David's House - Teaching

THE RESTORATION OF THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID
(by Randall Bane)

In the words of the prophet Amos (9:11) God tells us that the Tabernacle of David will be restored when Jesus returns to rule and reign from Mount Zion. Many of us have been a part of one movement or another that expected the return of the Lord long before now. And we, just as our forefathers over the last 2000 years, have finally had to comfort ourselves with the refrain: "Soon, but not yet!" The return of the Lord is inevitable. It is a basic tenet of the faith: "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." But when?

ILLUSIONS ABOUT THE RETURN

My journey over the last 25 years as a believer has taken me through a variety of apocalyptic communities - with some of whom I’ve tarried for quite a spell. I remember agreeing (with rapt attention) as Pat Robertson hunched forward in pseudo-intimacy toward a now-forgotten guest on the 700 Club: "I don’t see how it could be more than three years (before the return)." He believed it. I believed it. We both believed it was a conservative estimate!

The year was probably 1982. Did Robertson "mess up"? On national television? Yes. None of us who enthusiastically nodded agreement that day knew we were "messing up." All the signs of imminent return were there: Israel is a state again; floods, earthquakes, decadence! We were wrong. The humble responsibility of those who follow the way of the cross is always to be about the Father’s business as it presents itself in the present place and time where we find ourselves. We are called to occupy until He returns. Robertson’s good heart and brilliant education notwithstanding, he bought one of the lies Satan has used from the start to keep even the elect hopelessly bound in ignorance: "You have no control because He is coming immediately. Make emergency plans for the present and forget the future; you can’t fix anything.”

Now, since Satan’s best lies are always a perversion of Godly truth, we can make real sense of the "urgency" argument: since you might die or otherwise "meet God" at any moment, live in the glorious awareness of His presence and make your relationship with Him right! The "urgency" lie works well on genuinely zealous believers (many charismatics and evangelicals), but another of Satan’s lies works better on the general population, the New Agers and the lukewarm church. It goes like this: "He’s coming so far in the future that you have nothing to worry about. Chill out! Don’t be uptight!” Evolutionary thinking and geological time fit perfectly in this eschatology. “It’s gonna take eons to get where we’re going. You don’t have to do anything: you’ll naturally evolve to a higher consciousness. Pass the pretzels."

Perhaps the worst Christian variation of this lie is: "He’s not going to return until we’ve got everything in order and ready." If we think we have to – if we think we can - create the order and beauty called for by our Heavenly King, we will no doubt create again the presumptuous kingdoms we have created in the past: nations/states that defend their borders with armies in order to keep the good (us) from the evil (them); churches that ape God’s order but do not demonstrate His love; religious movements that proclaim the restoration of God’s ancient order with triumphal parades and glittering celebrations - after which our selfish, back-biting human nature is seen not to have changed. No, not one of us can be king or high priest. The only true King reigns on high and, for now, the Church is His only representation on earth.

THE KING IS COMING

There will be a real return of the Lord Jesus. We don’t know when, neither can we fully see what we as His children might be asked to endure prior to the time of His return. But we will endure whatever He requires of us because on the other side of that return is a life on Earth the likes of which has been tasted only fleetingly since the Garden of Eden: a life in which God is the absolute center and we, His children, are in full and glorious submission to Him.
The best examples of such "Camelot seasons" in the past are the "Good King" reigns in the history of Israel, beginning with King David and ending with Josiah. The revivals and major moves of God over the past two thousand years have ushered in seasons of godly life for a particular place and culture. Most of the denominational churches of the present had their beginnings in such a season. The rarity of such seasons is clearly visible when the brief periods of Israel’s "good king" rule are measured against the lengthy horrors of "bad king" rule. The people of God have always been a remnant in the Earth. Only when He physically rules here and we reign with Him will Godly standards truly dominate.

When Amos prophesies that the Tabernacle of David will be restored and Luke repeats that prophecy in the speech of James (Acts 15:16), what is meant? Will the clock and calendar roll back to return King David to the throne? No, not literally. Will the true King rule again on earth and continuous worship before the unveiled presence of God be restored? Yes, literally.

Jesus, the very presence of God, will return bodily to rule and reign from Mount Zion. Facing Jerusalem for prayers will no longer be a "tradition." It will be natural behavior because "the King is in residence there." Twenty-four hour worship will not be a program we have to solicit people to sign up for. It will be a natural behavior because the Holy presence of God--visible, audible, tangible, incarnate--will be upon the earth again. Only fools and rebels will resist such obviously appropriate response.

