Kingdom lifeblood and circulatory system
David recognized that his inability to be sinless disqualified him from being the promised King of the Kingdom-of-God on earth. That must now be left to another who David calls, ‘My Lord’. Spiritually, what had happened in this incident? The spiritual flow of grace from Yahweh-Elohim to His people, (and out to the nations), had been blocked, by gratification not gratitude. And it had been blocked from a whole nation by one man. This is the blood circulatory system of the Kingdom-of-God. If grace is blocked from flowing down, it cannot be turned to energy to bless the nations via gratitude. Kingdom-oxygen is contaminated when gratification diverts the flow of grace to feed an unhealthy growth within self. In other words, God’s Kingdom model is tainted by the world-kingdom model.
Another must follow to complete this prophesy.
The Jehovah-Elohim said to my Lord, "Sit at my right side, until I make your enemies into a footstool for you." The Jehovah-Elohim will extend your power outside of Zion, and you will rule over all enemies. Your glorious power will be seen on the day you begin to rule. You will wear the sacred robes and shine like the morning sun in all of your strength. The Jehovah-Elohim has made a promise that will never be broken: "You will be a priest forever, just like Melchizedek."145
David recognized an order. Jehovah-Elohim is the final authority, A greater king than David was yet to come, He would come from the priestly order of Melchizedek, whom, the Jews held to be the only person to perfectly hold the office of Prophet, Priest and King. The rightful king in the Kingdom-of-God must be the Messiah who will fulfil all three roles. He would have the right to the throne. The only person ever documented in History books to fulfil that description was one Jesus-Christ. 146
We will have to pick up this theme again in a later chapter. But for now we have another principle: The life cycle of the Kingdom-of-God is carried in the blood. It carries grace corpuscle out to the whole kingdom and is returned in gratitude to be cleansed and flow again. If it is blocked in that flow, it causes an unhealthy growth and the whole kingdom becomes ill with World-Kingdom disease.
In the eyes of His people, God’s-Kingdom narrowed to, God will send a king to destroy all our enemies. But that is contrary to all we have seen in the idea behind the Kingdom in God’s mind. So they didn’t get it. ‘You are going to be a blessing to all nations, so even the gentiles who are oppressing you will be blessed through this kingdom’. A lot of Jews did not like that, so they demanded a king after the style of surrounding nations, who would fight for them, and ended up with Saul. But notice, God has already demonstrated his objective in their ancestors. The story of Joseph is through his persecution and trials, Joseph rose to be ambassador and blesses the nation of Egypt. Daniel, captured and taken to Babylon, ends up as ambassador to bless them.
All this to show, God is king on his throne in Heaven, His idea and purpose are being worked out from his authority in Heaven, Nothing has stopped His objectives, Rebellions by earthly kings or by heavenly powers have prospered his purposes. The ultimate battle will be the cross when Satan’s heavenly and earthly armies have achieved their goal, of killing the King to take the kingdom for their own ends. But, they will only find they have simply aided the original idea of God to set up his kingdom and bless the earth. If a King does not have a servant heart his heart will be contrary to God’s intention for the role of a king. God must test that heart to prove it before he can endow the power and authority upon a person. God will simply say to World-Kingdoms, you have done you worst, and I am alive and well and will rule as a Servant-King. The two roles will not be separated for different times in history, they will be a unity of character and role at all times. By the modern interpretation that Jesus will be a suffering servant and a conquering King at different times of History, we miss the point entirely. Messiah, will be Messiah because he is Messiah; His motivating drive as servant, will be the same motivation that will establish him as King. Kingdom structure under His rule will reflect and demonstrate Messiah as He is.
Where is the Throne?
It is a false concept to presume God wants to sit on a throne high above all. That concept we have picked up from World-Kingdoms. Satan wanted that. He said I will ascend to the highest place from where I can take control.
We often read into scripture our own assumptions. Do you assume John was taken to the highest point of heaven to see the Lord sitting on his throne? Read again Revelation chapters-four on. He saw the door of heaven and an angel said come up here. Just inside the door he saw one sitting on the throne, surrounded by myriads. If the king is the heart of his kingdom, that is where you will find Him. He is the lifeblood of his kingdom. World-Kingdom have shifted the throne to the highest point of the kingdom, not God. Everything God desires will culminate in the last chapter of Revelation.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is now with man. He will dwell among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.147
Where is that? According to the highest law of the Kingdom-of-God, it is in the heart. ‘You shall love the lord your God with all your heart’.
That is where God was in the garden of Eden, ‘in the midst’!148 That, is what God wanted in his chosen nation Israel.149 That is the full intention God expressed to Moses :
I will live among you as your God150,…I will live among you as your God,151
Moses understood, that is why he organized the camp in such a manner, with the tabernacle of God in the midst. That is the point of the twelve stones taken from the very midst of Jordan, to be set up as a memorial.152 God was with them as they passed through Jordan. That is why Samuel anointed David as King in the Midst of the Brethren.153 That is where, Shammah, and David as King, stood firm in the midst of the field, to defend it, from the heart. That is why David went out into the midst of the battle, while the other kings sat in chariots at the side.154 That is why Mordecai went to the midst of the city to plead, because that is where God was. That, is where the Prophets prophesied.155 That is where Jesus is when two or three citizens gather.156 That, is where Jesus is in his churches until a church looks for motivation elsewhere.157
Advantages of a Monarchy
The value of a King lies in his character, not his office. Presidents, Prime-Ministers, and Rulers of this realm, would have us believe their power comes from the office. The, Kingdom-of-God King, creates the office from His character. The Kingdom-of-God, develops its culture from the Character of the King, not the office He holds. Character and King are hyphenated as one. The king is the ultimate and only source of authority in his kingdom. In Heaven, the authority of God the King is exclusive and absolute. His word is the law on which the Kingdom-of-God exists.
