primarily through His Word. Have you ever stopped and thought about how glorious it is that God has chosen to reveal himself at all – much less through His Word. We read in verse 1 about the timeframe of this passage – And the Word of the LORD was rare in those days. there was no widespread revelation which is probably better translated as vision. People were lost with little to no guidance. 

We know what that is like on a very practical level. Picture a little boy who is in Walmart or Target with his mom. He is 4 or 5 years old. And he’s walking right by mom and mom stops and looks at something on the shelf for a second or two. And that little boy starts looking at something on his eye level. She starts to walk and turns the corner and the little boy looks up and doesn’t see his mom. And so, he looks but he turns the wrong way and suddenly he is a couple of isles away. Mom turns around and doesn’t see her son behind her and she begins to look and she goes the opposite direction that he went. Now, if you are a parent, you are feeling certain things right now. But instead, for a moment, place yourself in the shoes of that little boy. He is lost! He doesn’t have anyone to show him, to guide him, to lead him, to speak to him where he should go. And his little heart begins to beat faster and faster, he might begin to cry, and then cry out – “Mom!” He doesn’t know what to do. No word, no vision. 

Imagine if God had never spoken his word or revealed himself to us. We would be lost. We would live in a world – in a universe – where nothing but cold, brute facts would come at us with no way to know what to do or how to make sense of them or even how to make sense of ourselves. We would be part of a mass of people who are driving around like we were in a bumper car arena with blindfolds on. We would just smash into each other and to the walls over and over and over again hoping to figure something out as to where we could go and what would make us feel safe. By the way, that is like much of our culture today. God has revealed himself but they have chosen not to listen. And so they drive blindly and wildly this way and that hoping to make sense of the world around them. 

If God had not revealed himself, we would be lost. It is a glorious thing that God has chosen to reveal himself and his plans and his will for our lives. And he does that through his Word. I want us to consider that glory this morning and to encourage us to follow, like Samuel, God’s Word. 

In order to do that, we first need to get our bearings in this text. We need to understand the narrative – what God has said here about Samuel and his interactions with Eli here and God’s calling of him. So, let’s make sure we grasp the account here and then we will come back to our theme of God revealing himself through His Word and consider what that might mean for our lives. 

1. The Narrative 

We read in verse 1 that the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. Remember that we have met Samuel, the young boy whom his mother dedicated to the service of the Lord. He was of the priestly class – he was a Levite. Eli was also a Levite but of a different part of the tribe of Levi. Eli was the high priest here. Samuel was his assistant. But more than serving Eli, Samuel ministered to the Lord. What a contrast to Eli’s sons – Hophni and Phinehas – whom we met last week. They did not serve the Lord.  They served themselves. 

But we also read in verse 1- And the Word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread (or frequent) revelation. The word for rare was normally used for jewels. It was like mining out hidden gems. You didn’t find it very often. Revelation, as I mentioned earlier, is really better translated as vision. In fact, what Samuel received is called a vision down at the end of verse 15. Visions included things one would see or hear from God. This was a time where God had not spoken prophetically much at all. Now, this is going to change by the time we get to the end of this chapter. Notice verse 20 – And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba (we would say from coast to coast) knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the LORD. But when we start in verse 1, that had not yet happened. People had not heard from God in quite some time. 

Verse 1 sets the stage for the rest of this account. And that account is in verse 2 where we see Eli lying down in his place. Where was that place? Some people have suggested that it was in the tabernacle itself because we see Samuel lying down where the ark of God was in verse 3 so that both Eli and Samuel were in the tabernacle itself. But that is probably not the case. For one thing, Samuel would not have been allowed in the holy of holiness where the Ark was at. Instead, it is likely that there were houses and tents set up around the tabernacle, as there would be later around the temple in Jerusalem. So, Eli had his spot, Samuel had his somewhere close to the tabernacle and where the Ark of the Covenant was at. 

