Scriptures: 2 Samuel 5:1-3, Hosea 3:4-5, Romans 11, Isaiah 59, Zechariah 9
We’ve been learning how Jesus’ experiences mirrored David’s, for the Scriptures refer to the coming King of Israel as David, so today we will delve into how David assumed the throne. This piece of the puzzle helps us understand our present situation as we wait for Jesus to assume his throne in Jerusalem. David was anointed king by the prophet Samuel while King Saul was still ruling, and he lived in exile most of that time. David was crowned king of the tribe of Judah after Saul’s death, then seven years later became king of all Israel. Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth ruled Israel after Saul died for two years before he was murdered. David would not take the life of Saul when he had the opportunity, and he killed the men who murdered innocent Ish-Bosheth. He refused to take the kingdom by force.
2 Samuel 2:10-11 tells us that Ish-Bosheth reigned for two years over Israel and David reigned for seven years over Judah before becoming king over all the tribes of Israel. So what happened during the missing five years? The Bible doesn’t tell us, but it appears that Israel had no king while David patiently waited for them to come to him and ask him to be their king, which is what finally happened.
“All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, ‘We are your own flesh and blood. 2 In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, “You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.”’ 3 When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel” (2 Samuel 5:1-3).
Jesus, the Anointed One, was received as King by a small band of followers in Judea while Israel was under the rule of Herod, a Hasmonean king appointed by Rome who was not anointed by God. Jesus, the Anointed One, had every right to take the throne by force. But like David, he did not. Since 70 AD, when Rome destroyed Jerusalem, Israel has been in a season that parallels the “missing years” between Ish-Bosheth’s reign and David’s with no king. Jesus is presently King over the Jews and Gentiles who have received him, just as David ruled at Hebron over those who received him, but he is waiting for the tribes of Israel to come to him like they did to David and say, “You were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns as the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’”
When all Israel asks Jesus to be their King, he will come and reign from Jerusalem, just like David did. Hosea 3:4-5 prophecies, “The Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.” This waiting period is intentional, however, for it is during this waiting period that God is revealing King Jesus to the nations, as was prophesied in Isaiah 65:1. “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’”
This is the great commission of Jesus, to go to all nations and spread the gospel. How is this connected to Israel? When King Solomon brought idolatry to the nation through his many wives, the kingdom was divided. The northern kingdom retained the name Israel and the southern kingdom was called Judah because it was mainly the tribe of Judah and the small tribe of Benjamin. When Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians, the ten northern tribes were scattered to the nations. For God to reach the lost tribes of Israel, he must now reach the nations. For Hosea 3 to be fulfilled according to the pattern of David, all Israel must come to Jesus and ask him to be their king.
Paul explains in Romans 11 the purpose of this waiting period of the Jews to receive their king. “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:25-26). Paul assures us that unbelieving Jews “are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you” (Romans 11:28-31). God will remove the veil that has blinded Israel to their King in the last days and his people will “return and seek the Lord their God and David their king” (Hosea 3:5).
What will cause Israel to seek their Lord and King in the last days? What has always caused Israel to seek God in the past: war. The Old Testament records numerous stories of Israel’s oppression by their enemies which caused them to cry out to God and receive his help in times of war. Judges 3:1-2 reveals that God intentionally left enemies in the land “to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience).” The tribes of Israel came to David because they recognized him as their military commander. Revelation 5:5 reveals Jesus as the Lion of Judah who is given all power and dominion over the earth. He is worthy, as the Lamb who was slain, to open the scroll that releases the final seven years prophesied in Daniel 9 that end with Jesus setting up God’s kingdom on the earth.
When Jesus opens the first seal of the scroll, he releases a rider who goes out to conquer. This is the beginning of the consolidation of power that the beast of Revelation 13 will gain through war. The second and fourth seals release worldwide war and the destruction that war brings. The angel tells Daniel, “The end will come with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end” (Daniel 9:26, NLT). There are many prophecies of end-time wars in Israel – in Zechariah 12 and 14, Jeremiah 30, Joel 3, Ezekiel 38, Daniel 11 – and while we know the wars in the last days are the wrath of Satan and beginning of birth pains, God allows it to set up the ultimate finale to end all wars.
Isaiah 59:15-19 reveals God’s purpose in allowing war in the last days, “The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. 17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. 18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. 19 From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory.” The whole world will fear the name of the Lord when he comes in might to rescue Israel.
In the time of trouble, Israel will cry out to God and Jesus, the King of Kings, will answer and rescue them. You may have noticed that Paul borrowed from Isaiah 59 the imagery of our spiritual armor. While God fought for Israel in the Old Testament, he fought with them as their helper. Their army was his arm in battle, which is why we saw in Judges 3 that God wanted each generation trained for war. Zechariah 9:13-16 reveals that in the last days wars God says, “Judah is my bow, and Israel is my arrow. Jerusalem is my sword, and like a warrior, I will brandish it against the Greeks. 14 The Lord will appear above his people; his arrows will fly like lightning! The Sovereign Lord will sound the ram’s horn and attack like a whirlwind from the southern desert. 15 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will protect his people, and they will defeat their enemies by hurling great stones. They will shout in battle as though drunk with wine. They will be filled with blood like a bowl, drenched with blood like the corners of the altar. 16 On that day the Lord their God will rescue his people, just as a shepherd rescues his sheep. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.” Jesus, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, shows up in glory to make Israel a jewel in his crown.
Jesus came first as a humble servant riding on a donkey into Jerusalem to offer his life as the Passover Lamb. But he will appear in glory when he returns as the rider on a white horse in Revelation 19 who comes to save his people. “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt. 10 I will remove the battle chariots from Israel and the warhorses from Jerusalem. I will destroy all the weapons used in battle, and your king will bring peace to the nations. His realm will stretch from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:9-10). Jesus will return as King of Kings to destroy the dominion of wicked rulers in the heavens and on earth. He will make Israel mighty in battle then put an end to war. When the world cries out for the Prince of Peace, he will come.
Response:
Let us worship with the psalmist. “The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music” (Psalm 98:2-4). O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord!
(The photo above is the view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives where Jesus will return and enter the temple through the eastern gate, which is on the right side of the picture. The Muslims, aware of the prophecy that the Messiah would enter through the eastern gate, filled in the gate with bricks, thinking that would stop him. But they don’t know that Jesus’ glorified body can walk through walls!)
