God with us – Penuel Baptist Chapel, Roch

I Samuel chapter 17

I read a newspaper article about Francis Dymoke, the King’s champion, who died in December 2023. The ancient role of the King’s champion was to fight battles and single combat on the King’s behalf. Francis Dymoke was a fairly well-off, old accountant. He was not a man of fighting. The position of a king’s champion has become just a title. In the past, during a King’s coronation, the king’s champion would ride a white horse and raise a defiant cry to those who would deny the sovereign’s status. He would take part in single combat. That is what we see here in this passage of scripture. David versus Goliath.

This event is usually used as an image of a great underdog. This account of David and Goliath is historical fact. Some see it as Jesus conquering sin and death but that is not the complete picture. The original picture cannot mean what it can’t mean to the original readers. They’re reading it to remember how God saved the Israelites from the Philistines. It is an historical event. Read it as history and learn from it. Here we see:

verses 1-19: The champion;
verses 20-39: The challenge accepted;
verses 40-58: The conquest.

1.The Champion

The champion is introduced. The Philistines prepare for war, march across the border. Saul hears about this and gathers his men. More and more armour and tents. The Philistines set up a base camp on one mountain and the Israelites on another. There are thousands of them. They are a fairly equal force. They are lined up and ready, facing each other. Who will move first? Then, this big spear, taller than the rest, comes through the Philistines. Out strides a giant. 9 foot 9. Huge! To clothe him in armour would have cost a lot. He had been a warrior from his youth. He is ready. He wants a man to fight (v.8).

This has happened before; the Philistines and Israelites are grave enemies. The hundreds of thousands of Israelites were dismayed and terrified. They felt broken, having no hope. Fear in an army of 300,000 is contagious. Then we see David, the little shepherd boy. Here is a drama. David’s other brothers go to Saul; they are older. But David is a small shepherd boy. He is a youth, yet strong enough to later pick up Goliath’s sword. Here we have the arrogant versus the meek, the warrior versus the shepherd. For 40 days Goliath comes to the Israelites.

2. Challenge accepted.

Jesse had no idea his sons are terrified, hiding behind their shields, not fighting. David goes to them. It is morning. It’s hot. The sun is beating down on them. They sweat so much. They eat, they sleep, then do this over and over again. Imagine the grumbles. Whenever the Israelites saw Goliath they fled from him (v.24). Fear took hold of them.

David arrives and goes out to the battle lines. He hears Goliath’s challenge and speaks his mind, “And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (v.26). What is the one word in that sentence that has not been mentioned so far? God. The Israelites are not thinking about God, about being His chosen people. David speaks his mind.

Saul calls David. He wants to see if he has a champion in David. He has no idea who he is, even though he is already in Saul’s service (chapter 16). Saul wants to know why David is saying this. David responds by saying he will go and fight. We see courage.

Why is David so different? Why does he have courage? The Israelites have forgotten God but David is courageous because he knows who God is. In verses 34-37 we see the true extent of David’s courage. He sees the threat and chases after it, “And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” (v.37).

If you were forced to do something, that is not courage. In David’s case he was willing to front pain and agony because he knows the Lord is with him. Every one of the Israelites was ruled by fear because they lacked faith. David was probably fearful but because God is with him, he goes anyway. He was willing to go despite everyone’s fear.

We want courage like this. What does courage look like to you on a day-to-day basis? C.S. Lewis declared, “Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” Every single one of us, day by day, faces some kind of enemy. It is all too easy to say no on a day, a week, a month. Tell your kids stories of courage. This historical account shows God with His people. If you are His people, God goes with you.

There are fears we face as individuals and as a church, but God promises to go with us. Each day, you can wake up and know what’s coming could be awful; it could be colleagues criticising you, bullies in school, problems at home, worries about the war in Ukraine spreading west. Thing is outside of God’s hands. God is with us. Have confidence and do not let your fear rule you.

David puts on the armour he is given but says he cannot go in this as he is not used to it. He knows a battle will come and armour will help, but it is too big. He picks five small calmer smooth stones and went to face Goliath.

3.The Conquest.

