Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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I invite you to take your bibles and turn to 1 Samuel, chapter 17. Page 239 in your pew bible. We’re going to read selective verses from this chapter as we go and if you’d like to follow along from the bible, you may do so.

1 Samuel 17 is another one of those many accounts of the Philistines against the Israelites. And this particular account features a battle between David the Israelite and Goliath the Philistine.

Vs.1 – “The Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah… So here, the Philistines have advanced and are in Judah. Judah’s the heartland of Israel. The enemy has made it’s way into the very heart of God’s people.

Vss. 2-4. “And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.” Saul is the commander of Israel’ army. Goliath is the commander of the Philistine army. The two armies were within shouting distance of each other. One side would call out to the other side, “Your mother wears army boots.” And the other side would yell back, “Yea, but your mother’s ugly.

They were close enough to see each other too. And every soldier in Israel’s army could see Goliath march in to the valley between the two mountains. Goliath was the incredible hulk, over 9’ tall and sporting a suit of armor weighing over 100 lbs.

Goliath taunts Israel, challenging them to come down into the valley, put their dukes up and fight like a man.

Vss.8-10. “He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not 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 Philistine said, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together."

What Goliath challenges Israel to is what’s called a “vicarious battle.” The word “vicarious” means that the performance of the one stands for another or for a group.

Seems like a pretty humane way to wage war really. No massive loss of life, no destruction of property. But, a vicarious battle is only a good thing if you’re confident that you’ve got a man fighting for you who can win the battle. In a vicarious battle all your chips are on one man. Your entire fate rests in his hands. If he wins you win. If he looses you lose.

Vs. 11 – “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” Why were they so dismayed and afraid? Because Israel doesn’t believe they’ve got a man who stands a chance against Goliath.

Vs.16 – “For 40 days the Philistine came forward every and took his stand, morning and evening.” The taunting by the enemy went on repeatedly. Not just once or twice, but over and over. For 40 days and 40 nights, Israel hears the barking of this hound from hell.

You've got to hand it to those Israelites though. They knew enough to be terrified and dismayed. They knew a battle they stood no chance of winning when they saw it. No one had to tell them, “When you pray say…deliver us from evil.”

It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German, Lutheran pastor during WWII, who himself knew what it meant to face a bigger, stronger Goliath – Adolph Hitler. Bonhoeffer talks about the “natural man” and “the moral man.” He says that the “natural man” thinks he’s plenty strong by his own strength and in the end can prevail in any challenge. And so, the “natural man” actually wants to enter the fight to prove his superior strength. The “moral man,” on the other hand, thinks he’s intellectually and morally so well built that he can withstand anything that comes at him. The downfall of the “natural man” and the “moral man” is that they aren’t terrified and dismayed as they should be, because they overestimate their own strength and abilities and they underestimate the power of evil that opposes them. And so, the “natural man” and the “moral man’s” prayer is not, “deliver me from evil…” but “lead me into evil so that I may test my superior abilities and power.”

Now enter David. He’s the youngest son of his father Jesse, not much more that a boy. He’s got older brothers who are in the army and he is sent to the troops by his father to bring supplies and see how his brothers are doing and to “bring back some assurance” to his father that they’re okay. I know just how Jesse feels as I’m sure some of you do too.

While on his mission, David sees Goliath. He hears the taunts and threats he’s hurling at his brothers, he sees the terror and dismay in their eyes. And David volunteers to be the man. David is to be Israel’s “vicarious” warrior. He is to represent all of Israel. All of Israel’s hope rests on him. Their future is in his hands. If he loses, they are all lost. If he dies they are all as good as dead.

And this is why all of David’s brothers oppose the idea. David’s a shepherd not a soldier. He’s the smallest of them all. His brothers believe that David doesn’t stand a chance and they think that he’s the most conceited little brat they can imagine.

But Saul puts a full set of armor on David and points him towards Goliath saying, “the Lord be with you.”

But the armor is too heavy for David so he takes it all off. And the sword is big for David, so he leaves it behind. Instead, David chooses 5 smooth stones for his slingshot and with those 5 smooth stones alone, He goes forward to face the enemy.

Yet even this is not the basis for David’s trust and confidence before Goliath.

Vs. 45, “Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defiled.”

In other words, David’s trust and confidence rests solely upon the name and word of the Lord. He comes in the name of the “Lord of hosts.” Literally that’s, “Yahweh Sabaoth.” “Sabaoth” literally means “war.” He comes in the name of the war Lord. “the God who fights for His people.” Or as we usually say it, “The Lord Almighty.”

And you know how the ending goes. With one sling of the shot, Goliath goes down and David uses Goliath’s own sword to cut off his ugly, fat head. Notice carefully, David defeats the merchant of death with his own weapon. The sword by which Goliath came to kill is the sword by which Goliath is killed. The vicarious warrior has won the war for Israel. And by David’s victory, all Israel is victorious.

This however was only one battle. The war would go on. The people of God would continue to be confronted by big, ugly enemies who would continue to try to devour them. But here in this account David and Goliath we see how the final battle is to be fought and the ultimate war is to be won. The battle will be fought vicariously.

And with that, our eyes are fixed on Jesus. The Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert. He’s still dripping wet from His baptism in the Jordan River. He’s taken off all of His divine armor. He is armed with nothing except the name and the word of God given Him in His baptism – “You are my Son, with Whom, I am well pleased.”

Jesus comes forward to be our vicarious warrior. And our fate rests in his hands. Our outcome is completely dependant upon Him. If He looses we lose. If he fails we fail. If he dies we all die. If He is victorious we are all victors.

There in the desert, the old evil foe would torment this Son of David for 40 days and nights.

And Pontus Pilate stood Jesus before the crowd and said, “Behold, the man!” Here is your vicarious warrior! And all of his brothers and sisters jeered and mocked him. They were angry with him for being so conceited to claim that He was actually chosen by God to slay the enemy. “Crucify Him, Crucify Him.” It sounded just like Goliath taunting Israel.

And they nailed him to the cross. One nail through each hand. One nail through both feet. And then a sword pierced his side. Count the wounds. Five. Just five small wounds. But with those five smooth wounds and the name that is rightfully His, He slew the enemy. Armed with nothing more than the Name and Word of God and those five smooth wounds, He slew the ancient enemy who dismays and terrifies God’s people. And on the third day He used the enemy’s own weapon and crushed his head. By His death He defeated death. And by His victory over death, we are victorious. By His life we have life. By His resurrection from the dead, “death no longer has dominion over us.”

Jesus Christ fought the fight we cannot win. We cannot stand up to the enemy because he is too big and powerful for us and we are too weak.

“No strength of ours can match his might.
We would be lost, rejected.
But now a champion comes to fight whom God Himself elected.
You ask who this may be.
The Lord of hosts is he, Christ Jesus mighty Lord, God’s only Son, adored.
He holds the field victorious.”

Jesus Christ, the son of David has won the victory and we share in the spoils.
All praise and thanks be to our vicarious warrior.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 26th, 2007 at 3:46 pm and is filed under Audio Sermons, Sermons - Lutheran - LCMS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.