This, relieves a great burden from Kingdom-of-God ambassadors, in a World-Kingdom. Kingdom-of-God ambassadors do not have to give opinions. They state simply, ‘In the Kingdom-of-God this is the law’! If church or state seeks to modify Kingdom-of-God laws to accommodate World-Kingdom views, it ceases to represent the Kingdom-of-God. Perhaps we should bear that in mind when councils and conventions presume they can change kingdom laws to become more appealing to World-Kingdoms. As the old saying goes, ‘If God said it, that settles it, whether I believe it or not’! People do not make a king sovereign, that would diminish his sovereignty.
Not one king, in the books of Samuel or Kings, finished their rule, untainted by World-Kingdom values. About half started their rule, qualified under Kingdom-of-God values, but ended up promoting World-Kingdom values. How many times, in scripture, do we see phrases like: ‘and the next king did more evil than his father’?
Saul was the first king in Israel. They had tried to install Gideon, but Gideon was having none of it158. Saul was installed by a democracy. Democracy is a people’s desire to run its own kingdom. Subjects of kings expect kings to meet the needs of the day. If harvest fails, they expect kings to provide food. If an enemy threatens war, they expect a king to deliver them. That was the need of the day when they chose Saul. When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised land, He also brought the Philistines from Crete and the Arameans from Kir.159 The Philistines in particular were a thorn in the side of Israel. The Philistines harassed Israel, and the overriding need of that day, was protection from them. Saul was chosen because he was a big man who could stand up to the Philistines, but in character he was far from upright. His values were under the motivation of world-kingdom laws, wanting luxury and wealth to flow his way and not out to the people. You will know what God thought of that through the rest of the story. But underpinning all this, if the people had repented and renewed the original covenant with God, they would have looked inside themselves for reasons of motivation, not outside for a means of power to force subjection.
The main concept of the kingdom has always centred around David’s reign, in the mind of the Jews. David ruled at the peak of Israel's history. Despite his sins, he was chosen by God, and, in general, shows the best example of a King in touch with God. After Him the kingdom declined, and the Hope of a future kingdom with it. Prophets prophesied on the basis of his rule, trying to analyse why it failed. Concepts of the Kingdom, built up in Israel's minds, was based only on the first half of the story. This was projected to the future in idealized terms. The Kingdom of God would be the restoration of the kingdom of David. Prophets tried to return to God’s concept. They referred to this hope as the ‘The Day of The Lord’, but the people had their own picture of it.
Principle set before Solomon who broke all his kingly vows.
The story of Solomon is fondly remembered. While the peak of kings turned down at the fall of David’s covetousness, adultery, and murder, few saw the kingdom’s fall until the end of Solomon’s reign. Solomon was a king with promise but ended as a tyrant. Solomon was not the unanimous citizens choice. David warned him to deal with disunity among his advisers, which he did. David also left him with a unifying project, the new Temple. Solomon used his skills and talents to strengthen and unite the kingdom through this project. But a question as to his motivation remains. This fruit only showed at the end of his days. As a good administrator, Solomon made many good deals and sets good goals at first. Solomon vowed he would uphold all the laws Moses had especially required for the office of King,160 but broke every one of them. He began to hoard gold 161, trade horses with Egypt162, took foreign wives,163 and sucked up to Egypt by building a palace and a temple for his Egyptian wives and their gods. He totally switched from Kingdom-of-God structure to World-Kingdom structure. A ‘Get not give’ motivation.
While the Temple project was underway, people willingly got involved. But for Solomon it was about the Prestige rather than Purpose. Once the project was finished, his interest faded, turning his attention to other matters that brought him in direct conflict with his kingly vows. He had seven-hundred concubines but singled out only one or two. He said he loved the Lord but sacrificed to other gods.164 Under Solomon, all the wealth concentrated in the South of the Nation, and His palace, and the North began to resent it. Solomon created a bondage labour market modelled on Egypt. So much so, that when his son Rehoboam came to the throne, the people cried out for mercy:
“Your father made our yoke heavy, please lighten it for us,” Rehoboam replied, “My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. My father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”’ 165
As far as the fruit produced in his life, Solomon, although History would like to portray otherwise, ended as the World-Kingdom model God had rejected. World-Kingdoms, love to hold this kingdom up as an example of God’s Blessing and a godly nation. Many a ‘Prosperity-Gospel’ sermon has been moulded on it. It is the story of every World-Kingdom, even today. It is the great reversal of Kingdom-of-God principle:
The king will not think that he is better than any of his own people. He will not turn away from the law and extort the people, but he will follow all my laws exactly. Then, through his fruitfulness, his descendants will rule the kingdom of Israel a long time.166
145 Psalm 110.
146 Commentary margin Psalm 110
147 Rev 21:3
148 Genesis 1,6 ; 2: 9; 3: 3;
149 Exodus 8: 22
150 Exo 29:45 I
151 Exo 29:45
152 Joshua 4: 6-18
153 1 Samuel 16: 11 ; 18: 10.
154 2 kings 6 : 20
155 Isaiah 12: 6 ,and other verses
156 Matthew 18 :12.
157 Revelation 2: 1- 3 :22.
158 Judges 8: 22-23
159 Amos 9: 7
160 As in Deuteronomy 17: 14-20
161 Chronicles 10: 14 ff
162 Chronicles 10: 26 ff
163 Chronicles 11: 1 ff.
164 1 Kings 3
165 1 Kings 12: 10
166 Deuteronomy 17:20