SEEING VICTORY THROUGH “THE HAND” OF GOD

04-10-16 This message may be viewed live streaming video at www.tabernacleofmoses.org commencing today Sunday at 11:00 am, and repeated 24/7 for one week; thereafter, the video and notes are archived.

The height of our revelations depends upon the correctness of our doctrines (our building blocks)

THE BATTLE SCENE

(1 Sam 17:1-3)  Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah [Heb: celebrated /// to use the hand], and pitched between Shochoh [Heb: to entwine, shut in] and Azekah [Heb: tilled /// fence about], in Ephesdammim [Heb: boundary of blood drops /// cessation, an end, no further]. And Saul and the men of Israel [Heb: he will rule as God] were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah [Heb: an oak or other strong tree], and set the battle in array [Heb: order] [action] against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.

1. Philistines = Heb: rolling, migratory /// to roll (in dust): roll (wallow) self.

THE CHAMPION OF EVIL

(1 Sam 17:4-7)  And there went out a champion [representing the Philistines] out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span [approx. 12 feet tall]. And he had an helmet of brass [Heb: filthiness] [i.e., sin] upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass [Heb: filthiness] [i.e., sin]. And he had greaves of brass [Heb: filthiness] [i.e., sin] upon his legs, and a target of brass [Heb: filthiness] [i.e., sin] between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron [a biblical symbol of non-forgiving judgment]: and one bearing a shield went before him.

1. Goliath = exile /// to denude (especially in a disgraceful sense); to exile (captives usually being stripped); fig. reveal: captive (into captivity), uncover. [exposes us, reveals our sin to God: Gen 3:7,8]
2. Gath = (in the sense of treading out grapes); a wine press.
3. Commentary: Goliath is the prophecy and personification of an approaching intensely fearful sense of intimidating overwhelming evil and impending doom, evidentially witnessed to by the approach and vile manifestations, over the last seven years, of the now almost fully visible Wicked Antichrist (2 Thes 2:8). However, little has ever been said (nothing actually) about the “one” and “man” (1 Sam 17:7 & 17:41 respectively) who was strong enough, i.e., influential enough, to carry and maneuver the giant’s giant shield, strong enough to both protect and advance the giant.  A present-day application of who this “man” represents would be the current news media which may be collectively personified (and thereby prophesied) in the Bible as being “one bearing a shield went before him [Goliath]” and “the man that bear the shield went before him [Goliath]” (1 Sam 17:7 & 17:41 respectively, shielding Goliath).

GOLIATH DEFIES GOD

(1 Sam 17:8-11)  And he [Goliath] stood and cried unto the armies of Israel [in challenge], and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy [Heb: to expose (as by stripping)] the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

1. dismayed = Heb: prostrate, broken down lit. by violence or fig, by confusion and fear: beat down, discouraged, scared, terrified.

(1 Sam (17:16)  And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.

(1 Sam 17:38,39)  And Saul armed David with his [Saul’s] armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed [hesitated] to go; for he had not proved it [Heb: tested it]. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them [“for I am not used to them” Amplif.]. And David put them off him.

(1 Sam 17:40,41)  And he [David] took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him.

1. Commentary: in these two verses, David chooses “five” well-worn-down “smooth” humbled “lively stones” rather than one stone to kill Goliath. How many stones does God need to kill one giant? Answer: one. So why did David mistakenly (?) choose five stones? The extra stones describe the offices of the Hand Ministry, the offices of certain humans (servants) that God uses to do His work in the world. Also, there are indications that Goliath may have had four brothers.
1. (1 Pet 2:5)  Ye also, as lively [Gk: living] stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
2. (Eph 4:11-13)  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

GOLIATH CURSES DAVID

(1 Sam 17:42-44)  And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him [Heb: to disesteem: despise, scorned]: for he was but a youth, and ruddy [Heb: reddish], and of a fair [Heb: beautiful: comely] countenance. And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves [Heb: sticks]? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

DAVID PROPHECIES TO GOLIATH

(1 Sam 17:45-47)  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. 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 [measure for measure: the Law]; 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.

VICTORY

(1 Sam 17:48-51)  And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted [Heb: to be liquid or flow easily], and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 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. 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. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.

Amen