then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with the sword, and with the spear, and with the shield: but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, Whom you have defied (I Sam. 17:45). When David, who was just a young stripling, probably sixteen or seventeen years old, went to the battlefront where his brothers were, he went there to bless them and do them good; however, like Joseph’s brothers, when he was sent to bless them, he was met with envy and hatred. Thus it was with God’s Beloved Son. His brothers, Mary’s sons, did not believe on Him (Jn. 7:5), and, with her, sought to lay hold upon Him as being beside Himself (Mk. 3:32); His spiritual brethren, Israel, nailed Him to the tree. When David offered to fight the giant, not for money, nor for the hand of the king’s daughter—every man he spoke to had no higher thought than that—but David knew that the matter was more noble and more serious than this. He was to bring the Philistine giant and the Living God face-to-face. What had a woman and her money to do with that? Saul tried to get David to use his armor, but David knew that God could not give victories to “the flesh,” nor can faith use it. In the Name of the Lord, David had privately vanquished the “lion” and the “bear.” This is one of the fundamental principles governing the Christian life. Public victories can come only after private victories are won. Going toward the giant, David chose five smooth stones out of the brook. If the brook, with its living running water, pictures the Holy Spirit, then the five smooth stones picture Grace; to be sure, Grace won the day! The Stone, picturing Christ, smote the giant in the forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. The Scripture then says, “David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith” (I Sam. 17:51). This is the posture for the Child of God. We are to stand as “more than a conqueror” on the head of any giant that may come against us, which we can do in Christ. The Believer must understand that the terrible forces of darkness facing him are beyond his power and capabilities. As Goliath, Satan can only be defeated by and through Christ and what Christ has done for us at the Cross. To face the giants that come against us in any other fashion is to guarantee defeat. To place one’s Faith in Christ and the Cross guarantees victory, and a total and complete victory, at that (Rom. 6:3–14). Swaggart, Jimmy: The Expositors Word For Every Day. Baton Rouge, LA : World Evangelism Press.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 11:30:45 +0000