THREE DAYS WITH DAVID
By W. P. Mackay, M.D.
“Now these are they that came
to David to Ziklag,
while he kept himself close because of Saul the son of
The
warriors described in 1 Chron. 12. came to King David to
Ziklag “while he yet kept himself close, because of Saul.” Our King likewise is on high, on the Father’s
throne, [awaiting His inheritance (Ps.
2: 8) and] till His enemies are made His footstool, when He shall
take His own throne. He has gone to the
Father, and thus the world is shown that the Father is righteous in giving a
righteous throne to the Righteous One who had been cast out. We rejoice to suffer shame and rejection for
His name. Better to be alone with David
in the cave, with the frugal fare and handful of water, than to be with Saul in
the sumptuous palace and feasting at a royal board!
These
men, “among the
mighty, helpers of the war,” are described as “armed with bows, and could use
both the right hand and the left.” We, in like manner, require to have both feet planted firmly for the battle. So long as I saw merely the truth concerning
the Cross, I felt like a man fighting on one foot, but when the glory of the
Crown appeared, I felt sure footed. We,
too, require those who are ambidexter, who can foght
on the right hand with Infidelity and on the left hand with Superstition; some
who can hurl the heave and effectual, if rather clumsy-looking stone, and
others who can shoot the sharp, swift, and sure arrow in the interests of
David. We find that these were “even of Saul’s brethren of
Benjamin.” Correspondingly, were we not at one time, on Saul’s
side, “children
of wrath, even as others”?*
[*
Being blinded by Satan to “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ”
and “of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ, (2 Cor.
4: 4, 6, R.V).
cf.
Habakkuk 2: 14.]
A CALL FOR ENERGY AND COURAGE
“And of the Gentiles, there
separated themselves unto David, into the hold
of the wilderness, men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountain” (verse 8). Here we have men who were consecrated,
skilled, bold and active. As servants of
Christ, likewise, we must present our bodies living sacrifices, holy and
acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. We must have men who are skilled in the use
of the sword and shield, not merely knowing the letter of the Word, but able “rightly to divide the Word of
Truth” - able to use it for
doctrine or reproof, for correction or instruction in righteousness.
We
require that courage which comes from above, the faces like lions, conscious of
the strength of the fortress we are in.
Not so much fighting for the Truth as letting the Truth fight for us,
fearing neither man nor devil, but strong in the strength of the Lord. Activity is to be ours in this evil day. All around is active; and with our feet shod
with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, it is our blessed privilege to be
(like the Gadites) “swift as the roes upon the mountain,” carrying the proclamation of His grace and glory over
hill and dale, in the energy of the Divine Spirit. Undaunted and unchecked even by the
overflowing of the banks of the rivers that cross our path of faith, we shall
be in the company of Amasai, chief of the captains of the Benjamites, and say: “Thine are we, David, and on thy side,
thou son of Jesse: peace,
peace be unto thee, and
peace be to thine helpers: for thy God helpeth
thee” (verses 15, 18).
“UNDERSTANDING OF THE TIMES.”
Besides
these bold and devoted warriors, we find mention of others: “And of the children of
Issachar, which were men that had understanding
of the times, to know what
I
am sometimes asked: “Are you thus at all times thinking that the Lord may
return at any minute?” Many such
conscientious questions think that we desire to get people into a sort of
star-gazing and ecstatic frame of mind, suited for dreamers and
theorisers. As a fact, we study these
questions to know what we ought to do.
We wish not to be dreamers, but doers, and also intelligent doers – true
sons of Issachar. First, we wish to know
what the
Then,
as to the government of this world we are to have intelligence. Jew and Gentile have united in refusing the
Suffering-King. Man has thus been left
to himself - the Gentile to Caesar, the Jew to Barabbas. He has tried every form of government and
failed, from the Caesarism of despotic government to the wildest
Communism. But the intelligent sons of
Issachar are calm through all, and wait for a King to reign in righteousness, a
King who can justly say: “I know the best thing to do in judgment, and I can do what I know.” In other
words, we wait for a King who has perfect wisdom and perfect power - Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God. “This is our God: we have
waited for Him.”
THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE
Before,
through God’s grace, I saw these blessed truths, my reading of Scripture was
considerably “mixed up.” Awkward texts, ever and anon, would come up,
for which I could make no place. We
should have no theology, past, present, or future, that has not room for all God’s texts.
When I bought a dissected map of the world for my boys, it took them
considerable time to put it together, and one or two attempts were
failures. One day Fred got it nearly
square, but with rather suspicious intervals, and he said: “Will this do?”
“Not quite, my boy,” I said, as I saw he
had something like this put up - a bit of America stuck north of Hindustan,
Australia doing its best to find a home in the Atlantic, and Lake Superior
adding to the volume of the Pacific! I
looked round and found the cause of all the confusion in a “country” that had fallen underneath the table! “Look here, Fred,
where is the place for this?”
