When I began a sermon series on the Life of King David in early September of 2023, I had no idea how relevant the subject matter would become given the events that were about to unfold around the nation of Israel in October of that same year. It just so happened that those events began to unfold just as we were in the part of the story where David becomes king and captures Jerusalem from enemy hands.
It had been prophesied to David that he would be king and he was anointed king by the prophet Samuel in his late teenage years. He doesn’t actually become king until he is 30 years old. The lengthy time of preparation in isolation in those wilderness years developed a Divine agenda in David that was weighing heavy on his mind and heart when he became king. Take Mount Zion!
The core identity of David’s life is built around worship, but the mission of his life is built around Mount Zion.
After the death of King Saul, David didn’t immediately go into action. He positioned himself for the action to come to him.
1 Chronicles 11:1 Then all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. 2 In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord your God said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.’” 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the Lord by Samuel.
David waited for the invitation from the national leaders of Israel to assume his throne. This is a very important foreshadowing of the coming of the Son of David, and the fashion in which he will assume the very same throne in the very same place. But before we get to that, let’s look back on some of the things we have learned so far from David’s life over the course of this sermon series:
More is written about King David than any other man in the Bible besides Jesus himself.
There is something God wants us to learn from his life that goes beyond being a role model for us. What he eventually did as king was built upon who he was as a man. David was a worshipper.
David chooses to base his core identity as a worshipper. That is why he is referred to as a man after God’s own heart. He is first and foremost a great lover of God who lives fascinated with God’s person, God’s plans, and God’s purposes.
The authenticity of that decision goes through rigorous testing over a long period of time. David refuses to compromise and waits for God to establish his position as king without grasping for it through his own schemes.
The very first objective of David as king is capturing the stronghold of Zion. Everything that David had went through up until this point was a test to see whether or not David could entrusted with this objective. But why?
Lets investigate some of the clues provided other places in scripture to get a picture as to why this was such a critical agenda for the kingdom that God was trying to establish.
The Lord spoke to Moses about a city where He chose to put his name:
Deuteronomy 12:5 But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go
This location was known and ruled from ancient times by a man named Melchizedek, referred to as “the king of Salem”. Jesus Christ himself is compared to Melchizedek in the New Testament book of Hebrews, and many consider Melchizedek to be one of many preincarnate visitations of the second person of the trinity found in the Old Testament:
Psalm 76 In Judah God is known;
his name is great in Israel.
2 His abode has been established in Salem,
his dwelling place in Zion.
Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem:
2 Chronicles 6:5 ‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; 6 but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
Jesus called Jerusalem the city of the great king:
Matthew 5:34 “Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.”
Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia on the Jewish teaching about this location:
According to the sages of the Talmud, it was from this rock that the world was created, itself being the first part of the Earth to come into existence. In the words of the Zohar, "The world was not created until God took a stone called Even haShetiya and threw it into the depths where it was fixed from above till below, and from it the world expanded. It is the center point of the world and on this spot stood the Holy of Holies."
According to the Talmud, it was close to here, on the site of the altar, that God gathered the earth that was formed into Adam. It was on this rock that Adam—and later Cain and Abel and Noah—offered sacrifices to God. Jewish sources identify this rock as the place of the Binding of Isaac mentioned in the Bible, where Abraham fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son. The mountain is identified as Moriah in Genesis 22. It is also identified as the rock upon which Jacob dreamt about angels ascending and descending on a ladder and consequently consecrating and offering a sacrifice upon.
When, according to the Bible, KING DAVID PURCHASED A THRESHING FLOOR OWNED BY ARAUNAH THE JEBUSITE, it is believed that it was upon this rock that he offered the sacrifice mentioned in the verse. (2 Sam 24) He wanted to construct a permanent temple there, but as his hands were "bloodied", he was forbidden to do so himself. The task was left to his son Solomon, who completed the Temple in c. 950 BCE.
The threshing floor of Araunah is a specific location found within Mount Zion currently under Islamic control under the golden domed mosque on what is called the temple mount. The city built around Mount Zion is what we call Jerusalem, which is and was the capital city of the Nation of Israel, comprised of 12 tribes which were representative of 12 sons of Jacob. A threshing floor is a place that is used to separate wheat from chaff.
“Threshing” was originally "to tramp or stamp heavily with the feet" and was later applied to the act of separating out grain by the feet of people or oxen and still later with the use of a flail. A threshing floor is of two main types: 1) a specially flattened outdoor surface, usually circular and paved, or 2) inside a building with a smooth floor of earth, stone or wood where a farmer would thresh the grain harvest and then winnow it. (Wikipedia)
The location called Mount Zion in scripture is actually comprised of two separate hills, sometimes referred to in scripture as “the mountains of Israel”:
Ezekiel 36 “And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord.
One of the hills is called “the city of David” in the images above. Here King David built his palace, which would have been the location from which the king governed the nation. On the other hill was where eventually the temple would be constructed under King Solomon and subsequently destroyed.
God’s plan was for this location to be a center of government forever.
1 Chronicles 17:11 When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne FOREVER.
Upon being coronated king, David was consumed with the plans and purposes of God. David’s primary identity to the end of his life was as a worshiper.
