בס"ד
The Key of David
By Warder Cresson (Michael Boaz Israel ben Abraham).
David Proved to be the Only True Messiah |
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 It is of the first and greatest importance to prove who is the Messiah of God, because upon this one point being fully established, either the Jewish or Christian faith prevails or falls therewith. "Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together "There shall come a Star out of Jacob, "Messiah" is the Hebrew for "Anointed," who is David, the "Messiah of the God of Jacob," (2 Sam. 23:1,) King of Israel. "Christos" is the Greek for "Anointed," who is the Savior, it is said, of the Gentiles. We can clearly see, from the language in which originated these two different Messiahs, the first in and from the Hebrew mashiach, and the second from the Greek Christos, from whence they first had their rise; so whichever of the two was literally anointed, that, and that one only, can be the only True Messiah of God. Because nothing done spiritually, that is only in idea, thought or imagination, can possibly ever constitute the true Messiah, or Anointed, for this plain and most simple reason, that it requires the literal act of pouring on the literal oil, as required by the Law of God*, and which oil was to be made according to the direction given in a Law of God, (see Ex. 30:23-33,) before any one can ever possibly lay any claim, as being the true Messiah, or "Anointed of the God of Jacob."
In all courts of Law and Justice, no Idea, Thought, Feeling, or Imagination, can possibly be regarded in the eye of the Law, as punishable, or rewardable, until wrought out or performed in act; -- for instance, a man may have very angry Ideas, Thoughts, Feelings, or Imaginations, but until he carried out some of these sensations in deed, or carries them out in action, he cannot possibly be condemned, nor found guilty; and just so, no man can in justice be rewarded for any good Idea, Thought, Feeling, or Imagination, until he actually performs it. By these remarks we can plainly see who was the True Messiah, or Anointed, the one that was literally in fact anointed, by the pouring upon his head of literal oil, by the Prophet Samuel, as is declared was done , in 1 Sam. 16:1-12 and 13, and declared by him to be the "Anointed (or Messiah) of the God of Jacob." See 2 Sam. 23:1. I will here quote these two most memorable declarations out of God's word, as full and all-sufficient proof of David being the true Anointed, or Messiah, as follows:-- "And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from ruling over Israel? Fill thy horn with oil and go, and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a King among his sons. And he brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance (i.e. fair of eyes, margin,) and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the spirit of the Lord came upon David, from that day forward." Now this was a very different thing indeed from any mere abstract Idea, Thought, Feeling, or Imagination; a very different thing indeed from any person seeing "the Spirit of God descending as a Dove and lighting upon him," (see Matt. 3:16,) which is all that Christians can bring forward in proof of their Messiah being the Anointed. And how can any rational mind see the Spirit of God? Is a spirit visible? If not, how can any sane mind assert that it was in the form or likeness of a Dove? Admit, however, that it was so, in the only possible way that an invisible spirit can be like a visible Dove, then it can only be in Idea, Thought, Feeling, or Imagination; and how can these feelings, or sensations, constitute the literal act of anointing, or prove him the Messiah, in the only lawful way and manner, as is declared by God must be fulfilled, by the Law of God, in fact, both as to the act of making the particular composition, and the mode of consecration prescribed by Divine authority? "Is it easier for heaven and earth to pass away than one jot or tittle of the Law to fail?" If so, the Law was fulfilled in the literal anointing of King David, which alone constituted him the Messiah, as David declared in 2 Sam. 23:1. "Now these be the words of David: David the son of Jesse, and the man who was raised up on high, the Anointed (the Messiah) of the God of Jacob, and the sweet Psalmist of Israel." Now I have not only proved that David was the Messiah, by the only act that can constitute any one the Anointed, but I shall now prove, that he will be Israel's King and Messiah at the Resurrection from the dead, as is declared in the 37th chap. of Ezekiel, and from many other places; and if so, who has any right to lay claim to David's Identity, as the Messiah, when we are assured by God's word and Holy Spirit, that he was a "man after God's own heart," (1 Sam. 13:14,) and that "his heart was perfect with the Lord his God." See 1 Kings 11:4. Most assuredly if this be true concerning David, he never transferred his Identity to any other person after him, as the Messiah of God, neither did he ever forfeit it. In the 37th chap. of Ezek. above alluded to, the prophet, after describing the literal Resurrection of the whole house of Israel in the first five verses, goes on in the 6th and says, "And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord." In the 21st verse he says, "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one King shall be King to them all, and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two Kingdoms any more at all; and David my servant shall be King over them--(not the Nazarene, for particularly mark, there is to be but ONE "King over them all,) and they shall all have ONE shepherd; they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes and do them." In the 34th chap. of the same prophet, it is declared in the 22d., 23d and 24th verses, "Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up One Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David, he shall feed them, and he shall be their Shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it." Is it possible for language to be more clear and definite in declaring that David is to be Israel's King and Messiah in that day? This, however, is but a very small part of the Scripture testimony in favor of the coming in