Jonathan and the sons of Zadok

JONATHAN & the SONS OF ZADOK
-by Bill Britton.

Herein lies one the of the strangest, and saddest, stories of the Bible. The story of a fine young man who saw the coming of a new order, actually prophesied of the coming Kingdom, who knew and loved the coming King dearly, yet missed being in that glorious Kingdom simply because he never got around to coming out
of the old order!

And with this story comes a solemn warning to those who are
seeing the coming of a new order to the Church, who know what
it is to feel the anointing of that new Move of the Spirit, who have
every reason to be included in that glorious new Kingdom, yet
who are in great danger of *missing the ascent to the Throne*
simply because, like Jonathan, they will not separate themselves
from the old order and "come out of her, my people".
They continue to hang around the edges of what God is doing in these last days,
content to keep in touch with the anointed people in the wilderness,
but not willing to bear the reproach of being one of that "motley
crew" in Adullam.

Now read on, if you dare.

*"Swifter than the Eagle" *

Jonathan was one of the finest and most admirable young men in
the Bible. Many wonderful attributes are recorded of him, and not
one sin laid to his charge. He was a man of faith, courage, vision,
unselfishness, and deep spirituality. He was a King's son, next in
line for the throne of his father.
But he laid all this aside for the love of David, God's anointed, for he saw that it was the will of God for David to be the next King.

The first we see of Jonathan is in the 13th chapter of 1 Samuel.
He is in Gibeah at the head of a thousand men in the army of
his father, Saul. Here he refused to compromise or coexist with
the devilish Philistines, but smote a garrison of them, and thus
precipitated a crisis in Israel. His courage knew no limit.
The Bible says that he was "swifter than the eagle, stronger than the lion".
His army was not so. They had few weapons, were used to being
trampled under the feet of the Philistines, and upon occasion they
would flee to the rocks and the caves. He dwelled in the midst of
a fearful and trembling people, but he was as bold as a lion, for
he trusted in the living God.

*"By Many or by Few" *

As we go to the 14th chapter of 1 Samuel, we find Jonathan
initiating a great victory over the Philistines, with the help of the
God of heaven. He started out alone, with only the young man
that bear his armour, and after putting out a fleece to God, he
single-handedly attacked an entire garrison of the Philistines.
He had to crawl up a mountain on his hands and feet in order to get
to them, but when he got there he caused such a slaughter that
the entire Philistine army went into utter confusion and began to
attack each other. God stepped in with an earthquake and a great
trembling, and there was a great victory that day. Jonathan was
one who knew what it was to eat of the fresh honey and have his
eyes enlightened and his soul strengthened. As a result, he also
knew what it was to face the wrath of Saul, who is a type of the
man-made king over God's people. But though he sees the
wrongness in this system, he continues to stay in it.

** *"And He Stripped Himself" *

After young David came along on that memorable day and slew
Goliath, we find David and Jonathan becoming very close friends.
In fact, it says: "The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of
David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Then Jonathan
and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own
soul. 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."

The love between these two brave young men, the shepherd boy
and the prince, was the brightest thing in Israel at this dark hour
of history. Jonathan had at last found someone who did not run
from the Philistines, someone whose courage matched his own.
And he felt the divine anointing that rested upon David. For Samuel
had anointed David with the horn of oil, to be king over Israel in
Saul's place. And Jonathan came to the knowledge that David
was the one to sit on the throne, not himself. For if he ascended
to the throne of his father Saul, he could only continue the order
his father was in, and he knew that this was not of God. But here
was a new order, a new anointing, a new Kingdom that Israel
had never experienced before. And God had ordained it. So
Jonathan stripped himself of his princely garments and gave them
to David. This was all while David was in Saul's house, under Saul's rule.

*"David in the Wilderness" *

Suddenly a great reproach falls upon David. It comes from nothing
evil that he has done. No sin can be laid to his charge. But Saul
is suddenly jealous over the anointing that is on David, and he
tries to destroy that anointing. So David flees for his life into a
wilderness place. Jonathan does not go along. He stays in Saul's
house. He still loves David, he knows David has the anointing
and the true message from God, but he is not quite ready to leave
father's house and break all the family ties and bear the reproach
that David is bearing.

How many there are that are pictured here! They love the anointing
and the true message of the Kingdom. They are willing to make
any sacrifice, pray, fast, go, and give… just to have that anointing.
Except leave the old order. When it comes to that, they cannot
see the need for it. Now it is not courage that is lacking. They
have courage, and a great love for God. Like Jonathan, they are
full of many fine qualities. But they cannot hear the trumpet saying
"Come out of her, my people." They can hardly understand why
the "Davids" have to waste their time in the "wilderness", with that
little motley band of discontents, when they could be doing so
much more, preaching to bigger crowds, winning more souls,
sitting at Saul's table. They just can't see the reason for the
separation. If David had gone forth with the approval of the
organization, making some desperate charge against a powerful
enemy, then Jonathan wouldn't have hesitated a minute. But what
is David doing? *Nothing.* Just sitting out there in a cave
somewhere, or hiding in the woods with his little band of four
hundred men. Now four hundred may seem like a great
congregation to some of these Move of God preachers who can
hardly remember when they had more than fifty to preach to. But
compared to the hundreds of thousands that Saul could assemble
by blowing a trumpet, it was a tiny crowd.

