The Hope of Postmillennialism: The Growth of the Kingdom

And the defining characteristic that marks Postmillennialism off from every other eschatology is that we believe the Great Commission will be so successful that the gospel will conquer the world.

That the mission of the church will lead to worldwide conversion and the worship of God among all the nations.

In short the Great Commission will be fulfilled.

Well what does that mean? And more importantly, what does God’s Word say about the Mission of the church and the Great Commission’s impact on the world?

Let’s start with just looking at the Great Commission itself. What has Christ called us to do.

And that’s point number 1...

I. The Great Commission is a Command to Make Disciples

Matthew 28:18-20 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Make Disciples

At the very outset, I want to take the time to clearly define what exactly Jesus commanded the church to do in the Great Commission because doing so will help us to know what our marching orders actually are as we take the gospel to the world.

How can we do what Jesus commanded us to do if we don’t know what He actually commanded?

So what is it? what is the Great Commission all about?

If you read this passage carefully, you will notice there is one primary command. One thing Jesus commands us to do. Make Disciples.

And then, that one command, is then defined, explained, and expanded by three key words: Go, Baptizing, and Teaching.

We are commanded to make disciples and the way we make disciples is by going, baptizing, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded.

Here’s why that is so significant. Making disciples actually means something

You see, Jesus’ primary command isn’t just to Go.

We must go. We can’t make disciples if we don’t go. But the purpose of going is not to be obedient to go. Its to be obedient to make disciples.

Now you might say, “Well of course! That’s what Jesus says.”

But here’s the struggle.

Through no fault of your own, I think you’ve been taught to soften Jesus’ command.

We hear make disciples, and we know we don’t have the power to save anyone so we soften this command to basically just mean to bear witness or preach.

But making disciples is so much more than just bearing witness or preaching. If that is what Jesus wanted to say, there are ways to do it.

He could’ve said Go therefore and preach the gospel! Go therefore and bear witness to the gospel!

That is what many Christians believe the primary mission of the church is today.

But that’s not what He said. He took it one step further. He said make disciples.

Turn them into followers of Christ.

That’s what a disciple is. According to Jesus a disciple is someone who has denied themself, taken up their cross, and follows Christ with all of their life.

Someone who has turned from sin to follow and obey Jesus.

Now you might say, But in Acts 1:8, Jesus said You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).

See witnesses!

Bit Jesus was saying witnesses is what we are. Making disciples is still what we do.

That’s the force of that Greek verb in the Great Commission.

There is one other time where that word make disciples is used this way in the New Testament. Its in Acts 14:21.

Acts 14:21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.

From this verse, who would argue that make disciples doesn’t actually mean turning people into followers of Christ.

That is what we are commanded to do.

This particular Greek word Jesus uses for “make disciples” carries with it both the idea of preaching the gospel and someone responding to the gospel with repentance.

Of actually hearing the gospel and turning to Christ.

This is why someone who has been discipled is Baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and taught to follow Jesus with all their life.

This is a subtle shift that makes all the difference in the world for the mission of the church.

Are we commanded to just bear witness to the gospel and to preach the gospel to all the nations?

Or are we commanded make disciples to turn them into followers of Christ?

What are our marching orders?

I think its obvious.

Jesus commands us to “make disciples.”

And He even uses three words to define what that means.

We go.

We baptize meaning we preach the gospel and they turn to Christ and repent of their sin.

And then we teach. We teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded and to follow Christ with all of their life.

The nations are not discipled until we have gone, they are baptized, and taught to follow Christ.

That’s the mission. Christ expects something more than just bearing witness or faithfully preaching the gospel.

He expects to receive the nations as inheritance. Did he not say When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself (John 12:32).

This leads us to another question. Who are we supposed to make disciples? Jesus tells us: All nations.

All Nations

Well what does that mean? Who is Jesus commanding us to turn into followers of Christ?

The word nations is broader than just individuals within nations.

