Introduction:
In God’s Word whenever we see physical battles on earth between the people of Israel with hostile Gentile nations at the same time a spiritual battle is raging in the unseen spiritual realm between God and Satan. Even though Satan is a defeated foe he is still seeking to destroy God’s people Israel and the Body of Messiah spiritually grafted into Israel. We see this ongoing conflict recorded in the Book of Daniel when the answer to Daniel’s prayer concerning Israel was being hindered by the principality over Persia (Daniel 10:12-13).
The battle was being fought in the unseen spiritual realm out of time as we know it down here on earth whereas in the unseen spiritual realm the past the present and the future all run together simultaneously. There is no past, present and future in eternity. The vision was about the last days (Daniel 10:14). It was a spiritual battle in the unseen spiritual realm not only happening in the time of Daniel but one happening in the last days which I would suggest applies in this day and age in light of the ongoing and expanding conflagration in the Middle-East.
The two principalities mentioned in Daniel Chapter ten was the one ruling over Persia (Iran). The second principality mentioned was the one ruling over Greece (the word “Greece” in the Hebrew text is “yavan” or “ionia” which was located in modern day Turkey) (Daniel 10:20).
Today in the Middle-east we see these two prominent principalities at work as Iran and Turkey are becoming major players in the whole Middle-Eastern region. In Daniel’s situation the protection and spiritual well-being of Israel was the subject of his prayers and in these last days Israel is centre stage in the Middle-East.
Just as Michel the Archangel fought with the principalities arrayed against Israel in Daniel’s time frame (Daniel 10:13, 21), so it is today as we see these principalities still ruling over Iran and Turkey hell bent on destroying Israel. We also see Michael the great prince and protector of Israel who will arise once again to defend Israel when the Time of Jacob’s Trouble descends upon the Jewish nation (Daniel 12:1) See also (Matthew 24:15-22) (Jeremiah 30:1-10).
Now when we come to the battle between Israel and the Philistines we see this principle of spiritual warfare in the unseen spiritual realm at work. It was not only a literal physical battle between Israel with the Philistines in which David was the victor over Goliath, but a spiritual war that was going to occur in the future between the Messiah with Satan at the cross, and one that Satan would lose for ever.
From the prophetic perspective in the future in our day it will be a final battle between the Messiah with the Antichrist. Let’s now briefly look at this chapter. Please open you Bible to 1 Samuel chapter 17 to follow the text. The text is also prophetic in nature which we will see. We need to begin with what actually occurred with David and Goliath. Let’s look at this.
1. David Defeats Goliath
(Vss. 1-7) The Israelites were facing the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them. While contemplating their next move the Israelites were suddenly confronted with a giant nine feet tall. We know from Genesis chapter six that there was a time when spiritual principalities or angelic beings capable of reproducing offspring left their God ordained position in the heavenly realms and visited women on the earth and had sexual relations with them producing offspring (Genesis 6:1-4).
Their offspring were demonic in nature and giants called the Nephilim or the fallen ones who became known for their deeds in military prowess. This was the time when occult power gained an entrance into the human race after the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. It was a satanic infiltration to further corrupt the human race. These angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling God has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day (Jude 1:6).
After the flood men began to populate the earth and these giants resurfaced. While the Nephilim perished somehow they started to appear once again as nations were formed. Goliath was most likely one of these offspring born after the flood and one who was demonic in nature. While the LORD destroyed the human race and spared Noah and the other seven members of his family, Satan was still at work with his principalities to further corrupt the human race.
While those beings that cohabited with women were removed from human contact and chained in Tartarus, Satan had his principalities and demons still on the loose in the atmosphere just above the earth’s surface to manipulate and infiltrate the lives of sinful men and women who did not know the LORD (Job 1:6-7; 2:1-2).
Now Goliath was dressed in Bronze armour and it is interesting to note that he wore a coat of scale armour which would have resembled the scales of a sea creature called Leviathan in scripture that apparently existed in the time of Job, a creature that is used in scripture to describe Satan. The description of this creature seems to indicate it was actually a fire breathing dragon with virtually impenetrable scales (Job 41:15-34). In scripture Satan is called an enormous red dragon and also called the serpent. These titles are used as a metaphor for Satan’s nature not for a literal dragon or serpent as such.
