In this message we will consider the ending of Saul (1 Sam. 31) and David's reaction to it (2 Sam. 1).
The first point concerning Saul's ending was that he lost God's presence (1 Sam. 16:14). Today we treasure and enjoy God's presence. God's presence is just the Spirit. The Spirit is the resurrection of Christ; the resurrection of Christ is Christ Himself (John 11:25); and Christ is the embodiment of the processed and consummated Triune God. The Spirit is the reality of God and of the resurrection of Christ. If we have the Spirit, we are in resurrection. If we have the resurrection, we have Christ. If we have Christ, we have the embodiment of God. It is a tragedy that many of today's Christians miss the Spirit. They have the Spirit in their theology, but they do not treasure the Spirit as the consummated God.
At this point I would like to say a word about the steps of God's process. God in eternity past was merely God, divine and triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. According to His desire God made an economy, and according to His economy He created the heavens and the earth with man as the center. Yet He still remained purely divine. However, God intended to join Himself to man in order to make Himself one with man. Thus He became a man through incarnation, putting on man's blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14). In eternity past He was merely divine, but by being incarnated He became a God-man named Jesus Christ. Through the process of incarnation He entered into humanity, making Himself, the divine One, one with humanity. In this way He became the God-man, the One who is both divine and human, the complete God and the perfect man.
As the almighty, eternal, and complete God, He lived in humanity for thirty-three and a half years. Then, as the eternal One who is the eternal life, He entered into death and toured Hades for three days. Rising from Hades, He walked out of death and entered into resurrection. Through incarnation He brought God into man, and in resurrection He brought man into God. Through incarnation He brought divinity into humanity, and in resurrection He brought humanity into divinity. After His resurrection He entered into heaven, and today He is in the heavens as a man sitting on the throne (Acts 7:56; Heb. 1:3b; Eph. 1:20).
As such a One, He is now the consummated God, having passed through the steps of incarnation, human living, the all-inclusive death, resurrection, and ascension. In ascension as the consummated Triune God He remains the complete God mingled with the perfect man—the God-man. This realization is the conclusion of our study of the Bible over the last seven decades.
Today as the consummated God He is the Spirit, our life, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Master, our Lord, our Father, and our God. He is everything to us. He became a man that we as men may become God in life and nature (but not in the Godhead). He has made Himself one with us, and He has made us one with Him. He went through human living, and we traveled with Him. He went to the cross, and we were crucified with Him. He resurrected, and we resurrected with Him. He is in the heavens, and we are there with Him. Now the consummated Triune God as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) indwells our spirit (6:17; Rom. 8:11). Hence, the realization of God's presence is altogether a matter of these two spirits.
Saul lost God's presence, and eventually death came in every way, in every aspect, and in every sense. Saul and his sons died a corporate death. Let us now consider the account of the ending of Saul in 1 Samuel 31.