I think sometimes when we hear the Great Commission we assume Jesus is saying make disciples out of all nations.

As in you go into a country, plant a church, and bam that nation’s discipled.

But Jesus doesn’t say make disciples out of all nations. Literally in Greek He says Disciple all the nations.

Turn all the nations into followers of Christ.

So what is a nation?

Matthew actually uses this exact phrase, all the nations, 3 other times in his gospel. And one of them is when Jesus talks about the Final Judgment in Matthew 25:32.

That says Matthew 25:32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

So according to Matthew’s definition, all the nations is another way of saying the whole wide world. All people everywhere.

That’s Jesus’ command. Turn the whole wide world into my disciples.

Puritan theologian Matthew Henry says it this way. Do your utmost to make the nations Christian nations (Gentry, The Greatness of the Great Commission, 54).

Why? Because the nations belong to Him.

Remember, the Great Commission is tied to Psalm 2:7-8: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

God has promised all the nations, not just a representative sampling from all nations, but all the nations in their entirety, to Christ as His inheritance.

So the Great Commission is absolutely huge. Christ has commanded us to turn the whole wide world into His disciples because the whole wide world belongs to Christ as His inheritance.

That’s why He says, Go therefore. You can’t miss this.

The reason Jesus says Go and turn the whole wide world into my disciples is because All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

This is a Kingdom proclamation. The therefore is crucial. Its basically telling us Jesus has all power and authority over all nations as the King of kings and Lord of lords, and the Great Commission is a command to make that power, authority, and law Christ has over all the nations a reality.

Jesus says I have all authority everywhere in heaven and on earth, therefore everywhere must worship me. Everywhere must follow me.

Turn the whole wide world into my disciples.

That seems daunting doesn’t it. Overwhelming. I mean how can we ever do that?

Jesus tells. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Jesus has not left us. He has promised to be with us. To see the Great Commission all the way through.

Will the One who has all power and authority in Heaven and on earth fail to make disciples of all nations? No!

The Great Commission can’t help but succeed.

God has promised the nations to Christ.

And Christ has promised to be with us all the way to the end.

Summary

So let me summarize it for you. When we look at the Great Commission the first thing that we need to see is that Christ commanded us to make disciples.

To preach the gospel and turn people into followers of Christ.

The Great Commission is more than just preaching or bearing witness.

Its not less. We can’t make disciples if we aren’t preaching or bearing witness.

But Christ’s command is clear, we are to go into the whole wide world and turn the whole wide world into followers of Christ.

And that’s because Christ is King. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, and to Him belongs the obedience of the peoples (Gen. 49:10). And as His inheritance, God has promised Him all the nations.

So let me give you a picture of what the Great Commission looks like. Jesus has come and He has conquered sin, Satan, and death.

He rose again and is not reigning on the throne.

As ambassadors of Christ, citizens of Heaven, Christ has sent us into ever town, city, and village to say a new King is in town.

Like Jesus said when He first began His public ministry in Mark 1:15 The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

And Jesus defines making disciples as going, that everywhere we go we preach the Word.

Baptizing: Preaching the good news of the gospel that Christ lived a perfect and sinless life, died on the cross in our place for our sins, and rose again three days later to give us eternal life until we see sinners turn from sin to worship Christ because the gospel really is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).

And finally, Teaching: Teaching them to obey everything Christ commanded so that all the nations will follow and obey Christ with all their life.

The question is: Will we be successful?

And that takes us to point number 2...

II. The Great Commission will be Fulfilled

I want to take a second and define what I mean by successful? What do I mean when I say that the Great Commission will be fulfilled?

Because every Christian believes that. I don’t want you to hear what I’m about to say about Postmillennialism and the other Eschatological views and think I’m saying that other Christians don’t actually believe the Great Commission.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Every Christian believes that God will save His elect. That none of Christ’s sheep will be lost.

So those are not the kind of questions we are asking when we say will the Great Commission be fulfilled?

