BIBLE STUDY-JUNE 6-20-2020

THE ARMOR OF GOD PART 2 -THE ARMOR IN ACTION- DAVID AND GIDEON

DAVID: 1 Samuel chapter 17-David anointed BEFORE facing Goliath

1 Samuel 16

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve for Saul, when I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen a king for Myself among his sons.”  But Samuel said, “How can I go? When Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer from the herd with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’  You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do [after that]; and you shall anoint for Me the one whom I designate.” So, Samuel did what the Lord said, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “In peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” He also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

 So, it happened, when they had come, he looked at Eliab [the eldest son] and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.”  But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass before Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.”  Next Jesse had Shammah pass by. And Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen him either.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen [any of] these.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” Jesse replied, “There is still one left, the youngest; he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send word and bring him; because we will not sit down [to eat the sacrificial meal] until he comes here.”

David Anointed

So, Jesse sent word and brought him in. Now he had a ruddy complexion, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said [to Samuel], “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

So, we see the Lord tell Samuel to stop grieving for Saul, that ship has sailed, and 2 fill his HORN with OIL and GO!!! There is a season for mourning, and there is a season for moving forward. Rest assured that God does not want us to remain in our brokenness and grief forever. He has a plan that is far above what we see right in front of us – a destination – that He will empower us to move into if only we will follow His lead, instructions, and keep moving.

A horn in Hebrew means basically a container, so fill your container with oil and go! The Lord is telling Samuel Equip yourself and move on from Saul and towards the future of Israel! The Lord is giving Samuel a good kick in the pants, or tunic for that matter, because there is a timetable to anoint a new King because a fierce opponent is about to arise against Israel and Saul is NOT equipped to fight him.

What was David’s training before Samuel arrives to anoint him? David was responsible for protecting the flock of HIS FATHER'S SHEEP, the lion and the bear and monitoring and keeping watch day in and day out was the boot camp the Lord had him enrolled in for this phase of His life. Soon David would be transitioned to protecting the sheep of Israel, HIS FATHER in Heaven’s flock.

So, you see the anointing had to come BEFORE David ever was positioned in front of Goliath. David was literally Samuel’s last look! Samuel thought for sure based on physical appearance that David’s brothers were Kingly material.

However, being anointed of the Lord and armored of the Lord, the Lord looks at the heart, the Lord evaluates the heart when it comes to equipping and positioning. This had to do with obedience and faith not physical stature. The armor of God has to do with obedience and Faith it has nothing to do with physical stature, the best weaponry, the most physically fit. This pertains to spiritual fitness.

So, Samuel ANOINTS, sanctifies, and sets apart, David for service unto the Lord as the next King of Israel. BUT David is young, and the Lord needs to process him some more to get him ready. However once David is anointed, The Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, included in that is the armor of God, and He comes under the Divine protection of Almighty God.

FAST FORWARD to 1 Samuel 17:

1 Samuel 17:36

David starts out as the delivery guy delivering lunch to his brothers, BUT he is anointed he is set apart, he is protected. He is going to finish as a Victorious Soldier.

1 Samuel 17:32-36

David said to Saul, “Let no man’s courage fail because of him (Goliath). Your servant will go out and fight with this Philistine.” Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight him. For you are [only] a young man and he has been a warrior since his youth.”  But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,  I went out after it and attacked it and rescued the lamb from its mouth; and when it rose up against me, I seized it by its whiskers and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted and defied the armies of the living God.”  David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” 

See David knows a few things before this battle:

     That the Lord has delivered him more than once from an enemy sent to harm, him and his   FATHER’S flock.

     

      That he has been anointed, he is sanctified, protected, set apart, and armored in the Spirit.

      That he is in covenant with the Lord and Goliath and the philistines ARE NOT “This   uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them BECAUSE he TAUNTED and DEFIED the   armies of the living God.

David is calling goliath and enemy of God, uncircumcised, out of covenant, which MEANS, out from under the protection of the Lord. So, this out of covenant Philistine is threatening an in-covenant people and David KNOWS IT!

Lets for a moment talk about Goliath’s armor because Goliath was completely armored, he was about 9 feet tall and completely armored.

