What Does the Key of David Unlock?
Chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation describe seven successive eras of God’s true Church—the Church that Jesus Christ founded at His first coming and that He promised would survive right up to His Second Coming. The book of Revelation puts all prophecy in time sequence. It does the same with these seven Church eras: It lists them in order and covers a period of almost 2,000 years. (Learn more from my free book The True History of God’s True Church.)
The sixth and seventh Church eras are given only one message to deliver to the world: the key of David. That is the name of our television program.
Notice Christ’s message to the sixth Church era (and to the loyal remnant in the midst of the rebellious seventh era): “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name” (Revelation 3:7-8). This is all Christ’s doing. He opens a door for the key of David message to be delivered to the world!
Why should this be important to you? What is the key of David, and what does it unlock? This is a crucial question—actually a life-and-death question! Note: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (verse 10). This is a warning to everyone on Earth: Terrible suffering is coming! But God will protect those who deliver the key of David message. And thankfully, this all leads to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, which is the best news we could possibly hear.
You need to understand the key of David message if you are to be protected!
The Throne of David
To understand this key, we can start by looking at a prophecy about Jesus Christ in Luke 1:30-32: “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.”
This points you back to a promise God made to King David in 2 Samuel 7:12-16: “[T]hy throne shall be established for ever.” A descendant of David would always rule from his throne. And Luke 1:32 says that God the Father is ultimately going to give that throne to His Son, Jesus Christ, who will rule from it for eternity!
That is an extraordinary message with a family theme. It is about Jesus Christ receiving an eternal throne that is named after a human being named David! That alone shows you what an exalted place human beings have in God’s eternal plan.
Notice further: “And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (verse 33). Christ is about to rule Earth and expand the Kingdom of God forever. He will rule over human beings from that throne of David. This verse contains a majestic vision when you understand it! It is talking about an endless process of bringing human beings into the eternal Kingdom of God. This already begins to show us the spectacular understanding this key of David unlocks.
We can pick up more details from the very first book of the Bible. Here is another prophecy, this in Genesis 49: “And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days” (verse 1). This is a prophecy for our time today. Verse 10 reads, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
This prophecy is called the “scepter promise”: God’s assurance that there would always be a human king from the tribe of Judah—a Jew—all the way down to the Second Coming, when Christ will receive that throne. This combines with the promise to King David, who was a Jew. But this promise isn’t just about race—physical descendants of David ruling from his throne; it is also about grace! Notice: When Christ returns to sit on that throne, He will offer salvation to all mankind, making them all spiritual descendants of David! The end result of David’s endless throne is salvation!
These are truly inspiring truths that begin to open up when you have this key of David!
So the Bible discusses the key of David in many places. And it is the only message that God gives to His end-time Church to proclaim to the world. How critical that we have this key!
More truth is unlocked by the key of David in one of the most inspiring examples in the Bible.
Hannah’s Prophetic Vision
One lady changed the course of Israel’s history. She had a powerful vision of the key of David—and astoundingly, she had it many decades before David was even born! Her story is recorded in 1 Samuel—part of what is called the “former prophets,” which is prophecy primarily for this end time.
At that time, Israel’s religious life was centered in Shiloh, the location of the ark of the covenant. A man named Elkanah went there yearly to worship God and sacrifice to Him (1 Samuel 1:3). This man had two wives, and one of them, Hannah, was barren. God had shut her womb (verse 5).
Hannah desperately wanted a son. She went to the tabernacle in Shiloh and implored God, vowing, If you give me a son, I will dedicate him to you. I will give him to you to serve in Shiloh in the tabernacle for the rest of his life, and he will take the Nazarite vow (verse 11). She was determined, and she prayed to God in faith. And God answered! He blessed her with a son, whom she named Samuel, meaning “asked of God” (verses 19-20). Hannah followed through and gave her son to God (verse 28).
Hannah then delivered some of the most amazing prophecy in the Bible, in the form of a prayerful song (1 Samuel 2:1-10). “The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them” (verses 6-8).
There is tremendous depth in this prayer, as I explain in Chapter 4 of my free book The Former Prophets: How to Become a King (request a copy). This woman was prophesying about the people God would call out of this world in the millenniums before Christ’s Second Coming—the lowly of the world, rich in faith (1 Corinthians 1:26-29; James 2:5). God plans to give these lowly people world rule—positions on the “throne of glory” under Jesus Christ in the coming Kingdom! What a vision—and what a promise!
What “throne” is that talking about, specifically? Hannah went further: “The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed” (1 Samuel 2:10). The “king” in that verse is King David!
Study the history of Israel, and you see that Hannah’s son Samuel went on to judge the nation. The people rejected God’s rule, so God established Israel’s monarchy through Samuel, in a man named Saul. But Hannah skipped over Saul, the first king of Israel—and referred to David, whom her own son would go on to anoint as king in Saul’s place (1 Samuel 16) and through whom God would establish that eternal throne.
Hannah prophesied about David decades in advance, and foresaw that her son would anoint David. She knew that God would make David a major part of His master plan! She focused on the very throne that will continue until the Second Coming of the Messiah. Hannah had profound faith!
What wonders God can accomplish with people who really step out in faith and apply what He says! Do you believe God? What are you doing with the knowledge God has given you? If it is to make a difference in our lives, we must apply it and obey it. Hannah’s prophecy describes the tremendous, eternal rewards that God offers those who heed His calling now!
The key of David vision was etched in Hannah’s mind. The core of that vision is David’s throne.
Opening Up the Bible
Look again at Hannah’s prophecy in 1 Samuel 2:10: “… he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.” There are two parts there. The “king” is David. Who is “his anointed”? That is referring to a priest.
In Hannah’s day, there were big problems with the religious life in Israel. The sons of Eli the priest had abandoned God and were committing terrible sins (verses 12-17). What Hannah did in dedicating her child to God actually began to correct the course of the nation’s history!
God sent a message to Eli, saying, “And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever” (verse 35). This was a prophecy of a priest who would be loyal to David forever.
This prophecy was fulfilled by a man named Zadok. Other priests failed, but Zadok remained loyal because he knew that God was working with David. King David experienced many fiery trials, yet he rejoiced in them. And Zadok remained right by his side. He too had the key of David vision!
What does Zadok have to do with us today? That faithful priest foreshadows the end time. Other prophecies show that there are people in the end time who remain loyal to the throne of David. God calls them “sons of Zadok.” Many of God’s own people have strayed from Him, but the sons of Zadok have the same spirit as Zadok did anciently. We are loyal to the throne of David and are rewarded mightily for that.
Here is what the Prophet Ezekiel wrote about the position of these faithful saints in God’s future temple: “But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God: They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge” (Ezekiel 44:15-16). Ezekiel is an end-time book. In this end time, 95 percent of God’s people have turned away from Him. But not the sons of Zadok. And because of that loyalty, we will work directly with Jesus Christ when He returns. We will be close to Him and serving Him in the temple in Jerusalem during the World Tomorrow, and later at new Jerusalem when God the Father comes down to Earth.
Hannah prophesied of the appearance of David and Zadok—a king and a priest. She knew about the sons of Zadok too, spiritual pillars on whom God will set the world. We must be trained as teachers now to be sons of Zadok and later become those pillars. Revelation 1:6 says God’s faithful people are kings and priests already in embryo, just waiting to be spiritually born into God’s Family! God the Father and Christ the Son see us as part of their Family even now! They will give this Zadok-level reward to anybody who helps deliver the great, great key of David message.
So again, what does the key of David unlock? This key opens up the whole Bible to us! Everything! There’s only one key that unlocks the entire Bible—and the key of David is it!