December 5, 2010
Scripture:
Scripture:
Ministry:
I’d like to turn to a verse in Matthew 12. “Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house” (v. 29). We have thought about how the Children of Israel were in the grasp of an enemy in Egypt. We saw hope God sent one to deliver them. We know this was a picture of ourselves, trapped in sin. But God sent the Lord to deliver us.
In this verse, the strong man is a picture of Satan, who has trapped us. At the cross, the Lord bound Satan to set us free. We have one whose love is stronger than death.
Hymn 113 - Only a step to Jesus
Prayer
1 Samuel 17: 12-31
Goliath - Enemy - Satan
David - Saviour - Lord Jesus
Vv. 12 - 15: David is the son of Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem. David’s three oldest brothers were in Saul’s army.
V.16: For forty days, Goliath had been coming out and challenging someone to fight him. The biblical meaning of forty is testing.
Vv.17 - 19: David’s father came to him and asked him to go to his brothers and take them some food. He also wanted him to see how things were going at the battlefront. This is similar to what we read this morning, about how the Lord Jesus was sent to earth by His Father.
Vv. 20 & 21: David didn’t delay at all; he arose the next morning and left. It was the the same with the Lord Jesus: right from the start, He said He had to be about His Father’s business.
Vv. 22 & 23: When David got to the battlefield, Goliath was presenting himself. It’s probable that David had never seen Goliath before.
Vv. 24 & 25: The men of Israel were afraid of Goliath; even Saul—who was quite tall—was afraid of Goliath. Saul had offered a reward to the person who killed Goliath: he would be given riches and Saul’s daughter, and his family would not have to pay taxes. It was also that way with the Lord Jesus, He came down and died on Calvary so that could he have a bride.
Vv. 26 - 31: The Lord Jesus came to His own and His own received Him not. When David came to the battlefield, his brother Eliab did not want him around. David said to Eliab, “Is there not a cause?” There was a cause for David coming to the army and there was a cause for the Lord Jesus to come down to earth.
Goliath was big and had much of armor. David a lot younger—maybe in his late teens or early twenties—but David had faith and trusted the Lord.
So on the board we had this:
Goliath - Enemy - Satan
David - Saviour - Lord Jesus
I want to put one more person in between the two.
Soldiers
The Israelite soldiers were captivated by the strength of Goliath, which is a picture of Man by nature.
Goliath - Enemy - Satan
Soldiers - Captive - Man by Nature
**David - Saviour - Lord **
We are like those soldiers, captive in sin. As our story continues, we will see how David is a picture of the Lord, saving us from our sin.
Once again, we are looking at this to see the differences between the New and Old Testament. The people are still Jewish, and they still do the things a Jew would do, but they have received some new messages.
The first message that we get from God in four hundred years is “Fear not”. F.B.Hole says that Luke starts with a dumb priest, and ends with those made priests overflowing with praise. It starts with law and ends with grace; it starts with earth and ends with heaven.
Last time Zachariah was struck dumb because he doubted Gabriel’s message. He couldn’t talk, but he finished his course and went home, and before long the little one was one it’s way. This wasn’t a supernatural birth, but it was miraculous.
Then the scene changes, and Gabriel is sent to Nazareth. The Jews didn’t think it was likely for good to come out of Nazareth, but it was even more unlikely that a virgin would have a son. Isaiah 7:10-14. God prophesied of this sign, even though Ahaz wouldn’t ask for it. This situation is different from Zachariah and Elisabeth’s, because this is a young person. Mary was espoused to Joseph; ‘espoused’ means they were engaged, not married, but as committed as if they were married.
Joseph was of the house of David. God had made a way for His Son not to have a biological father, but to still be considered a son of David. He was truly human, but truly divine. He was a son of David, but a Son of God. Who else could be the Saviour? He was man, apart from sin, and God, able to meet the highest standards. Some want this explained, but that would spoil it. God would then be no bigger than my brain. You can’t explain to a caterpillar what it’s lilke to be a butterfly, and you can’t explain this.
Can you imagine what it must have been to be Mary? The angel came and basically said, “I need a body, and I’ve chosen yours.” She was favoured for this position. It all sounds wonderful, but hasn’t God said the same to each of us? He needs bodies now to show the character of his Son, to have Him be incarnate. 2 Corinthians 4:10. It’s very challenging; God is saying, “I want to bring him alive in you.” It was the same angel, and the same “Fear not”; there was a different response. Mary asked, “How will this happen?”, but she didn’t doubt. She wanted an explanation, because this wasn’t possible naturally. Her response is very precious, “Be it unto me according to thy word.”
Hymn 179 - Nothing but Christ, as on we tread
Prayer