"David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam:
and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went
down thither to him. And everyone that was in distress, and
everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented,
gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over
them: and there were with him about four hundred men" (1 Sam 22:1-2)

Where is Jonathan? Back in Saul's house, probably sitting around
wondering what is happening with God's anointed tonight, maybe
wishing he could just be there and hear David sing some of the
psalms that God is giving him by the Spirit. He attends Saul's
banquets, but they are dead, dry affairs, full of business meetings,
committee meetings, programs, promotional humbug, political
maneuvering, arguing and bad spirits floating around. Yet he can't
seem to pull away. Maybe you think he can do more good for
David there in Saul's palace.

Friends, believe me, God will take care of David. But he needs
Jonathan out there in the wilderness with him. He is training an
army, making leaders and future heroes. And Jonathan desperately
needs to be in that Army. And there is a place for him. But he
can't leave the old order, break the family ties and bear the
reproach from his brethren.

Now Jonathan knows David is right, and that the new order will
eventually come in. And on occasion he says so. Saul wants
Jonathan to kill David, but in 1 Samuel chapters 19 and 20 we
find Jonathan opposing his father and refusing to put his hand
against this new move of the Spirit. This infuriates Saul so that
he rails out at Jonathan and threatens him: "Then Saul's anger
was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son
of the perverse and rebellious woman, do not I know that thou
hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion?" (1 Sam 20:30)

Saul goes on to tell Jonathan that as long as this new order is
alive, that Jonathan will never be able to take over the old order
and get it established. But Jonathan refuses to oppose David,
and Saul throws a javelin at him. But he still will not leave Saul.
He knows that there is an evil spirit troubling his father's house,
and that there is no victory in the camp. But there are strong
natural ties that hold him.

*"I Shall be Next to Thee" *

Perhaps you think that Jonathan is not aware of what is going to
happen to Saul's kingdom? Listen to him as he slips off secretly
and visits David out in the woods:... "And he said unto him, "Fear
not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and *THOU
SHALT BE KING OVER ISRAEL, AND I SHALL BE NEXT UNTO
THEE;* and that also Saul my father knoweth." And they two
made a covenant before the Lord: and David abode in the wood,
and Jonathan went to his house."

Now David only had a few with him, and they were in the wilderness.
But the blessings of God were "flowing" there in Ziph. But what a
tragedy in those last few words. Jonathan has all good intentions.
He has a true vision. *He has a tremendous revelation of the
coming Kingdom, probably more than most of the men who follow
David.* A lot of the men were in the wilderness with David because
they had no place else to go, or they were discontent with the old
system. Some were there because they didn't want to go to a
debtor's prison, and some because they admired his ministry and
the way he had killed Goliath. Some perhaps even had caught a
vision of the message of the new order of the Kingdom. But none
had the picture so clearly as Jonathan. *He had the revelation.*
He loved the anointing. But all during the wilderness processing,
he was missing!!

Why? He couldn't get around to coming out of the old order.

And when the new Kingdom came in and David sat on the throne,
Jonathan was not standing there by him as he had prophesied.
Why? Because the day that Saul fell in the battle, *Jonathan was
still with him*, and fell also under the sword of the Philistines.

There was a time when Jonathan could put a whole army of
Philistines to flight single-handedly. But that was because *God
was with him*. Listen friends, what worked yesterday won't work
today, because the order *is* changing, and *God is moving on*.
Either move on *with Him*, or you'll find yourself missing out on
the greatest thing man has ever seen. Babylon is going to fall,
and if you don't come out of her, you'll find yourself falling with
her, "being a partaker of her sins, and receiving of her plagues."

There is a little Army in the wilderness today, small, insignificant,
reproached, lied-about, but anointed of God. They don't seem to
be doing much, but they are *not* idle. They are in training. Mighty
men of war are being raised up, men who will soon go forth and
in the power of the new Kingdom order do that which Saul and
all his armies have not been able to do. Saul started his reign
with a battle against the Philistines, and for a while it looked like
he would do alright and was making good gains against the enemy.
But after 40 years on the throne, the Philistines were still around,
and in fact, they overcame Saul in the end and hung his body in
the halls of their false god. Jonathan's body hung there also, a
reproach to the man who saw the glory from afar, but never
received the inheritance...