Also we find other references in scripture describing God crushing the head of Leviathan pointing to the seed of the woman the Messiah crushing the head of Satan and his seed being the Antichrist (Genesis 3:14-15). See also (Psalm 74:14) (Isaiah 27:1). Let’s continue…
(Vss.8-11) Goliath challenged the Israelites to send out a man who was able to kill him and of course it was a challenge to King Saul to meet him in battle. Saul and the Israelites were terrified. Saul had been the people’s choice and not God’s choice, consequently when the real test came with Goliath King Saul could not defend his people because he had been rejected by God for failing to eradicate the Amalekites. Saul had come under the power of the occult (1 Samuel 15:17-26). The battle facing the Israelites could only be won if the LORD intervened.
Even though this was the situation facing the Israelites the LORD had His man to lead His people Israel to victory over this implacable enemy giant and those who followed him. David was a teenager but capable of taking down Goliath and the one chosen to be Israel’s proper king in the future (1 Samuel 15:27-28). Let’s continue…
(Vss.12-23) David was shepherding the sheep while three of his eight brothers had gone to join Saul and the army of Israel. David was the youngest. He went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
For 40 days Goliath consistently appeared before Israel and took his stand, a sight that sent a ripple of fear and apprehension through the ranks of Israel. Now David had been taking supplies to his brothers on the front line and this time his father gave David food and supplies for his brothers to be given to the commander of their unit. Jesse wanted to keep tabs on what was happening.
When David reached the encampment the Israelite army was marching out to take up their battle positions, shouting their war cry if somehow this might discourage the Philistine army confronting them.
After David had arrived at the camp he went out to see his brothers in the battle line. As he was talking with them Goliath stepped out from the ranks of the Philistines and shouted his usual defiance which David heard as well and saw the Israelites running away in fear. David was different in that He knew from practical firsthand experience as a shepherd watching over the welfare of his sheep, that the LORD would handle this giant. Let’s continue…
(Vss. 25-31) David overheard the soldiers mentioning the reward Saul was offering to the man who could take out Goliath. When David heard them talking among them he said what would be done for the man who removes this disgrace from Israel? He also called Goliath an uncircumcised Philistine because David knew he had a covenant with God which Goliath didn’t.
David also added “who was this uncircumcised man who dared to defy the armies of the living God?” David knew that the blood covenant made with Abraham ratified through Moses and effective for Israel’s salvation and protection from their enemies that he, even though a teenager would be assured of victory because he knew that the God of Israel could handle any situation.
David’s oldest brother Eliab was jealous of David and furious with him when he heard what he had said. Eliab was obviously trained as a fighter as were his two brothers Abinadab and Shammah and when their little brother David said what he did they had a knee-jerk reaction accusing him of being only a somewhat rather cocky spectator!
David replied “Now what have I done, Can’t I even speak?” Clearly he was used to being picked on by his older brothers. Most probably they thought it rash and presumptuous that David could say what he did with such assurance when they were too scared to say anything like what their kid brother was saying. The report of what David had said reached the hearing of King Saul who sent for him.
(Vss.32-39) David boldly said to the king that he and the army should not lose heart and that he would go out to fight this giant who dared to defy God. Saul remarked that David was only a boy whereas Goliath was a warrior trained from his youth. This did not deter David at all.
He knew from experience that God would fight with him against all odds. He related to King Saul how as a shepherd when a lion or a bear carried off a sheep from the flock that he went after it and killed the lion and the bear rescuing the sheep from their clutches.
He then called Goliath an uncircumcised man and that he would experience the same fate as the bear and the lion, why, because in his pride and arrogance this man had defied the armies of the Living God. David was sure that the God who had delivered him from the bear and the lion would also deliver him from the hand of this giant that did not have a blood covenant with God.
Saul then dressed David in his own armour and David strapped on Saul’s sword but it was all too heavy for him. This battle would not be won by human strength or prowess but by the God of the armies of Israel. He would fight for David as He had done when this shepherd boy had taken out the bear and the lion by the power of God.
