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Tabernacle of David © 1999, William H. Hopper Table of Contents |
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What is all this prophetic worship about? It is end-time stuff. Most of us agree that we are in the end times and that God is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh. He also is restoring the Tabernacle of David. How do I know this? If He is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, then he also is restoring the Tabernacle of David. He says He will do both in the end times. It really doesn't say which is first. I think it is being accomplished simultaneously.
Ps 40:3
3 He has put a new song in my mouth-- praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD.
(NKJ)
Let's look this verse over. The new song referred to here is the prophetic song. How do I know? Because the new song is praise to our God as stated in the verse. That praise is tehillah. Tehillah is the spontaneous song. This has already been established in an earlier chapter. What does it say about the new song? Many will see it and fear and trust the Lord. The fear in this verse is the ‘reverent’ kind of fear.
The word ‘trust’ means to hie for refuge. ‘Hie’ means ‘to strive’ or ‘hasten’. So what we see here is that God will put a prophetic song in our mouth and this will cause many to reverence the Lord and seek Him, and His refuge. Now, how does this compare with:
Acts 15:16-17
16 'After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up;
17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does all these things.'
(NKJ)
The tie here is clear. One says many will see and seek refuge and the other says "so the rest of mankind many seek the Lord". What about the prophetic piece of Psalms 40:3?
Acts 2:17-18
17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I
will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your
young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
and they shall prophesy.
(NKJ)
Who will prophesy? Our sons and daughters as well as His menservants and maidservants. That covers all of us in the church, does it not? "And they shall prophesy". If we enter into the Davidic form of worship, wouldn't we all be prophesying? Yes. This does not limit us to prophetic song, but certainly could, and I feel does, include the prophetic song.
What I see here is that the Tabernacle of David is in conjunction with the pouring out of His Spirit on all flesh. Is it reasonable to think that He could pour out His Spirit on all flesh, through His church and beginning with His church? Yes. And I believe that this is the case.
If we sing prophetically, then we are allowing God to sing through us. Since He is the light of the world, we are illuminating the world with His presence. Since we are illuminating the presence of God when we sing, we release His nature within us and this is what He inhabits.
If music does, and I believe it does, go straight to the spirit of man, then when I or any other musician anointed of God prophesies on an instrument, we are literally infusing the presence of God into the listener. If the listener is an unsaved person, would this not cause that person to hunger after the presence he/she has just felt? Doesn't Jesus Himself say that He will draw all men unto Him if we lift Him up? Wow! It all starts coming together.
God has been working with us for a long time to get to this point. We have the capability now to reach the entire world. Each individual Christian can literally touch the whole world via our technology as well as the people on the streets of our local areas. He can literally pour out His Spirit on all flesh. He could always do this supernaturally, but now He can do it through us. This has always been His intention - to use us as vessels. I find this whole idea very fascinating; to the point of being intoxicated!
So if this is what God is doing, let's examine prophecy and see what it is, and what it does.
First, understand that prophecy is always given when God wants to accomplish something. He, Himself prophesied our world and all creation into existence when He said "let there be…".
After man was created, He chose to speak through man. He always tells His prophets first, then does what He has purposed to do. What is it that God is trying to do by having all of us prophesy in the end time? He wants the rest of mankind to seek Him because it is His desire that none should perish.
Prophecy is the foretelling as well as the forthtelling of the Word of God. If I say "thus sayeth the Lord: it shall come to pass…", then I have foretold the Word of the Lord. If I say "God sees your heart and He wants to bless you", then I have forthtold the Word of God. If I proclaim scripture, I have forthtold the Word of God. We don't have to proclaim that which will come to pass to be prophesying.
This takes a whole lot of the pressure off of us. It opens up the door to let God speak through us. We are, after all, the Body of Christ. Does the Body have a mouth? Yes. Prophecy is that mouth. It is His mouth. We must take care to not use our words as His… We must be very careful to prophesy His Word always and never our own.David said:
Ps 118:14
14 The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.
(NKJ)
Is God really a song? No. He does however inhabit tehillah and therefore the song is Him, just as the Word of God is Him. God was and is David's song because it is God speaking through him. These songs became scripture and "the Word was God". When we sing prophetically, God is singing. What are the unsaved going to do when God Himself sings to them?
