In this message I would like to give a further word on Samuel and his ministry.
At the end of his ministry, by the time that Saul was raised up to be the king in Israel (9:3—10:27), Samuel had reached the highest position. We may say that in the whole universe, there was only one who was above him, and that one was God. We may even say that, as God's representative, Samuel was the acting God. God intended to move, to act, yet He needed a representative. Samuel thus became a prophet, a priest, and a judge. He was God's oracle and God's administration. As such, he was the acting God on earth.
Although Samuel was God's representative, God did not have any intention to make him a kingdom. Rather, according to the Bible, God determined to raise up a man named David, through whom He intended to build up a kingdom. When God chose Abraham, it was not His intention to gain a single person or even a group of people who would seek after Him. God's intention has been to have a kingdom. The consummation of the revelation in the Bible is a kingdom. Revelation 11:15 says, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ." In the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem, there will be the eternal kingdom of God.
In Matthew 16 there is a word concerning both the kingdom and the church. When Peter received the revelation of Christ as the Son of the living God (vv. 16-17), Jesus said to him, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church" (v. 18), and then He went on to speak of the kingdom of the heavens (v. 19). In these verses the phrase "the kingdom of the heavens" is used interchangeably with the word "church." This shows that God does not want just a church but a kingdom-church. In Romans 14:17 Paul also indicated that the practical church life is the kingdom: "The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
Even though Samuel eventually attained the highest position, God still had not reached His goal. As a man who was according to God's heart, Samuel knew that within God's heart there was a desire for a kingdom. God wanted the kingdom to be brought in not through Samuel but through David.