1 Samuel 17:5-7

He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale-armor (overlapping metal plates) which weighed 5,000 shekels of bronze. He had bronze shin protectors on his legs and a bronze javelin hung between his shoulders. The [wooden] shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; the blade-head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And a shield-bearer walked in front of him. 

Coat of armor =125lbs

Blade head of the Spear=19lbs

Shield=8.5 feet tall approx.

Okay so there is a PARTICULARLY important prophetic meaning to the fact goliath was wearing bronze armor.

Daniel 2:31-36

“Your Majesty, you had a vision. You saw a large statue. This statue was very bright. It stood in front of you, and it looked terrifying. The head of this statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were made of silver. Its stomach and hips were made of bronze.  Its legs were made of iron. Its feet were made partly of iron and partly of clay.  While you were watching, a stone was cut out, but not by humans. It struck the statue’s iron-and-clay feet and smashed them. Then all at once, the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were smashed. They became like husks on a threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a large mountain which filled the whole world.  This is the dream. Now we will tell you it is meaning.

The BRONZE and IRON on the statue were the weaker Kingdoms, far less than the kingdoms representing gold and silver. HOWEVER, it was a STONE that destroyed this enormous “statue” along with the BRONZE and IRON parts of it

Goliath’s ARMOR is all bronze and IRON and a STONE is about to be flung right at him.

So, Goliath has INCREDIBLE earthly armor BUT there is a flaw in it because he lacks ANY spiritual armor of protection which is the greater of the two!

1 Samuel 17:38-40

Then Saul dressed David in his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head and put a coat of mail (armor) on him. Then David fastened his sword over his armor and tried to walk, [but he could not,] because he was not used to them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, because I am not used to them.” So, David took them off. Then he took his [shepherd’s] staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the stream bed and put them in his shepherd’s bag which he had, that is, in his shepherd’s pouch. With his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.

So, Saul attempts to give David EARTHLY ARMOR of bronze and David CAN HARDLY MOVE! And if he cannot move around, he becomes a sitting duck. Just like the enemy attempts to weigh us down by placing things upon our lives that make it difficult for us to move with the Lord. So, what does David do? He strips off that bulk armor and he grabs 2 particularly important things:

His Shepherd's STAFF (Remember Moses had a staff when he went to face off before Pharaoh). He takes 5 smooth stones out of the stream bed.

Psalm 23 Amplified Bible (AMP)

The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David

The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, to guide and to shield me],
I shall not want. He lets me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still and quiet waters.

He refreshes and restores my soul (life);
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the [sunless] valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort and console me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You have anointed and refreshed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, And I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the Lord.

This Psalm embodies the battle between David and Goliath and demonstrates how the Lord, leading us as our Shepherd, his protective hand will be upon us as we face these circumstances. When we walk with Him in true steadfast Faith, Called and anointed of God as His Children, wearing the Armor of God, we shall see a table prepared for us in the presence of Our enemies, they will fall! We get the Victory; Almighty God gets the Glory!

You see that armor Saul gave David had not been proven in the eyes of David, it had NOT ever protected him in a battle.

HOWEVER the Shepherd's Staff and His slingshot with the favor of Almighty God had been proven over and over with the lion and the bear when it came to protecting the flock, and again David was facing off against an enemy threatening the Lord’s Flock, His people Israel.

Those 5 smooth Stones that David picked up I believe had incredibly significant meaning.

First of all, I believe that the other “giants” that David faced prior to Goliath as the Lord was protecting Him, it took no more than 5 stones to defeat them perhaps.

The number 5 also represents Grace and Grace is a measure the Lord pours out into our lives that enables us to endure a circumstance that otherwise is not humanly possible to come out of victorious and restored.

Goliath was not the only one of his kind. Goliath had brothers plus there were other descendants of gigantic men from Gath (1st Chron 20:5-8), from the same place that Goliath had come from (1 Sam 17:4). Apparently, David was ready in the event any of Goliath’s brothers came with him or any of the other so-called giants that came from Gath. David did what we are to do. He made provisions for the future and was ready for any trouble in advance, but he still relied on and trusted in God to fight the battle for him. God is sovereign. HOWEVER, there is a much more prophetic and symbolic reason David chose stone as his weapon of choice.

