Kingdom 101: Disobedience Is an Act of Treason
Treason is an act of betrayal of trust or faith. It is the violation of the allegiance owed to one's sovereign or state--betrayal of one's country. The greatest crime committed in any kingdom or nation, in ancient or modern times, is the crime of treason. In fact, it is the only crime to which there is no question of receiving the death penalty. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Disobeying the Lord God's Word is the ultimate betrayal. King Saul committed an act of betrayal when he failed to obey the Lord God's command concerning King Agog.
Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”...Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night...And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
When a government confers on any citizen the authority and right to represent its interests, it has given the greatest form of trust possible and should be esteemed as the highest of honors. This is what the Lord God did through Samuel to Saul. Keep this in mind, the higher the representation, the higher the responsibility and trust, and thus the greater influence one can have in one's nation or kingdom. This is especially critical in the context of kingdoms, where the king not only represents himself, but embodies and symbolizes the entire kingdom and all it constitutes. Adam, in essence, embodied heaven's government here on planet earth. Now, the fall of man was not just a personal act of disobedience, but it was essentially an act of treason. When we fail to obey the Lord God's written Word, we commit the act of treason. The only thing that saves us is the obedience of Christ, to His Father's request to surrender His life for us.
Adam and his descendants committed the ultimate act of betrayal, deserving of nothing short of the penalty of death. In fact, Adam declared independence from the Kingdom government, the empire of heaven, and in so doing severed his relationship with the King of Heaven. He abandoned his position as ambassador and lost his dominion over planet earth. This next statement is very important: Through abdication of his responsibility as king over the earth, Adam lost the most important relationship of all--the Holy Spirit. Through violation of the Lord God's Word, mankind was rendered a disqualified representative of heaven on earth.
Genesis 2:15-17 I Samuel 15:1-3, 10-11, 20-23
~~W.R. Luchie
Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”...Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night...And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
When a government confers on any citizen the authority and right to represent its interests, it has given the greatest form of trust possible and should be esteemed as the highest of honors. This is what the Lord God did through Samuel to Saul. Keep this in mind, the higher the representation, the higher the responsibility and trust, and thus the greater influence one can have in one's nation or kingdom. This is especially critical in the context of kingdoms, where the king not only represents himself, but embodies and symbolizes the entire kingdom and all it constitutes. Adam, in essence, embodied heaven's government here on planet earth. Now, the fall of man was not just a personal act of disobedience, but it was essentially an act of treason. When we fail to obey the Lord God's written Word, we commit the act of treason. The only thing that saves us is the obedience of Christ, to His Father's request to surrender His life for us.
Adam and his descendants committed the ultimate act of betrayal, deserving of nothing short of the penalty of death. In fact, Adam declared independence from the Kingdom government, the empire of heaven, and in so doing severed his relationship with the King of Heaven. He abandoned his position as ambassador and lost his dominion over planet earth. This next statement is very important: Through abdication of his responsibility as king over the earth, Adam lost the most important relationship of all--the Holy Spirit. Through violation of the Lord God's Word, mankind was rendered a disqualified representative of heaven on earth.
Genesis 2:15-17 I Samuel 15:1-3, 10-11, 20-23
~~W.R. Luchie