We learn also in verse 2 that Eli was very old. His eyes were so dim that he could not see. This is probably why Samuel was with him. Eli needed a lot of help. This may also be a double reference here. Eli, it seems, could not physically see. Maybe also that is a subtle indicator that he could not spiritually see either. There is a contrast between verse 1 and the revelation of God and verse 3 with the lamp in the tabernacle and the dimness of Eli’s eyes. I can’t say that for sure, but It might be a subtle jab. 

Nevertheless, Samuel and Eli are heading to sleep. The lamp in the tabernacle was burning which would have occurred throughout the night. It was not yet dawn. Was young Samuel lying awake before the sunlight was going to rise? Was he fast asleep? We are not told. But suddenly he hears a voice. What did God say? It is simply described as the LORD called Samuel. If you go down to verse 10 we read Now the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel, Samuel.” At this point, this is all that Samuel heard. And Samuel thought it was Eli. He was his right hand man – “Here I am!” And he runs to Eli’s room – Here I am, for you called me. 

Now, you have to wonder. Was Eli sound asleep? Was he lying there awake? Was he startled when Samuel ran in? I don’t know. But he says in verse 5 – I did not call; lie down again. Did Eli say that like a grumpy old man or a kind old grandpa? I bet he might have been confused. And you can picture Eli rolling over trying to go back to sleep and poor young Samuel walking back to his bed thinking, “what in the world?” Maybe Samuel thought, “it must have been a dream.” Have you ever had one of those dreams where you wake up and it feels so real – like it really happened? 

So Samuel goes back to bed and in verse 6 it happens again! So Samuel runs in again Here I am, for you called me. Eli answers, I did not call, my son; lie down again. Was Eli confused or irritated? Was Samuel walking back saying to himself, “Eli, is really losing it. I heard someone call.” But then we read in verse an explanation from the author – Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him. The point of this is to note that Samuel had not yet received a prophetic message like this from God. The author wants to be very clear that his not knowing the Lord was not like Hophni and Phinehas – Eli’s sons. Hophni and Phinehas didn’t know God and didn’t care about what God had said. Samuel had not yet received a message like this. He didn’t know what to listen for.  

So we continue on and we read that for a third time. And you see Samuel change his speech to Eli a bit in verse 8 – Here I am, for you did call me. I’m not crazy Eli. I heard you. Eli shows some sensitivity to the things of God at the end of verse 8. He thinks that maybe God was in this. So he instructs Samuel to go back, lie down, and if God calls to say Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears. By the way, that is always the right response to the word of God. Your servant hears and is listening. We don’t tell God what to do. We say, “You speak, and we listen.”

Now, what God reveals is his will and plans for the future for Israel. The household of Eli was going to end. If you were with us last week, this has already been told to Eli. A man of God told these things to Eli. And now, Samuel is receiving this information too. It is interesting how much of a shock it was going to be when Eli and his household would collapse. Notice at the end of verse 11 – Behold I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. We use the phrase, “it was ringing in their ears.” That is the idea here. Everyone would know and experience. This message would be heard loud and clear to everyone. And there was no going back. Verse 14 And therefore I have sworn to the house Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever. There was no way that God was going to go back on His word. Eli and his household were going to be judged. This was the first message that Samuel heard from God – one of profound judgement that would shake the nation of Israel. 

Now, this did not mean that Eli or his sons could not have repented. There is always mercy in the Lord. But it did mean that no sacrifice or offering was going to stop this judgment. It is sort of like someone on death row. They may repent and forgiveness might be offered and received. But justice will go forward. 

We wonder what time this all happened? Was it 2 am, 3 am, 4 am? We don’t know for certain. But what we do know for certain is that Samuel didn’t sleep a wink for the rest of the night. Notice verse 15 – So Samuel lay down until morning. Think about this. Samuel was probably a young man here. Maybe still a teenager. Have you ever had some things on your mind at night that are so difficult that you just can sleep. Your mind just races and goes over them over and over and over again. We know at the end of verse 15 that Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. Ya think! How in the world was he going to tell that to Eli! “So, how did you sleep after all that?” “Fine Eli. I just found out that your household is going to be judged by Jehovah God and that there is absolutely nothing you or anyone can do about it. How’s your day going?” 

