Finally, David's being established by God was seen in his repeated victories over the Philistines (vv. 17-25). When David inquired of Jehovah, asking whether he should go up against the Philistines, Jehovah said to him, "Go up, for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand" (v. 19). David struck the Philistines and said, "Jehovah has broken forth upon my enemies before me like the breaking forth of a flood" (v. 20b). David continued to do as Jehovah had commanded him and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.
Israel's two most troubling enemies were the Amalekites and the Philistines. Even before Israel entered into the good land, they were frustrated by the Amalekites. In Exodus 17 the children of Israel fought a war against the Amalekites in a particular way under two leaders—Moses and Joshua. In typology these two leaders signify Christ in two aspects. The people of Israel fought against the Amalekites under Joshua, signifying the Spirit within us, and under Moses, signifying the Christ who is in the heavens praying for us. The pneumatic Christ as the life-giving Spirit, as the reality of Christ in resurrection, is living and working within us, and the ascended Christ is interceding for us. The Amalekites signify our flesh, our most bothersome enemy. We should never think that we can overcome the flesh. However, by Christ as the Spirit within and as our Intercessor in the heavens, this enemy can be defeated.
Israel's other enemy was the Philistines, who were very close neighbors of Israel. At times they became somewhat mixed up with Israel. Eventually, David, the one who killed Goliath and defeated the Philistines, became friends with Achish, a king of the Philistines. In typology, the Philistines signify the worldly Christians.
The Philistines were very close to God's people, yet they were worldly and handled the things of God in a worldly way. Consider how they sent back the ark of God. According to God's ordination, the ark should not have been moved by any means other than by living priests, but the Philistines caused it to be carried on a cart. The ark, which represents God Himself, should never have been carried in such a way. To use a cart and two cows in order to send the ark back to Israel was the worldly way. The Philistines knew something about the divine things. They offered a trespass offering to appease God's anger, but they did this in a worldly way. Today, we are troubled mainly by these two things: the flesh within and the worldly Christianity in our environment.
Everything concerning David was arranged under God's sovereign direction to accomplish one thing: the building up of His kingdom in His elect through the proper person. At that time the proper person was David, but today it should be the people in the Lord's recovery. In every age God has a particular thing to accomplish. In this age, the twentieth century, the particular thing that God intends to accomplish is to recover everything that has been lost and is missing in today's worldly Christianity.