From Vicar Stefanec  (January)

As we soon conclude the Christmas season and enter Epiphany, we should remember that Christ is the King of the world.  However, he is not the kind of king that the world desires or expects.  He is not a king who came in glory.  Instead, he was born in a manger to a poor family.  He did not wage war against the earthly enemies of Israel, but against sin and unbelief.  This is why so many rejected Jesus and continue to reject him.  How could this weak, humble man be the King of the universe?  

 Yet, as we continue considering how Old Testament individuals foreshadow Christ, we will look at King David, and we shall see through the eyes of faith the kind of King Christ is, and the victory he won for us.

After God rejects King Saul for his sin and unrepentance, the prophet Samuel goes to the house of Jesse as the Lord commands him to anoint the new king.  Samuel first sees David’s elder brothers, whose appearances are impressive.  However, God tells Samuel to not look at appearances.  Finally, Jesse sees the youngest son, David, who is “ruddy” in appearance.  The Lord says to anoint him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon David.

 Shortly after he is anointed king (but not yet on the throne), the Philistine, pagan army gathers before Israel.  However, one challenger, a giant named Goliath, comes out from among the Philistines.  He is terrifying in appearance.  He says, “Choose a man for yourselves…If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants,” (1 Sam 17:8-9).  

Seeing Goliath’s appearance, all Israel is greatly afraid.  

The three oldest brothers of David follow Saul into battle, but do not gain victory.  All the men of Israel see Goliath and flee from him.  They are no match. Finally, David comes and goes out to battle against Goliath carrying only five stones and a sling.  Goliath says, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and beasts of the field.”  Yet, David says “I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts…This day the Lord will deliver you to my hand, and I will cut off your head,” (17:41-47).  David kills Goliath with a stone, striking his head.  

 Thus, the battle of Israel is assumed onto the anointed one, who casts off their enemy in their place.  

 So it is also with Christ.  Christ was anointed king of Israel in the Jordan River, and he is declared to be the Son of God.  There, he is anointed to carry out the task of delivering his people from their sins, defeating Satan.

 After his anointing, Christ likewise goes out to battle. He does not battle a man or even a great giant; he battles Satan in the wilderness, while hungry, tired, and thirsty.  His weapon is not a sword or even a sling; his weapon is simply the word of God, the rod from his mouth of which Isaiah spoke.  There, he also assumes the struggle of his people onto himself as Israel reduced to one, and he defeats their true enemy by defeating sin.  While Satan desires to give Christ’s flesh over to the birds of the air and beasts of the field on the cross, it is in His very death that Christ wins the final, decisive victory over Satan.  It is there that he accomplishes what none of his elder brothers could accomplish, crushing the head of the mighty Serpent and decapitating him.  It is in his death that he is shown to be king, and it is through death that he grants life to all.

 For prayer: Heavenly Father, your Son delivered his people from the affliction of Satan through his incarnation, death, and resurrection.  Please grant that we would always look to him as our true king and source of salvation, and that worldly wisdom and unbelief would not cause us to scorn the humiliation that he endured on our behalf.  Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.