Peter, Are You Serious? Samuel?

Jesus, after His resurrection, demonstrated good Bible study. “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). Peter imitated his Master by saying, “Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days” (Acts 3:24).

These master teachers followed a chronological order. From the earliest prophets, they revealed God’s promises for the “last days” of the Mosaic age. They said God was fulfilling these promises in their generation.

This series of posts follows their lead. After introducing the subject (here and here), we saw how Moses foretold the events of Peter’s generation (here and here). We will move on to Peter’s starting point to see what Samuel promised for this period.¹

Samuel² lived about three hundred years after Moses and was a vital link between him and the Messiah. Moses had said, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (i.e., the Messiah) comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Gen 49:10). But Judah did not have a lawgiver with a scepter until Samuel arrived.

God started the line of Judah’s rulers through Samuel, a succession that continued until Christ was born. The central acts in this inauguration were Samuel’s anointing of David (1 Sam 16:1–13) and God announcing His covenant with David (2 Sam 7:4–29).

God fulfilled the promises in this covenant during the “last days” of the Mosaic age. In this post, let’s look at three elements in Samuel’s record: a people, a province, and a prayer.

A People

Samuel documented God’s promise to David regarding a people:

Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more.… Also the LORD tells you that He will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body. (2 Sam 7:10–12)

This promise included David’s son, Solomon, who built the temple in Jerusalem. But it comprised much more, for David said, “You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come” (2 Sam 7:19).

John Gill shows how some Jews interpreted this verse in their writings: “Thou hast spoken of the house of thy servant unto the world to come.” They used the phrase “the world to come” to mean the times of the Messiah. Gill says Hebrews 2:5 shows their meaning: “[God] has not put the world to come … in subjection to angels.” 

This perspective fits well in the inmillennial prophetic model.³ The times of the Messiah were “the world about to come (Gk. tēn oikoumenēn tēn mellousan)” of Hebrews 2:5. That world was arriving in the “last days” (Heb 1:2) of the Mosaic age, when Christ would return in “a very, very little while” (Heb 10:37).⁴

The apostles emphasized the identifying marks of the people of God in the soon-coming messianic age. Paul, for example, said, 

He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. (Rom 2:28–29)

God was fulfilling His promise to David through a spiritual seed, not a people defined by fleshly relationships, as in the Mosaic age.

Peter also wrote about this people: “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people … who once were not a people but are now the people of God” (1 Pet 2:9–10).

Samuel had spoken of the people God would give to David. Christ and his apostles showed how this was happening in their generation.

A Province

Samuel recorded God’s promise (through Nathan) of David’s future kingdom: 

When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you … and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.… And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. (2 Sam 7:12–16)

This kingdom (or province) forms a central theme of the New Testament. The first eighty-four messianic-age preachers announced its arrival. (See A Gospel Seldom Preached.) Jesus said His message was the gospel of the kingdom (Matt 24:14). This topic permeates apostolic preaching.

Peter describes how the kingdom was fulfilling God’s promise to David:

Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’” Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:29–36)

Samuel spoke of the province that God would give to David, and He did it in Peter’s generation.

A Prayer

Samuel spoke of David’s reaction to God’s promises—he prayed for God to fulfill them. Here are his words:

Now, O LORD God, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as You have said. So let Your name be magnified forever, saying, “The LORD of hosts is the God over Israel.” And let the house of Your servant David be established before You. For You, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant, saying, “I will build you a house.” Therefore Your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to You.
And now, O Lord GOD, You are God, and Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant. Now therefore, let it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for You, O Lord GOD, have spoken it, and with Your blessing let the house of Your servant be blessed forever. (2 Sam 7:25–29)

This reaction resembles Daniel’s when he read God’s promise about Israel’s return from captivity and realized the time of fulfillment was near. He prayed for it to happen (Dan 9:1–3).

Samuel’s words encourage us to quit being spectators as we watch God fulfill His kingdom promises. Let us, like David, pray that the number of the Lord’s disciples will multiply (Acts 6:7) and that His churches will increase in number (Acts 16:5). 

As He was fulfilling David’s people and province promises, Jesus taught us to pray this way: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).

Let us imitate David.

Conclusion

I suspect Jesus explained the Davidic covenant to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Samuel’s record of it shows that he, with all the prophets, spoke about Peter’s generation—the “last days” of the Mosaic age.

1. I encourage you to become familiar with the inmillennial view of prophecy. You can read a summary version here or tackle the full book-length version here. The title of the book—Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days—hints at the reason for my suggestion. This model says the “last days” are identical to Peter’s “these days”; both terms refer to the “last days” of the Mosaic age. This perspective will shed light on the prophets as we work through them.
   I also suggest that you consider watching the sermons related to this subject. I preached the material in this post at Hopewell Primitive Baptist Church in Opelika, AL, on May 28, 2023. You can watch it here.
2. The image in this post is Anna presenting her son Samuel to the priest Eli by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621–1674). It is in the public domain.
3. See footnote 1 above.
4. Per William Gouge, Commentary on Hebrews (1866; repr., Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1980), 366.