2 Samuel 23 Now these are the last words of David:
The oracle of David, the son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man who was raised on high,
the anointed of the God of Jacob,
the sweet psalmist of Israel
Because David lived fascinated with God, he did what he saw! David saw that this was the most pressing agenda on God’s heart. The mission was recapturing this city from enemy forces, constructing a center of government, and constructing a center of worship. David was not only consumed with the person of God, he was also consumed with the plans and purposes of God. All of the information we have already mentioned from scripture that was recorded at the time, David would have been well aware of.
Because David lived his life as a worshipper, fascinated with God, David was AWAKE, and AWARE, and INFORMED. And because David was awake, aware, and informed, he was recruited by God’s Spirit to be an instrument to bring God’s plans and purposes to fruition on the earth.
2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. (NASB)
I cannot stress enough how important that above statement is. The above statement is precisely why so much is written for us today about the life of King David. This is the example God is holding up for us. David wasn’t the king of virtue. He wasn’t a moral giant. This statement and this statement alone is what made him great, and anyone can do it. David’s life tells us that it doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, everyone is invited to live this type of life and become great in the process.
Upon securing Mount Zion, and then constructing a center from which to live and govern, David’s next agenda was to construct and organize a center of worship for the nation. God’s plan was for it to be a center of worship for the entire earth forever.
1 Chronicles 23 When David was old and full of years, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.
2 He also gathered together all the leaders of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites. 3 The Levites thirty years old or more were counted, and the total number of men was thirty-eight thousand. 4 David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand are to be in charge of the work of the temple of the Lord and six thousand are to be officials and judges. 5 Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose.”
13 Aaron was set apart, he and his descendants FOREVER, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name FOREVER. 14 The sons of Moses the man of God were counted as part of the tribe of Levi. . . .
25 For David had said, “Since the Lord, the God of Israel, has granted rest to his people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem FOREVER . . .
Please hear this. There are plans and purposes of God revealed in the administration of King David that are eternal in nature. This is another aspect of David being a man after God’s own heart, he didn’t live by his own agenda, he got in agreement with God’s agenda and he believed for it and waited for God to fulfill it in His own time and in His own way.
And this is where we turn our attention to the Son of David. No we’re not talking about King Solomon, we’re talking about King Jesus. In the pages of scripture, Jesus the Messiah is referred to in a multitude of ways, but not the least of which are these:
The Son of David
The Seed of David
The Root of David
The Root and Offspring of David
David their King
There is an agenda that lives and even burns in the heart of this King, and the agenda hasn’t changed. Look and see how Jesus feels about this same Divine agenda that was given expression through the life of King David. We are going to cite a passage from Matthew 23. Matthew 23 is right before Matthew 24 (thanks captain obvious), but that is important because the entire chapter of Matthew 24 is about Jesus instructing his disciples about the end-times. Jesus is revealing things to expect in the time immediately before God the Father gives the order for Him to return to the earth to assume His own reign as King. Not just of Israel, but of the entire earth, from that exact same spot.
This episode from Matthew 23 is just before Jesus begins his final journey to Jerusalem to be slaughtered as a sacrificial offering for the entire world and for all of human history. In this episode Jesus is confronting the scribes and the Pharisees, not coincidentally, Israel’s ruling elite of both worship and governance. The two things weighing heavy on the Son of David’s heart. He pronounces seven woe’s upon them, the number symbolizing completion or perfection of these judgements. After he pronounces these woes, and right before he finishes his mission on earth, this is what he says:
Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 39 For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Luke records this about this same episode:
Luke 19:41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known on this day, even you, the conditions for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
Brothers and sisters, there is an agenda that weighs heavy on the heart of our soon returning King. Be wise, as Psalm 2 encourages, and get in agreement with your King. You see, as the text informs, just as King David accepted his long prophesied throne as King, when Jesus returns he is also going to accept his long prophesied throne as King as well . . . . and in the same way . . . . it is going to come to Him by invitation from the Jewish leadership (Mt. 23:39).
In Matthew 23:29 Jesus is addressing the national Jewish political and religious leaders. The problem for them is the process by which they are going to be brought into agreement with God’s plans for his unique son is described in Matthew 24:
Matthew 24:21 For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.
We should expect to witness the worst atrocities the world has ever seen to bring these stubborn but deeply loved people to heel. Are you going to be offended by it?
Matthew 24:9 “Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another.
Our mandate is to follow the template that King David set for us. Let’s build the core of our identity around being worshippers. That is the heart of the First Commandment after all. And it is a commandment, it is not a suggestion. Let’s get our minds and hearts in agreement with the plans and the purposes of God. As Jesus half brother informed us in the book of Acts, not one thing has changed:
Acts 15:15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,
16 “‘After this I will return,
and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;
I will rebuild its ruins,
and I will restore it,
17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’
Beloved He is coming. He has an ancient agenda that He is going to bring to fruition, and it will be both permanent and unstoppable. Those who are opposed to it, who resist it, will be crushed by it. But for those who love it, no eye has seen and no ear has heard. As announced by the John the Baptist functioning in the spirit of Elijah:
Matthew 3:11 He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear HIS threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
That threshing floor, the threshing floor of Araunah, is HIS threshing floor. He will determine who are His and who are not from that very same spot. It doesn’t belong to the Jewish government, it doesn’t belong to the Palestinians or to any other people. It is the sole possession of one man, King Jesus, and he plans to share it with all peoples, tribes, nations, and languages. Those that choose to bow the knee. And more than ever, in this season, I’m bowing two. Watching, waiting, and praying for the long awaited plans and purposes of God to come to fruition.
Titus 2:13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