Well, Samuel got up and he started his day as if nothing happened. He opens the doors but Eli now actually calls Samuel. And Eli puts the screws on him – What is the word that the LORD spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that He said to you. That is a form of an oath that says, “the Lord Judge you if you tell a lie.” And Samuel doesn’t lie. He tells him everything in verse 18.’ This had to be a terrifying event for a young man. 

Eli responds rightly to this. Eli is a complicated character. He seems at times to want to do what is right but he also tolerates much evil. But here we see a righteous response in verse 18 – It is the LORD. Let Him do what seems good to Him. I am sure it hurt deeply. He had already heard from the man of God that God was going to judge his household. Now, he heard from Samuel, this young man that God was going to judge. 

The result is seen in verse 19. So Samuel grew and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. This is a reference to the prophetic words that Samuel began to proclaim. Everything that Samuel spoke from God came to pass. And people started to take notice. The whole of Israel recognized that Samuel was a prophet from God. God, in verse 21, not only had revealed himself to Samuel, but had also revealed himself to the people of Israel. They heard from God through Samuel. 

Now, this is the narrative of this text. God calls Samuel and speaks his word. The people of Israel begin to hear from God again. What does this text say to us today? Let’s now return to our theme of God revealing himself through His word and consider what it might mean for us. 

1. God reveals himself through His Word. 

Right away, we need to note what this passage of Scripture does not say to us. I don’t like going all negative but it is important to do so here. Because this is an account and a story – a true story- that some Christians and some people have misapplied. The first is that this is not a story about how we personally should listen to the voice of God and that God should mysteriously speak to us. We have all sorts of people who advocate basically forms of pagan Eastern Meditation and import them into some quasi-Christian system where we kind of empty our mind waiting for God to speak to us. In this false sense, we could take a text like this and think, “we should be waiting for God to speak to us.” 

There are two things to note here. First, remember that this is in an Old Testament context. This is in a different dispensation – a different era in the way that God was working among his people. We can’t automatically just say, “oh, here is what God did then and so it must be immediately applicable to us today.” If we did that, we should have a tabernacle as this text has, should sometimes have mothers dedicate their newly weaned boys to the service of the tabernacle, and so on. People think that if it happened to Samuel it should also happen to us.  But Samuel was also helping to offer sacrifices in the tabernacle. 

But second, I want you to note how unique this is. Samuel is pretty much the only one who hears from God here. Remember verse 1- The word of the Lord was rare in those days. And even after God spoke to Samuel, we get down to the end of the chapter in verse 20 and we discover that Samuel gained a reputation as a prophet in the whole nation. What that should tell us is that what Samuel experienced was not a normal thing. It wasn’t like lots of people were experiencing God calling them by name in the middle of the night. In addition, when people talk about God speaking to them, they don’t usually mean that they have a word from the Lord that says your household is going to be judged and there’s no sacrifice or offering that will do anything for you. 

Those are not the kinds of messages that people who say they receive messages from the Lord say is true for today as well. There are people including people who name Jesus as Lord who try to teach this idea that it should be normal for you to “hear from God” in ways like this. It wasn’t normal in Samuel’s day and it isn’t normal now for us either. 

In fact, what is normal is that this chapter fits with an established pattern within the history of God working with people. And the pattern is that when God institutes a significant change in how he relates to humanity or to his people, he brings new revelation. That is to say, he clearly demonstrates this change often with new revelations and sometimes also signs to demonstrate the validity of those who are announcing the changes. 

So, we think about God revealing truth to Noah before the flood, or God’s call of Abraham or God using Moses for the formation of the people of Israel and so on. Those were all significant changes in the way God related to humanity or to His people. Samuel is going to institute a major change in the life of the people of Israel – a change that was sanctioned and planned by God ultimately – and that change was that Israel was going to have for the first time in her history a king. One of the reasons God brings Samuel along is to have him be established as a prophet of God – who spoke the word of God – who could anoint the line of David the King who would bring about God’s ultimate righteous plan. So, God needed to reveal new truth for the people so that they would know his will in a new era. 

