King Of The Jews - Part 6During the time of his rejection as King, David began to draw unto himself those who were distressed, in debt and in discontentment because of Saul. Now, during the time of His rejection by the world and His chosen people Israel, Jesus is calling unto Himself the distressed, the debtors and the discontented. To those in distress He promises He will hear their cry. "In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me". Psalm 120:1 Everyone without Christ is in debt, the debt of sin which could only be satisfied by His sacrifice on the cross. Those who recognize their spiritual poverty and call on Him will be blessed. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their's is the kingdom of heaven". Matthew 5:3 To those who feel deep discontentment and seek relief in Christ is the promise, "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted". Matthew 5:4 Yes, David was a man after God's own heart and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he penned some of the most comforting words in the Bible. Jesus is the Word and as such offers us comfort Himself in verse after verse. Many of David's most heartfelt and moving psalms were written under deep duress as he fled through the wilderness for many years. Why did God allow this terrible persecution to take place? "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth". Hebrews 12:6 The Lord tests whom He loves. But, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him". James 1:12 Additionally, many of the psalms of comfort we read and recite today came from the crucible that David endured.
On a personal note, the songs I've written which have ministered to others in the most profound way, were songs that were written at times of either great sorrow or just after some troubling event and the joy that came with the deliverance from that trial. Lonely People (mp3 clip) Take heart if you are suffering trials and tribulations. Jesus said, "These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world". John 16:33 Messiah ben David, the King of Kings, when He returns to set up His Kingdom, will certainly overcome the world and rule it with a rod of iron. When David slew Goliath he used a stone from a riverbank; a stone "cut out without hands". Goliath is a symbol of the world system and he was destroyed by David, a picture of the Messiah, King of the Jews, the coming King of Kings. The stone which slew Goliath also represents Jesus. Just as in Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream wherein he sees "a stone cut out without hands". This stone smites the image representing all the earthly kingdoms throughout history and utterly destroys them. The stone represents Jesus, the "Rock of Israel", who when He returns in power and glory at the end of the 7 year tribulation will utterly destroy the kingdoms of the world which oppose Him. In their place He will establish His Kingdom. "And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth". Mountains represent kingdoms prophetically. "And in those days…shall the god of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed…and it shall stand for ever". Daniel 2:44 This is a final fulfillment of Messianic prophecy given to David, "…and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever". II Samuel 7:13 This was the type of Messiah, Messiah ben David or son of David that Israel was expecting at the first advent. However, at His first coming, Jesus came as "…the lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world". John 1:29 He came as the suffering servant or Messiah ben Joseph type. Jesus at the first advent arrived on the scene with the purpose of becoming a spiritual king, to rule and reign in the hearts of His people, Israel and to defeat their greatest enemy: Sin. In order to do so He offered Himself up as the "lamb without sin". This was pre-figured by Abraham's act of offering Isaac as a sacrifice wherein God provided the ram instead. The Passover was a vivid portrayal of the blood sacrifice necessary to defeat death as the homes of the Hebrews were protected by the blood of the lamb on the lintels and doorposts. The homes of the Egyptians were not likewise protected and the angel of death visited every home and not one family was spared the death of its firstborn, man and beast. "For there was not a house where there was not one dead". Exodus 12:30 "Behold thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass". Zechariah 9:9 The hope for a Messiah to deliver Israel from the power of Rome burned in the breast of every Jew. The greatness of Israel at its pinnacle under the remarkable Solomon, David's son, had slipped and slidden, ebbed and flowed and reached a point of stasis under Roman bondage. To be sure, the bondage of Rome was seductive and provided peace and security, just as it will in the final days of the world system currently sweeping toward us. Pax Romana, Roman Peace, kept the world somewhat mesmerized with its bread and circuses. The rulers of Israel, even the religious ones, were loathe to rock the boat. However, God promised that Israel would be the "…head and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only and thou shalt not be beneath". Deuteronomy 28:13 The national yearning for a deliverer in the mode of King David was so strong that many pretenders to the throne, i.e., false Messiahs, cropped up, quickening the hopes of the people for a time, only to have them dashed as the imposters were revealed for what they were. "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire comes it is a tree of life". Proverbs 13:12 As previously stated, a Messiah ben Joseph, or one like unto Joseph was clearly seen by the ancients as being foreshadowed prophetically. But, again how to reconcile this suffering servant with the promise of and desire for a Warrior King. In Joseph we see a picture of Jesus as preserver, provider, and Savior albeit one who has the most improbable circumstances thrust upon him/Him. There are many, many parallels between Jesus and Joseph. Joseph was His Father's beloved son. He was sold for silver, the price of a slave. He descended into the earth and rose again from the pit. He went into Egypt. He became a servant. He resisted manifold temptations. He was unjustly condemned and imprisoned. He was exalted to be a prince and a savior. He was a provider of bread for a famine-stricken world. He was finally recognized by his brethren as their savior and they wept over him whom they had rejected. Joseph, of the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, more greatly prefigures the coming Savior than any other person in Bible history. |
