1 Samuel 17:37(NKJV) 37Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
(This week we are privileged to have Dr. Eldon Wilson with us for 3 days. Here are some thoughts about his messages.)
I love the story of David and Goliath. I have preached on it from many different perspectives. I want to share another one with you today. Many times, we look at this story with Goliath in the role of our problems and we play the role of David. We can overcome the giant in our lives just as David overcame the giant that faced him. I believe this is perfectly valid and we can receive great encouragement from looking at the story this way. However, to understand David fully in scripture we must remember that he is primarily a type of Jesus, not of the believer. If we look at this story with this in mind, we can learn even more that will help us walk in victory.
Most of us know the story of David and Goliath. The armies of Israel and Philistia are facing one another. They each occupy high ground and neither wants to abandon this advantage to fight the battle. Philistia proposes a solution to the stalemate. One of their number, Goliath of Gath, comes out in front of his army and issues a challenge.
1 Samuel 17:8-10(NKJV) 8Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 10And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.”
Israel was afraid of this challenge. The problem was that Goliath was a giant. Some say he was up to 9 feet tall. Even by NBA standards that is huge. If you read the description of his size and weaponry in verses 4 through 7 it was very intimidating. It was a simple enough request. Let one man fight me and we will settle the whole war. No one else needs to die. However, no one in the Israeli army including Saul believed he had even a slim chance against this monster. To risk the future of the nation this way was unthinkable. This went on daily for forty days. The two armies held their respective positions and Israel looked like cowards for not taking the challenge.
Into this setting walks a teenage boy named David. He is there to bring some supplies from home to his older brothers who were soldiers in Saul’s army. David arrives as the armies are proceeding out to the battle lines for the day. They are all in battle gear, the philistines on their hill and Israel on theirs. Verse 20 says, “the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle.” David expects to see a major battle but before it can begin, Goliath comes out and makes his daily challenge.
David looks around wondering who is going to go out against the giant. Surely, King Saul, who was head and shoulders above every other soldier in the army, would champion Israel. On the other hand, this was just an uncircumcised philistine. It probably would not take someone as important and powerful as the King. Any soldier of Israel could defeat this philistine.
As David looks around no one steps forward. Instead, the army disperses back into their camp. The philistines cry out in derision at the fear of the Israelites. David hears the soldiers talking about how big and powerful this philistine was and what Saul had promised to anyone who could defeat him. David’s ears perk up and he asks them to repeat what the reward would be.
David’s older brother begins to rebuke him. “You’re just a boy. What do you care? You’re just trying to get a look at the battle. Go home where you belong.” David’s answer was twofold. First, he says, “I’m not doing anything wrong.” He knew his brother was embarrassed because he was not going out to fight Goliath. Second, he says, “Is there not a cause to fight for.”
In these words, he is really saying two things. There is a reason to go out against the giant and this reason is backed by God. This Giant was standing in the way of the will of God. Since they were fighting for God’s reasons, they could expect God’s intervention. David saw this battle from a completely different perspective than everyone else including Saul.
The King calls David and listens to what he has to say. Then he does something very strange. He accepts David as the champion for Israel against Goliath. Remember the stakes here. If David goes against Goliath and loses, Israel is supposed to lay down their arms and serve Philistia. If you look at David and Goliath in the flesh, David has no chance. Saul represents the strength of the flesh in the scripture. Saul knows the flesh cannot defeat this giant. There was something in what David said that convinced Saul that the whole fate of his Kingdom was safe n David’s hands. What was it.
It was his staff. We know that the shepherd’s staff was a tool for the care of sheep, but it was more than that. The shepherd also used his staff as a type of diary. He carved on it all the exploits he had done. David undoubtedly showed his staff to Saul when he told him how God had delivered him from the Lion and the bear. Saul knew David could not do those things in the flesh. Something greater was working for this young man.
We all know the rest of the story. David goes out o face Goliath. He declares that Goliath’s giant weapons were no match for the power of God. He defeats Goliath, takes his head and displays it before the enemy. Israel attacks the philistine army and wins a great victory.
What does that have to do with us and taking our city for God? David is a type of Christ. The Israelites won their battle because they knew that their champion had defeated the best the enemy had to offer. Jesus is our champion. He defeated our enemy. The bible says he made an “open show” of him. (Col. 2:15) Because of the victory of our Champion Jesus, we have victory over the enemy of our city. We have already won the war because Jesus won the most important battle.
Look at what Paul says in Romans 8.
Romans 8:37(NKJV) 37Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
We are more than Conquerors through him who loved us. Our champion, because of his great love for us, defeated the champion of all that stands against us. Because of that, we are more than conquerors. This term means we win overwhelming victories through our Champion Jesus Christ who is our strength.
David could not use Saul’s armor of the flesh. He used the weapons of his testimony. He used the weapons of the spirit that had served him against the lion and the bear. You and I cannot depend on the weapons of the flesh either. We must lean on the weapons of our testimony. We must lean on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Those are the weapons that won our salvation and with them we can take down any giant and free the souls bound by him in our city.
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