Imagine Goliath facing the vast army of Israel, then he sees David in his tunic, staff in his hand and stones in the other. He mocks David. The conversation in verses 43 to 47 is the climax of the story – not the killing of Goliath. David says, “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 defied.” (v.45). David declares that God has not defied Israel, Goliath has defied Israel. The whole world will know there is a God, including the Israelites. There is a God who protects His people. This is what the whole passage builds towards.

Goliath runs towards David, who runs towards him. David has a sling in his hand. He puts a stone in it. The sling goes faster and faster. The stone hurtles toward and sinks into the forehead of the enemy – while he was wearing a bronze helmet. It punches forward into the enemy. The ranks of Israelites are filled with slingers, yet it was David who stood up to the giant, who faced the enemy.

God triumphed and was glorified through David’s courage. What fears will you face tomorrow? God is with us. God knows your fears. If you don’t know Jesus and want to put yourself in the story, you are part of the Philistines. Because they didn’t trust in God they died. But Jesus died for you. You can trust in Him. Your fears will be conquered. He died on the cross that you might live.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
²My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121:1

Is that your truth?

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Isaiah 9:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25

Are you getting excited about Christmas? Perhaps, as you get older, you don’t have the same level of excitement and engagement as youngsters do? Perhaps you can’t wait for January, to get back to normal? As Christians, we should be those most excited – not for presents, tees, carol services etc., but because we are conscious of the significance of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, conceived in Mary’s womb by a sovereign act of the Holy Spirit, according to the holy will of the Father.

The second person of the Trinity came into this world and dwelt amongst us. This is a great mystery, one we will never be able to get our mind around. It is not something mystical that we cannot get an understanding of. It is so unique it can never be fully comprehended. Here is an event which continually fills us with awe and wonder.

We should never be tired of considering these things. We should never think of just going through the motions of another Christmas. Here we encounter a glorious miracle; Jesus was not just a mere baby, He was supernaturally begotten of the Holy Spirit – the miracle of the virgin conception, the birth of a sinless person, one promised by God 4,000 years prior to the event. In Genesis 3:15 God promises the woman’s seed – a singular word – one who would come from the woman, in due time, who would be there conqueror of Satan, and who would be the one who would release them from their captivity to sin.

In the person of Jesus Christ, the woman’s seed, the Saviour comes – miraculously conceived in in the womb of a virgin – a great and glorious miracle of God. Marvel afresh at the mystery and the miracle of our Saviour’s birth. Matthew, like Luke, wants to emphasise the wonder of this event by pointing to the reality of the virgin conception.

“Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ,” (Matthew 1:16). ‘Of whom’ is feminine, not masculine. The original language is unambiguous; Jesus is the son of Mary, not the son of Joseph. That great lineage that we read at the start of Matthew 1 is emphasised in the original language, that He is born of Mary.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christtook place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothedto Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:18) There is an emphasis on the absence of sexual relationship between Mary and Joseph. A betrothal has taken place, something more than an engagement. We are told specifically, as the Holy Spirit guides Matthew, there was no sexual relationship between Joseph and Mary that could have led to her conceiving. Indeed, we are told in verse 18 and re-emphasised in verse 20, as the angel speaks to Joseph, Mary was not involved with any man, “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:20). Joseph need not worry that Mary had been unfaithful to Him.

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). Matthew 1:23 Matthew quotes Isaiah. He uses a word in Greek that only means virgin. The Holy Spirit guides Matthew, confirming it is a virgin who gives birth. Mary remains a virgin up to His birth. Subsequently, we know Mary has a further four boys and at least two girls that Joseph fathered. But in this instance, Joseph has no involvement in this conception. A virgin conception leads to a virgin birth.

If Jesus was the natural child of sinful parents, then there would be no reason for us to celebrate Christmas, to be excited, to be full of awe and wonder at His birth. If Jesus were not the Son of God who entered into this world via the virgin’s womb, He could not be the Saviour of His people. The name Jesus that was given to Him, by direction of God through the angel, means Saviour. It’s a name that was a fairly commonly used in Bible times. It has an Old Testament version, Joshua. Of all the boys that were born down the centuries that bore His name, there was only one who was truly the Saviour, bringing salvation to those born in sin. This Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. Here is the one mysteriously, miraculously conceived, the one who brings hope to a hopeless, lost world.

