David and Goliath Part 16 A Public Spectacle

# 252 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 17:48-51, “So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. (1 Sam 17:48-51) The shepherd boy prevails with one well aimed shot and the giant topples over dead. You'd think that would be enough, but David had said that he would take the head of the giant and he meant it. Having no sword of his own he grabs the sword of Goliath to finish the job. How fitting when you think of it. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God....truth. The sword of the evil one is lies and deceit. In the end, lying does not prevail. Ps 64:8 says, “So He will make them stumble over their own tongue;” Goliath, representing Satan, done in with his own lies. Writing on this passage, the biblical commentator Matthew Henry has said, “ The crucifixion of our Lord was the execution of sin. God's enemies furnish weapons (the cross) for their own destruction.” It was customary in biblical times to make a public display of defeated foes and this was often done with a display of the heads of their enemies. Gruesome, but it made the point. And this public displaying of Goliath's head would foreshadow the effects of Christ's victory that He won on the cross. Col 2:15 says, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” So when you read of this great victory of David's over Goliath, let your thoughts turn to Calvary. It was on that cross that the devil and his demons were disarmed. As Matthew Henry stated, “sin was executed.” The enemy of your soul has been disarmed and no longer has any power over you. Father, thank You for the victory of the cross. May we cling to it every hour of every day.