THE THRONE, THE KEY AND THE SURE MERCIES OF DAVID
A.Macdonald
Isaiah 9: 6,7; 22: 22-24; 55: 1-3
The scripture before us in the reading mentioned the key of David, and I thought we might consider from the Scriptures what is of David, David being a beautiful type of Christ. Isaiah puts it in its moral order the throne of David first, then the key of David and then the sure mercies of David. I want to be simple and use language that even the youngest can understand, and I wonder if we know what the lordship of Christ is. I think that the throne of David would suggest that we come under the lordship of Christ. We might have gone to the end of Genesis, which others have done before us. Someone asked Mr Raven what the general theme would be in the book of Genesis and he said, Well, in the book of Genesis you get three outstanding features: one is blessing, the next is dwelling and the third is rule, but he said the way we come into them is in the reverse order, we have to come under rule first. And what a blessed rule it is as we think of who the King is and what His name is! A young girl came to me the other day and asked me whether it would not be wise for her to go to a counsellor. We are thankful for what the government provides in the way of counsel, and you go to doctors for counsel, but I could not help but refer her to Christ. I said the best and the surest counsel that you can ever get is from the Lord Jesus Christ. That is one of His names - "Counsellor"; "His name is", not will be, but is. This is a present help available to us and it is to be found as we come under the sway and the wondrous rule of Christ. What a name He has! "Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace". Some of the truths are being challenged at the present time - men who have great minds are trying to undermine this, to undermine the Scriptures. We need to beware of that. The enemy knows his time is short and if he cannot put us to the stake, if he cannot bring about martyrdom, he will bring about corruption. That is exactly what happened in the history of Israel. It has often been said that the time of the sufferings of the martyrs was an exceedingly bright time in the history of the church. Christians were very bright then, but it is when the pressure is taken off that we have a tendency to be like Laodicea and lie back, and we are neither hot nor cold. And what does the Lord say of that? "I am about to spue thee out of my mouth", Rev 3: 16. Oh, one would trust that we may realise, beloved brethren, that we are in the last few days of the church's history here, and may there be deep down fervency in our hearts and love for Christ and a waiting for His appearing - "thou hast kept the word of my patience", Rev 3: 10. Think of the patience of Jesus, how He is waiting, waiting for the public display of His bride! That is the word of His patience: are we keeping it? He says, Thou hast kept it. Think of what He will make us! He is able to do it: "Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace". This is in relation to government: "the increase of his government and of peace": wonderful! No matter how strong a government is in this world, one day it may be peace and another time they do not know; the most powerful governments on the earth today are fearful of what may happen tomorrow, all the elements are there for a general conflagration and I do not want to be here to see the next one. It is a wonderful promise: "I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial", Rev 3: 10. It is not like Noah who had to go through the flood but it is more like Enoch who was translated; the world was so bad that he was translated and that is what we are looking for. Thank God we will not have to go through it! I think the Lord's coming is imminent, His patience entering into it. But one's great exercise is, Are we ready for the Lord's return and are we fervent in our hearts and in our love for Christ?
Well, we begin with the thought of rule, as it says: "the throne of David". It is an administration of rule. And what a wonderful administration we are under! We are not under law, we are not under bondage. That is what Paul is speaking about in Romans 6: "we are not under law but under grace" (v 15); and in chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians he is contrasting what we were as under law, under the old covenant. The old covenant may have begun in glory but the new covenant subsists in glory and will go right through. It is a wonderful thing to be able to speak of the new covenant and of being under the rule of Christ. You say, Is it linked? I know they are different subjects but they are linked because He is our King and we have only one King; there is only one centre of God's universe of bliss and that is Christ, and everything we have and everything we rightly desire we get from that blessed One and He is able to maintain it. No matter how small we are, maybe just the twos and the threes, it is a tremendous comfort to know that He is able to maintain us right to the very end till He comes for us. He is able for it, He is so great. His government is not irksome. One would appeal to the young to commit themselves unreservedly to Christ, to come under His lordship. What God wants to do in His sovereignty is to take you out of the kingdom of darkness and translate you into the kingdom of the Son of His love. David means 'beloved'; he was beloved of God and selected by God; he was not man's choice; man's choice was king Saul. Without a trace of a doubt man's choice will always fail but God's choice will never fail. What God has begun in us, if He has begun a work in us, He is going to complete. We may have to go through discipline, thank God for it, but what He has begun in you and me He is able to complete and He is going to complete it for His glory. It is not to make anything of ourselves. Paul says that in 2 Corinthians 4, we are just earthen vessels in order that the surpassingness of the power may be of God and not from us (see v 7). That is where the power is, it is of Him and not of us.
