(1 Sam. 17.)
HOW the onlookers must have wondered as they saw David go out with only these five smooth stones to meet you enormous man. Remember he was but a stripling―a lad of seventeen, yet in faith in God he goes out to meet this tremendous man that is coming forth to meet him. I do not wonder that Goliath, when he saw him, his sling, and his five smooth stones, disdained him. We are told, “And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance,” The giant, so to speak, snuffed at him. What could that youth do? Ah! my friends, do you know that God always uses simple instruments, and by ways and means that man does not approve, He saves man. God’s way of giving you life is that another Man should go into death for you. God’s way for us to get into heaven is quite opposed to man’s idea. Man’s thought is that it is by his own works, God’s way is by another Man―His own Son―going down into the depths of death for you.
But these five smooth stones, what could they do? Saul, no doubt, when he saw David take them up and put them into his bag, said, What a fool! The idea of that stripling going out to meet that giant with these five stones is absolute folly. One stone was enough, however, to slay the giant with. But, to apply this, ―How can men be saved? Only by the cross. Now-a-days men scout the idea of salvation by the cross of Christ. This is nothing new, for, wrote the apostle Paul, “We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:2323But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; (1 Corinthians 1:23)). In these days as then, the preaching of the cross is to the learned Gentile downright folly. Folly! Ah! but what is it really? “Unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,” it is “Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” I fully admit that “the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.” Do you think it foolishness to believe that the dying agonies of Christ can be the eternal safety of those who believe in Him, and by His atoning work are thus righteously brought to God?
Men say the cross is folly. But believe me, it has brought me to God. It brought Paul to God. It brought the dying thief to God, and it has brought millions to God. Thank God, for the cross! “God forbid,” says Paul, “that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So say I with all my heart! I know very well it is despised. But don’t you forget this―that Christ crucified is the wisdom of God, and the power of God, and there is only one thing which can lift men out of their sins, and bring them to glory, and that is the death of the sinless Son of God. It was for sinners that He died on Calvary’s tree, and there is no other name whereby we must be saved. There is no other way to glory but the blood-stained pathway thus opened up through the dying agonies of Christ. You may smile at David’s stone, and laugh at Christ on the cross, but be fully assured of this, that you will spend eternity in hell unless you are born of God, and washed in the blood of the Son of God. I speak plainly. You have immortal souls. Eternity is before you, and I ask you, Where will you spend it? You are spending your life in sin, and the wages of sin is death. Where will you spend eternity?
Here, then, we have the truth of the cross in figure. David took the five smooth stones, and the giant, seeing the youth of ruddy and fair countenance, disdains him. “Am I a dog,” says the champion, “that thou comest to me with staves? and the Philistine cursed David by his gods” (vs. 43). The idea of that youth coming out to him with such childish weapons was more than he could stand. So spake the foe of Israel then, and so did Satan think when he led on man to put Christ on the cross. He looked for easy and absolute victory. He met with utter defeat. “And the Philistine said unto David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.” David, in effect, says to the giant, “The battle is really not between you and me; it is between you and God. I am here for God.”
As the giant presses forward, David says: “This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that THE LORD SAVETH not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands” (verses 46, 47). Mark that! the Lord saveth. You cannot save yourself; I cannot save myself. It is the Lord who alone can save me. God alone can meet the need and ruin of man as a sinner, and I am shut up to accept God’s Saviour. “And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth”. (vs. 49). He did not think of such a weapon as a sling. He was looking for arrows, and had protected himself with a great big shield; but the stone slung by David went up with a curve, and just struck the giant on the forehead, on the spot he least expected it. Satan little thought that the death of Jesus would annul death, and that by His being made sin, so sin would be put away, or he would not have plotted for His death. “So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith” (veers. 50, 51). That was absolute victory. He cut off his head with his own sword. Christ too has, so to speak, cut off Satan’s head with his own sword. Do you know what death is? It is the wages of sin consequent on man’s sin and guilt, and Satan can wield it as a sword over man’s conscience. Death is the judgment of God upon man as a sinner, and when it suits his purpose, the devil can hold over man the solemn truth that he is going to die.
