Samuel chapter 17.
Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle and were gathered at Socah, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socah and Azekah in Ephes-Daman.
And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the valley of Elah and drew up in battle array against the Philistines.
The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side with a valley between them.
And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of his coat was 5,000 shekels of bronze.
And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.
Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed 600 shekels, and a shield bearer went before him.
Then 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.
If 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.
And the Philistines said, I defy the armies of Israel this day.
Give me a man that we may fight together.
When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem, Judah, whose name was Jesse, and who had eight sons.
And the man was old, advanced in years in the days of Saul.
And the three oldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul to the battle.
The names of these three sons who went to the battle were Eliab, the firstborn next to him, Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
David was the youngest, and the three oldest followed Saul.
But David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening.
Then Jesse said to his son David,
Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp.
And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them.
So Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with the keeper, and took the things as he went and as Jesse had commanded him.
And he came to the camp as the army was going out to fight and shouting for battle.
For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army.
And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers.
Then, as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines.
And he spoke according to the same words.
So David heard them.
And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were dreadfully afraid.
So the men of Israel said,
Have you seen this man who has come up?
Surely he has come up to defy Israel.
And it shall be that the man who kills him, the king, will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father's house exemption from taxes in Israel.
Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying,
What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel?
For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
And the people answered him in this manner, saying,
So shall it be done for the man who kills him.
The word of God for the people of God.
Please be seated.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you that your Holy Spirit has been active through every generation, through every step of redemptive history.
We thank you for how your Holy Spirit is poured out now in your church.
And that by the power of the Holy Spirit, your word comes alive.
And you shine the light of the gospel accomplished by Jesus Christ on every part of your word to your people.
We ask that you will please do that now, Lord.
For Christ's sake we pray.
Amen.
Well, following the fall of France in 1940, Great Britain was left to stand alone against Nazi Germany.
In a moment of national crisis, can you imagine being in London like the little children in the Chronicles of Narnia,
about to hear these airplanes fly over and drop bombs on your neighborhood?
The prime minister got on the radio and had opportunities to speak to the people.
In the face of the imminent battle of Britain, in some of his words I remember this day,
he told them,
We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.
We shall fight on the beaches.
We shall fight on the landing grounds.
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets.
We shall fight in the hills.
We shall never surrender.
How one man sees the war changes everything.
You and I as Christians, we're in a war also.
We fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
But how do we see this war?
You and I are either in the kingdom of Christ,
or we are an enemy of God still under bondage to sin, Satan, and the world.
But the war is real.
Last week, our encouragement was that nothing can stop God from advancing his kingdom.
And this week, the nature of the kingdom of God is put to the test.
And it's defined for us by the words of the anointed king.
David goes to see the war.
And David viewed the war differently.
So that's my message for us today as we walk through this wonderful passage.
How the anointed shepherd saw the war.
First out of five observations is the setting of this battle.
Please look at 1 Samuel 17, verse 1.
We read,
Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle.
It's a verb in the active voice.
The Philistines gathered their armies together to battle.
Organized, powerful, confident, commanding, advancing.
We're given a detail of the location at Sokoth.
What are the words that come next after that city in verse 1?
Which belongs to Judah.
This description reminds us that the Philistines had invaded the land that God secured for his people.
They had encroached on Judean soil.
Saul had failed to keep the enemy out of the kingdom of God.
And so now the two sides mount for war.
Along this ridgeline at the top of the hill was a major road which the Philistines now controlled.
Giving them control over whatever would enter or leave Israel.
We read in verse 2 that Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together.
Here that same verb is given in the passive voice.
It's something being done to them.
They encamped at the valley of Elah.
They drew up in battle array against the Philistines.
We're told that each part of the army, each side had a mountain.
And in between them was this valley.
And this valley is where the border will be redefined.
If the Philistines win this battle, they have now free reign to invade the whole kingdom of God's people.
The Philistines also owned the metal industry.
They had a complete monopoly on the blacksmith trade.
They secured through metal and weapons that they brought a military dominance.
You can flip back to see that and remember for yourself.
Look at 1 Samuel chapter 13.
Just a page or two back.
Verses 19 and 20.
We read,
The only two men in all of Israel that had weapons, you'll remember, were Saul the king and Jonathan the crowned prince.
They had the most advanced military weapon of the day, which were ironclad chariots.