God had been training David for this moment in the open field out of the sight of others. It would be the turning point that would change the direction for his life and ministry as Israel’s future king, being God’s choice and not the people’s choice in order to deliver His people from their implacable enemies.
(Vs.40) David took his staff in his hands which he could use as a rod to correct wandering sheep but also as a weapon. He also took five smooth stones as we know that Goliath had four other brothers (2 Samuel 21:15-22). David had his sling, a weapon that was deadly in the hands of a skilled user which David undoubtedly was.
Also it has been implied that the five stones represented the Torah, the first five books of Moses in the Tanakh (the Old Testament scriptures). David was nor relying on his own strength but on God’s supernatural power and His unchanging Word to bring deliverance for him and for the people of Israel. With his sling in hand David approached the Philistine.
(Vss. 41-47) The Philistine kept coming closer to David. When he saw David He despised him and cursed David by the gods of the Philistines and further adding that as the Philistine champion he would give David’s flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.
David replied that even though Goliath was coming against him with sword, spear and javelin that he would come against this braggart in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel whom this upstart had dared to defy!
David now filled with the Spirit of God, having on the inside of him the spirit of faith from God, now reversed the words of this giant and said that the LORD would hand him over to David who would kill him and cut off his head and give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and that the whole world as David perceived it, to know that there was a God in Israel and that the Israelites would realise this.
Above all David said that all those gathered there would know that it is not by sword or spear (human weapons and the strength and willpower of man) that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and that He would give all of the Philistines into the hands of Israel. Let’s now see what David did.
(Vss. 48-55) As the Philistine moved closer to where David stood, David ran towards him by the power of the Holy Spirit. He took a stone out of his pouch, put it into his sling and hurled it at the Philistine striking him in the forehead and it sank into his forehead causing him to fall to the ground obviously stunned.
David then took Goliath’s sword and cut off his head. After this the people of God the Israelites surged forward and killed the Philistines as they fled the field of battle in abject fear at the victory that David had won for his fellow Israelites. His victory was their victory! After killing their enemies the Israelites plundered their camp. David then brought the head of Goliath to Jerusalem. David also put in his tent Goliath’s sword.
2. The Messiah Defeats Satan
In the New Testament we are told that the Messiah our Lord Jesus by His atoning and redeeming blood shed on the cross destroyed forever the power of Satan to deliver all who repent and believe in the Lord Jesus for salvation from Satan’s clutches, from the power of sin, from guilt and condemnation and from an eternity of conscious torment in the lake of fire.
As Rabbi the apostle Paul writes; “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them through the cross” (Colossians 2:13-16).
We see this exemplified in what David did with Goliath. David represented the Lord Jesus and Goliath Satan, and when David struck Goliath in the forehead it teaches us what the Lord Jesus did at the cross. He crushed the head of the serpent as foretold in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 3:14-15).
Just as David brought victory to the people of God and enabled them to defeat their enemies arrayed against them, so by the atoning and redeeming work the Messiah our Lord Jesus accomplished at the cross and attested to by His resurrection, has purchased for us through His shed blood an eternal redemption and the power to defeat all that Satan and his cohorts from hell throw at us.
As the author of Hebrews writes; “Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15). As the apostle John also writes; “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8b).
So Goliath represents Satan and the Philistines his cohorts from Hades and all in the world who are hostile to God and to His people Israel and hostile to their spiritual offspring the Body of Messiah. David represents the Messiah our Lord Jesus delivering the death blow to the head of Satan and crushing it just as David’s stone sank into Satan’s forehead that also resulted in his decapitation.
The Israelites represent all the redeemed saints of God through the ages even to the present day who have been delivered from the fear of death, from the power of Satan and sin, and who participate in the victory that the Messiah has provide for them through the cross by the power of His redeeming blood and His resurrection (Luke 1:67-75) (Galatians 3:13-14) (Ephesians 1:7) (Romans 1:1-4) (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
Just as the Holy Spirit raised the Lord Jesus from the dead so the same Holy Spirit Himself will also give life to our mortal bodies by raising us also from the dead when He returns. David’s victory was Israel’s victory! The Messiah’s victory is our victory as blood redeemed New Covenant believers (Romans 8:11).