Every Christian believes that God will accomplish exactly what He intends to in the Great Commission. And under that definition, every Christian believes it will be fulfilled.

What we are asking is will the Great Commission be so successful in the world, and the gospel so victorious, that it will lead to worldwide conversion?

Where a vast majority of the world and all the nations will truly be followers of Christ?

That one day the world will be Christian and all the nations bow down to Christ?

That is what distinguishes Postmillennialism from every other eschatological view.

You see, Premillennialism, Amillennialism, Dispensationalism all believe that the gospel will have some success here or there, to be sure. God will save His people.

But ultimately the church will not succeed in the Great Commission to convert the world to Christ, and ultimately, we should expect sin and evil to increase throughout the entire church age.

Postmillennialism, on the other hand, looks forward to a day when the whole world worships Christ.

We believe that the Church will succeed in carrying out Great Commission and that the gospel’s influence will grow and grow and grow throughout the world until one day the vast majority of men will be saved and all the nations, by our definition from Matthew, the whole wide world, are followers of Christ.

Generally speaking, other eschatologies believe that in the end, only a small remnant that will be saved.

As Postmillennialists though, we believe it will be a great multitude no one could number (Revelation 7:9).

Will we be successful or not?

Now this absolutely flies in the face of the predominate view of our day. Most Christians believe that the world is growing worse and worse.

And the farther things go, the more the gospel will lose influence in the world.

Now that’s not to say Postmillennialists believe the world is becoming more and more Christian like a rocket ship.

There are ebbs and flows. Times of revival and times of apostasy.

But in the end the world will be Christian.

This is why I said, Postmillennialism is an eschatology of hope.

Its not that other Christians don’t have hope. We all have hope. We all believe in Christ and the power of the gospel to save.

What I’m saying is that Postmillennialism is an eschatology of hope that says we might be fighting an uphill battle, I mean you are talking about bringing the dead to life, but we are not fighting a losing battle.

Let me ask it to you this way. Should we be optimistic about the Great Commission or should we be pessimistic?

Now again, I’m not saying other Christians are pessimistic. Like I said, everyone believes God will save His elect.

But should we take up the Great Commission and engage the world with the gospel with any hope or expectation that doing so will build a Christian world.

Or should we believe all of our witness will be faithful, and it will save God’s people, but ultimately sin will dominate the world until Christ returns?

Now this is generally speaking but generally speaking one of these leads us to fight and engage the world with the gospel and the other one tempts us to retreat.

I believe the Bible tells us that we should be optimistic about the Great Commission and our part to play in it.

Because every Christian is carrying out the Great Commission. Eschatology doesn’t determine the mission of the church.

But I believe that hope and optimism that we are not fighting a losing battle to disciple the nations will inspire us and keep us fighting, and keep going, and press that much harder when the battle looms darkest.

Why should we be optimistic about the Great Commission? Why should we expect the gospel, not sin and wickedness to grow and eventually to dominate the world until one day all the nations will worship Christ?

Why We Should Be Optimistic

1. The Great Commission Fulfills God’s Promise to Abraham

Well, first off, its the Great Commission fulfills what God promised Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant.

Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

God promised to bless all the families of the earth through Abraham.

And later on, when God repeated that promise in Genesis 22:18 He said In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

The same exact phrase Jesus used in the Great Commission.

Here’s what that tells us. God promised to bless all the nations through Abraham’s offspring.

Paul tells us in Galatians 3, that offspring was Christ. He is the promised blessing to all nations.

And how God blesses the nations, all the families of the earth in Christ, is through the gospel.

Galatians 3:13-14 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

So one of the main reasons we should have every expectation that the Great Commission will be fulfilled is because God promised to bless all the nations in Christ and that blessing only comes through repentance and faith.

This is a major theme all throughout the Old Testament.

I’m going to barrage you with Scripture so you can feel the full weight of God’s purpose to glorify His name in all the earth.

Psalm 22:27-28 (One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture) All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

Psalm 86:9-10 All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Isaiah 45:22-23 Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.”

