Tuesday, August 30, 2005
1 Samuel 17:43-44 When David went out against Goliath, armed with a staff and a sling and a bag containing five smooth stones, Goliath could hardly believe what he saw. "So the Philistine said to David, 'Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?' And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, 'Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!'"
THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S
David believed God's promises. So when Goliath cursed him, David responded with some words of his own. "Then David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you . . . that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel . . . the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands.'"
One of David's five smooth stones landed in Goliath's forehead, and he fell. David rushed up to him, took Goliath's sword, and cut off the giant's head. The shocked Philistines turned around and ran, and the Israelites won a great victory.
But now we need to remember that David was a type of Christ. God's people have a greater enemy than the Philistines and Goliath. The enemy of God's people is Satan, whom Jesus Himself called "the strong man." Already in the Garden of Eden God foretold that a man born of woman would crush Satan's head and take away all his power.
David was not that man born of woman, but his Son Jesus was. As David fought Goliath and won, so David's Son, our Lord Jesus, went out to the cross to take on Satan. No one else could do it, no one but Jesus. The letter to the Hebrews says: "Jesus Himself shared flesh and blood that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."
Jesus is our Hero who dared to take on our most powerful enemy and cut off his head, as it were, by taking away his power and releasing us captives from his power. As the women of Israel sang David's praises, so let us with even greater reason sing the praises of David's Son.
