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!