Fred did not like that country; he could have joyfully born its loss, or
seen it buried; but that would not do, so we had to take down all his
up-making, and find room for his left-out country, and then the map was
correct.
Thus
it is with most of our ordinary eschatology.
Text after text is found for which there is no place. Entire dispensations are lost sight of. Jewish truth gets hopelessly mixed up with
Gentile truth, and the Church’s hope gets sadly crushed out of both. We must look over our theological map and try
to make room for all God’s texts. Whether they are soldiers, sentinels, or
scholars, we find, as to David’s mighty men, that one thing was characteristic
of them all. “They
could keep rank, and came with a perfect heart
to
“MAKING
DAVID KING.”
What,
in fact, was the one purpose that filled the hearts of those warriors during
the three days’ feast? “To make
David king over all
[*
See Romans 8: 21. cf. Isaiah
40: 5, 10; Jeremiah 23: 5; Psalm 82: 8,
R.V.]
In
a heavy storm, the captain of a vessel, if he wishes some important rope to be
watched, and tightened, or slackened, at the word of command, does not employ
some boy, lately shipped, but the veteran, trustworthy tar, who answers to all
commands with the ready “Aye, aye, sir.” “Jack,” says
he, “let go,” or “hold
on,” just as told. “Aye, aye, sir.” A mate comes along the deck, and says to
Jack: “Why do you hold on there?” “Because I’m told,”
is all the answer. “But you don’t see results; you don’t see where that rope goes over there to that you hold on by.” “No; but I know
obedience. The captain will run the ship. I have only to do what I’m told. Clear out, and let me mind my work!”
“BEHOLD HE COMETH!”
Fellow
Watcher! “Hold
fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
The Son of David shall yet sit on David’s throne. God. in Matt. 1, has proved it genealogically, and He will fulfil
it genealogically, and not allegorically.
The Son of man is yet to sit on the throne of this world, with all
nations blessed in Him, and calling Him blessed. The usurper is to be cast into the bottomless
pit, and then the Prince of Peace will reign.
Now
we find God disowned, the [Holy] Spirit despised, Christ rejected, the Church broken up
and corrupted by [false
eschatology and] the cravers of worldliness, infidelity, and hypocrisy. We
wait for the time when Great Babylon shall be judged and burned, Antichrist
consumed with the gleam of Christ’s coming, Beast and False Prophet cast into
the lake of fire, the Jewish nation gathered, united and converted, Satan
bound, all nations brought under the sway of righteousness, and the crown
rights of David’s Son established in the sight of the universe.
The day of the Lord, it cometh,
It cometh like a thief in the night,
It comes when the world is dreaming
Of safety, and peace, and light;
It cometh, the day of sackcloth,
With darkness and storm and fire,
The day of the Great Avenger,
The day of the burning fire.
The day of the Lord, it cometh,
When virgins are all asleep,
And the drunken world is lying
In a slumber yet more deep;
Like a sudden lurch of the vessel
By night on the sunken rock,
All earth in a moment reeleth,
And goes down with the shock.
The flash of the sword of havoc
Foretelleth the day of blood,
Revealing the Judge’s progress,
The downward march of God;
The fire which no mortal kindles’
Quick seizes the quaking earth,
And labours the groaning creation
In the
pangs of its second birth.*
[* What “second birth” might this be?
Read R.
Govett’s excellent exposition.]
Then the day of the evil endeth,
And the righteous [millennial] reign comes
in,
Like a cloud of sorrow evanish,
The ages of human sin;
The light of the morning gleameth
Adown, without cloud of gloom,
In chains lies the ruler of darkness,
And the Prince of light has come!
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* “It is to this sojourn of the saints in Hades that I
would refer a very difficult passage in the 139th
Psalm, which speaks of a body curiously
fashioned, in ‘the lower parts of the earth.’ Now [all] the
saints are the body of Christ. Eph. 4: 12, 16;
Col. 1: 18, etc, and in that body each has its place. But the saints, who are to them that body, are being [and have
been] gathered [immediately
after their death] in the lower
parts of the earth; and ‘Hades’ is the womb from
which they shall be born at the [time of their] resurrection. Understood, thus,
the passage presents no difficulty. It
is Christ who speaks - ‘My substance was not hid from
Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lower parts of the
earth. Thine eyes did see My substance, yet being imperfect; and in
Thy book were all my members written, which
in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there
was none of them.’ Psalm 139: 15, 16. Now there was a time when the saints existed
as the elect in God’s purpose alone - ‘as yet there was
none of them.’ Yet they were made
members of Christ, and so are now ‘in continuance being
fashioned,’ as time, and the
purposes of God, to bring each to their natural and supernatural birth. In God’s book also, are ‘all’ the [redeemed] ‘members written.’ That book is the book of life, as it is
written - ‘Rather rejoice because your names have been
written in heaven,’ Luke 10: 20. ‘Clement also, and other of my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life,’ Phil. 4: 3. ‘Whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire,” Rev. 20: 15.
“In
this respect, the building of the real