Now that is important because that helps us to understand the nature of not only Samuel’s time, but also our own. In this age of the church, God has already given us the apostles and prophets who have told us what we need to know. He did that after the death and resurrection of Christ. They were approved by God and had upon them the miraculous signs of the apostles. God revealed through them his truth – in his Word. This is to be the guidebook and teacher for our life. I don’t think you see a pattern in the New Testament nor in 1 Samuel where we should be expecting to have the kind of revelation that Samuel receives.

It is true that God still speaks today – but he speaks primarily through his Word – the written word. So, we do not need to go looking for God to speak in the way that he did to Samuel. 

What then does this tell us that would matter for our lives? Well, let me suggest just two ideas. First, our God has spoken and we should rejoice! I think it was a good thing for the people of Israel that they heard from God and it’s a good thing for us that we know that God has spoken. We should rejoice!

 Remember that analogy we started with of the little boy in the store who could not see or hear his mother. He was lost! He didn’t know where to go. That would be us without God and his speaking to us. 

This week I was chatting with one of our church members. And we talked about times in life where we just don’t feel like we know what to do. I can think of many times where I have felt that and many more where someone 

has literally said to me, “I just don’t know what to do.” And this church member looked over at his Bible and said, “I know there are answers and principles in there.” What a comforting thing to know. 

Contrast that to the world around us where people don’t have that kind of assurance. If you don’t know God and don’t know what God has spoken, what do you have? You have your own reason and mental faculties I suppose. Those have limits for sure which is why we sometimes say, “I don’t know what to do.” We have our intuitions, our gut feelings. Has anyone ever had that go bad before? I remember many many years ago – nearly 20 years ago, I purchased stock in a company and it did really well. It was not much money. Casey and I were newly married and we didn’t have much money to invest. I had researched it and it performed exactly how I had predicted based upon my research. So, I doubled my money in 6 months. And that felt really good. And instead of carefully thinking about that investment going forward I went with my gut. I kept it and watched it lose almost everything I put into it. Intuition and gut feelings are shallow. 

Of course we may have our family to look to. Our community. But ultimately, if they do not have a firm revelation from God, they are just people like us. And so is tradition. Tradition can be wrong as well as culture. 

If we live according to those things, often what we end up with is anger and resentment and hurt when we can’t make sense of life and where things are going. And so, you will hear people say things like, “we just have to make the best of what we have.” It’s just a journey, it’s just a free floating experience sort of like tubing down a river. And that sounds fine except that sometimes we find that the river has crocodiles in it, and massive waterfalls. Then the tubing isn’t so much fun anymore. How do we process those things? 

We as Christians believe that God has spoken to us. And that means that he has not left us in the dark. And in a darkened world, we rejoice that we have God’s Word. God’s word is often pictured in the Bible as light. Many of  you know this verse in Psalm 119:105. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Rejoice that God has spoken. That is something we should celebrate as Christians. Our God is a speaking God who has revealed himself to us through His Son and through His Word. 

But more than rejoice, let me give you a second response. And it is found in two words that really should always go together – listen and obey. That is Samuel’s legacy in this passage. We see someone who listened to what God said and he obeyed. Speak Lord, for your servant hears. That is always the proper response to God’s Word. It is never enough to simply know that God has spoken. We must respond and obey. 

Let me emphasize something here that is of great importance to young people and to children in this room. Samuel was a young person here. There is a debate as to how old he was. He was likely not a little kid like 5 or 6 years old. He was probably a teenager – a young person here. Whatever the case, he was not an old man. He was young. And as a young person, he was able to listen and obey. 

There is no greater time in life to learn to do that as when you are young. So if you are 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 or a teenager, Samuel is a great example for you. Learn to listen to what God says and obey him now. Do not wait. 

But it’s not just true for young people. It is true for all of us. God speaks and we are to obey. Samuel models for us a great aspect of faithfulness for all of us. We should heed the word of God. We should obey. This of course means first of all that we obey in faith to what God has revealed. This begins with being a Christian…But it continues all throughout our lives. 

Conclusion: 

We are blessed today in that God has spoken. He does not leave his people in the dark. Rejoice! And Listen and Obey.