And with chariots covered in metal, no one could stop the advance of the Philistines.
We read that they were gathered for an attack with the Philistines coming up from the south,
the Israelites on the northern side in the land of Judah.
As someone pointed out, the future of their nation, all is going to be determined by this one battle.
And if ever a lion from the tribe of Judah was needed, it was now at this moment.
On verse 3, we read that the Philistines stood on a mountain on one side
and Israel stood on a mountain on the other with a valley in between them.
In between them was a ravine, an east-west wadi is the name in Israel.
And it's like a dry creek.
It's a tear in the soil that makes it impossible for chariots to roll across.
And so this was most likely one of the reasons we now have a cold war, a standoff.
Both sides are in battle array, waiting for the moment now when the first arrow will be shot across this valley.
Israel had been given this land by God, been drawn out of slavery to possess it, to live in it,
and to be ruled in this land by God as a gift of his grace to them, his people.
But as we can see in the mindset of the Israelites, most still lived as slaves to the world.
We're told that this valley is called the Valley of Elah, literally oak.
So it's a big tree down in the middle of this valley with a ravine cutting through it.
The oak tree is a long-living tree.
Most likely this one grew very tall so that it could be a landmark, a point of reference for everyone traveling through.
So here, on the standoff between two armies, with one big central tree in the middle,
heaven and hell will have a standoff.
This long-lasting tree will be what this battle is remembered by.
Here is where the battle will be fought, and here the war will be decided.
Well, we too were born into slavery to sin.
We're born into this world in bondage.
But our Lord Jesus Christ entered the domain of darkness.
Jesus Christ secured our citizenship in the kingdom of heaven.
In Colossians 1.13, we read that God rescued us who are in Christ from the dominion of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
And like Israel preparing for this great battle, our fate also was determined.
That one moment in time, that long-standing tree, the cross of our Savior Jesus.
Though we're still in this world, we are not of this world.
We are in God's kingdom of grace.
And by his power, by his strength, these borders of his kingdom are to be protected.
The enemy is not to creep in, not to invade the borders of the kingdom of God
in our hearts, in our families, and in our church.
That's the setting of the battle.
Number two, what about the enemy's champion?
The enemy's champion.
Goliath stands as the tormentor, the accuser of God's people.
Goliath is the figurehead of the domain of hell and darkness in the world.
He's the one who is the weaponizer of sin and death.
And we're given a very detailed description that's meant to strike fear in us, beginning in verse 4.
We read that a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines named Goliath from Gath.
Gath was the city of the Philistines, one of the five powerful cities just on the other side of the border from Israel.
So this battle was taking place in Goliath's backyard.
We're told that his height was six cubits and a span.
Most estimate that Goliath would have stood at nine feet, nine inches tall.
So children, that's three inches, just that much shorter than a 10-foot basketball hoop.
So it works really well for us to have our service today in a gym because we can see that.
And I was trying to visualize somewhere toward the bottom of the net is where the nose of this great warrior would be if he's nine foot nine.
Can you imagine the body of a giant filling in from that point of height all the way down?
That's how tall he was.
Gath was a strategic border city and it's meeting the world, meeting Judah.
This would have been David's backyard as well.
And this is the tribe of Judah that had not sent as many soldiers to go fight in Saul's war in the previous chapter.
Now, their own fields, their own livelihood is directly under attack.
Archaeological excavations of Gath near this same valley, the Valley of the Tree today, found extensive fortifications.
And they found an iron production facility in this same land.
And so here comes the champion from the Philistine side.
By his words, we can tell that the Philistines, through him their mouthpiece, despise God the creator.
These are rebellious people that are mocking God's people.
And yet we see the reaction of the Israelites is that they are impressed.
They are stunned.
You could even say they're attracted to that worldly way of war.
The word champion that's given in verse four, it literally means a man between or a man in the middle of two sides.
A warrior who's going to go between the two armies and represent his entire nation.
One soldier who's going to go fight a single combat as a stand-in for the entire army.
This is how nations of the world showcase their power.
And it goes back well before what we're familiar with.
You think of how the Philistines were called the Sea People.
And historians' best conclusion is that the Philistines were originally from the islands of Greece
until they got on their ships, these seafaring people,
and they left to go to Egypt and then to Judea or to the land of Israel.