So here we have the throne of David. It is a wonderful regime to be in, it is a throne of grace, grace reigning through righteousness. And we are still in that day. Does anyone want to change that? It is the reign of grace, the throne of grace, the throne of David. David represents the great dispensation of grace, and how it was reigning in David's day! I do not think anyone who loves the Lord Jesus would want to change for one moment the reign of grace, and it is through righteousness. God has provided a righteous basis in the precious finished work of Christ and that is absolutely unaltered, no one can touch it, and the guarantee of that is that God in His mighty power has raised that blessed one from amongst the dead. I was struck the other day in reading something by Mr Darby, that God's power was seen not only in the resurrection of Christ from amongst the dead but also in His exaltation and in that He is given a name which is above every other name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess to the glory of God the Father (see Phil 2: 10,11). I have been pondering that since, God's power entering into His exaltation of Christ and where He has put Him. Oh, that we may have our eyes upon Christ where He now is! He is no longer in the grave; there were those who sought Jesus in the grave; He is no longer there, He is in the glory and He has been given a name which is above every name. As the hymn says: How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear! (No.54). If you consider David's men who sat at his table, there was not one of them who deserved to be there. What kind of men were they that came to David in the cave of Adullam? They were in debt, they were downcast, they could not bring anything to David, but they came and were received by David and it says "he became a captain over them", 1 Sam 22: 2. And one of the first things that David said when he began to reign was "Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God to him? " 2 Sam 9: 3. What a standard that is - the kindness of God! They looked and finally someone said, There is one but he is way off in Lodebar (and that means a place of no pasture) and his name is Mephibosheth and he is a son of Saul's son. He was not able to come himself so David sent and fetched him. Ah, it is wonderful; in one sense every one of us in this room has been found by Jesus just where we were. He has gone out, He has travelled the distance and He has found us just where we were and He has brought us, He has carried us. Mephibosheth was carried. One would trust that we may retain the spirit of Mephibosheth with us all the way through. None of us can boast, none of us have any plea. Mephibosheth said, I am but a dead dog. You say, That is terrible language to use. No, that is the right language to use, he could not have used any better. If it was not for you David I would not have had a thing; and neither would Saul nor would any of the subjects have anything if it was not for David. He alone met the enemy, met Goliath and slew him completely. Israel was brought from under bondage; if it had not been for David where would they have been? Ah, if it had not been for Christ where would you and I have been? David is a type of Christ and the types all fall short, but we have in the Lord Jesus Christ our glorious Saviour One who never fails and will never fail. Oh, how wonderful to be under His sway! How wonderful to eat at the king's table continually! That is what happened to Mephibosheth. His lameness would not be seen there. What do we do when we see the brethren coming into the meeting room on Lord's day morning? We are at the King's table as it were and I think we need to see the very best in one another and to prefer one another as better than ourselves; that is the Lord's way. We cannot boast. The throne of David is a wonderful sway to be under.
Then we have the key of David: "the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder". Our ways are not God's ways. We might have thought, if God is going to work this thing out, surely He will bring in a great display; one of the mightiest kings of the earth He is going to raise up and He is going to use him. No, that was not God's way. Think of what it was: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given". It began in that lowly way, how God drew near to us in Jesus, and yet all the Fulness was there in that Babe as He was lying in a manger. As His parents brought Him into the temple Simeon by the Spirit of God realised that that little Babe He had in his arms was the Lord Christ, the full mature thought. He never ceased to be what He was and yet He came into lowly manhood in such a way in order to attract our hearts to Him. Now we have the key of David - I know that this type falls short because this is just a type, but this section we can use I think by the Spirit of God in relation to the key of the house of David - and it is laid upon His shoulder. As one has remarked before I believe the key of David has in view what has been opened up to us, beloved brethren, in the last one hundred and fifty years or more, what we have been recovered to. It was so at the beginning just as Paul received these things. One feels that we need to remain humble and to be in constant self-judgment before God if these precious things are to be maintained to us to the end. Let us not presume to be anything or anybody; let Christ be everything. This recovery was during the time of the terrible Spanish inquisition, when Adnio Polcario of Spain, that beloved martyr, because he was reading the Scriptures was arrested, and without any attorney he was put in the midst of that party of inquisitors and they asked him three questions. They said to him, In your understanding what is God's way of salvation given for men? And without hesitating he said, Christ. And the second question was exactly the same as the first, What is God's way with men in relation to salvation? And again he said, Christ. And the third time they asked the same question and his answer was, Christ. He did not waiver. They had three questions that were different; they thought that there are at least three ways of salvation but none of them was in relation to Christ. That man did not have a chance, they took his head off and burned him, that is what they did to that beloved man, that martyr who was true to Christ. We can understand how safe it is for the key of David to be upon Christ's shoulder and no one else's. What are we resting on? What are we putting our trust in? One would appeal to the youngest heart here, the young lads, the young girls, the