OUR REACTION TO HIS COMING

If the Lord came back tomorrow or today - Would you personally be ready? If you’re a believer, probably so: He reads your heart and would quickly sort out where you really stand with Him. Would the world be ready? As ready as they were for Noah’s flood or Jesus’ first coming: not. Would the Churches be ready? Oy veh!

As we, the Church, seek to prepare for the return of the Lord and the restoration of David’s Tabernacle may I ask you to consider, as I myself did several years ago, how you want to be found in that moment of His appearance. When the “trumpet sounds” I want to be about my Father’s business. I want to be reaching out to the lost, edifying the redeemed, caring for the widow, the orphan and the wounded. I want to be worshiping God with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength.

Therefore, I started years ago to prepare for the restoration of God’s physical presence on the Earth. I realized I had to work to support governmental structures (within and outside the church) that speak the truth: monarchy with Jesus as King is the only government that has ever and will ever, work. I have endeavored to establish in my life a culture that does not depend upon the oppression of somebody (my neighbor, my spouse, or the people of other cultures around me or in our midst). I have learned to worship my King with all that is in me.

Since my primary calling is to worship God, I have taken King David as my model who, though he was a mighty warrior and a powerful man, continually humbled himself before his heavenly King. And he worshiped this King with music and song, writing and dancing, even expressing his love through architecture and environmental design, conceiving the Temple Solomon would later build. I know that many of you join me in this yielded lifestyle and that you pursue your vocation with the same serious vigor. God is calling the whole Church, the remnant of all mankind who will not yield to the Baals of our age, to follow His lead on a path known only by those who have overcome the Baals of their age and lived godly lives.

I am speaking to all who are called to this remnant, but most especially to those called to lead worship before our King Who was, Who is and Who is to come.

THE WORSHIPING LEVITES UNDER THE OLD COVENANT

About 1000 BC King David established a division of Levites (hereafter referred to as the Worshiping Levites) whose calling it was to worship God continuously before the unveiled Ark of the Covenant on Mount Zion. Simultaneously other priests and Levites continued to perform the prescribed blood sacrifices at Moses’ Tabernacle on Mt. Gibeon. Following the years of King David’s reign, the blood sacrifices were moved from Gibeon to Solomon’s Temple and became again the dominant expression of the faith.

This brief (about thirty years) but glorious period of separation between the practice of blood sacrifice (Moses’ Tabernacle) and the new practice of praise and adoration before the unveiled presence of God (David’s Tabernacle) set forth a prophetic model: there would come a time when one blood sacrifice atoned for all sin and, thereafter, the primary act of worship would be the sacrifice of praise and adoration before the Lord. The fully-expressed continual worship led by the Worshiping Levites in the Tabernacle of David is a picture of how Jesus is now worshiped in Heaven. It is also a model of how we will worship the Lord on His throne during His earthly reign and, most importantly, how believers in Jesus are to worship Him now. We are called to enter into his presence and make the sacrifice of praise with our whole being.

The leaders of worship in the Tabernacle of David were Levites called out and set apart for that service. They were men under authority whose full-time ministry was the worship of God. With songs, instruments, dance, holy objects, incense and all the other means of expression available, they took King David’s lead and worshiped God in the beauty of holiness. Their schedule of service enabled them as one body to serve the Lord continuously in worship.

Although there are accounts of glorious worship in Solomon’s Temple and later at the dedication of the Second Temple, the Worshiping Levites appear to have been absorbed back into the blood sacrifice system once Solomon's Temple was established. The practice of worship begun in David’s Tabernacle would await the atoning death of the Lamb of God before it could be restored.

After the destruction of the second Temple in 70 AD the blood sacrifices of the Old Covenant ceased, not only for those Jews who became believers in Jesus (Yeshua), but also for the Jews who remained under Torah. Eventually the Jews who have remained faithful to their heritage and to God as they understand Him, replaced the sacrificial system of atonement with prayer and teaching. Those who truly believe in God have remained in right but limited relationship with Him until such time as they accept Yeshua as the Messiah and regain full relationship. Only among Messianic Jews is there true worship in the present House of Israel because only they have accepted their Messiah, their King.

ARE THERE WORSHIPING LEVITES IN THE CHURCH?

The Early Church believers (Christians) symbolically continued the blood sacrifice by instituting the sacrament of Eucharist. The continuing church has adhered to this prescribed sacrificial relationship with God: the blood of an unblemished lamb shed for the atonement of our sin has made possible our right relationship with God. However, the Worshiping Levites established by King David are not described in any generation since their brief appearance in David’s Tabernacle three thousand years ago. It is my thesis that God is only now restoring them to His House in preparation for the full restoration we will see when the Lord returns.