So I looked up what century was it that the Philistines began sending, you know,
their own men off of these Greek islands to other parts of the world.
And it was the 12th century before Christ.
So then I looked it up.
When was, you know, Homer's setting, the Iliad and the Odyssey,
what were the setting of that?
And it was the 12th century before Christ.
In other words, if you're familiar with this Greek legends and stories
of how these great warriors would be sent out,
like Achilles, to represent an entire nation, an entire kingdom,
this would be like an early gladiatorial game.
You get to watch the best of the best from each side go head to head.
And then from then the battle continues,
like the battle between the Greeks and the Trojans.
So the Philistines brought with them most likely this tradition
of sending out a champion as a federal representative.
Rather than the vast multitude dying right away,
and then we see who wins,
let's send out a token representation.
Because most likely, however that goes,
is how the rest of the battle is going to go.
And as Goliath taunts Israel,
the losing nation has much at stake.
The whole nation will now become slaves of the winning nation.
The victorious champion will secure the freedom of his people
and establish dominance over the enemies that he defeated.
You see how now the fate of each nation
is placed in the hands of one champion,
one warrior who will go between to fight.
Now we get a description from his head all the way down
of how he was dressed as their champion.
We need to know that ordinary foot soldiers
would have worn helmets,
but most likely because they're poor
and don't have a lot of access to resources,
their helmets were often made of leather.
So a little bit of protection,
but nothing compared to verse 5.
Goliath had a bronze helmet on his head.
He was armed with a coat of mail.
In Hebrew, he was clothed with scales.
Like the Philistine idol Dagon, remember?
Goliath, whose lower half was fish-like or serpent-like,
clothed in scales.
Now Goliath's body is covered in scales.
He's a warrior showcasing the most advanced technology of his people
who have a monopoly on metalworking.
And his people learned how to suit themselves for war
by studying scale-covered creatures,
studying the way of the serpent, you could say.
Scales facilitate movement while shielding the body.
Most likely, Goliath's coat of scales
was made of overlapping plates of bronze
sewn onto leather,
then put onto his body.
So a strike of a weapon would disperse the shock,
and even if one piece was damaged,
the rest of the armor would remain intact
and still able to continue fighting.
We're told the weight of the coat
was 5,000 shekels of bronze.
To our English American pounds,
it's 125 pounds.
Now you think of David,
we'll get a few insights in him here in a moment.
David likely did not weigh more than 125 pounds
at this point in his life as a teenager.
We know David would have been a teenager
because Numbers 26, 2 says that
all those 20 years old or more
who are able to serve in the army of Israel shall serve.
We read in verse 6 that Goliath
had bronze armor on his legs,
bronze shin guards,
and bronze thigh plates.
And think about the color bronze.
The Philistines had more sturdy weapons.
You know, they had iron-clad chariots
and other weapons,
but they want their champion
to be in shiny bronze.
And as we get the picture of Goliath
being presented forth,
we can only imagine what other sounds and sights
would have accompanied that.
But as he comes,
as the sun is rising
and those rays of sun
are bouncing off of the bronze,
it would have been a stunning sight.
Bronze, stealing light from the sun,
like their little replica of a Greek god,
a lowercase g.
You could almost imagine Goliath
like an angel-type blasphemer,
glowing with light.
And we read that even his bronze javelin
was between his shoulders,
strapped to his back.
This javelin was designed for hurling.
You'd pull it off of the back
and throw it.
The spear was designed for hand-to-hand combat
like a long sword.
We read in verse 7,
now the staff of his spear
was like a weaver's beam,
most likely about five feet long.
David might have been about five feet tall
at this stage of his life.
His iron spearhead weighed 600 shekels.
That's 16 pounds.
I looked up,
what is 16 pounds?
It's a common object
and it's a bowling ball.
You think how much you can hurl a bowling ball.
Goliath is a walking arsenal.
Someone called him a weapon of mass destruction.
We're told then that his shield-bearer
went before him.
This is like his defensive line
if he's the quarterback,
positioned to block him,
probably a shield covering almost the entire body
with this champion right behind it.
I wondered also,
how is it that Israel came to have
all of these details and these measurements?
If you look down at verse 53,
we read that the people of Israel
came back from chasing the Philistines
and they plundered their camp.