3. The Messiah Defeats the Antichrist
The account of David defeating Goliath also has an end-time prophetic application. A time is coming, when, like the Israelites in David’s time, the people of Israel will be fearful of what is coming upon them. It will be a dire and deadly situation which the people of Israel will not be able to handle or escape from (Jeremiah 30:1-7a) (Matthew 24:15ff).
They will be facing a “giant” being “the seed” of Satan, namely the Antichrist also called the man of lawlessness accompanied by the armies of his beast empire when Israel is invaded. What happens to the people of Israel in the last days will be the same that happened to the Israelites when faced with Goliath and his armies, a situation that was not able to be rectified by human power or weaponry.
Goliath with his coat of scale armour prefigures the Antichrist, a man of war and conquest who will invade the Holy Land, sack Jerusalem, and oppose and exult himself over everything that is called God and worshipped and set himself up in God’s Temple proclaiming himself to be God (Daniel 11:36-45) (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
He, like Goliath, will be a boastful man and defy the Living God (Daniel 7:8). He will speak abusively against God and those who belong to Him and persecute the saints (Revelation 13:5-8) (Daniel 7:21, 25). His power will be of satanic origin and no man will be able to stand against him. This was the situation the Israelites faced with Goliath.
It is interesting to note that all of the kings of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon in scripture are all major types of the Antichrist. They were all Gentile kings, they were all into the occult, they were all deified in some way, and they were all Middle-Eastern dictators.
The Antichrist will not be Jewish; neither will he be a western ruler. His empire will be vast encompassing the whole of the Middle-Eastern region with tentacles into Europe and other western democracies. The end-time beast empire on the rise today is Islam.
When it looks like Israel is finished and when the Body of Messiah suffering brutal persecution, and when the whole world in chaos and disarray, and when it looks like Satan is winning the war, the thrones in heaven will be set in place and the Ancient of Days will take His seat and judgement passed on the Antichrist and his beast empire on behalf of the saints. After this the saints will inherit the Messianic kingdom in the age to come (Daniel 7:9-14, 18, 22, 26-27).
The Antichrist will also receive a death wound in his forehead; Once again the head of the serpent will be crushed because Satan himself will be living in the Antichrist. At His Second Coming the Word Himself our Lord Jesus at His command will see the demise of this man of sin we see exemplified in the character of Goliath (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9; 2:8).
The last battle will be fought over the city of Jerusalem and we are told that Judah will also fight at Jerusalem under their Commander in Chief the Messiah our Lord Jesus (Zechariah 14:14). Just as the Israelites gained the victory due to David’s victory so the saints of the most high will gain the victory over Satan and his forces due to the Messiah crushing the serpents head!
Goliath boasted that he would feed the flesh of David to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field but instead it would be his carcass, not David’s that would lie on the field without its head. Indeed the birds would have fed on Goliath without his head of course and the dead bodies of the Philistines and enjoyed the meal.
This mirrors what will happen to the Antichrist and the armies that follow him. They will fall on the mountains of Israel and the birds of the air and all of the wild animals will have a banquet as they feed on the carcasses of the slain (Ezekiel 39:17-20) (Revelation 19:17-18).
The arrogant boasting of the Antichrist the same as Goliath arrogantly boasted will come back upon the Antichrist’s own head and the armies that have followed him. While their bodies are fed to the birds and the beasts their souls will go down into the pit of Hell in wholesale lots and the nations specifically named that go there are all Islamic nations today (Ezekiel18-32).
The Antichrist, his beast empire and the false prophet will also go into that fiery lake of burning sulphur (Revelation 19:19-21). In fact all who have worshipped the system of the beast empire and taken the mark of the empire and worshipped its overlord the man of lawlessness, also called the Antichrist in scripture will also go into the lake of fire to be tormented forever and ever (Revelation 14:8-11).
4. We Defeat Satan
All of us who belong to the Messiah our Lord Jesus will face our Goliaths in life. Whether it is the area of finances, relationships, anxiety, marriage, business endeavours or the workplace, whether it is through persecution and rejection because of our testimony to the Lord Jesus, and even within apostate Christendom from false brothers and sisters, we will encounter our personal Goliaths of one sort or another.
