And like I said, I believe this
story is just absolutely remarkable. I had never really thought about
it before. I've never heard anybody preach on it before, and I don't
know how we've missed this, or at least I have. Maybe you've
seen it and seen the glory of it. But Jonathan takes on, by
himself, with his army there, being impressed by the Lord to
do this, this entire army. Now Saul and 600 Israelites were
sitting under a tree, not knowing what to do. The rest of the people
had deserted, and they were hiding in dens and caves and so on,
scared to death. And Jonathan felt like he was
going to go fight these people. And he made this statement in
verse 6. And Jonathan said to the young
man that bears armor, come and let us go over into the garrison
of these uncircumcised. I think it's neat the way he
refers to them in this manner. You see, these people, the Philistines,
had had a lot of experience with Israel, and they knew that Jehovah
was God, and they had had His hand against them before, his
heavy hand. We first read about him in Genesis
chapter 20 when the Lord closed their wounds because that Sarah
had been captured by the king of the Philistines, Himalek I
think was his name. But you go on reading where you
remember just not that long ago we were looking where they had
stolen the ark and the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them
in every city it went to and thousands of people died of the
plague. And they had some kind of fear
of God because of what he'd done. but they wouldn't worship it.
Now, hear Jonathan. Think of this. This man said,
if the Lord's with us, we can win. Just me and you. We can
defeat this entire army. That's amazing, isn't it? Well,
let's go on reading. Verse 7. And his armor-bearer
said unto him, Do all that's in thine heart, turn thee, behold,
I am with thee according to thy heart." I'll follow you, I'll
be right with you the whole way through, this armor-bearer. So
here are these two men, they're ready to go fight this entire
army. Now I want you to think of the
faith that the Lord gave them. And I try to put myself in their
place. Can you imagine being enabled
by God's grace to do that? The way you would take on, I
mean 30,000 chariots is enough, but 6,000 horsemen, people as
the sand is the seashore, innumerable, I mean a huge group of people. They were getting ready, just
the two of them, to go and fight. And I love what Jonathan said,
verse 6 again, Now, he didn't know at this point whether he
would. He said it may be. If it's his intention, he can
say by many or by few, but it may be that the Lord will work
for us. Now, isn't that what salvation
is? The Lord working for us. He stood as a surety for me. He became flesh. for me. He kept the law for me. I love when he said to John the
Baptist, thus it becometh us, me and you, and all of the people
I'm representing, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. When Jesus Christ the Lord kept
the law, I did too. I really did. He works for us. He died for me. Think of that. He put away my sin for me. He was raised for me. Right now he intercedes and represents
me. He intercedes for me as my great
high priest. And he's coming again for me. Isn't that salvation, what he
does for us? Salvation is not what you do
for God. It's what he does for you. And he says, it may be that
the Lord will work for us. Now, we don't know if that's
what his intention is, but if he's pleased to do it, we'll
win easily. Now, let's go on reading. His
armor bearer said, well, do what is in your heart. Verse 8, I
admire this armor bearer, don't you? I'd like to be like him. Find me somebody that has that
kind of faith and I want to get in line behind him and be with
him just like that armor bearer did. What a blessing he is. Then
said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and
we will discover ourselves unto them. And if they say, and here's
the sign he looked for, if they say unto us, Terry, until we
come to you, then we'll stand still in our place and we won't
go up to them. We'll assume that the Lord's
not gonna work for us if they say that. He was looking for
some indication as to what the Lord was gonna do. If they say,
we're coming to you, we'll stay put. But if they say, verse 10,
come up unto us, and for them to get up to them, they're gonna
have to climb a cliff. And these, I mean, this was the
more difficult way. I think that it's interesting
he chose the more difficult way. Here's the sign that the Lord's
in this. If they say, come up to us, then, and we're gonna
read where they had to climb up a big cliff with the people
waiting there. I mean, they could easily knock them down and they
chose, this will be the Lord's word. If they say, come on up
to us, verse 10. But if they say, come up to us,
then we'll go up for the Lord hath delivered them into our
hand. We will know at that point that
the Lord has delivered them. And notice he doesn't say he
will deliver them. He says he's already done it.
We're fighting a battle that we've already won because it'll
be the Lord working for us. It'll be the Lord fighting for
us. But I think it's glorious the
way he chose the most difficult way. If they say come up, we'll
climb up that cliff and we'll go and we'll hack them to pieces
and we'll defeat this army. Let's go on reading verse 11.
And both of them discovered themselves into the garrison of the Philistines.