power of the Holy King, Priest, and Prophet, and Messiah of God, at the Resurrection from the dead. In the 30th Chapter of Jeremiah, 7th, 8th and 9th verses, it expressly and most positively declares the time when God will raise up David unto them. "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it, it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it." "For it shall come to pass IN THAT DAY, saith the Lord of Hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, (compare this with Isaiah 9:4 and 6, for this is the time when 'unto us a child is born,') and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King (not Jesus), whom I will raise up unto them." Hosea 3:4 and 5, confirms David, and not another being Israel's King, for he says, "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a King, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim (as is now the case), afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, (whom Jeremiah has just said "God would raise up to them,") "and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days," and not 1800 years ago. Zech. 12:8, forever settles this most important question, and declares most clearly and plainly, that it is David: "In that day (when God 'saves the tents of Judah first,' see the verse before,) shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them." What then must David, their King, Prophet, Priest and Messiah, be? Psalm 16:9,10, taken in connection with the 18th chap. and 89th chap. 19-38 verses, throws all the necessary light required upon this most important question. The Psalm 16. 9th and 10th verses, reads thus: "Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices, my flesh shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy 'Holy One' (see verses 19 and 20 of the 89. Psalm, who this 'Holy One' is, whether David or Jesus,) to see Corruption." I challenge the world to test the truth of this last assertion, by visiting the Tomb of David, where I have been, and then they will know whether David's Body has "seen corruption" or not. The Psalm, 18,* shows us not only the Who, but also the manner of the resurrection of David.
David begins this Psalm by addressing God thus, "I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength in whom I trust; my buckler and the horn of my salvation, and my high Tower. "I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell (Hades or the Grave) compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me." Here we see David, after addressing God and calling upon him in the first three verses, then in the two last described his state in the Grave, compassed by the sorrows and snares of death, and them immediately in the next verse shows, that in this, his distress, he cried unto God, and he heard his voice out of his temple. He then shows immediately the manner in which he will come at his resurrection, and this he speaks of himself, in the first person, and not of any one else in the second person. Please mark this, "In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God; he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him even into his ears." Now for the manner and circumstances that will attend David's Resurrection and coming as follows: "Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he (God) was wroth." "There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it." "He bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under his feet." Now any unprepossessed and unprejudiced person can see that David is here speaking of God, and not of Jesus. So with what follows: "He bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and did fly, yea he rode upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place: his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." "At the brightness that was before him, his thick clouds passed hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord (Ad-nai) also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hailstones and coals of fire." Yea, "he sent out his arrows and scattered them, and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them." "Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the earth were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils." Now it will be admitted by all hands, that David has been speaking thus far of God in the second person, but now in the next verse he speaks of himself in the first person, and not of Jesus or of another in the second person. 16. "He sent from above, he took me, (not him,) he drew me out of many waters. 17. "He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me, for they were too strong for me. 18. "They prevented me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay." 19. "He brought me forth into a large place, he delivered me because he delighted in me. 20. "The Lord rewarded me according to my Righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me." 21. "For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God." 22. "For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me." 23. "I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity." 24. "Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eye-eight." Now I wish you particularly to understand that David in the last nine verses is speaking of himself in the first person and not of Jesus, nor of any one else in the second person. So he was in the first six verses of this same psalm; but at the seventh he changes the pronoun from the first to the second person, that is, from himself to God, thus: "Then the earth shook and trembled, the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He (God) was wroth." When there is such a plain and manifest distinction of the pronouns, preserving to David such vast promises of power and blessing at the Resurrection, how very unjust and unfair it is in Christians to try to rob David of his claims, by changing the first person to the second, and applying them to Jesus? for we are assured by God, through his prophet Jeremiah, 30th chapter, 9th verse, that Israel "shall serve the Lord their God and David their King, whom I will raise up unto them." I know well that there are thousands and tens of thousands so prejudiced and prepossessed, by education, in favor of Jesus being the true Messiah, that they