God does not just inhabit the demonstration of praise any more. He inhabits our lives. When we become yielded to Him our very lives speak of Him. The rest of mankind is going to see the Tabernacle of David walking the earth. In this respect the Tabernacle of David is the church.
Hebrews 2:11 says Jesus stands in the midst of the congregation, singing to the Father.
Heb 2:11-12
11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified
are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,
12 saying: "I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I
will sing praise to You."
(NKJ)
If Jesus is literally standing in the midst of the congregation, shouldn't we sing too? After all, He is our role model. If this verse means He is singing through us, then we need to open our mouths and let it fly. I wouldn't want to be the one to put a gag on Jesus, would you?
If we reach that place where Jesus is in our midst singing, then the unsaved that enter our assemblies won't stand a chance. God will reveal Himself to them. If they won't come in, then we need to take Him to them. The beauty of a tent is that can be moved. We must no longer confine our praise and worship, our teaching preaching to the four walls of a sanctuary. We must take it all to the streets. That’s where the unsaved are!
My wife, Nancy, and I have seen this work. We led praise and worship in the streets of Seattle while four churches fed the homeless and preached the gospel to them. We were told by the leaders present that normally the homeless would grab their food and run. This time they stayed. Why? Because God Himself was pouring out His Spirit on them! Through the music (we weren't the only ones on the team - we're not taking any of the credit) He touched the hearts of the homeless. He drew them to Him with His Spirit. The prophetic music went straight to their spirits and drew them to Him.
People are tired of being preached to with no demonstration of the power of God. When God reaches out His hand and touches them, they respond. The prophetic music accomplishes His purpose. It prepares the heart for the Word which leads them to meet Jesus.
God wants to express Himself through His church. When we let Him lead us, miracles and salvations will result. I've seen it happen. The only difference between the Seattle outreach we participated in and other outreaches at that location was the prophetic music and praise. They saw the new song in our mouths and feared and trusted the Lord.
In an effort to make church palatable to the many, the prophetic voice of the church has been squelched. Not wanting to offend anyone, man has tried to find songs and modes of worship that were pleasing to their congregations.
The results of being seeker sensitive is a harnessing of the power of God. They managed to take all the passion out and the result was a dead church. No life in the meetings, just reciting scripture, a little teaching and a ‘song service’. God wants us to be passionate, to express our love to Him. He wants to express His love to us and through us.
It is our enemy that was behind the robbing of the church. Let's not point our fingers and join the accuser. Instead, let's lift our vision and open our mouths and let God express Himself.
Those that are offended can through instruction learn and change, or they will gravitate to other churches that are not offensive to them. It is offenses or the attempt to not offend that hinders the restoration of the tabernacle of David. There are diverse opinions in the Body with many opportunities to be offended. If we attempt to remove the offenses, we become seeker sensitive and seek to please man rather than God. This elevates man’s will above God’s! When Jesus walked the earth, He offended people. Did Jesus compromise His purpose to stop offending people? Did He withold or squelch the leading of His Father in order to make His message pallatible? We should never intentionally offend anyone, but if we are doing what God has called us to do and it is scriptural, then those that are offended need to deal with the One that sent us. I am not in favor of driving people out of our church. I am however, in favor of doing what God has called us to do. The early church offended so much that they were killed for it! They didn't stop doing what God called them to do because people were offended.How can we see a song? Psalm 126 says that the heathen will see the reality of God and see that the Lord has done great things for His people. The HEATHEN will see these things.
The prophetic song has been around for a long time. It was not limited to the Tabernacle of David:
2 Chr 29:27
27 Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD also began, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel.
(NKJ)
This is the song ‘of the Lord’ that accompanied the burnt offerings. Remember the sacrificial selah? These were trumpets that accompanied the burnt offering along with other instruments. There is a continuous theme here in the Word of God. Music and the prophetic are all through the Bible. The only book in the Bible that doesn't deal with praise and worship is Titus.