old in this room, what are we putting our trust in? Is it in the Lord Jesus Christ or is it in some other? But this is the key of David, and the key of David, thank God, has opened up to us, not only rule and right administration, but it has also brought in a sweet psalmist of Israel. The last words of a man are very important, and it is in his last words recorded in 2 Samuel 23 that David brings those two thoughts forward: he speaks of rule and yet he says "And the sweet psalmist of Israel saith" (v 1). I believe that opens up to us the great thought of the service of God. Oh what has been recovered to us! The Lord has opened that door to us. How thankful we should be! What privileges we have been brought into! What does the world know about the service of God? If you asked anyone in the street they would not know what to say, they would point you to some church or something. They know nothing; not that we know anything as we should, we cannot boast, but Christ has opened that door to us and it is still open and it will be open to the end because no man can shut it. How certain it is! Oh that we might hang on Him! You say, Well, if I am to get the blessing of this what am I to do? You do not have to do anything, just hang on Him. It says in Luke that they hung on Him to hear (see chap 19: 48). That is important; what the Lord may say to us hang on to. It says "they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house". How true that is! Think of what was hung on Christ - all the glory of His Father's house, to speak reverently, and the offspring and the issue. David would say that: the offspring and the issue too. He is "the root and offspring of David", Rev 22: 16. And all the vessels: that brings in you and me. Oh, that it may be true of everyone in this room - all the vessels. You say, I am just a very little vessel, about the size of a cup, or it may be a thimble; nevertheless there is room for you there. Hang on to Jesus, put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have a question go to Him, get on your knees, get into His presence and ask Him about it, that is where you will get the answer. Where did the psalmist get his answer? When he went into the sanctuary, then he knew (see Ps 73: 17). It is when we go into the divine presence that we learn things as they should be learned and we get the divine mind. "As well the vessels of cups as all the vessels of flagons"; I suppose the flagons would be much larger. You will find good company there, young people, you will find Peter hanging there, you will find Paul and John there, they would be large vessels. We may feel our smallness but it is good company to be in.
Now in chapter 55 God is speaking and we are still in a day of grace; it is the glad tidings and it is very wide in its aspect: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters;... come, buy". You say, I have no money. That does not matter: "without money and without price". What a God we have to do with! Why is it that the glad tidings can be preached? Do not forget the chapters before this one. I had a habit of skipping chapters and I did it once in a reading with Mr Taylor. We learn by our mistakes. The previous Tuesday I had given a word on "I am for peace" (Ps 120: 7) and just spoke about the man of peace. And so our beloved brother brought it up in a very fatherly way in the next city reading and said, But Alan, you forgot that peace is only won through conflict, you must not overlook the war. So when we come to this chapter we must not overlook the 53rd chapter, the sufferings of Christ. I do not know of anything that will soften our hearts like going over and over and going back again and again to the holy sufferings of Christ; we need to go back to it and we need to be retained in it. If our hearts are to remain soft we need to go back to Isaiah 53, to the holy sufferings of Jesus. I think about twenty one times Isaiah mentions He, He, He; no one else, there is only one glorious Saviour. That is why the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip "concerning whom does the prophet say this? of himself or of some other? " Acts 8: 34. Philip the evangelist; what an opportunity for you! God opened the door for him and beginning at the same scripture he preached unto him Jesus. That man could readily see, when he heard that living powerful word by the Spirit through the evangelical man Philip, that he must go out of sight. And wonderful it was! they were in the desert and yet he could say "Behold water; what hinders my being baptised?". Never mind about anyone else, what hinders me from being baptised? I believe, beloved brethren, that the only way to blessing is just to know what it is to go out of sight. The Lord is not going to leave us in the water; when you baptise a little one you do not leave it in the water, you bring it up again, but it is in view of another world of which Christ is the centre. How wonderful this is! So we get the teaching in chapter fifty four but in chapter fifty five we get the preaching, and that is the order on Lord's day, the reading in the afternoon and then the preaching afterwards. So this fifty fifth chapter is like the preaching after the afternoon reading. It says "I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David". Is that not wonderful? And that is available for any one. You cannot trust persons in the world, you cannot trust what is of the world because it is here today and gone tomorrow. You see constantly in the newspaper where persons have invested all their savings in something and someone has absconded with it and they have nothing; that is like the world. But not so in the things of God, they are cumulative, you grow in your soul and was wealthy we become spiritually! It is a wonderful thing to think of God reasoning with us. You spend money for that which is not bread and you labour for that which satisfieth not. "Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live". I think that is what we want to see in our local meetings - life. In one sense life is found alone in Jesus; I think that is the burden of John's gospel, you get attraction to Christ first and then you get affection for Christ next, but you get attachment to Christ at the end of the gospel; "Art thou attached to me?”. And that is where life comes in, when we are attached to that blessed One. He is worthy of our all.
But this is in relation to the sure mercies of David that never fail. May we be encouraged for His Name's sake.
NEW YORK
22 October 1983
EXTRACT
Our religion should not be altogether a religion of regrets.
(J.N.Darby: Volume 19 page 229).