So I wondered,
as they're plundering the camp,
we've got to save all of this
and while we have it,
let's weigh it
and let's find out,
I mean,
what was Goliath wearing?
So that's just my guess,
but this description that we're given
is so detailed,
again,
using up precious words on a scroll
for a reason.
It paints a picture.
It's an evaluation,
you could say,
from the perspective
of an offensive coordinator,
why the enemy's mightiest weapon
seems impossible to beat.
From the eyes of the world,
the eyes of Israel,
we have no shot.
If that's the best showcase
of what this entire empire is bringing,
who are we to go up against them?
We read today from Matthew
how our Lord Jesus
faced the enemy one-on-one,
tempted in the desert.
He faced off against Satan,
the devil,
Lucifer,
the ancient serpent
called a dragon.
And where Saul was passive
and Adam,
the first federal head,
was passive,
our Lord Jesus Christ
was not passive.
He went on the offensive.
He invaded the domain
of what he called
in John 12, 31,
the prince of this world.
And Jesus Christ
withstood
and overcame
the enemy
alone.
We too,
in the words of Martin Luther,
are amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
does seek to work us woe.
His craft and power
are great
and armed
with cruel hate
on earth
is not his equal.
But we look to Jesus Christ,
the promised,
anointed,
shepherd king.
So our third observation
is now the reaction
of Israel
to seeing this champion,
Goliath.
It's the cowardly army.
The cowardly army.
Verse 8 says,
Then he stood
and cried out
to the armies
of Israel,
Why have you come out
to line up for battle?
Am I not
a Philistine?
Literally,
he says,
Am I not
the Philistine?
And you,
these servants
or slaves
of Saul?
Goliath is speaking truth,
isn't he?
Israel had made themselves
slaves to Saul,
a king after their own hearts.
God said Israel
had rejected
the Lord of hosts
as their king.
And now Goliath says,
Choose a man
for yourselves.
Let him come down
to me.
If he is able
to fight with me
and kill me,
then we will be
your slaves.
But if I prevail
against him
and kill him,
then you shall be
our slaves
and serve us.
In verse 10,
the Philistine said,
I defy
the armies
of Israel
this day.
Experts
in the Hebrew language
say that the word
defy
is unusually
harsh.
It means
to put under
reproach,
to charge you
with severe
contempt.
It's to shame you,
to deride you,
to accuse you,
to put extreme
disgrace
on God's people.
Notice how
Goliath says,
Give me
a man
that we may
fight together.
earlier when the
Israelites confronted
the Philistines,
this was the language
of the Philistines.
Maybe again from
that Greek tradition.
Give me a man.
Who will be a man
to go fight?
Goliath says,
Do you have
any man
among you?
In other words,
if you don't
produce a champion,
you have no men
in your entire
nation.
He is
shaming them.
He's saying,
You can't match
me on our
terms.
The Israelites,
as they assess
the situation,
if they were
a little bit
relieved at first
that this
wadi,
this ravine
that cut through
the valley
had disarmed
or neutralized
their chariots
for now,
all the hope
that they had
of delaying
any longer
is now gone.
You can almost
imagine them
as Marsha
pointed out,
you know,
sitting around
the campfire
each evening
as soldiers
talking and
assessing their
future.
Maybe we ought
to accept this
offer and send
a champion
representing our
side.
If one man
can save
thousands of
lives,
it's worth
doing it.
But now the
Philistines are
really just
playing with
Israel.
They know
they can easily
wipe this
poor people
out that have
no weapons.
It's just a
game.
That's why
it's so
humiliating.
And if their
champion goes
out on the
side of
Israel and
fails,
now we've
all agreed
to be their
slaves.
In verse
11,
when Saul,
remember,
Saul was a
head taller
than any
other man
in Israel.
He was the
man after
Israel's heart
and the
only one
with weapons.
In verse
11,
when Saul
and all
Israel heard
these words
of the
Philistine,
they were
dismayed
and greatly
afraid.
dismayed.
Dismayed
means yielding
to fear,
a terror
felt by
them,
spirits that
are sunken
down.
That's how
Israel and
Saul viewed
the war.
God's
I'm afraid
that many
of us
have taken
away the
wrong application
from this
story of
David fighting
Goliath.
We like to
imagine ourselves
as David,
but here's the
application.
That's us.
We're the
cowardly
army.
We're
dismayed,
sunken in
spirit.
