Bible in 90, Day 21: Weapons not of this world

1 Samuel 16-28

*image courtesy of naroasgo at www.sxc.hu

We come to one of the classic stories today – David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17).  David makes an interesting statement that I want to discuss today.  He says in v. 45 “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” David realized, even from a very early age, that ultimately we do not fight against human enemies.  David knew that the Lord fought for him.  He knew that at the heart of every battle the people of God fought was a spiritual conflict of a much larger magnitude.

Interestingly, we saw that ultimate battle dramatized yesterday when Dagon’s idol was found bowing down before the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel 5).  It aptly symbolized the conflict between Israel and the Philistines as a spiritual battle being waged by Yahweh, the God of Israel.

The New Testament speaks to this spiritual dynamic as well (2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:10-18).  Paul tells us that we do not fight against flesh and blood “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  (Ephesians 6:12)  He also says that our weapons in this battle are not the weapons of this world (2 Corinthians 10:4).  We do not wield swords, spears, and javelins as Goliath did.  Our weapons are divinely powered and do damage on the spiritual level, tearing down the strongholds of the enemy.

We must remember then, that whenever we face a conflict, especially within the body of Christ, that our enemy is not the man or woman before us.  Our enemy is never our brother or sister in Christ.  Our enemy is Satan, that old serpent, the accuser of the children of God.  We must never wage war against brothers or sisters, but against the true enemy.  We must not use the conventions of the world to win our battles, for we do not wage war as the world does.

Let us remember always that the victory belongs to the Lord (Proverbs 21:31)!

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel+5&version=NIV