will not hear, nor believe one word concerning David's being the only true "Anointed, or Messiah, of the God of Jacob;" but when God stirs up himself, and awakes to Judgment, to Judge his cause, then they will know who is the "Living Child" according to God's righteousness. Let such read the last five verses of the 35th Psalm, "Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me." "Let them not say in their hearts, (as the Church of Rome has done,) Ah, so we would have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up," by counterfeiting another Messiah. "Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together, that rejoice at my hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me." "Let them shout for joy and be glad that favor my righteous cause; yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant." The above is a full declaration of the shame and confusion of the enemies to David's Messiahship, and of the joy and gladness of the friends to him and his righteous cause. We will now turn our attention to the 89th Psalm, 19 to 38th verse, where we will have a full proof not only of David's Messiahship, but also who is the "Holy One" mentioned in Psa. 16:10. "For thou wilt not leave MY soul in hell, (i.e. Hades, or the Grave;) neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption," which last God has never suffered David to do, until this day, as facts prove. Psa. 89:19: "Then thou spoke in vision to thy Holy One, and said, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one Chosen (see 1 Sam. 16:6-14) out of the people." 20. "I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: made him my Messiah (see 1 Sam. 16:12, 13.) 21. "With whom my hand shall be established; mine arm shall strengthen him." 22. "The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him." Did not the enemy exact upon and afflict Jesus? Surely Christians say the enemy did. 23. "And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him." 24. "But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him; and in my name shall his horn be exalted." 25. "I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers." 26. "He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation." 27. "I will make him my First Born, higher than the Kings of the earth." 28. "My Mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him." 29. "His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven." 30. "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my Judgments;" 31. "If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;" 32. "Then I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes." 33. "Nevertheless my loving-kindness I will not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." Is this the language of the Gospel? Nay verily, but it is the very language of the Law to Israel. 34. "My Covenant will I not break, (for the Father's sake, ) nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips:" see Jer. 33:20 and 21, and 31:35-38. 35. "Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David." 36. "His seed shall endure forever, and his Throne as the Sun before me." 37. "It shall be established forever as the Moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah." Now in this Psalm is a full and unconditional guarantee of the Messiahship from God to David, and that confirmed by the oath of God's holiness, unto David. See verse 36. That promise is not to be merely during the term of his natural life, and limited, and then broken off by death; it is true, it is suspended, or in abeyance while the "sorrows of Hades, or the grave, compass him, and the snares (or bands) of death prevent him." (see Psa. 18:5;) but his "voice will God hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning (of the Resurrection) will I (he) direct his prayer unto God, and will look up." Psa. v. 3. Then will David's "seed endure forever, and his Throne as the sun before God." There is but one possible way to evade and destroy these promises of a Faithful, unchangeable God to David; and that is by the unwarrantable and unjustifiable transfer of David's person and name, that is, of his Identity, to Jesus of Nazareth, changing all the pronouns from the first to the second person--the I to the He, the my to his, me to him, and mine to thine. Permit me to ask, what property, title, or claim under heaven, could we not obtain by such a transfer in any court of justice? Only transfer the pronouns in any instrument from the first to the second person, and there is no claim that could be substantiated for a moment: it would be a complete forfeiture. But this I can prove from the Word of God, David never did, neither did God ever do it; as the above Psalm (the 89th) proves, and nearly all the other Psalms, particularly the 18th, where the Church of Rome first took the same small liberty of transferring David's Messiahship as King, Priest, and Prophet, to Jesus of Nazareth. This they have done, and Protestants too, by a single blow, by making a transfer of the first personal pronouns to the second person; thus effecting a complete change of David's Identity to Jesus. Are Christians aware of the dreadful dilemma they have brought themselves unavoidably into, of giving Jesus his own body and that of David's body too, and leaving poor David without any body at all? For all Identity is dependent upon our distinct Body, or Personality, and no other person dare claim it, or else we must lose out individual responsibility or accountability. There have been of late four or five persons, all claiming to be the Identical Prophet Elijah. Not long since a person by the name of Syphret "gave out that he was that Prophet. Seeing` an advertisement that he was to preach at the Commissioners' Hall, I attended. After the meeting was over and the congregation was coming out of the door, the preacher came towards me, and reached out his hand. I refused giving him my hand. He asked me why I would not shake hands with him? I told him, "because he was a Humbug." He wanted to know how I knew he was a Humbug. I replied by asking him, How he could be the Prophet Elijah and Syphret too?