We should note this is before the eternal state because there is no turning and being saved in heaven.

Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.

Now if you read this carefully, its obvious that God is talking about worldwide worship and not just a sampling of Christians here and there all throughout history because according to this prophecy there will be a day where God is worshiped in all the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Or last but not least, Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

How do the waters cover the sea? A little puddle here? A small lake there? Or is God promising that just as water covers the surface of the ocean the knowledge of His glory will cover the earth?

And when you remember that one of the promises of the New Covenant alongside God’s promise to forgive all of our sins, was His promise that they will all know me. So Habakkuk is promising that forgiveness and salvation will cover the earth.

Where God sent floods of judgment in the days of Noah, He is sending floods of grace in the days of Christ.

We could go on, but you get the point. What else can these passages mean if not worldwide conversion. If not the success of the Great Commission?

However you interpret these passages, you at least have to say its not just a small remnant God promises to save.

God’s plan is so much bigger than that.

God’s plan from the very beginning has been to bless all the nations in Jesus Christ by saving all the nations through the good news of the gospel.

2. The Great Commission Fulfills Christ’s Promises to the Church

And not only do we have all those promises, but Christ also promised the success of the Great Commission to the church by His own power and authority.

We already saw how Christ finished the Commission Behold I am with you always to the end of the age, as a promise that He Himself will see it through.

He doesn’t just abandon the church in Her mission, He is with us all the days. Literally that’s what it says.

Every single day Christ goes with us to disciple the nations.

But that’s not all. After Peter Proclaimed Jesus is the Christ, Jesus said in Matthew 16:17-18...

Matthew 16:17-18 Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Now when Jesus says the gates of Hell, He’s not exactly talking about Satan’s kingdom. Hell was created for the devil and his angels.

But Hell is the place of judgment and death which through his lies and through his deception, Satan is leading everyone into.

So when Jesus says the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, He is saying that the church is on the attack, going everywhere death and rebellion against God reigns bringing life and forgiveness to the world.

After all, Satan has been bound. He cannot crush the church and keep the gospel from going forth to all nations.

Jesus could not be clearer, the church is marching on to victory in Her mission to bring life, good news, and the gospel to the world dominated by the curse of death.

And if that weren’t enough we have Jesus’ Kingdom Parables in Matthew 13.

These are crucial for understanding the success of the Great Commission. Because both the parable of the mustard seed and the leaven proves Postmillennialism while disproving Premillennialism and Amillennialism.

Matthew 13:31-33 The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.

The Parable of the Mustard seed speaks to the growth of the Kingdom.

Now we know the growth of the Kingdom is tied to the growth of the gospel because Jesus said The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15).

As the gospel grows, so does the Kingdom.

And Jesus says the Kingdom starts small, it starts with handful of disciples 2000 years ago, and it grows to be greater than every other Kingdom.

Larger than all the other garden plants.

Christ’s Kingdom is a tree. Every other kingdom is bushes and shrubs.

This is exactly what Daniel prophesied in Daniel when He said the Kingdom of Christ, a stone not cut with human hands, would strike the kingdoms of men and shatter them to dust.

And then His kingdom would grow to be a great mountain that fills the whole earth.

It could not be clearer, Christ’s Kingdom, and therefore the gospel, will grow to dominate the whole world, and all the birds of the air, representing all the nations, will come to make nests in its branches.

Now this disproves Premillennialism because the Kingdom grows to dominate the world. But according to Premillennialism, the Kingdom of Christ drops on the world like the 101st airborne all at once when Christ returns.

That directly contradicts Jesus’ own teaching.

Postmillennialism on the other hand teaches that the gospel will grow in influence in the world through the Great Commission until the Kingdom of Christ dominates the world just as Jesus said.

Then you have the parable of the Leaven.

He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

If the Mustard seed spoke to the growth of the Kingdom, the leaven speaks to the pervasiveness and impact of the Kingdom in the world.

