In every bible story, in every biblical book there are many aspects to the story that God is telling. In God’s modus operandi of giving us stories and accounts, there are elements of the stories that pastors and leaders can pick up on to illustrate points to our people, with hundreds of nuances and caveats. Take for example the story of David and Goliath. How many sermons get preached on this text, and on what aspects of the story? ‘Being in the right place at the right time’, ‘Not adorning the worlds ways’ (Saul’s armor) ‘overcoming sibling frustrations’, ‘battles in valleys result in victories in nations’, ‘David’s generation: men of courage’ etc. Let’s be honest, this list could reach 25 without any creative thinking! If this text was preached a 1000 times around the world, there were probably 1000 different sermons on it.

However, is there not a greater message in this text? Surely above the little deviations and caveats there is a superior theme, a higher tune? No doubt God wove those caveats into the story for us, but is this the main point of the text?
What is this higher tune, what is the primary meaning? Surely it is the salvation of God for his people which is to the praise of His glory. In the story of David and Goliath we see a story not dissimilar from our own. There is a nation, a people living in fear and trepidation. They are facing defeat resulting in slavery and captivity. Death and destruction await. The taunts of the enemy only heighten their fear. There seems to be no way out.
But hold on, who is this? A young boy arrives, sent from his father to serve his brothers. He willingly offers to go into the valley to take on the giant. He takes his own life in his hands (1 Samuel 19.5) to fight a battle on behalf of his people and brothers. He does not fight with the weapons of his time but in quite remarkable circumstances defeats the giant. Not only that, but the victory he wins in the valley get’s imputed to his people! His victory becomes their victory. Though they did not lift a finger, his victory becomes their victory! When Goliath falls the Philistines tremble and run for their lives. One mans victory imputed to his people.
This is not a full exposition of the text, but can you see how the gospel is woven into every portion of the bible?

I have been really challenged lately about how my job as a servant of God’s people is to show them God’s action in Christ before we show them anything else. When we understand that we are on the receiving end of God’s goodness, we are freed to apply the secondary caveats of the story to our own lives.  We can face the giants in our own lives but only because Jesus has already defeated The Giant.
The bible is full of these situations! Jesus fulfills every part! He is the true and better Isaac who willingly laid down his life, and just as God said to Abraham ‘now I know you love me, because you have not withheld your son, whom you love, from me’, so now we can say to God ‘now we know that you love us, because you have not withheld your son, whom you love, from me’. Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and who’s righteousness is imputed to us! He is the true and better Joseph who though sold into slavery ends up forgiving and saving his brothers, and delivering the nation. This list is endless!
I know that the temptation for myself is to get hung up on the details, to get caught down the rabbit holes of secondary themes in the text and spend my life avoiding the majors. May God continually remind me to take his word, apply it to my own heart, and preach the major themes!