It is complete deliverance to a soul in bondage to see that although the wages of sin is death, yet, death is the doorway to life―death is the pathway to peace and blessing. You and I can only be delivered by death; you and I can only be saved by death. The gates of hell are closed, and the gates of glory are opened for us, by death. Our death? Thank God, no! but the death of the sinless Man, upon whom death had no claim, yet who died “the just for the unjust.”
When Satan led the world on to put Jesus to death, he committed the most senseless and shortsighted act that he ever could have done. But he is not the only actor at the cross, for Jesus voluntarily goes into death, and having so done, He meets the claims of God on man, sustains the judgment due to him in righteousness, and then He rises from the dead, and that, you will observe, on the ground that there has been a wonderful victory accomplished. In the spot where every other man has been defeated, Christ has won the victory. Death has claimed and held every other man. “Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from among the dead” (1 Cor. 15:2121For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. (1 Corinthians 15:21)). He went into death, and then came up out of it, victor over it, and thank God He is my Saviour. I wish he were yours. You may have Him tonight.
There is a remarkable New Testament scripture, bearing on this point, I should like you to notice. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also likewise took part of the same (that is, he became a man), that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death―that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14, 1514Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:14‑15)). Wonderful tidings! You and I die because we are men. He became a man that He might be able to die. He could have passed up into glory from this earth at any moment of His history, for death had no claim on Him since He was sinless, but then He would have left every man behind Him. He says to the one who believes in Him, I came down and died for you, I bore your judgment, and died your death, and I bring you to God in righteousness. I bore your judgment that I might deliver and redeem you.
Just as David cut off Goliath’s head with his own sword, so by death―which is what the devil terrifies a man with―does Jesus deliver the soul that trusts in Him. Death, which was the wages of sin, has now opened the way of life for me, for “AS it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall be appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9:27, 2827And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:27‑28)). Death opens the pathway to glory for the believer now, because in the death of the Saviour atonement has been made. That atonement has been presented, and God has accepted it, and what has been the result? God has raised from the dead, and glorified the blessed Man, who died on the cross. His exaltation is God’s answer to the sufferings of the Saviour, and is the proof of His absolute victory over every foe of God and man. Hallelujah!
Now observe what follows the giant’s death in the scene before us. “And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled,” and Israel “spoiled their tents” (verses 51-53). The enemies are dispersed, and nothing remains to the as men of Israel and Judah but to possess the spoil which David’s victory has gained for them. David then comes back, and is led before Saul. And what has he got with him? He has the head of the Philistine in his hand. He is the victor, and has the proof of his victory in his hand as he goes to the king, and walks through the ranks of Israel. He has the giant’s sword in one hand, and his head in the other. He does not say a word; he does not need to. The sword and the head that he carried told the tale of his victory more eloquently than any word, and at this point Jonathan’s heart was captured.
There are five points about Jonathan here which are worthy of note. When David came into the camp, do you know what Jonathan was doing? He was trembling. Oh, you say, How do you know? Well, verse 11 and 24 tell me they were all afraid and fled; and Jonathan, though he is not named, was in the camp. At that point he was Jonathan anxious. When David went forth to meet the foe, and when Jonathan fixed his eye upon him, he was in a hopeful mood―he was Jonathan hopeful. As he looked on that wonderful conflict, and presently saw the giant fall, and his head lopped off with one stroke of his own sword, he was immensely relieved. “Thank God!” I am sure he would say, “I am delivered,” and he would draw a long breath. Don’t you tell me he did not take a long breath, as he got the sense that the foe was overcome. Then he was Jonathan delivered. What is the next thing? As they brought in the spoil of the tents, he was Jonathan enriched. The climax is soon reached, for his heart is completely captured, and Jonathan became devoted.
I greatly wonder whether any of you have become really devoted. “And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul” (18:1). What attracted Jonathan? It was the sense he had of the personal charms and self-sacrifice of David. Here is one of whom I know nothing, but who, seeing our distress and misery, has “put his life in his hand”―as it says in the next chapter―and at the risk of his life has saved my life. Love to David sprang up in his heart, until, as Scripture says, “he loved him as his own soul” It was the love of David that begat love― “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:1919We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)). I don’t ask you tonight to love Jesus, but I can tell you that Jesus loves you.
“Love, only love, Thy heart inclined,
And brought Thee, Saviour of mankind,
Down from the throne above;
Love made Thee here a man of grief,
Distressed Thee sore for our relief,
O mystery of love!”