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 David
Salutations and Elucidations to you! See! Got it right, this time.
How’re you doin’ this mornin,’ Folks? Got a good rest last night, I hope?
I’m into my third cup of good strong Columbian coffee this mornin’ already. Fixin’ to get my fourth before too long.
You tea-totalers can get your cup while the rest of us coffee drinkers wait.
Right.
In the years that followed Moses and his Tabernacle, a few people -- a very few -- saw the three-dimensional picture. They saw into the heart's desire of the Lord, and they responded to Him.
Nearly five centuries elapsed. Because Israel ignored the picture, or refused to see beyond the commandments to a personal love-relationship with the Lord, they fell into even greater captivity, being continually subject to the same old serpent, Satan.
Israel was divided and conquered by foreigners. The Philistines raided them repeatedly, destroyed the Tabernacle of Moses, and took the Ark of the Covenant hostage. The Lord had given Israel a priest and prophet who did indeed see into the very heart of God. His name was Samuel. He was rejected, however, by the people because he wasn't a "normal" leader like those who led the other surrounding nations. He wasn't a king. Well, he really was, but that's another matter. Samuel represented the leadership of the Lord. Because Israel rejected the Lord, they rejected Samuel. They came to him, demanding the appointment of a king.
In spite of his pleading with them not to make this mistake, they insisted. They would hear none of his arguments. So, the Lord gave them a Saul. Although meek and humble at first, the position of "king" went to his head. Even though he knew that it was the Lord who had appointed him -- and even anointed him -- Saul rose to such prominence (in his own mind, you understand) that he rejected the Lord, rejected Samuel's place as High Priest and Prophet, and even attempted to offer his own sacrifices to the Lord -- under his own personal conditions, yet! Not even God's. In violation of God's conditions and commandments, even!
Thus, it came about that the Lord rejected Saul as the leader of His people, Israel. And chose David. David was an extraordinary contrast to Saul.
Saul was a tall, muscular soldier who stood head and shoulders above most of the people. His rough, tough demeanor impressed Israel. He was
"a King!"
David, on the other hand, was a young lad -- a stripling -- by comparison. There was nothing of human manliness, great stature, or impressive authority about him to awe anyone.
There was another, even more striking, difference between Saul and David. Saul knew how to offer up these great, magnificent prayers. David didn't even bother with great prayers. He didn't need to. He simply picked up his harp, and began to sing. He had learned the secret of the Garden. Even though the Tabernacle of Moses had been destroyed, and the Ark of the Covenant had been taken hostage by the Philistines while he was yet a small child, David had seen the three-dimensional photograph in his spirit.
Having seen it, and having seen the heart's desire of the Lord, David's whole being came alive with the anticipation of knowing the Lord personally. He thirsted after the Lord. He craved the Lord with every fiber of his existence.
And David loved the Lord more than life and breath itself.
As he picked up his harp and began to sing, he didn't just sing -- his spirit took off and began to soar into the presence of the Lord. David worshipped the Lord in a manner unprecedented in all of history. And the Lord permitted David to see some of what Moses had seen hundreds of years earlier on top of Mount Sinai.
This was marvelous! This was stupendous! Why had Israel not grasped the significance of the three-dimensional photograph? Surely they must have seen it. Well....if I ever get to become king, I'm going to do something about it.
And the Lord chose David to become King of Israel. Except that it happened while Saul was still the king, and seated on the throne.
Now, how do you deal with a problem like this? Here is a king who is recognized by the nation as
"the king," but not by God. And then there is the King who is not recognized by the nation, but is recognized by God.
To compound the situation, "the king" who no longer has God's recognition, recognizes the King who does have God's recognition -- and sees the approval and anointing he once had, now resting on a...a...a little twerp! A kid who is not even dry behind the ears, yet! A sheep-smelling, rock-throwing, finger-pickin' harp-player! How dare God!
Well! We can fix this! Where's my javelin? We'll just put him out of his misery. Then he can just play the harp to his heart's content with the angels.
And David ran for his life.
Is there something wrong with this picture? I mean.....the King, who is King, is on the run from the king, who is
not king!
Nope. There's nothing wrong with this picture. This is called "thlipsis." It's what all true rulers must go through. Pressure. Heat. Tribulation. The furnace of affliction. If they are going to become a part of this phenomenon the Lord refers to as His Bride, His Counterpart, His Other Self, they are going to learn to rule in the midst of tribulation. They are going to learn to rule when they're being stabbed in the back by supposed friends and brethren. They are going to learn to rule when they are being hunted down, shot at, and maligned at every opportunity.
They are going to overcome!
And David ran for his life.
And David ran for his life.
And David ran for his life.
No, I don't have a broken record.
And David ran for his life.
And David learned to rule -- while he was running! While he was being maligned by the king who wasn't the king. While he was ducking arrows. While he was hiding in caves. While he was at the top of Israel's Ten Most Wanted list.
And David learned to rule -- while he was living among the Philistines!