1 Chr 25:7
7 So the number of them, with their brethren who were instructed in the songs of the LORD, all who were skillful, was two hundred and eighty-eight.
(NKJ)
Notice here it says songs ‘of the Lord’, rather than ‘to the Lord’.
Ps 96:1-2
1 Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the
earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to
day.
(NKJ)
Here we are told to sing a new song. This instruction is to all the earth. That leaves no exclusions. This is to be done from day to day, not just on Sunday. There is a tendency in church at large, to put the freedom and revival meetings on an ‘off night’ or a back room, maintaining the structure and form of the traditional Sunday service.
We seem to have a large number of traditions that need to be broken down. We claim freedom and continue to flounder in bondage to traditions. One can even come into the bondage of always ensuring that they are not under bondage. Is there any hope? Yes.
John 7:38-39
38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'"39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet {given,} because Jesus was not yet glorified.
(NAS)
What do many rivers produce? The sound of many waters. This says rivers of living water. Would this not be the Word of God coming forth? Some say it is the laughter coming forth. This could be, but I believe this is the Spirit of God coming forth. The Spirit of Truth which was yet to be given.
If the Word of God came forth in song, and all God's people were coming forth with rivers of living waters, what a magnificent sound there would be! Millions of voices proclaiming and singing the word, the praises (tehillah) of God. I yearn for the sound of many waters.
Every time you find the sound of many waters in the Bible, the world is changed. That sound came to the earth the night Jesus was born to the shepherds in the fields; again on the day of Pentecost and yet again in the book of Revelation. I yearn for the sound of many waters spoken of in Revelations. The Spirit and the Bride say come!
What exactly is a prophetic song?
A prophecy that is sung or played on an instrument spontaneously. This would be a fresh word and/or song from God.
A timely song perhaps previously written, but quickened again by the Holy Spirit with a prophetic touch. How many times have we ‘prophesied’ a scripture to someone? What if I write a prophetic song on Tuesday and sing it on Sunday? Is it any less a prophetic song?
We must take care not to get caught up in our ‘greatness’ -- What a great prophet I am, or what a powerful prophetic psalmist. It is God that is doing the prophesying. It is imperative that the servants of Christ remember that He is the anointing. We are only vessels of honor. The power is in the Word, the Gospel. The power is in Jesus.
Isa 57:19
19 "I create the fruit of the lips: peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near," says the LORD, "And I will heal him."
(NKJ)
Heb 13:15
15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
(NKJ)
It has nothing to do with us. It is Him. We just yield. We must never develop the attitude that we are something special. Remember: God can use a donkey to speak.
There are three levels of prophetic songs. All of these are valid. They are not designated in level of importance, but all are to be offered at the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
The song of Thanksgiving 1 chr 25:1-3
The song of Scripture 1 cor 14:26 - a psalm
The Prophetic song 1 chr 25:1
Habakkuk 3 is an example of prophetic song outside of the book of Psalms. There were many psalms written that did not make it into the Bible. There were 288 prophetic musicians doing their thing in the Tabernacle for 33 years. Don't you suppose a few songs came forth? David performed his personal vow of worship seven times a day.
Ps 119:164
164 Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous judgments.
(NKJ)
If we just figure this out for 33 years and round it off (not counting leap years) we have 365 * (33 *7) = 9,731 songs if David came forth with a new song each time. There were 288 musicians! I sure would like to hear some more of their music and prophetic words!
Singers were important in the Tabernacle. The singers would bring forth the lyrics or illumination of God that would penetrate the heart. Music plows and prepares the heart for the Word of God. Singers are as important as the musicians. We should not feel like we are something special just because we can pick a guitar. I take great pleasure in listening to a talented singer. A gifted singer is just a valuable as a musician. It takes both a voice and an instrument to bring forth zamar.
Three dimensions of prophetic songs.
