"And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine…Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee." [1 Sam 17:32, 36-37]
In Psalms, David asks a rhetorical question. He says, “who is this king of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle.” [Psa 24:8] It is that phrase, “The LORD mighty in battle,” to which we turn our gaze today. In Exodus it says, “The LORD is a man of war: The LORD is His Name.” [Ex 15:3] Our God is a God of war, The King of Glory, who is mighty in battle. And truly this is no matter, for it says in Proverbs, “the horse is prepared against the day of battle: but victory is of The LORD;” [Prov 21:31] and we, who are Christ Jesus’ are “soldier[s] of Jesus Christ,” having been enlisted by Him to fight for His glorious kingdom. [2 Tim 2:3-4] Our God is The “King of kings” and though David is a type of Christ, the true Christ, Jesus, unlike David who “at the time when kings go forth to battle” stayed home, Jesus stayed not in His Father’s house when it was “the fulness of the time,” but instead He, in glorious suite, “put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke” and He came to earth “to save sinners.” [2 Sam 11:1, Gal 4:4, Isa 59:17, 1 Tim 1:15]
What a beautiful God we have who does not back down or shrink back, but who in perfect form and faithfulness came to earth to save us from the dark clutches of Satan’s grasp. And so, because Jesus was so mighty in battle as the Psalm says, we can take David’s words in Samuel typologically for Christ’s, when he said to Saul, “let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” [1 Sam 17:32] Truly we do not need to fear; because Paul comforts us, confirming in his epistle what was long ago promised, that the Seed, the future Christ to come, would “bruise [Satan’s] head,” when he wrote, “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” [Gen 3:15, Rom 16:20] So then, let us walk boldly in Jesus’ strong victory, for “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world,” [1 Jn 4:4] and, we “shall not die, but live.” [Psa 118:17] Through Jesus, and solely because of Jesus, we can experience victory in our lives over any attack of Satan, over any temptation of the flesh, over any persecution in the world, and over any condemnation from the law. Yes, again, through Jesus alone this victory is found, and just as David said so too we can take to heart, as it says in Isaiah,
“Fear not… For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of [the heavenly] Armies is His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall He be called.” [Isa 54:4, 5]
Just as Jesus came and “spoiled principalities and powers” and “made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in [His cross],” so too Jesus will defeat Satan, or any other enemy, who like David says, are nothing greater than “uncircumcised Philistine[s].” [Col 2:15, 1 Sam 17:36] Let us not fear; let us take great courage as the Spirit exhorts us, “be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” [Psa 27:14] We can take our stand behind Christ, as Israel stood behind David, for He our King of Old is our Commander and our Chief who, “shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy[!]” [Deut 33:27] There is no enemy that can stand before Jesus, so let us stand behind Him and His word, because just as David has, so too Jesus has “cut off [the] head” of our enemy so that hell’s “champion [is] dead.” [1 Sam 17:51] And let us go forth with confidence, not afraid of the world’s reviling nor of its leader and king, Satan; nor of the flesh’s temptations; nor of the law’s condemnations; and let us, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, allow Him to fill us with His Spirit so that we might be used to save others and live for Him “without fear, in holiness and righteousness…all the days of our life.” [Lk 1:74-75]
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