And David learned to rule -- among those who were considered the deadbeats of society, those who were broke and in debt, those who were social misfits, those who were foreigners, and those who had been condemned to death -- former inhabitants of the seven nations God had previously ordered Israel to destroy.
And David learned to rule -- in the midst of breaking sacred laws. Why, he even ate of the Shewbread! This was forbidden to all except the priests, the ministers of the Lord.
Excuse me! This is rulership?
YES!
Absolutely. Unequivocally. Without a doubt.
Except that it happens first in the spirit -- and then in the natural realm.
Thus, it came about that after many years, and in the course of affairs, Saul was killed -- or rather he committed suicide after being wounded in battle -- a normal sequence of events for those who continue to rule when rulership has been taken away from them by the Lord.
And David took the throne, being recognized first in Hebron, and then by all Israel as
THE KING. They saw a man who had ruled for many years without the throne. They saw a man who had overcome the injustices and evils perpetrated against him, his family, his household, and his friends. They saw a man who was a king in every cell, every corpuscle – every molecule of his being.
And David took the throne!
And David went after the Ark of the Covenant.
What he had seen in his many hours of singing, worshipping, and soaring in the presence of the Lord, he now determined to set before all of Israel.
A tabernacle. A three-dimensional photograph of the heart of the Lord God he loved and craved with his whole being.
This was nothing like the Tabernacle of Moses. There was no Outer Court. There was no Holy Place. There was no Brazen Altar. There was no Laver. There was no Table of Shewbread. There was no Golden Candlestick....ummmm......actually, there was, but......well, we will come to that.
This was the Tabernacle of David.
Big Deal! That's just a plain old tent!
Yup! But look at the difference.
Inside this tabernacle is just one thing: the Ark of the Covenant.
And.......the door is open!
There is no veil keeping the Ark hidden from view.
Oh, yes! There is a Golden Candlestick -- a living Golden Candlestick! Never has there been seen in Israel -- or anywhere else, for that matter -- such a candlestick. This candlestick consists of three families of musicians and singers, who are praisers and worshippers: the families of Asaph, Heman (Samuel's grandson), and Jeduthun.
This is a candlestick?
That's right! This worship is the flame of love and passion for the Lord, and it is burning out of oil that is pleasing to the Lord -- the same oil of anointing that came in David's life out of thlipsis -- the pressure and crushing that he went through while he was learning to rule -- on the run for his life.
You mean, this...........
Yes! After all that David had gone through, after all of the rejection, after all of the persecution, his first thought when he took the throne was not to get even with his enemies. It was to minister to the Lord. It was to demonstrate before Israel that which he had seen in the presence of the Lord -- that which he had seen when time stood still -- the same picture which Moses had seen on Mount Sinai: an open heart of love from a Bridegroom towards His intended Bride -- an invitation to an intimate love-relationship.
David had seen the Lord get even with his enemies. He knew he didn't need to focus his attention on that. He had watched God provide for him during the years of persecution, and he knew he didn't need to focus on that. All he had to do was to minister to the Lord, and the Lord would take care of the rest. Now.....if Israel could just see the same vision he had seen, maybe.....just maybe…..they would fall in love with Him in the same way David had come to know the Lord. Maybe, as David did, they would also desire His all-consuming presence.
Maybe, if they could just see the Ark of the Covenant as a marriage covenant between the Lord and them, they would respond as an excited Bride responds to her Bridegroom. Maybe, if they could see the open Holy of Holies as an invitation to an intimate relationship with the Lord, they could get past the Law and the Commandments.
Maybe!
Well.....as long as I'm King in Israel, they're going to see this picture.
And the door stayed open for forty years!
During those forty years, Israel prospered as it had never prospered. Though enemies came against them, they were defeated – to the last one – in battle. Kings decided that David was too much for them and sued for peace treaties because they were afraid he might cast his eye on them and their lands. David wasn’t interested in that kind of stuff, but they were too blinded by their fear to see that!
The nation enjoyed a level of peace it had never known in its almost-five hundred year history. It became THE authority in the earth. With David on the throne, Israel saw a return to the worship of God and the destruction of all idols, false gods, the groves of heathen worship and the altars of heathen worship. It was unprecedented.
And David became the standard for all the kings that followed in Israel’s history thereafter. Even to this day, the symbol of the nation of Israel is the Star of David.
Think Israel got the picture David was trying to show them?
Nawwww! Unfortunately, they didn’t. Fact is, they still haven’t seen it to this day – at least as a national political entity. Lots of Jews have seen it during the past couple of millennia, but not Israel as a nation.
So, what was this door that stayed open for forty years?
If you haven’t quite figured that out yet, stay tuned. We’re getting there.
See you, Monday. Have a blessed weekend – and a restful one!
Once again…..Be blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed coming in, and blessed going out! Like John wrote,
“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers.”
Regner A. Capener
EKKLESIA HOUSE
RR-15, Box 6180
Mission, TX 78574-9589
(956) 583-5355
Chat
with Regner
This article may be reprinted, reposted, copied and re-used – in whole or in part – with proper attribution.
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