“Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your word. I have not departed from Your judgments, for You Yourself have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter then honey to my mouth! Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” Psalm 119:97-104.

When the above passage refers to Law, Your words, Your commandments, they are Old Testament references.

The Christian is not under law they are under grace. Nevertheless all God’s word is profitable for study; especially the New Testament where we receive a new commandment from Jesus’ own lips.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35.

“And now I plead with you, lady [the church in her home], not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.” 2 John 1:5.

The other great commandment is given by Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40, to, “…love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

One of the most striking things about the study of the Bible is that there is always a new thing that comes into view.

The reason for this is that the Holy Spirit draws these things to our attention, in fact, the Scripture says of itself:

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.

Quite often, these revelations will come in the form of a single word or phrase, and as you consider them, a tremendous light will fill your soul. Let me illustrate with these verses from Colossians.

“…giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:12-14.

Notice the last half of verse 13, “And translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Just think, we are translated or transferred if you will.

Those who have accepted Christ have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Like a chess piece that is moved from one place to another, the piece does not move itself; it is moved by the master.

Once, for all eternity, by our acceptance of Christ as our Savior we are moved from darkness to light.

But, what is the kingdom? While there are different ways of viewing this term, we will confine ourselves to one aspect of the word. The Lord Jesus tells us to pray, “Thy kingdom come”.

And we are called, “Fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”. It also says in Ephesians that we are seated in the Heavenlies. We are now citizens in a very real kingdom, which will be, but has not yet been set up on earth. Nevertheless, we are subject to the Christ of the kingdom of Light.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2: 4-7.

There is an excellent illustration as to how this works in First Samuel 21.

“Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, ‘Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances saying:’ “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands”?’ Now David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them, feigned madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, ‘Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen, that you brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?’” 1 Samuel 21:10-15.

If you read Chapters 20 through 22, you will have a good idea what is happening. However, the scenario goes like this. David is fleeing from King Saul and has just visited the Priest, Ahimelech, and having lied to him, he received food and the sword of Goliath, the nine foot nine inch tall giant that David had slain. The priest kept this sword wrapped in a cloth. David took it for he said, “There is none like it.” So David strapped on the sword of Goliath and wore it into the very country of this slain giant! Verses 10 to 15 above show us the end results of his foolish decision.

This story of David has been told time and again over the centuries with various interpretations of it, more than anything though, this was a truly humiliating experience and I do not believe he ever forgot the lessons of it. This incident and many other times in battle and in his flight from King Saul must have crossed David’s mind when he penned these words in Psalm 37.

“But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him.” Psalm 37:39-40.

Caution is something that we all need to exercise when it comes to overestimating our abilities or underestimating our enemies, which could put us in a similar situation, resulting in our being humbled in this manner. The best advice for us all is to:

“…humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7.

After all, we serve a gentle Shepherd.

After reciting the failures of the children of Israel in the wilderness, the apostle Paul gives us this instruction.

“Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:11-12.

Put simply, we can learn from other people’s mistakes.

So, here we have a great man who fled from his own country into a foreign land. This should bring to mind another man who left his own country to enter a foreign land, the Lord Jesus Christ. Immediately you see the contrasts between these two men. While technically both men are kings, look how they are being treated.

David is very near certain death or imprisonment, as for the other Man.

“He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Isaiah 53:3.

David is under condemnation because he went into another kingdom and tried to play according to their rules, having forgotten that God is his King and protector and sought out another king to keep him safe. This inferior king is only concerned with his own and what he can get from David.

“No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in his mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You.” Psalm 33:16-22.

God indeed is intent that His will be done; nonetheless, He loves and tenderly cares for each one of His sheep. God alone is infinitely wise, infinitely loving, and infinitely, incredibly powerful. He will never die, never forget, and never change His mind. Which king would you choose as protector?

Jesus came forth from the very seat of power in the heavenly kingdom and came to earth in the form of a man by the will of God. Though He was born a king, He did not assert His authority but humbly took the part of a servant. And he lived a perfect, sinless life in the will of the Father. He was completely dependent on God the Father and could say:

“And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” John 8:29.

“Of course He did,” you might say, “after all He’s God!”

While it is true that Christ is God the Son, you cannot sidestep like this and say He is God.

You see He was totally dependent on God as a man. If you say, “He is God,” then you justify yourself and say, “I can’t live as he did because I am not God, so why try?”

Since He has transferred those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior into the Kingdom of His dear Son, will He not also equip them to live as a citizen of His kingdom?

Jesus never forgot which kingdom He was from. Moreover, if you read the Psalms, you will see that David became ever more dependent on and close to the true King.

Of what Kingdom are you? Do you serve the world’s government or the Kingdom of God?

All too many Christians either try to serve both Kingdoms or are actually unaware that there are two separate Kingdoms as David’s story so clearly indicates.

The result is that Christian’s lives are so muddied up that when they testify of Christ, the world looks at them and sees only a babbling madman with spit running down his chin, as he scratches, Jesus loves you on the gates.

As if that were not enough. They look at you and see you are wearing Goliath’s sword. The sword gives us two pictures really. When wrapped in a cloth and in possession of the priest, it indicates how strongly God supports those who go forth in His name, no matter how formidable the adversary.

When David strapped it on though its meaning became much more sinister, David was now using the world’s methods to attain his goals.

Goliath represents the best of what the world has. His tremendous height, fearsome strength, how majestic he must have looked in their best armor, his sword, a spear, a javelin, and a shield.

So fearful was the sight that no one was found in forty days to face him, see 1Samuel 17:1-51 and verse 16 in particular.

Do not let it all dazzle you as the world does, for God sent a young shepherd with a sling to destroy it. If your witness is to be clear and your life to be pure, you must decide today which kingdom you will serve.

“For you see your calling, brethren, that not may wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things the which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-29.

Goliath’s Sword taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 5-2-12, updated on 3-7-22.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.
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