The Roman Catholic Church and other continuing church orthodoxies have, in principle, wed the worship function and the sacrificial function of the priesthood together in one role. The Priests are the worship leaders. However, in reality their primary functions are governmental, educational and sacerdotal (service at the Lord’s Table and other sacraments). Deacons carry out many of the Levitical functions, but their official activities are usually the practical ones that Old Covenant Levites were assigned: preparation, cleanup and other services related to the life of the church. There is no one in these clergy systems whose role is to continuously offer the sacrifice of praise and worship.

The roles and functions of clergy in the Protestant Church are so diverse as to defy easy analysis, but it’s clear that worship leadership is rarely seen as an official clergy activity. It might be a paid position on the staff of a large church, but neither here nor in the continuing church community does it usually require ordination and rarely receives it.

CAN IT BE FIXED?

I believe that the true office of Worship Leader (Worshiping Levite) must be restored and that God is in the process of doing just that. The Priests and Levites must model right order before the laity can be expected to follow. The present situation, as I see it, throughout the community of those who truly believe in God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is that worship remains a lay activity without adequate headship or leadership. In circumstances where, usually by chance, a priest, pastor or other clergy has expressive worship talents, the lay worshipers may have a true model to follow, but in most circumstances worship leadership comes from the laity, either volunteer or paid.

This might not be a problem if the laity were truly organized as an order: some would be commissioned as worship leaders (with proper preparation and oversight) to perform this service just as others are commissioned to feed widows and orphans, etc. However, since the laity in most churches is not operationally dealt with as an order and individuals function according to their own personal sense of what they are called to and how they should answer the call, this vital activity of the church does not truly function under accountable authority.

Arts such as music, dance, drama, pageantry, architecture and decoration are means by which worship is expressed in the life of the Church. Those who lead in such activities must be knit into the authority and submission structure of the Church. Otherwise, the expression of worship and the very life of the individual church environment will be determined by the talent or power of individual members of the church - not by God’s called, anointed and approved leaders.

Crucial worship activities are now frequently being handled on an artistic/business model rather than a biblical/kingdom model. Rather than those who are called to God’s service as worshipers being identified, prepared, and given the authority to lead worship, we often find that leadership is given to individuals who have talent and/or training in the art form but no sure calling and no true preparation for ministry. Frequently the headship that puts these individuals in place does not have sufficient familiarity with the art form to judge the skill of the artists, but far more dangerous is the placement of people in leadership who have no clear vocation, calling of God, to that role. I rejoice that so much of our worship is anointed and appropriate; I am aghast at how much of it is not.

A tragic result of these mistakes is that many of those whom God has called to be full time worshipers use these gifts for worldly entertainment and never even recognize their true vocation in the House of the Lord. Perhaps more dangerous is the fact that other very gifted artists become hirelings in the church. They bring music, dance and the other arts into the Church for pay but bear no responsibility to the authority of Church leadership. Countless shoddy performing arts presentations, ugly and unworkable building designs, inappropriate garments, banners and decorations and, worst of all, immoral and degenerate lives, pass into God’s holy house and masquerade as legitimate representatives of His order and beauty. Jesus, one week before the crucifixion, cleansed the Temple of a similar lot and, in 70 AD, cleansed it further by allowing the complete destruction of Jerusalem, including the defiled Temple and its priesthood.

Over the past 2000 years whenever the Church has strayed from the truth, holiness, righteousness, order and beauty in which it was conceived, God has brought correction. He will not continue to wink at our iniquity. The pattern for properly addressing the worship situation has been laid out for us in the Tabernacle of David.

The Worshiping Levites, like the rest of the Levites, served under orders and were supported by the people (laity) who benefitted from their service, not by being entertained, but by having their desire to praise God at all times made possible through the sacrifices of the worship leaders. When the continuous praise and worship of God is being carried out by those who are gifted, called, prepared and approved to do it, the life of every household is blessed. Now every household would have the potential for having a member or members in that role, since the blood of Jesus, not the blood of Aaron, Zadok or any priestly family, opens the path to full-time service for those who are called.

We, all the children of God, are called to worship Him as individuals. Our hearts, our lips and every expressive capacity should be constantly responding to His glory, His power, His love. We are to come together in groups to worship Him in ways more grand than one person can manage. But, just as He calls some of us for headship and/or leadership in governing, teaching, preaching, mission work, helps and other areas, He calls some to be worshipers before the throne, that He might be glorified and that others might be led to worship Him too.

When the Lord returns, I don’t expect to have arrived at the destination that He has set before me. I just want to be on the true path toward it. Seek God to know your true vocation. If you believe you are called to be a Worshiping Levite (full time worshiper or worship leader), I pray that you will quickly find your way home to the Church, she needs you!