And the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of
the holes where they've hid themselves. And that's what happened in that
last chapter, if you'll remember. When they saw this big army,
everybody deserted and hid themselves. Some people even joined themselves
up with the Philistines, as we're going to see later on in this
chapter. But they spoke with such disdain of Jonathan and
his armor bearer. The Hebrews have come up out
of their holes. Verse 12, and the men of the
garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, come
up to us and we'll show you a thing. And Jonathan said into his armor
bearer, come up after me for the Lord hath delivered them
into the hand of Israel. The delivery's already been made.
The Lord's already fought this battle and won. We just gotta
go out and go through the motions and take care of it. The Lord
hath delivered them into our hands. And I love thinking of
salvation. This is what gave him this courage.
Because you think, could I have the courage to go before 30,000
chariots, just me and my armor bearer, and go up and fight?
Well, if I believe that the Lord had already given me the victory,
and that there wasn't any, it was already accomplished, I think
I could do it. If the Lord said, they're done, you've already
won. Well, Jonathan had that kind
of confidence. And you know when the Lord said,
it is finished, my victory was already won. Now, verse 13. and Jonathan climbed up upon
his hands and upon his feet. This is talking about them climbing
up this big tall cliff, and his armor bearer after him, and they
fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearer slew after him. They just come up and start hacking.
I mean, these people were waiting for him, and they just come up
supernaturally somehow, and they start hacking, and people start
falling. Verse 14, And after the first slaughter, which Jonathan
and his armor-bearer made, was about twenty men, which is as
it were, and half an acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might
plow. This is how far they went. And
they were just, they killed twenty men, just the two of them. And
look at what happened in verse 15. And there was a trembling
in the host, in the field, and among all the people, the garrison
and the spoilers. They also trembled. Remember
the spoilers from last week? Our great enemies, the world,
the flesh, the devil, the spoilers who came to mar the children
of Israel, all of them began to tremble. They began to be
scared to death because they remembered what Jehovah had done
to them in the past and they were scared to death. They knew
something supernatural was taking place. There was a trembling. Verse 15, and there was a trembling
in the host, in the field, and among all the people, the garrison,
and the spoilers, they also trembled. And look what happened next.
The earth quaked. So it was a very great trembling. And my marginal reading says
a trembling of God. And the watchmen of Saul, and
Gibeon, and Benjamin looked, and behold, the multitude melted
away, and they went on beating down one another." Now at this
time God interposes and causes the Philistines to fight one
another. He'd done that before. You know, the Lord always fought
Israel's battles for them, didn't He? They didn't have to do anything
but watch. They watched the Philistines
taking their swords and hacking each other to death. The Lord
turned on them. You know, when they were asking
for a king, Saul, to go out and fight their battles for them,
they already had the Lord fighting their battles for them. Why would
they have wanted Saul? But they did. It shows us something
of the weakness of our own understanding. But here they go, beating down
one another. Verse 17. Then said Saul unto the people
that were with him, Number now, and see who's gone from us. And
when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor-bearer
were not there." You see, they had left incognito. He knew that
if he told his father that he was going to go and fight the
Philistines, his father would say, No, you can't do that. You
know, here's a thing that's neat to think of. Jonathan came out
of Saul. Saul was no good, you know that. Saul had so many problems,
but look at the heroism of Jonathan. I like seeing that, how the Lord
brought Jonathan out of Saul, and what a special man he was. And then Saul said to the people
that were with him, number now and see who has gone from us.
And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer
were not there. And Saul said unto Hia, bring hither the ark
of God. For the ark of God was at that
time with the children of Israel. And it came to pass while Saul
talked unto the priests that the noise that was in the host
of the Philistines went on increased. And Saul said unto the priests,
withdraw thine hand. And Saul and all the people that were
with him assembled themselves. And they came to the battle.
And behold, every man's sword was against his fellow. And there
was a very great discomfiture. There was a great slaughter going
on. All of the Philistines were slaughtering
themselves because God was going to make sure that he won the
battle. Now, look in verse 21. I think
this is very interesting. Moreover, the Hebrews that were
with the Philistines, now somehow these unfaithful Hebrews had
joined up with the Philistines. How many times, I wonder, have
you and I joined up with the world in unfaithfulness? Now that's what had happened
with these people. They were a weak bunch of people and they
had actually joined up with the Philistines. Moreover, the Hebrews
that were with the Philistines before that time, which went
up with them into the camp from the country around about, even
they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul
and Jonathan. All of a sudden they saw, we're
getting a victory here. And Saul didn't have anything
to do with them, but all of a sudden they joined up to the Israelites.