Goliath was an overwhelming force that no man could overcome or any weapons subdue humanly speaking. He was a blasphemer and one whose very presence spread panic, fear and a sense of defeat among the people of God.
Goliath was also a boaster and an accuser of the brethren and like Goliath Satan will be accusing us before God day and night (Revelation 12:10). Satan is always seeking ways to derail us spiritually and derail us emotionally, mentally and even physically bringing with these things a sense of spiritual heaviness through manifold temptations, trials and tests (1 Peter 1:6).
His twisted and perverted passion is to see us turn away from our faith in the providence and provision of God for our lives. We are at war with Satan yet the weapons we have been given to fight with are not physical weapons but spiritual weapons that can demolish spiritual strongholds in our lives and in the lives of others (2 Corinthians 10:4).
David’s five stones represent the Word of God which he used against Goliath. He spoke of the covenant he had with God and it was a covenant of blood and David knew that this covenant guaranteed victory over his enemies including Goliath.
Because of the blood covenant cut with Abraham and ratified by Moses and recorded in Torah David knew that if he stood by faith on what God had promised and sealed in sacrificial blood that he would overcome anyone and anything and everything that came against him and exulted itself above the true knowledge of God.
He released the power of God’s promises with the words of his mouth and acted upon it by faith as he ran towards Goliath and not away from him. When David used his slingshot he put his faith into action based on God’s covenant promises and brought down Goliath.
Fear and anxiety is one of Satan’s weapons to derail our faith. However like David we have a new covenant with God in the blood of the Messiah, an everlasting covenant that cannot be annulled.
When the Antichrist comes and roars like a ferocious lion seeking to devour us we can resist him by the power of the blood of Messiah and by standing resolutely in our faith (1 Peter 5:7-9). It is only by the Messiah’s blood, by trusting in and confessing the Word of God and by the Spirit of God, and through praying continuously in the Holy Spirit that we can overcome everything Satan throws at us (Jude 1:20-21).
Our trials and afflictions are preparing us for this time to come when Satan will raise up his “Goliath” to persecute the saints of the Most High God. This is why every day we need to put on the whole spiritual armour of God He has provided for us to fight the “Goliath’s” that will attack us (Ephesians 6:10-18).
As the Body of Messiah we, along with Israel, will face the Antichrist and his beast empire. In that day the only ones that will stand alongside the Jewish people will be the blood redeemed saints of God who believe in the spiritual and ultimate restoration of Israel.
We cannot see how we will stand in that day so brutal will the battle be. However, in that day we will know the Spirit and glory of God resting mightily upon us (1 Peter 4:12-14). We will go into the time of Great Tribulation but be saved out of it to be with the Lord Jesus and the hosts of heaven before the wrath of God falls (Revelation 7:14-17). While we are destined for tribulation we are not destined for wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 5:9).
For further reading see “Destined for Tribulation but not for wrath”
The apostle John in Revelation speaks about those who overcome Satan and his “Goliath” the Antichrist we must all face in this life if we are still here when this man of sin is revealed. Multitudes of our faithful brothers and sisters in Messiah are facing brutality off the scale right now. They are already in tribulation. What worse can the Antichrist and his beast empire do that is not being done to the saints already? It can only spread in intensity and frequency.
In closing how will we be able to overcome when we face the “Goliath” being the Antichrist and his beast system of government after Satan has been hurled down to earth? Well the apostle John writes; “They overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Revelation 12:11).
When we testify to what the Word of God says the blood of Messiah does for us with a God given desire to not love our lives even if it means martyrdom, then by the power and grace that God supplies which is endless, and by the power of the Messiah’s indestructible life, we will be gloriously victorious!
In His first coming the Messiah crushed the head of Satan. In His second Coming He will crush the head of the Antichrist, the “Leviathan” being the serpent seed of Satan, and deliver us as redeemed saints, bringing us salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath He swore to our father Abraham; to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days”(Luke 1: 68-75). Selah!