The world is the flour, the Kingdom is the leaven, and Jesus promises that His Kingdom will make all the flour leavened.

In other words, it will pervade everything. There will be nothing in the world, no aspect of life that will not be touched and affected by the Kingdom of God.

As surely as the gospel transforms individual lives, it will pervade all things and transform the world.

Law, Government, Economics, Technology and Innovation, Family, Art, Education, everything will be affected by the power of the gospel and submit to Christ because it will all be leavened.

Here’s how Zechariah 14:20 prophesied the power of the gospel on the world.

Zechariah 14:20 And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord.” And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar.

This is saying that the Kingdom of God will be so pervasive in the world, that even the smallest, most inconsequential, and trivial details of life like bells on horses and pots in your house will be holy to the Lord.

Consecrated, set apart for His glory.

This is why Amillennialism falls short. The Kingdom is spiritual, but it is not merely spiritual.

The gospel will have a widespread, transformational impact on the world.

If we look at the promises, what should we expect the church to accomplish through the Great Commission by the power of the Holy Spirit?

Worldwide salvation.

That’s not to say every individual person will be saved.

Jesus clearly says that the Wheat and the Tares will grow together until the end of the age in the parable of the weeds.

But we would do well to remember that Jesus says its a wheat field, not a tare field (Matthew 13:24-30).

The seed of the gospel will be planted throughout the whole world by the church, and one day Amos 9 promises “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.”

The gospel will conquer the world!

III. What about the Narrow Gate?

Now this is all sounds amazing. I mean who wouldn’t want the Church to fulfill the Great Commission and the gospel to overtake the world?

We want all people to be saved and we want Christ to be glorified.

But there is a passage that seems to contradict all this. And several of you have come to me and asked how does this fit with Postmillennialism’s hope that through prayer, the preaching of the gospel, and the power of the Holy Spirit, the world will be saved?

So let’s look at it. The wide and Narrow Gate from Matthew 7:13-14.

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

The first thing you need to notice is that this is a command. Jesus says Enter by the narrow gate. In the parallel passage in Luke 13, Jesus says Strive to enter through the narrow door (Luke 13:24).

So Jesus’ point is a command to His hearers to strive to enter salvation. His point is not to predict the total number who will be saved.

And overall, this passage is specifically talking about the few Jews of Jesus’ own day who would believe in Christ.

Which is true. They rejected Him and crucified Him.

But how can I say that from this passage?

For one thing, look at the verbs. The gate leading to destruction is wide, and the way is easy. Those who enter it are many.

The way leading to salvation on the other hand is narrow, and the way is hard. Those who find it are few.

These are all present tense verbs. They are true as Jesus says them. He’s talking to the Jews of His own day.

This is even more clear from the parallel passage in Luke.

Jesus is asked, Lord will those who are saved be few? And instead of answering their question directly, He basically says, “You don’t need to know the number. You need to strive to enter the narrow door (Luke 13:23-24).

Then he says Luke 13:24-29 For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able...In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.

The people coming from east and west and north and south to eat with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God are Gentiles. Are the nations.

Jesus is telling the Jews of His day they will be cast out of the Kingdom and the nations will take their place because they have rejected Him.

Just like the Parable of the Wicked Tenants Jesus said Matthew 21:43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

And I want you to look because Matthew even says this same thing right after he talks about the wide and narrow gate.

Just a few verse later Jesus sees the faith of a Gentile Centurion, and because of his faith, Jesus marveled and said Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith (Matthew 8:10).

And then He immediately says...

Matthew 8:11-12 I tell you, many will come from east and west [that’s Gentiles again] and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom [that’s the Jews] will be thrown into the outer darkness.

The word many is the exact same Greek word Jesus used when He said the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many.

Jesus is not contradicting Himself just a few verses later.

In fact, because the Jews of Jesus’ day rejected Christ, God has opened the way for the Gentiles and these passages actually teach us that we should expect many to be saved. Not few.