About the Lord (man to man)
To the Lord (man to God)
Of the Lord (God to man)
While singing to the Lord, we praise Him and exalt Him. We can also sing about him (man to man songs). While doing this we sense or hear the Spirit and sing it out as exhortation. This is the prophetic song. When we do tehillah and then yield to Him, we move into the prophetic.
In the modern church, we come together to receive, to hear a good word, to be recharged by a dose of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us something different. We don't come to church to receive. We do receive, but that is not why we come. We should come prepared to give as instructed. Each one has a psalm, a teaching etc. If we all come to give, we can't help but receive. If each member gives and there are 50 members, each one gives and receives 49 times. We are told in Corinthians:1 Cor 14:37
37 If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.
(NKJ)
This comes at the end of several instructive verses. Notice it says here that it is a commandment of the Lord. This coming prepared to give and participate is not optional. ‘I can't’ is not an excuse. We can do all things through Christ.
Col 3:16
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
(KJV)
Look at this. We teach and admonish each other in hymns, psalms and spiritual songs. In the early church they only had the Holy Spirit to teach. The New Testament hadn't been written yet. It is abundantly clear that this was the method of the times. Can anyone show me where it says that this was done away with? It hasn't been done away with. If the Lord gives you a word or a song (as long as it is comfort, exhortation or edification), give it. If it glorifies the Lord, it can't be wrong.
One evening in a small church in Eastern, Washington, we were done with the worship portion of the service. I was ready to turn off my amplifier and move into the preaching of the message. The Lord put it on my heart to sing a song that I was not sure of the chords or the words. I did know the chorus. I was obedient and I saw no fruit of the obedience so I figured that maybe, I had missed it. After the service was over and we moved into ministry time, a woman came up and testified that the song had touched her and set her free. She had been struggling and the words of the song were a message from the Lord to show her the way out.
We really have no idea of the impact we have on others when we are obedient. People watch us and see things that we aren't even aware of. How you live your Christian life is very important. We must not get sucked into the world's debates concerning right and wrong, theology and religion. We must simply put our trust in Jesus and let our lives emulate Him. If we do this, we don't have to worry about whether or not we are violating any commandments. There is no law against love and if we allow Jesus to LIVE in us, and yield to Him completely, then we are totally free.
If Christ rules and there is none of self, then the law is no longer a worry to us, we don't have to worry if each action we take is right or wrong. It is still there, we just obey it as a result of the love God has placed in us. If we love Him, we will keep His commandments because He will give us His nature and His nature is to be one with the Father who is love. If we truly yield to Jesus, sin becomes distasteful. How many people miss a blessing from God because someone else was afraid to be obedient? We've got to shed this fear of man and do the stuff!When we sing the new song God gives us, what are some of the results or what is the outcome of it?
Spiritual freedom is a fruit of the new song. Captives are set free of spiritual bondage.
Judg 5:12
12 "Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, O son of Abinoam!
(NKJ)
Ps 32:7
7 You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
(NKJ)
Utter a new song and there will be spiritual freedom. There will be natural freedom also manifested. The songs of the Lord bring deliverance. We see many times in the psalms that the singers’ countenance changes during the song. Jesus is the Truth and the Word is Truth. The truth will set you free.
1 Sam 16:23
23 And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.
(NKJ)
This is clearly spiritual freedom. Take a look at:
Ps 144:1
1 Blessed be the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle--
(NKJ)
David's hands were trained for war and his fingers for battle - spiritual battle. I am convinced he didn't go into battle and poke his enemy with his fingers. When he plucked the strings of his harp, he was doing spiritual warfare. Remember this the next time you pick up your instrument to worship and praise God.
Spiritual victory. We can sing and bring victory. Hosea 2:15 declares that Israel will sing in the valley of Acor. Acor means trouble.
We know from the Word of God that Jesus triumphed over death, hell and the grave. The word triumph means:
2358 thriambeuo (three-am-byoo'-o);
from a prolonged compound of the base of 2360; and a derivative of 680 (meaning a noisy iambus, sung in honor of Bacchus); to make an acclamatory procession, i.e. (figuratively) to conquer or (by Hebraism) to give victory:
KJV-- (cause) to triumph (over).
