A Throne in the Tabernacle Part 1: The Worship Order of David
There is a throne in the tabernacle. There was one in David’s day. There is one in our day. And there will be one forever in the age to come.
Part One: The Worship Order of David
Have you ever heard of the tabernacle of David? I promise you, we are going to stare at it for eternity. The Scriptures call King David “a man after God’s own heart.” He established a worship order that was at the center of his kingdom, it is filling the earth now and will fill all the nations before the Son of David returns to Jerusalem and establishes His throne in the midst of that same worship order. It is called the tabernacle of David.
King David is juxtaposed in the Bible with the king that preceded him named Saul. Have you ever heard of that guy? Saul was chosen by the people of Israel because they wanted to be like every other nation and have a king to rule over them. The prophet Samuel, who was presiding as a judge over the land, told the Lord, “they want a king” and God replied, “why would they want a king they have Me?” They were not rejecting Samuel as a judge but they were rejecting Yahweh as their leader. What set apart Israel from all the other nations was the glory of God in their midst. The uncreated God, Yahweh in covenant with them. Yet they didn't want the glory of God to set them apart, instead, they wanted to be like every other nation that had kings in palaces and rulers over them.
And the LORD said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. ... But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, "No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles." And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, "Obey their voice and make them a king." Samuel then said to the men of Israel, "Go every man to his city." - 1 Samuel 8:7, 19-22
Who was going to be their first king? There was an obvious choice among them because this man embodied all the qualities that the people were looking for in a leader. It says he was handsome, in fact, it says he was handsome twice, so he's double handsome. He came from a wealthy family, he was skilled in combat and it says he was about head and shoulders taller than all of his peers. From his outward appearance, Saul was the obvious choice. He looks like, he sounds like, and he smells like a leader.
But the reason the people loved Saul was ultimately the reason why God rejected him. The people told him that he had what it takes to be a great leader and his heart said, “I got what it takes. I got the skills, I'm double handsome and I can lead.” Saul thought he could expand the kingdom of Israel with his own hand. In his heart, the most important aspect of Israel was the palace, not the priesthood. So much so, that the moment that he was rejected was the moment when he tried to personally manipulate the priestly ministry in order for his own gain: to win a battle.
So Saul said, "Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings." And he offered the burnt offering. ... Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.' So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering." And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you. For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." - 1 Samuel 13:9, 11-14
God rejected Saul because of his pride and abuse of the priestly ministry. He was using the ministry which made Israel distinct from every other nation, for his own gain and ambition. At the moment the kingdom was taken from him, it says, “the Lord sought out” and already found a man that would rule according to God’s own heart. This man who God had found was, at the time, probably only thirteen or fourteen years old. This young man possessed none of the qualities the people were looking for in a leader. None. In fact, his own father left him out in the field when Samuel the prophet came to town to anoint the next king. Samuel commanded Jesse to get all of his sons and bring them to dinner. So, Jesse sent word and gathered them all, and guess where he left David? Out in the field. Why? To his father, he was irrelevant. He had nothing to offer. There is no way in the eyes of his father and brothers God would choose him.
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature… For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." - 1 Samuel 16:7
David did not possess any of the qualities that the nations were looking for in a leader, but he possessed one quality that heaven was looking for. Do you know what that quality was?
Worship.
When God looks for people to give assignments to, He doesn’t just look for skills and He’s not impressed by personalities. Heaven isn’t reviewing resumes and measuring salary sizes. There is one thing that catches heaven’s attention, one thing God is looking for. It's not the strength of their might, it’s not the level of their skill and not the scope of their intellect; first, it is worship. Why worship? Because when God uses someone in a mighty way who is a worshiper, all the glory goes back to Him. When God finds someone to release His power through, who is standing in awe of Him, overwhelmed in worship, fixed on this one thing, “to dwell in His house, gaze upon His beauty and inquire in His temple”(Ps 27:4), all the attention gets pointed back to Him. David possessed this one quality that heaven was looking for and Samuel anointed him to be king.
Twenty years later, after Saul had died and David had been reigning in Hebron for seven years, all the tribes gather to David to anoint him as king of Israel. This was his moment to take his place as king, to rule over the kingdom, to exercise his authority, to build his vision. Do you know what David did first?
He worshipped, and he called others to worship.
David gathered the leaders and commanders and said to all the assembly, "If it seems good to you and from the LORD our God, let us send abroad to our brothers who remain in all the lands of Israel, as well as to the priests and Levites in the cities that have pasturelands, that they may be gathered to us.” (1 Chron 13:2) The Levites, singers and musicians, were of no use to Saul; he sent them back to the pastures to be farmers. They were digging up fields, trying to make a living for themselves. David, day one on the job, sends for them and brings them to Jerusalem. Then David made the most important leadership decision of his entire life.
