A Losing War... Won For Us

I just thought of a parallel between the story of David and Goliath and the gospel. If anyone doesn't know this story, I'll relate it briefly.

David, a teenager who tends his father's sheep, is sent by his father to check up on his brothers who are away at war. David gets there and finds that Goliath, a giant on the Philistine side, has been taunting Israel for several weeks, waiting for a champion to come and face off with him. The deal is that if someone kills Goliath, the rest of the Philistines will surrender and become slaves of the Israelites. Goliath is a powerful guy. Stands about 9 feet tall. The Israelite army is petrified. Nobody is willing to go and fight this guy. Anyway, David gets there and sees this happening and says "I'll kill this guy. He's defying the armies of God. God will hand him over to me." So Saul, somewhat reluctantly, lets David go off and face Goliath. David uses a slingshot and strikes Goliath on the forehead, knocking him out. Then David takes Goliath's sword and cuts off the giant's head.

What struck me as an awesome parallel between this story and the gospel is this: the armies of God do not accomplish the central victory themselves. The whole battle is determined by two champions facing off. Praise be to God I don't have to worry about killing Satan myself! That victory is secured! The army doesn't look very impressive in this story! So I don't have to worry when I don't look very impressive myself. After Goliath is killed, the Philistines flee. This shows the attitude of a Christian's warfare. Sure there is some conflict between the armies but it's all in the attitude of the victory having been won already!

An illustration that John Piper used that I truly love is of being in a hospital. Imagine you're lying behind the curtains in a hospital bed and in the enclosure next to you you hear blood-curdling screams and agonies. It makes all the difference in the world whether you're in the oncology unit or the maternity ward. Brothers and sisters, we are in the maternity ward. All the sufferings, pains and inconveniences we deal with are not the pangs of death, but of life. The victory was won at the cross! Christ suffered the worst of the pain! And by His stripes we are healed. Praise God!

"Wow... That would buy a whole lot of..."

There's an episode of the Simpsons that just crossed my mind that I think has some parallels with how I perceive my salvation. It's just this one line from the episode that stood out to me. I don't remember what episode it is but Bart has just received a great deal of money and he's seeing an ad about a sale on burgers or burritos or something. Let's just say he's received $500. He looks bug-eyed at the ad and then says something along the lines of "Wow... $500... That would buy a whole lot of burgers!"

What I see in light of the gospel is this... I have a whole boatload of riches in Christ. More than I even dreamed existed in the world... but I have the mind of a fool or a child. Sometimes all I can see is "Wow. There is a lot of forgiveness for lust, overeating, and laziness in there." I'm missing the point when I think like this. Just like Bart would be an idiot to spend $500 on burgers. Burgers are too small an item to consider spending $500 on! Forgiveness for lust, overeating, and laziness are too small to consider spending the riches of Christ on! Bart should be thinking of much bigger things to spend his $500 on! I should be thinking of much more significant, beautiful, awesome pleasures (i.e. the pleasures of knowing Christ Himself) to enjoy through the blood of Christ! I know the analogy breaks down but it's just a thought. When you see forgiveness as the epitome of what salvation is all about, you miss the main point. Forgiveness is not an end in itself! You are forgiven so that you can actually know God! That's what salvation is all about! Jesus died to take away all the obstacles from you having a personal relationship with God that wouldn't end in the eternal destruction of your soul! If you're not enjoying that personal relationship you've missed the whole aim and purpose of your salvation.