We can't in any way justify what they did in leaving the Hebrews
and joining up with the Philistines. But now when they see, when God
gives them grace to see that He's winning this victory, they
see the only thing for them to do is join up with the Israelites. Verse 22, "...Likewise all the
men of Israel which had hidden themselves in Mount Ephraim,
when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed
hard after them in the battle." All of a sudden everybody got
courageous. I like that. I like that. I mean these people
who were Cowards, scared to death. And who wouldn't have been scared
to death if you saw that many Philistines come? The people
who had really shown very little character joining up with the
Philistines because they thought, I'm going to try to save my skin.
I'm going to try to make things easier for myself. They all joined
in with Jonathan and they came down upon the Philistines. And
look what verse 23 says. Verse 22, Likewise, all the men
which of Israel which hid themselves in Mount Ephraim, when they heard
that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after
them in the battle. So the Lord saved Israel that
day. Salvation's of the Lord. Yes,
Jonathan was used in a mighty way. And we admire him. And we'd like to be like him,
wouldn't you? I'd like to be that one who believes God so
much that he acts on what he believes. He believed God, and
God used him in a mighty way to destroy this vast army. But who was it that won the victory? It was the Lord who saved Israel. that day. Now in this, and we're
going to get more into this next week, in this we do see Jonathan
as a great type of Christ. By the way, all of Israel was
saved by the actions of this one man. Isn't that salvation? All of God's people are saved
by the doing and the dying and the raising from the dead of
the Lord Jesus. He is our Savior and our salvation
is by one man. He did it. We didn't do it. He
did it. Jonathan was given this faith. If we have faith, it's
because it's given to us. It's the gift of God. But salvation,
I love the, you know when Jonathan, notice what Jonathan said. Well,
I can't remember what verse it's in. The Lord hath delivered them
into Israel's hands. He was acting in behalf of Israel.
He wasn't just doing this for his own glory. He was acting
in behalf of Israel. He said, let me see if I can
find it. Okay, look in verse 12. For the Lord hath delivered them
into the hand of Israel. He didn't say the Lord hath delivered
them into my hand. He said the Lord hath delivered
them into the hand of Israel. He was working for all of Israel. Jonathan is a beautiful type
of Christ in that the Lord was doing what he was doing for all
of God's people. And he won. Salvation is of the
Lord. Now let me show you how much.
or may God show us how much salvation is of the Lord. First, salvation
is of the Lord in its planning. He purposed. I don't even know
if that's a good word, plan. I think a better word is purpose.
Plans can kind of get messed up. I mean, you make plans and
they go awry. But salvation is of the Lord.
He purposed salvation. And when he purposed it, it became
past tense before it took place. Isn't that glorious the way the
Lord is? He works outside of time. He purposed salvation.
I purposed it. I also will do it. I will bring
it to pass. Salvation is of the Lord in its
execution. He purposed salvation. He purposed
who he would save. And he is the one who actually
saved. Hebrews 1.3 says he by himself
purged our sins. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on
high. Why did he sit down? Because there's nothing left
to do. Sin was purged. Salvation was accomplished. Salvation is of the Lord in its
application. of his own will begat he us through
the word of truth." Now, he died for me. He worked out my righteousness,
and he is the one who applies his salvation to me. He doesn't
offer it to me. He begets me. He gives me life. He causes me
to believe. Salvation is of the Lord in its
application. He applies it to us. Salvation is of the Lord
in its maintenance. were kept by the power of God
through faith into salvation. Now unto him that's able to keep
you from falling. You know, we talk about high
maintenance people. I'm looking at a lot of high
maintenance people beginning right here. I need a lot of maintenance,
don't you? And what tender mercy he bestows
in keeping and preserving his people. Salvation is certainly
of the Lord in its final glory. Who gets all the glory in salvation?
I love thinking about this because I can say this from the depths
of my heart. I know this, that when I stand in glory, I will
be the biggest example of just how much salvation is by grace. I know I get some arguments.
There's some other people saying, no, I'll be the biggest example.
I realize that. We all feel that way. But what
a victory was wrought for Israel by this man. And what a victory
is wrought for all of God's people by this one man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I want to be How much vanity is in my thinking? I don't know. Probably a whole
lot more than I realize. But I want to be that man like
Jonathan, who acts on what he says he believes. May God give
us all the grace to be just that. And we're going to continue looking
at next week. And Saul makes this ridiculous
command And because Jonathan unknowingly breaks it, and he's
going to put Jonathan to death even after all this. That shows
what he's made of. And then the people say, no,
you can't do that. But what a beautiful gospel type
we have in this passage of Scripture. Okay.