--how could he claim the Body of that Prophet and his own Body too? What! you lay claim to Elijah, and have in your possession your own Body and that of Elijah's Body likewise. What is that Prophet to do for his Body when he comes, as it is declared he will come in Mal. 4:5? Do you not see that you are destroying the Identity of that Prophet, and blending it with your own? He was silent, and we parted. In this same awful condition is every Christian who transfers and robs David of his own Identity, or Personality, and makes it over to Jesus; no matter whether he does it by claiming his Identical personality or Individuality, or by transferring the first personal pronoun to the second, or by assuming David's name and applying it to Jesus, it carries its own condemnation in every act, upon the very face of it. I shall now, for the sake of elucidating, divide David's whole career into three parts, or segments of a circle, embracing his Life, Death, and Resurrection , and under each place some of the Psalms or prophecies which are alone applicable to David in that state. I will begin by introducing that beautiful and descriptive prophecy declared in 2d. Sam. 7:19, which I think was intended to grasp David's whole time in Life, Death, and Immortality, or in the Resurrection. He says as follows: "And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house, for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God?" Now for grasping in our next these three important segments or intervals--
This is to show the one unbroken line from his Birth through his death, until his Resurrection --2 Sam. 7:19. Here we see, by thus dividing rightly the Word of God, how plainly and distinctly every prophecy is applicable, and only applicable, to David in his Life, Death, or Resurrection, and cannot be transferred to any other person--for instance, how can we apply Psa. 18:44, 45, and 89:22 to Jesus of Nazareth, or to any other person except David? Psa. 110:1, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." The Eternal Ad-nai said unto my Lord--David was called "my Lord the King," and is a temporal title only, and was never intended to signify two divine personalities; it was David that was speaking--Abraham was properly and truly David's Lord, if Abraham was Sarah's Lord. The 2d. verse of this chapter shows from where God will send the Rod of his strength. It will not be from out of Heaven, but out of Zion, exactly the place where David's Body lies incorruptible; and this is the "Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, from whence shall come the "first dominion"-- Zion is the "daughter of Jerusalem," (see Micah 4:8, and not the Tower of Edar, as some have, without any scriptural authority, foolishly imagined and asserted. Psa. 132:13 and 17 confirms that Zion is the place from whence God will cause the 'first Dominion," or "Horn," or Tower of strength, to spring or bud. "There will I make the Horn of David to bud; and upon himself shall his Crown flourish," verse 18. I am aware that there are two or three texts in the prophets that at first sight, without a sufficient degree of thought and knowledge, tend to lead us to suppose, that because the word "Branch" is used, it will be a Son of David, and not David himself. But let us impartially and carefully examine the word "Branch," and see if it has not reference to the resurrection Body of David only, not to a Son of David. Look at Isa. 11:1--"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch from Jesse, we know is David; indeed the original implies, and as a very wise man observes, "it looks as if it were intended to intimate that the Tree itself would be cut down, or that the power of David's family would be for some time extinct, but it would revive in 'the Latter Days," or "Last Days." Now this is strictly true, and is exactly what I want to set forth, that in the Resurrection, the "Branch," or "Stem," or Shoot, from Jesse, the "root," from which is David, and which, although apparently "is cut down," or "for some time extinct, by Death," in "the Latter days" God would raise up that Glorious "Branch," or Stem, or Shoot, from the Root or Stem of Jesse; which will be the identical Body of David, in all the strength and beauty of the Resurrection Body. See Isa. 4:2. To those who are Christians, and consequently admit the testimony of Paul, (I know well that this is not acknowledged or admitted by an Israelite,) he has in his 15th chap. of 1st Corin. 36 and 37, clearly shown that the Resurrection Body is a Branch or Shoot from the natural Body, and that this Branch, or Shoot, cannot be quickened except the first "Body die," and then comes the "Branch" or shoot, before it can "bear grain," whether it be of "wheat or of some other grain." Now this is exactly what the 11:1 of Isa. shows us, concerning the "Branch" there mentioned, and concerning the meaning of the word "Branch," whenever it is mentioned by any of the other prophets, and that it always alludes to the same Identical Body of David, raised up at the Resurrection, as God declared he will to to David in Jer. 30:9--"And they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King, whom I will raise up unto them," and never to another Messiah, as the Son of David. And Israel well knows, that the word "Branch," mentioned in Jer. 23:5, alludes to King David, as "the Lord our Righteousness," "Ad-nai Tsidkenu." This, I say, all rightly informed Jews well know, is Messiah, King David in his Resurrection Glory and strength; as those who all acknowledge were Inspired of God, I mean his Prophets, have handed down most faithfully to us, their children, in the covenant of God; and of whom God has declared, 'Surely ye, or 'they' are my Witnesses, Children that will not lie." Isa. 63:8. There are five other places in the Word of God where only the word "Branch" is mentioned; the first is, in Isa. 4:2. I mention all these more particularly, because I have heard some persons, especially Christians, who have been laboring under the influence of their former prejudices and prepossessions, say that the Word of God, when making use of the word "Branch," must allude to some son* of David, (always having in their minds Jesus as his son,*) and not to the Resurrection Body of David, as the "Branch," or Shoot, from David's natural Body, in accordance with the account or description that their own apostle Paul has given of the Resurrection.