This Jesus is Immanuel. We are told this is God, God with us. Here is the one who is mysteriously, miraculously conceived, the one who brings hope to the hopeless. Here is one who is fully God, never anything less than that. It is important for fallen human beings to ascend to God, to approach the holy one, to draw near to this holy God. It there was ever to be a renewed fellowship between sinful men and the holy God, God must come down, for man cannot go up.

Sharing in this remarkable event, in this mysterious, miraculous occurrence, God comes – one who is fully God, but one who is also the fullness of God. “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” (Colossians 1:19), “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,” (Colossians 2:9). In this one person the fullness of God was found in bodily form. An incredible mystery! It is phenomenal – not just a bit of God but the whole of God. It’s only God the Son who is conceived of the Holy Spirit, who is born. But such is the unity of the Trinity that when one person of the Trinity comes, then the whole of God comes, in Jesus of Nazareth, the one who is Immanuel.

How amazing it is that the God we have sinned against and rejected, condescends to come. He doesn’t sit in glory and say, ‘Do your best to get to me,’ for that is impossible. He comes! Who is it that can pay the infinite price for sin other than the infinite God. It is God the Son who will offer Himself up, as a sacrifice, taking the punishment from our sin, in our place, upon the cross. The Father will pour out upon Him the wrath the should rightly consume each one of us.

It is the one who is fully God, the one who is the fullness of God, who pays the penalty that God requires, so that we can be forgiven and receive salvation, eternal life, that renewed fellowship with God which is the essence of what life is – an eternal union with Christ through faith, that draws us into the very communion of the godhead itself. We don’t become divine, but through Christ we are drawn into the divine, and we know salvation. Immanuel. It’s God. It is God with us.

He is God but He is also fully man. He identifies full with us in our humanity. He is therefore able to represent us and take upon Himself the responsibility for our sin. It is not an angel who comes in order to die, it is a man, for it is a man who fell into sin and brought into captivity all his descendants. We are all sinners by our nature and by our deed. We share in the responsibility for Adam’s sin. We cannot say, ‘It’s unfair because it was Adam who fell not me.’ The reality is Adam fell, and I fell in him, but I have continued to fall in sin and I must bear the responsibility.

But a Saviour comes! One who is fully God but who is also fully man, one who identifies completely with me in order that He can take the responsibility of my sin upon myself.

He is sinless, protected by the Holy Spirit from the contamination of sin, by this virgin conception. This perfect man was perfectly God. He knew no sin. But God made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin, by taking the responsibility of our sin. He is not condemned, as He dies upon the cross, because of His own sin, but because He has identified so fully with me that He becomes me, in the eyes of the Father. As He hangs upon that tree, He bears the full weight of the punishment of my sin. He is God with us.

He is our great High Priest. He identifies with us so fully. He has experienced all the trials of our lives. He is moved with compassion towards us. He has loved us so much that He has given Himself as the sacrifice for our sin. His great desire is for our eternal good and well-being. He intercedes on our behalf before the Father. His purpose is to keep all those who, repenting of their sin, trust in Him for forgiveness. He is going to keep every single one of these people safe in the salvation that He has accomplished for all eternity. There is not one that will not be kept or preserved, to stand before the God of glory in eternity. There is not one who will be separated from Him. There is not one who will not be kept and preserved by His grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to stand before the throne of God in glory and to worship for eternity.

The great triune God. Here is Jesus, the Saviour, who is Immanuel, God with us. Two natures in one person. Here is the mystery and miracle of Christmas that brings true joy, that provides sure and certain hope of salvation. Here is the reason why we should be full of praise and thanksgiving. Here is the Saviour. Here is my Saviour, my God, come down for me, that I might ascend to His glorious presence and enjoy eternity, in fellowship with Him. Are you excited, full of awe, full of wonder?

Tag: God with us

May 19th 2024: Evan Millership

December 5th 2021: Gareth Edwards