Psalm 18:2 Amplified Bible (AMP)

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and the One who rescues me;
My God, my rock and strength in whom I trust and take refuge;
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower—my stronghold.

Why did David think like this? Because when defending the flock against the Lion especially, Lions usually hunt in prides or packs so David knew that the Lions family members may suddenly arise on the scene and he had to be prepared the same with Goliath. All David had been through and endured PREPARED him for this moment!

1 Peter 5:8 Amplified Bible (AMP)

Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.

HOWEVER, David has another weapon, he has been anointed to be King and he is wearing the ARMOR OF GOD!! He also has the weapon of the covenant!

1 Samuel 17:41-44

The Philistine came and approached David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked around and saw David, he derided and disparaged him because he was [just] a young man, with a ruddy complexion, and a handsome appearance. The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with [shepherd’s] staffs?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” 

First mistake Goliath makes is he does not take his opponent seriously.

Second mistake he mocks the shepherd’s staff which truly represents the Lord.

Thirdly goliath cursed David by his gods which are way-way-way inferior to Almighty God whom David is in a covenant with and has been anointed by.'

Fourthly Goliath makes the major mistake of failing to understand that Israel and David are in a covenant with Almighty God and he is out of covenant and an enemy of God, not a good position to be in in battle.

1 Samuel 17:45-47

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and 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 taunted.  This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,  and that this entire assembly may know that the Lord does not save with the sword or with the spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will hand you over to us.”

Ephesians 6:13-16

Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious]. So stand firm and hold your ground, having tightened the wide band of truth (personal integrity, moral courage) around your waist and having put on the breastplate of righteousness (an upright heart), and having strapped on your feet the gospel of peace in preparation [to face the enemy with firm-footed stability and the readiness produced by the good news]. Above all, lift up the[protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

This is Faith in Action!! David has no earthly armor. He is anointed, he has the Armor of God, and he has immovable faith in the Lord because the Lord has delivered him over and over from dangerous opponents. David also knows that Goliath is out of covenant, uncircumcised, and has not only defied the armies of the living God BUT cursed them!

Genesis 12:3 Amplified Bible (AMP)

And I will bless (do good for, benefit) those who bless you, and I will curse [that is, subject to My wrath and judgment] the one who curses (despises, dishonors, has contempt for) you and in you all the families (nations) of the earth will be blessed.”

Once Goliath cursed Israel, he was a dead man walking! He was cursed, he was fallen, he was defeated in the realm of the Spirit before the battle EVER took place in the natural.

1 Samuel 17:47

And that this entire assembly may know that the Lord does not save with the sword or with the spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will hand you over to us.”

1 Samuel 17:48-52

When the Philistine rose and came forward to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.  David put his hand into his bag and took out a stone and slung it, and it struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone penetrated his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

So, David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand. ⁵¹ So he ran and stood over the Philistine, grasped his sword, and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their [mighty] champion was dead, they fled. The men of Israel and Judah stood with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance to the valley and the gates of Ekron. 

Think about this, first stone out of the bag direct hit!! David ran towards the battle head on! He was not going to give Goliath time to strategize, position, or draw out a weapon! Why did it only take one stone? Because the Lord only needs one time, one time to strike His enemies, this was a prophetic statement to the philistines! Their champion was fallen, they hid behind him and now they were exposed!! It foreshadowed the amount of defeat the philistines would suffer in the coming years as David rose to King. And to solidify matters David used goliath’s own sword to finish him off, goliath’s own sword is what solidified his fate!  The Lord had David strike the head and cut the head off to scatter the remainder the opposition!

Goliath NEVER got a shot at David, did not even get close enough to him!! Why, the anointing and armor of God is more protective, more powerful than any giant and its armor you could face. It was about timing the timing of God under the hand of His protection brings forth the Victory for the Glory of God! It was in fact a shepherd with nothing but the armor of God and a stone, defeated a champion warrior because physical strength is no match against the power of Almighty God!