"And in that day seven women shall take hold of the skirt of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by the name to take away our reproach. In that day (mind, not 1800 years since and more) shall the 'Branch' of the Lord be beauteous and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel." Now, how clear and self-evident is it, that this promise to Israel is yet future. In perfect accordance and confirmation of the above is Jer. 33:14, 15-- "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform the good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel, and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time will I cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow up to David." What expression would it be possible for us to choose, to set forth the Resurrection Body growing up out of David's natural Body, than by saying, that the "Branch" of Righteousness, the shoot of the Resurrection, should grow up to David--(mark the words, grow up to David)--"and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah shall be saved, and *Jerusalem shall dwell safely," verse 16. So we are certain, from the two last expressions, it is yet future.
Here the very same expressions are used concerning "Judah being saved and Israel dwelling in safety," with the exception that, instead of the word Israel being used in Jer. 33:16 as it is in Jer. 23:6, Jerusalem is inserted, and the feminine gender expressed by the word She, instead of He; "She (that is Jerusalem ) shall be called The Lord our Righteousness;" but in Jer. 33:16, it is declared "He, David, shall be called the Lord our Righteousness;" and this is the righteous "Branch" that God will raise unto or "raise up" unto David, exactly the same word as is used by God through the mouth of the same Prophet, in chap. 30:9. "And they shall serve the Lord their God and David their King, whom I will raise up unto them." Here then there can be no mistake who the "Branch" is that is to be "raised unto," or "raised up," to David, because we have God's own words for it. The next text I shall bring forward is Zech. 3:8, "Hear now, O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows, that sit before thee, for they are men wondered at, for behold I will bring forth my servant, The Branch." This is doubtless King David, set forth, and manifest before Joshua the high Priest, at the time of the Resurrection, which may be clearly discerned by the 4th verse of the same chapter, where, and when, it is said, "Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, (which is inseparable from the natural body, or 'garment,') and I will clothe thee with change of raiment." Just the same truth is stated in the 6th chapter, 12th and 13th verses, of the same prophet Zechariah, "And speak unto him, (Joshua,) saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the Branch, and he shall grow up (or 'raise up') out of his place, and he shall build the Temple of the Lord. Even he shall build the Temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the Glory, and he shall be Priest upon his Throne." Now here is an expression whereby we are certain it is David, that is, the "Branch," because we are assured in the 89th Psa. 35th and 36th verses, that God hath "once sworn by his holiness that he will not lie unto David," that "his seed shall endure forever, and," mark "His Throne as the sun before him." In the 18th verse of the 132d. Psalm God declares, "His enemies will I clothe with shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish." O how blind have Christians been in permitting the sacrilege of the Church of Rome, in robbing David of his Crown by giving it to another. But if there were not another text, then the two I shall now quote from Zech. 12:8, and Ezek. 37:22 and 24, would be all-sufficient to prove, first, that David shall be the Messiah. "In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them; and 2dly, that after the resurrection of the Dry "Bones of the whole house of Israel," as is declared in verse 11, then in verse 22, it shows us who is to be King, and consequently whose is the Throne and upon whom the "Crown is to flourish;" and if so, it can never be transferred to another without sacrilege. But now we will bring forward the 37th of Ezek. 22d. and 24th verses, which are settlers. Once while in Jerusalem, being in company with some Rabbis, a missionary came in and proposed an argument with me, as he said, "I believed with him in the literal interpretation of the prophecies, and as I understood the Scriptures so well." I asked the Missionary "who was to be King, or Messiah, over Israel in the Redemption, or in the Resurrection?" "O," he replied, "Jesus Christ, to be sure." I asked him to "turn over in his Bible to Ezek. 37. 22d. and 24th verses." He did so, and mind, says I, "if you believe in the literal interpretation only, you must not spiritualize the Word David, nor Israel." He promised he would not. I then read to him these words, "And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and One King shall be King to them all, and they shall be no more two nations; neither shall they be divided into two Kingdoms (as is now the case) any more at all; And David my servant shall be King over them, and they shall have One Shepherd: and they shall walk in my judgments and observe my statutes, and do them." And this is the truth and the end thus far of the matter. Quest. "Where is God?" Ans. "In the Sun, the Moon, the sky; Quest. And what will be done when Messiah our Blessed King comes with his kingdom? Ans. "He shall judge the People Righteously," Quest. And what will his people do, and what will his saints say? Ans. "They shall speak of the might of thy tremendous acts; Psa. 145. |
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