Martin Luther
confessed that
was his
weakness apart
from Christ
as well in
that great
hymn.
Did we in
our own
strength confide?
Our striving
would be
losing.
We're not
the right
man on
our side,
the man
of God's
own choosing.
You ask
who that
might be?
Christ
Jesus,
it is
he.
Lord
Sabaoth,
the Lord
of hosts
is his name
from age
to age
the same
and he
must win
the battle.
The prince
of darkness
grim,
but in the
name of
Christ
Jesus,
we tremble
not for
him.
The cowardly
army.
Fourth
observation
is a
section that
might even
seem surprising
and maybe
unusually
lengthy,
so it
has to
mean
something.
It
begins at
verse 12.
We'll
call this
section
the father
sends his
son
with
provisions
for the
army.
The father
sends his
son with
provisions
for the
army.
In
verse 12
we get
what I
believe is
a second
introduction.
I don't
think it's
a flashback
because it
does say
that David
went back
and forth
from Saul
to take
care of
the sheep
and then
back to
the court
of Saul
to play
the music.
But now
I think
most likely
because David
has been
anointed,
he has
the spirit
of God,
what we
get is
the first
evidence
in public
that the
private
anointing
that God
put on
David
was in
effect.
The power
of God
is at
work in
this
anointed
king.
In
verse 14
we're
reminded
David
was the
youngest.
Remember
there were
four more
brothers
and only
the,
well there
were eight
brothers total.
The three
oldest went
to war,
therefore there's
four others
that weren't
even old
enough to go
to war.
So we
can conclude
that David
was most
likely pretty
young,
most likely
a teenager.
So we
read in
verse 15,
David
occasionally
went and
returned from
Saul to
feed his
father's
sheep at
Bethlehem.
Verse 16,
and the
Philistines
drew near
and presented
himself
forty days
morning and
evening.
In the
Bible the
number forty
generally
signifies a
completed period
of testing,
a probation,
a trial.
It's often
leading then
to a
transformation
or a
big transition.
In
Genesis 6,
it rained
for forty
days and
forty nights.
Remember,
Israel was
tested in
the wilderness
for forty
years after
being delivered
out of
slavery.
We're told
in verse
16 that
Goliath
mocked God's
people,
accused
them,
derided
them twice
at the
start of
each day
and then
again at
the end
of each
day.
So,
children,
forty days,
twice a
day,
how many
times?
Eighty
times God's
people had
to sit
there and
be mocked
and ridiculed.
In verse
17 now is
the key for
this passage,
I believe.
Then the
father,
Jesse,
said to
his son,
David,
take now
for your
brother,
brothers,
these
provisions.
See,
when the
forty days
of
mocking
had
come
to
an
end.
These
forty days
were
completed.
The
father
says to
his
anointed,
his
Messiah
marked
son,
David,
the name
David
means
beloved,
the shepherd
king,
go to
the battlefield
for your
brothers
and me.
In verse
20 we read
that David
arose early
in the
morning.
He left
the sheep
with the
keeper.
Notice
how David
as the
anointed
king is
always
concerned
about the
sheep.
When he's
mentioned,
the sheep
are mentioned
with him.
He makes
sure that his
sheep are
always cared
for.
And he
took the
things and
went as
his father
had commanded
him.
He paid
attention to
those details
and he
carried it
all out.
And he
came to
the camp
as the
army was
going out
to fight
and shouting
for battle.
I believe
the Israelites
while they
were in
dismay,
40 days
are now
up.
They're
pumping
themselves
up for
action.
They're
shouting
for battle.
They're
making a
lot of
noise.
But when
David gets
there he's
also surprised
and confused
because they're
taking no
action.
Here's an
army that's
all hype,
all emotion,
and no
faith.
They're
focused on
their own
strength and
they're
cowering
back.
The army
needs a
better
warrior,
one anointed
by the
power of
God,
one that
will stand
in their
place,
who is
not focused
on worldly
power and
what the
eye can
see,
a man
of faith.
I was
interested in
the word
Jesse.
You know,
he's the
old father
now and
he's got
sons in
the battle
and he
loves
those sons.
He wants
to send
provisions
for them
and he
wants to
hear back
from them.
And how
the Lord
Jesus came
to reveal
the loveliness
of the
father.
