Real heroes don’t often get the credit for their heroism in this world. But God has a great big book and He’s writing it all down, the good as well as the wrong. Jonathan, son of King Saul has always seemed to me one of the greatest heroes in the Bible. But you seldom hear much about him and few Christians know what a part he played as Israel rose to its glorious years under King David.

Jonathan was “the crown prince”, next in line to the throne of Israel, after his father, Saul. But King Saul’s life turned out to be one of the very saddest in the Bible. I have every reason to believe that King Saul was saved and that we’ll see him in heaven. He started out really great, anointed by Samuel the high priest, specifically chosen by God and he even had the gift of prophecy.

But through disobedience, self-will, arrogance and hellish pride, King Saul lost the anointing he had as king. Samuel ultimately told Saul, “When you were little in your own sight, the Lord highly exalted you. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought Him a man after his own heart. And the Lord has commanded him to be captain over His people, because you have not kept that which the Lord commanded you.” (I Samuel 13:13 & 14, 15:17) And that “man after God’s heart” turned out to be Israel’s best loved and most remembered monarch, King David, even though at the time Samuel spoke this message to Saul, David was still an obscure young shepherd boy.

And did King Saul humbly and meekly step aside at Samuel’s words and turn over the reins of government and power over the nation to young David? No, not at all. In fact, evidently Saul even got violent to some degree with the prophet and priest Samuel, for having spoken the word of the Lord to the king.

But then, like an excellent book or movie, “enter stage left” comes Saul’s son, Jonathan. “Samuel! What’s this about my dad loosing the kingdom!?” This would be what you could expect from 99% of men in Jonathan’s position. “Lose my crown, my throne, my future power!?” That’s what virtually every man of the world and of power would say. But Jonathan didn’t ever do that, even though he had been brought up by such a power-hungry, fallen failure of a man like his father, Saul. Wouldn’t Jonathan be just like Saul? Would his DNA pre-ordain him to follow the same Godless path?

This is where the miracle and godliness of Jonathan shows so brightly, so much so that it’s almost strange. Rather than working with his father, Saul, to resist the hand of God which was moving to make David the future king of Israel, Jonathan evidently saw from the beginning that God’s anointing was on David. When Saul, Jonathan and the whole army of Israel were pinned down by Goliath and the Philistines, it was the young teenage shepherd boy, David, who stepped out of the crowd to miraculously defeat the champion of the Philistines in single combat.

Sometimes, as some say, “You’ve got to see God.” And evidently Jonathan from the beginning saw the hand of God on David’s life, that he was God’s chosen and blessed to lead Israel. “Sure, easy enough,” you might say. But I’m sure it wasn’t. Never was it so clearly summed up when his own father, Saul, in an absolute rage, yelled at Jonathan, “Don’t you know you’ll never be king as long as David, the son of Jesse, is alive?!” (I Samuel 20:31) In other words, “David is going to take your crown! You are going to lose the kingdom to David!”

And this is where it’s almost a mystery what really went on in Jonathan’s heart. Because, as difficult as it must have been, he remained loyal to David and to what he knew was God’s will, rather than to his own career, power and supposedly inheritance. He even worked as an insider within the inner circle of Saul’s court to keep David informed of what his father’s plans were against him during the years when David was growing to full adulthood and was often on the run as a fugitive from Saul’s deteriorating regime and unhinged life.

It’s all just an incredible story that I don’t have room to go into here if this is to not become too long. But if you want drama, intrigue, heroism and the mighty hand of God working to have His will against the very worst of human nature and sin, you should read I Samuel 12 to 28 where this is all found.

Jonathan stayed true to David throughout his life, to his own loss in this world, as well as the loss of his dad’s kingdom and the kingdom of Israel shifting to David and his descendants. But there’s no sign Jonathan ever wavered in this. He played the role that God had for him to the utmost, against the course of this world, against his father’s raging and against what would seem to be all his own self-interest, as far as the world looks at things.

And David was fully aware of the sacrifice Jonathan was making for him during this time and the amazing loyalty, friendship and love in the Lord that Jonathan had in his heart for David. The last time they saw each other, as far as we know, Jonathan had just brought David word of Saul’s continued rage and vengeful attitude towards David. The Bible says:  “David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times [towards Jonathan]: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.”  (I Samuel 20:41)

It’s perhaps one of the greatest “love stories” in the Bible, but of Godly, selfless love and camaraderie between two men who were brought together in a drama of God’s making and who played their roles to the hilt. And it should go without saying that there was nothing of the remotest sort that was physical in their love for each other. But in our depraved and sunken world that we live in at this time, I’m probably compelled to just mention that here.

Jonathan must have been able to say what Paul said 1000 years later, “I have not been disobedient to the heavenly vision.” (Acts 26:19) The Bible doesn’t specifically tell us how Jonathan came to such an understanding and the stand of faith he took to go God’s way but to what was his own personal determent in this world. And he isn’t really remembered very much in the annals of the greats of the Bible.

Nevertheless, he was one of the most integral players and factors in the rise of David to the throne of Israel, someone who laid down his life in this world so that God’s will could prevail, even as he himself seemed to be one of the greatest losers in God’s plan. But I expect that we’ll see a mighty crown on Jonathan in heaven and be able to learn a lot more about his almost other-worldly vision, understanding and stand of faith that helped God’s will to be done on earth in his lifetime. “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) God help us all to have the selflessness and vision of Jonathan, even when it comes with our own personal loss in this world.