You know what Jesus was doing when He ‘triumphed’ over hell? He triumphed with a song! Check it out - an acclamatory procession! Jesus came out from hell singing! He was leading a procession.
What was the order of the procession? When David brough the ark to Mt. Zion, he led the way followed by musicians and finally the priests carrying the ark. The king, then the musicians, then the priests. The King, Jesus has ascended and He is restoring the musicians (the Tabernacle of David) so the priest (the rest of mankind - those that receive Jesus) can follow. I love the way the Word of God weaves its truths throughout the scripture!
Exodus 15:1 begins a song to the Lord. Who sang?
Exod 15:1
1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and spoke, saying: "I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea!
(NKJ)
Moses and the children of Israel. The events they were singing about had just happened. This had to have been a spontaneous song! They didn't have hymn books or overheads. They didn't pass out photocopies. This event had just happened. The words had to have been sung spontaneously. How did they all know the words? They didn't. This was antiphonal response. One would sing a line and the others would repeat the line. This is tehillah in action long before David's rule.
The advance forces are the musicians and singers in battle. Victory follows the song.
2 Chr 20:22
22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.
(NKJ)
This was tehillah they did. What happened to the enemy as a result? Victory comes from prophetic song.
Spiritual fellowship:
Prophetic song brings us closer to Jesus. We are singing and administering the expression of Jesus. We become His mouth piece. There is greater closeness when this happens. He inhabits our every word when we sing the prophetic song. He is the giver of the song.
The Spirit in us sings of the object and source of our love. It breaks bondage and brings our lives into a place of freedom and into a relationship with the object of our love. The object of our love is rightly the Lord and our neighbors. (All of them!) Jesus is Lord and He dwells in us. This means that He dwells in our brothers and sisters, too. If we become more intimate with Jesus, we will become more intimate with our neighbors.
The prophetic song uplifts. David encouraged himself with songs of deliverance. Some of the more powerful songs were when David was depressed, oppressed and/or discouraged. Then, right out of the depression came victory.
Isa 48:10
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
(NKJ)
This word tested means:'
977 bachar-
to choose, elect, decide for
a) (Qal) to choose
b) (Niphal) to be chosen
c) (Pual) to be chosen, to be selected
977 bachar (baw-khar');
a primitive root; properly, to try, i.e. (by implication) select:
KJV-- acceptable, appoint, choose (choice), excellent, join, be rather, require.
***. bachur. See 970.
The word affliction means:
6040 `oniy (on-ee');
from 6031; depression, i.e. misery:
KJV-- afflicted (-ion), trouble.
Does this shed some light?
Testifies of God. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. Psalm 92 speaks of God and His goodness. This type of psalm still comes forth today, if we will yield to allow it.
Reverence:
Ps 40:3
3 He has put a new song in my mouth-- praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD.
(NKJ)
Clearly this speaks of reverence that comes about because of the ‘new song’. As people see God's presence manifested in us with demonstration and power, they will revere God and will trust Him and seek refuge in His shadow.
Righteous living. Following the same verse we see that if the unsaved hear they will be converted if we release the power of God through the new song. If we allow Jesus to consume us and live in us, how can we help but live a righteous life? His righteous life, not ours.
Persuasion in the heart - When men see the reality of our God manifest in us with power and glory, their hearts will turn to holy fear of God.
1 Sam 10: 5-6 is the story of Saul meeting the singing prophets. Saul was changed by the prophetic song.
The diety sings. All three in the Godhead are singers.
Zeph 3:17 the Father sings
Hebrews 2:12 Jesus sings
Teaching and admonishing in spiritual songs: the Holy Spirit sings
The early church was born out of synagogue worship. The Talmud declares that men should utter praise before prayer. The early church followed this.
The Talmud was a collection of books and commentaries compiled by Jewish rabbis from A. D. 250-500. The Hebrew word Talmud means ‘study’ or ‘learning’. This is a fitting title for a work that is a library of Jewish wisdom, philosophy, history, legend, astronomy, dietary laws, scientific debates, medicine, and mathematics.
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary)
(Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)