And his
mission is
to tell
the brothers,
the father
wants to
know you're
well.
Just as
David's
taking care
of the
sheep,
the father
wants to
provide and
out of
the abundance
of his
generosity,
give to
his army,
give them
all they
need.
Of course,
with the
enemy accusing
and deriding
God's people,
they're going
to wonder
and worry
and think
the worst.
And we
can too
when we're
under attack.
That's why
I think we
love that
song so
much where
we ask,
does the
father truly
love us?
And we
respond as a
church,
he does.
Does the
father truly
love us?
He does.
The father
so loves
us that
he sent
his beloved
son,
Jesus
Christ,
the
anointed
Messiah,
to be
our
representative,
our champion,
the one
who would
stand in
our place.
And through
him,
we receive
all the
provisions
that our
loving father
has provided.
The fifth
and final
observation for
today,
I know it's
a longer
passage,
I had to
get to this
point so we
hear someone
speak truth,
and it
finally comes
from the
lips of
David.
And it's
this,
how the
first
anointed
shepherd
views the
war.
How David
as the
first
anointed
shepherd
viewed
the war.
As David
talked with
his brothers
in verse
23,
there was
the champion,
the Philistine
of Gath,
Goliath by
name,
coming down
from the
armies of
the Philistines,
and he
spoke
according
to the
same
words.
It's
almost like
the narrator
by verse
23 can't
even repeat
these words
again.
They're so
humiliating.
And so
David heard
them.
There's
Israel's army
making noise,
but what's
their theology?
Verse 24,
all the men
of Israel,
when they
saw the
man,
the Philistine
Goliath,
fled from
him and
were dreadfully
afraid.
Verse 25,
so the men
of Israel
said,
have you
seen this
man who
has come
up?
Surely
he has
come up
to defy
Israel.
See,
their theology
is what
you can
see,
and they're
focused on
this man.
So the
men of
Israel
are making
noise
with their
mouths,
but they're
still slaves
to what they
can see
with their
eyes.
And it
shall be
done,
what shall
be done
to the
man who
kills
him?
The king
will enrich
the great
riches and
will give
him his
daughter and
give his
father's house
exemption from
taxes in
Israel.
Notice how
even with
this worldly
enticement,
it doesn't
even come
from Saul.
That's how
passive Saul
is.
It just
comes from
the soldiers
talking about
it.
The army
has learned
the theology
of their
king.
Saul
offers what
the world
offers.
They got
what they
wanted,
a king
like all
the other
nations.
If you
can match
the best
that the
world has,
you will
get the
best of
what the
world can
offer.
Because as
Goliath said,
this is
Saul's army.
They are
slaves of
Saul.
And now
the shepherd
psalmist
spoke for
the first
time.
He bore
witness for
the first
time in
verse 26.
David
spoke.
And his
audience was
very small.
Notice
that in
verse 26.
Not on a
big platform,
but it was
just to the
men who
stood by
him.
And he
said,
what shall
be done
for the
man who
kills this
Philistine?
He saw
the real
problem.
This man
takes away
the reproach.
Or who is
it that will
defeat the
Philistine,
will take
away the
reproach
from Israel?
See,
this Goliath
has reproached.
He's
disgraced the
people of
God.
Who's going
to stand up
and put
grace back
into the
people of
God?
The people
saw
Goliath
through the
same lens
that saw.
They saw
two men
that are
tall and
attractive and
by the standards
of the world
very powerful.
But David
saw Goliath
through covenantal
terms.
David says,
for who is
this
uncircumcised
Philistine?
Who is
this man
who's outside
of God's
covenant?
The prince
of darkness
grim.
We tremble
not for him.
His rage
we can't
endure.
For lo,
his doom
is sure.
One little
word shall
fell him.
He remembered
to whom the
army belongs.
Look at what
David says.
He is defying
the armies
of the living
God.
Men,
you are not
slaves of
Saul.
God secured
you for
himself.
And God
is alive.
You are the
army of the
Lord of hosts.
He fights
for his own
glory.
He knew
the army
did not
belong to
Saul.
It belongs
to God,
Yahweh,
the great
deliverer.
These men
are looking
only at their
own weakness
and they
forgot that
the Lord
is the
Lord
Sabaoth.
The Lord
of hosts
and his
armies include
not just
these men
of Israel
but the
armies of
angels
in heaven.
