Although David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), he did make mistakes. The one that usually comes to our mind first was his sin with Bathsheba. But he later committed an offense so severe that the Lord sent a pestilence which killed 70,000 people (2 Samuel 24:15). What was his sin? He took a census of the people.
Satan was the one who influenced David to do this (1 Chronicles 21:1). But what was it about numbering the people that was so wrong. Why was it that David’s counting of the people constituted a victory for Satan?
It is certainly not wrong for us to participate in a census and be counted by the civil authorities. When Jesus was born, His earthly father Joseph was following the decree from Caesar Augustus in returning to his home city to be registered (Luke 2:1-4). This was what brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem where it was prophesied that the Christ would be born (Micah 5:2). If the civil authorities today call for a census to be taken, it is our responsibility to comply (1 Peter 2:13).
However, the situation with David in Israel was different. When the Roman government called for a census, Joseph willingly complied. When our country conducts one, Christians can be counted. But when David numbered the people, he “sinned greatly” (2 Samuel 24:10).
The difference has to do with the way God dealt with the nation of Israel. Joab, the commander of the army, acknowledged that God was in control: “Now may the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” (2 Samuel 24:3). Whether or not the Lord would literally add “a hundred times as many” soldiers to fight for Israel makes no difference. God was with them. As long as He was with them, the size of their army would not matter.
Moses encouraged the children of Israel on this point – with God, they would be victorious: “The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways” (Deuteronomy 28:7). Later, Joshua told the people, “One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you” (Joshua 23:7).
David should have understood this. He knew that having the Lord on his side was all that was necessary. As a youth, he boldly affirmed that he would defeat the giant by the power of God (1 Samuel 17:37). Just before the census, we read of certain men in his army who stood alone and defeated armies – Josheb-basshebeth killed eight hundred at one time, Eleazar defeated the army of the Philistines by himself, Shammah successfully defended a plot of ground against a troop of Philistines, and Abishai killed three hundred. With these types of victories, it was clear that God was with David and his army. It did not matter if they were outnumbered – with God, they would be successful.
God made this point very clear with Gideon while he was judge over Israel. When they gathered to fight against Midian, the Lord said, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me’” (Judges 7:2). So the size of Gideon’s army was reduced from 32,000 to 10,000 and then to just three hundred (Judges 7:3-7). With only three hundred men, the Lord helped Israel defeat Midian.
God’s point was simple – we must not think that our success in accomplishing His work has anything to do with our numbers. We run into a problem when we focus on numbers rather than the work – doing what we are capable of doing with complete faith and trust in God.
There is a temptation today to focus on numbers. Many in the denominational world do this. They think success, or lack of success, is determined by how large our congregation is or how many people we are converting. Naturally, we want to see people obey the gospel and become Christians. The more people who are faithfully serving God, the better. But we must be careful not to focus too much on the numbers.
Paul had an interesting way of expressing this point in his letter to the church in Corinth: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void” (1 Corinthians 1:17). Was Paul saying that baptism is not important? Of course not! Baptism is essential for salvation (1 Peter 3:21), but Paul’s mission was not simply to baptize as many people as he could. Otherwise, he could use any means to bring about that end. Instead, his mission was simply to preach the gospel.
If anyone is going to be saved, it will come through their response to the gospel. Later Paul told these brethren, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6). We need to focus on doing our part (teaching, example, etc.), and let God, through His word, take care of the rest. This was what Paul meant when he said that he was not sent “to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”
What if people are not being converted? It may not be what we prefer, but it is what we will have to deal with from time to time (or perhaps most of the time). We cannot change or compromise the message in order to boost our numbers. Those who teach a “different gospel” stand to be “accursed” (Galatians 1:6-9). But we also should not stop preaching it altogether. The word must be preached “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2). As long as we are doing our part, we are providing the opportunity for others to hear the saving gospel of Christ. We must focus on our work and let the numbers be what they will be.
