David and Goliath: Cinderella Story or Gospel?

After talking about Talby's amazing physical strength (thanks to Andrew for the great writing), today's post seems to have come at just the right time. I say this because I am slowly going through the Old Testament for my Bible readings and I just got done reading about another incredibly strong person named Goliath. This also seems to be perfect timing because the Bronco's just lost to the New England Patriots last Saturday. "What does this have to do with anything?" you say. Well, it was rumored that before the New England game Tim Tebow gave an impassioned speech to his fellow underdog teammates, calling them "David's" and challenging them to have faith, to rise up, and to slay the Goliath New England Patriots. Supposedly his speech inspired and drew a standing ovation. Then in all of their zeal and passion Tim and his teammates went out and got dismantled by the Patriots 45-10.
Whether or not the pre-game speech happened this way or not, I am not 100% sure. But we have probably all seen or heard the Biblical story of David and Goliath applied to modern day battles or contests. When March madness roles around there is a good chance you will hear the chaplain of a 16th seeded team, reading the story of David and Goliath as he prepares the team to go out and take on the #1 seed in the tournament. Whatever the situation may be, the story of David and Goliath has become associated with people facing the seemingly insurmountable difficulties of life. We are told to be like David by trusting in God and then to go out and slay the Giants in our lives. But the problem with making David and Goliath about us facing our difficulties is that the message of the Bible is not about us mustering up the strength and courage to conquer our enemies. No, the Bible is about us helplessly looking to and trusting in Christ who has already done what we, in our own power, could never dream of doing.

Great Movie. Great Scene. But wrong use of scripture

 God has always promised that he would be the one to defeat the enemy for he said to Satan in the beginning: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall crush your head and you shall bruise his heel." The very first Gospel promise was that the seed of the woman would crush Satan and destroy all of his works even though Satan should cause Him to suffer greatly. 

With this in mind, let's look again at David and Goliath. Who is David? David is described as being a young man, small in stature, handsome, and a shepherd of his father's flock. David is christ-ed (anointed) by Samuel to be King over Israel and therefore possesses the Spirit of God in a special way: "And the Spirit of God rushed upon him from that day forward." (I Samuel 16:13) Meanwhile, Saul (the functioning King) and Israel are cowering before the army of the Philistines and its warrior-leader Goliath. I remind you that the Philistines were at war with Israel because they were at war with Israel's God. For when Goliath mocks Israel, he is defying the armies of God and thus God himself. He is of supernatural size (9 feet tall) and strength (his armor weighed 125 pounds and he threw a spear with a shaft that weighed 15 pounds!) The story is clear, Israel has no one with the strength to face him and they are "dismayed and greatly afraid." Tim Keller says, "The story is telling us that the Israelites can not go up against Goliath. They can’t do it. They need a substitute." Israel needs someone to fight for them, and as their anointed King and representative, David is that man.
David willingly fights for his people, but look also at the manner in which he goes out to meet Goliath. He goes in weakness and frailty. While Goliath is covered in hundreds of pounds of armor, David goes out entirely unprotected for he was too young and weak to wear heavy armor. While Goliath has the finest weapons of war, David apparently comes unarmed with a slingshot and 5 stones hidden in his bag. Goliath sees David's apparent weakness and is insulted, "Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?" Goliath fights against God and his people but David, filled with the Spirit of the LORD fights for God and his people. I his seeming weakness, David rushed upon Goliath and, "struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground."
Remember the promise in Genesis that the seed of the woman would crush the seed of Satan? Well here is David, the anointed of God, and he has just crushed the head of God's enemy, Goliath. The people of God rejoice in David's victory because, as their leader, David's victory was theirs as well. Again Tim Keller says: "When David goes in on their behalf, he is not a full-grown man, but a vulnerable and weak figure, a mere boy. He goes virtually as a sacrificial lamb. But God uses his apparent weakness as the means to destroy the giant, and David becomes Israel’s champion-redeemer, so that his victory will be imputed to them. They get all the fruit of having fought the battle themselves."
So where does this story leave Christians under the new covenant, and what application is there for us today. First, with no King to fight for us we should see ourselves as Israel cowering in weakness when we think our great enemies (Our Sin, facing God's judgment, Satan, etc.) Second, we should see Jesus as David's greater Son and our representative warrior who came to destroy our greatest enemies that we have no power in ourselves to fight. Sin, Death, Satan and Hell were defeated when the Son of God came in apparent weakness and died on the cross. Just as Goliath scoffed at the weak and unarmed shepherd boy, so too Satan saw a crucified Christ as foolishness but the Bible tells us that it was, "Through death the he destroyed the one who has power over death, that is the devil." It was precisely through his humility and death that Jesus conquered Satan. Christ lived for us, he died for us, he rose victoriously from the grave for us. So finally, we should see ourselves as the victorious army of Israel after David slayed Goliath. For just as Israel rejoiced and worshipped as David stood victoriously over the defeated Goliath, so too can we worship Jesus as he sits enthroned victoriously over sin and death. By trusting in Christ, we get all the fruit of his victories and are freed from the burden of trying to save ourselves through our own works. We can stop trying to face Goliath on our own and trust that our David has already destroyed him! If my words have not been helpful check out what Matt Chandler has to say about David and Goliath.