When God
created the
heavens,
he created
the invisible
spiritual realm
and while
there is a
standoff
between two
men on
earth,
there is
certainly a
spiritual warfare
going on.
The kingdom
of heaven
intruding
onto this
fallen world.
We forget,
we often
just focus on
what our eyes
can see in
this world.
Remember the
army of
angels at
God's
command.
J.I.
Packer said,
heaven is the
headquarters of
these angels
where they
constantly worship
God and from
there they are
sent to render
services to
God through
the ministry he
is carrying out.
The angels
serve the
church.
The angels
serve God's
people at
God's bidding.
That's the end
of Packer's
quote.
Andrea
pointed out
to me as
we were
listening to
the McShane
Bible reading
that when
God then
had King
David's son
Solomon build
the temple
according to
the instructions
given in
1 Kings 7
the cherubim
that stand
and guard
the ark
of the
holy of
holies
the symbolic
throne of
the lord
of hosts
each angel
was 15
feet tall.
Remember the
basketball hoop
is 10 feet.
That distance
between the
floor and
the basketball
hoop that's
5 feet right
in the middle.
So you take
that and put
it on top
of the
basketball hoop.
Now of course
angels are
spiritual beings
they don't
have bodies
but the
ministry of
this to
God's people
is when you
approach the
temple of
God you
need to be
reminded he
is the
lord of
hosts towering
above Goliath
is the army
of God.
According to
Zechariah
1 10
angels are
mighty warriors
of light whom
the lord sends
to patrol
planet earth.
What's the
number of
the angels?
Well God
has a vast
army of
angels.
A legion
is 5 to
6 thousand
so we're
taking what
the scripture
has revealed
70,000
angels.
This would
be like
taking ball
arena where
the nuggets
play for
their basketball
games and
it's four
times what
you could
pack into
the ball
arena would
be a legion
of these
angels warriors
of light.
revelation
5 11
says the
voice of
many angels
numbering
myriads of
myriads and
thousands of
thousands.
With the
eyes of
faith we
can remember
the lord of
hosts does
not tremble
before any
man or
anything of
this world
or of the
principalities of
darkness.
God by
faith reassures
his followers
of his might
far above
that of the
enemies.
brothers and
sisters outside
of Christ we
are a
cowardly
army but
because God
is good and
loving and
gracious God
the father sent
provisions from
his home through
his beloved son
the anointed the
Messiah marked
shepherd king for
us who he calls
brothers and
sisters.
Jesus Christ
overcame the
evil one first
in the wilderness
then on the
cross.
He has
disarmed
Satan.
The powers
of darkness
no longer have
power over
God's people
and his
kingdom according
to Colossians
2 15.
While we
failed while we
are weak
Jesus Christ
obedience his
stands in the
place of our
disobedience and
his courage
covers our
cowardice.
I want to
remind you how
Jesus Christ
the Messiah
the anointed
shepherd king
views the war
that we're in
now.
In John 18
36 Jesus
said my
kingdom is
not of this
world.
If my
kingdom were
of this
world my
servants would
fight but
now my
kingdom is
not from
here.
In John
17 16
our Lord
Jesus said
my disciples
are not of
this world
even as
I am not
of this
world.
From that
hymn by
Martin Luther
taking the
cue from
our Lord
Jesus we
can say
as well
though this
world with
devils filled
should threaten
to undo us
we will not
fear for God
has willed his
truth to
triumph through
us.
The body
they may
kill God's
truth abideth
still his
kingdom is
forever.
The outlook
of our Lord
Jesus Christ
changes the
way his
army views
this life
and this
world.
By his
strength I
have been
praying this
week for
myself and
for us as
a church
that the
perspective the
view what
our Lord
Jesus Christ
sees for
his church
will slowly
fill us
and become
our outlook
our view
of this
battle as
well depending
on his
strength and
let's pray that
he will do
that.
Lord we
thank you for
how you are
mighty in
battle how
you are
victorious how
you have
secured the
freedom of
your people
how we are
no longer
slaves to
fear you
have ransomed
your people
you are our
great anointed
king we
praise you that
you've not
left us
orphans you
are near your
people you
care for your
sheep we
trust ourselves
to you again
today Lord
please work in
us the view
that you have
for your
church we
ask this for
your glory in
your powerful
name amen