Then let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul." - 1 Chronicles 13:3
Can you imagine that being on your epitaph? David's overview of the state of the nation under Saul's leadership was, “We did not seek the presence of God under Saul’s leadership.” David swore that before he ever went into his house, the first thing he was going to do was go get the Ark of the Covenant. He vowed that the presence of God would be at the center of all that they would do from that day forward. David knew this was the only thing that made them distinct and unique among the nations. In Psalm 132, Solomon was writing about his father David and he says,
Remember, O LORD, in David's favor, all the hardships he endured, how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, "I will not enter my house or get into my bed, I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob." Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar. "Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool!" Arise, O LORD, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. - Psalm 132:1-8
David made this vow that he would make the presence of God the center of his kingdom. So, he told them to go get the ark. It was sitting out in a field. The very ark that was in the tabernacle of Moses. The Ark of the Covenant was the throne on which the glory of God manifested on earth above the golden cherubim. Inside, it contained Aaron's staff that budded, the ten commandments, and the manna inside. It was the very convergence point between heaven and earth. God’s throne on earth was meant to be in the tabernacle. Saul in his pride said, “I have no need for that throne, I have my own throne, thank you,” and he left it out in a field. David, the man after God’s own heart, came up to Jerusalem said, “I don’t want just my throne in Jerusalem, I want His throne in our midst.”
David pitched a tent for the ark in Jerusalem. He put it inside of the tent and set singers and musicians surrounding the ark twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This was their full-time occupation; they didn’t have any other service except day and night to sing to the glory of God resting over the mercy seat. Here is what is absolutely stunning about what was happening in that tent. In Moses’ tabernacle, there is a veil around the ark and no one could enter into the holiest place or they would be struck dead. One man, once a year, the high priest, could enter into the holy places. After David dies, Solomon builds the temple and again the ark goes back into the inner chambers; into holy places. Again, only the high priest, once a year, could enter in. But for thirty-three years, David put the ark in a tent, surrounded it with something called the sacrifice of praise and all who entered could gaze with unveiled face at the glory of God. He knew, by divine revelation, that praise, worship, and adoration, was the incense God desired and would be the atmosphere that the glory of God would dwell in. There was no stage in the tabernacle; it was God in the middle and everyone surrounding. No one was struck dead as they stood before the ark. David chose twenty-four families, led by the elders of those families to minister to the Lord. Does that sound familiar? Twenty-four elders surrounding a throne? He stationed them around the ark, and the twenty-four singing prophets began to sing night and day to the glory of God accompanied by two hundred and eighty-eight of their brothers and sons. The backup band was four thousand musicians. All to minister to the Lord. Four thousand gatekeepers and six thousand judges and officers were appointed to handle the operations, logistics, and finances of the tabernacle (1 Chron 23-25). He paid the salary of four thousand two hundred and eighty-eight singers and musicians, another four thousand gatekeepers and their families, housed them, and kept it going for thirty-three years. David spent roughly, in today’s economy, about a hundred billion dollars to minister to the Lord in that tent…a hundred billion dollars to keep it going. In David’s mind, it was more than worth it.
Thirty-three years gazing with unveiled face upon the glory of the Lord.
David saw something that was beyond his day. David had a revelation of a room in heaven (Rev 4) that he wanted to replicate on earth. He saw a worship culture in heaven surrounding the throne in heaven and David said to himself, “I want the throne in Jerusalem to look like that throne.” On earth as it is in heaven.
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads... and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: ... And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" ... the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." - Revelation 4:4, 6, 8, 10-11
He saw a greater glory coming. A day when we would see the glory of God in the face of Christ for 33 years. He saw a day when a worship movement would arise in every nation, beholding the glory of God with unveiled face, and sing. He saw a day the glory of God would cover the earth like the waters cover the sea. He understood that the authority of his kingdom didn’t come from his political savvy. His confidence in battle didn’t come from his military prowess. Power and authority came from the ministry in the tabernacle, the open heaven, the convergence point between heaven and earth, and the manifest glory of God. David said to himself, “I'm going to spend a billion dollars making sure that that convergence point stays open.”
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident [in this]…One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. - Psalm 27:3-4
This was the tabernacle of David.
David gave all the plans for the tabernacle to his son, Solomon. The plans for the courts of the house of the Lord, the divisions of the priests and the Levites, and all the work and the service of the house of the Lord. All that David did was under the direction of the Spirit of the Lord, as the Spirit laid his hand upon David and made him understand. This plan was a blueprint from heaven for the tabernacle of David. He commanded Solomon to build according to this blueprint.
Then David gave Solomon his son the plan of the vestibule of the temple… and the plans for all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD… also for the division of the priests and the Levites, for all the work of the service of the house of the LORD… "All [this]," [said David], "the LORD made me understand in writing, by [His] hand upon me, all the works of these plans." – 1 Chronicles 28:12-19
This became what is known as the Davidic order of worship. David was not just establishing an order of worship and a culture of worship for his kingdom. David was establishing a worship order and culture that God would replicate for all ages. The tabernacle of David will be the blueprint for revival in Israel, the priesthood of believers, the harvest in the nations, and the center of Jesus’ government in the age to come.
