Jer.30:9: But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

Hosea 3:4-5: 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. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord in the latter days.

Ezek. 37: 22-25: 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 David my servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd…

It’s little recognised today but one day King David will rise from the dead to rule a restored Israel once again. That will be in “latter time” when the faithful of the chosen nation will also be raised from the dead.

Of course many believe the prophecies quoted above refer to the Lord Jesus who indeed was raised from the dead to be “a prince and a saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5: 31). But actually these prophecies don’t. They refer to God’s sovereign future act in resurrecting David to be king over faithful Israelites resurrected from the past.

Importantly, it was 414 years after David’s death that God stated through the prophet Jeremiah that He would raise up David from the dead to rule over a resurrected Israel (Jer. 30:9) . And, as Jesus said, scripture cannot be broken, nor can God’s word fail until all be fulfilled.

Through the prophet Hosea (see above) God gives the timeline for this amazing miracle, saying that after thousands of years “without a king or prince” the children of Israel will return to the Lord, and to “David their king”. David’s resurrection then will be after Israel’s return to God, taking place in the “latter days”, the period in God’s dealings that is designated the “Day of Christ” seven times in Paul’s epistles. It is in the “Day of Christ” that our Lord will take over government of the world turn the hearts of people back to Himself and abolish the evil curse that covers the world. Before that day ends Christ will restore the earthly kingdom of Israel by installing David as king.

However, a condition to be met is that the children of Israel must “return” - to God, that is, not to a small part of the territory once ruled by David, currently held by the secular State of Israel set up in 1948 by Jewish people who still reject Jesus as their Messiah.

Contrary to the humanistic practice prevailing in much of Christianity my conviction is that it is only what God does that actually works. “Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it” (Psalm 127:1). The secular state called Israel is entirely man’s contrivance but the resurrection of David as king over the raised remnant “Israel of God” will be entirely the Lord’s doing and, indeed, then it will be “marvellous in our eyes” (Psalm 18:23).

Without question the Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and other big denominations are man-led and man implemented. Recently Leo IV was elected pope by a conclave of cardinals replacing not only his predecessor Francis, but also as pope supposedly taking the place of Jesus on earth, as his title “Vicar of Christ” proclaims. Fact is, neither the “pope” nor the “cardinals” who elected him can be found in the Bible, the word of God.

Now, Hosea’s prophecy (chapter 3:4-5) declares that the children of Israel will “abide many days without a king and without a prince”, as indeed they do today. Obviously, the “king” here is the Lord God Almighty, Jesus in  his pre-incarnate form and also the “King of Israel” since He is acclaimed as such (John 1:49, 12:13, Matt. 2:6, Psalm 2:6). And the “prince” then is David. But does scripture actually say so? Yes it does:

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 (Ezek. 34:23-24).

Yes, David will be raised to reign again and so will the faithful saints of Israel’s history. The promise of their eventual return to life is assured in Ezekiel 37, the great vision of Israel’s resurrection portrayed in the valley of dry bones. Sadly, many preachers find the literal truth set out here too hard to believe, too much to swallow. So they spiritualise it, saying it represents spiritual renewal in the life of a believer. But the plain statement of God Himself is that it means physical resurrection:

…Son of man these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know I AM the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves.

So, Israel’s great hope for the future is bodily resurrection. That much was taught by the Apostle Paul who said it was “for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain” (Acts 28: 20). What’s more, he plainly spoke of Israel’s fall, her being set aside by God, saying:

For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead” (Rom. 11: 15), i.e. resurrection.

Paul then states that by this means, resurrection …

“…all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this my covenant with them when I shall take away their sins” (Rom. 11:26).

I’m looking forward to seeing the resurrected Israel of God shepherded by their Prince, King David. It would be a huge improvement on the present secular state of Israel that falsely pretends to that title.

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com

Website: Day of Christ Ministries