After all, doesn’t Revelation 7:9 say After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes.

Those that will be saved is a great multitude that no one can count.

The few who found the narrow gate were the Jews of Jesus’ own day and they were cast out of the Kingdom.

The principle the wide and narrow gate teaches us today is that the only way to enter the Kingdom is to enter through faith in Christ.

Strive to enter the narrow door. And isn’t that what we preach in the Great Commission? Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him.

And through the 3 Ps of the Great Commission: 1. Prayer, 2. Preaching and the 3. Power of the Holy Spirit we know many will come from east and west, north and south and one day a great multitude no one could number from every tribe, tongue, and nation will worship Christ before the throne.

That’s the hope of the Great Commission.

Do we believe?

Conclusion/OT Examples

That’s really the question because last week I talked about how hope is important because it gives us our marching orders.

Knowing where we are going tells us where to take the first step.

And if Christ has commissioned us to turn the nations into His disciples, and promised to see it through to the end, what’s keeping us back?

We said last week that the Mission of the church is like a bike. And on that bike there are two Pedals.

Hope and Marching orders.

Hope that our labor is not in vain, and that one day the gospel really will overwhelm the world.

And Marching orders that tell us to live for Christ with all of our life and live on mission to seek first the Kingdom and make disciples of all nations.

And if we are going to ride that bike, we need 1. Faith and Faithfulness.

Faith to believe the hope, and faithfulness to get to work.

But what holds us back is that its still just so hard to believe. It sure doesn’t look like the gospel is taking over the world.

But I want to leave you with two Old Testament stories that can encourage us to put all of our faith, all of our hope, all of our trust in what God has said more than what our eyes can see.

David and Goliath

First, David and Goliath.

We all know the story.

Goliath was a giant of a man and an enemy of God. He was a Philistine who blasphemed God and the armies of Israel.

And David went out to fight him with nothing more than five smooth stones and a sling.

In the battle Goliath came at David and David slung a stone straight at Goliath’s head.

It sank into his forehead, and Goliath fell down dead.

Now the story of David and Goliath is really the story of the gospel. The story of how Christ defeated Satan.

Goliath, we are told wore scale armor like a snake. Like the Serpent.

And just like David killed Goliath and cut off his head, Jesus, the true Son of David crushed the head of the serpent in his death and resurrection just like God promised Satan he would in Genesis 3.

Just like David was the champion of Israel who saved them from Goliath, Jesus is our champion who saves us from the Devil.

But do you know what happened right after that.

1 Samuel 17:51-52 When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron.

The armies of God gave a mighty shout and chased them all the way out of the Promised Land.

That’s what the church is doing today. We are giving a mighty shout of the gospel and chasing God’s enemies out of the Land.

Did not Jesus say we would inherit the earth?

The Promised Land

And don’t forget that lack of faith kept Israel out of the Promised Land.

When Israel came to the Promised Land, they sent in 12 spies.

When the spies came back, all but two said we are not able to go in and take the land.

They are all like giants, and we are just grasshoppers.

That’s how many in the church see ourselves today. We see all the enemies of God on the move, and even though God has promised the gospel has the power to save, we still feel like grasshoppers and think we’ve already lost.

Like Old Covenant Israel, we can be tempted to doubt God’s promises to conquer the Land, to conquer all the nations with the gospel, and so we don’t.

But what happened? After 40 years in the wilderness, God brought Israel back.

And Joshua, which funnily enough is Jesus’ own name in Hebrew, led the people of Israel to conquer all their enemies and finally take possession of the Promised Land.

But do you know what God said to Joshua right before they went in?

Joshua 1:5-6 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.

And now, Jesus, the greater Joshua who leads us into God’s true rest and Promised Land, tells us, the Church:

No man shall be able to stand before you. The gates of hell will not prevail against you.

Be strong and courages, make disciples of all nations.

I will never leave you or forsake you. Behold I am with you always to the end of the age.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

Serve the Lord with gladness!

Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise!

Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.”

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