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This Friday night begins the first of Rosh Chodesh Adar. The Hebrew calendar always begins in the evening at sundown, and Adar is the last month of the Hebrew biblical year before we begin Nissan, in the time of Passover.

The amazing thing was that when we moved here, the Lord spoke very, very strongly to Patricia and me that we were to move here and believe him. Actually, he spoke two things.

We had been at a time of fasting and prayer for direction from the Lord, and he said, “I want you to move here, and I want you to bring your children here,” even though it was quite dangerous.

This was right before the violence broke out with the bus bombings and suicide bombings, and you could feel things in the air already building up. He said, “I want you to move here, and I want you to believe in me for 24/7 in the spirit of the Tabernacle of David, within walking distance of the Tabernacle of David.”

It was that limited area, and we knew there had to be a great miracle.

God’s Great Miracles and the First Watches

For those that aren’t familiar with Jerusalem, the closer you are to the Western Wall, the more expensive it is, because the Tabernacle of David was right below the Western Wall, right below the Temple Mount, in the City of David. That meant we’d have to find something in a very expensive area.

God did great miracles. We found an apartment, and when we moved into that apartment, we felt the date that we should start. But we weren’t so familiar with the Hebrew calendar yet. We just felt the date that we should start. We prayed, and it was the 7th of February, the year 2000.

It turned out, as we discovered afterwards, that it was the first of Adar. It was Rosh Chodesh. So this Friday, the first of Adar, will be 25 years since the Lord opened up the first watches.

For any that know them, at that first watch, John and Una came—and we barely knew them at that time—and she brought an almond branch. It had just blossomed that morning, the first almond branch.

Of course, in Jeremiah, God says the almond branch is the sign that “I watch over my word to perform it.” So it was like he was putting all these things together.

Then we also realized where we got the apartment, on Aminadave Street.. We remembered that name from somewhere. I looked it up in the Bible, and I realized Aminadav was one of the chief of the Levites who helped carry the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, to put it in the Tabernacle of David.

It was like the Lord was saying, “Okay, just put your shoulder to the past. I want to bring my presence back in a stronger way.” The manifestation of my presence—it’s always been here, it’s always here, obviously, but there are degrees of manifestation of God’s presence.

We believe that the Tabernacle of David that welcomed his presence in this way.

The Tabernacle of David

When David came here as king and united the tribes together in this city, and miraculously took the city of Jerusalem, he was surrounded by enemies on every side. So what else is new?

Every side was attacking him. Every side was trying to stop him. Every side was trying to do whatever they could to stop the kingdom of God from being expressed in Jerusalem.

But praise God, he overcame. How he overcame, how the Throne of David was established, we believe was through what is called in the Bible the Tabernacle of David.

This little tent, it was not impressive. You know, the later temple was very glorious and impressive. That’s like a picture of the millennial kingdom of Jesus, of Yeshua. But David’s throne was established through worship and through prayer.

It was just a little simple tent. The words that are used give the idea more of like a sukkah, you know, just very simple, nothing that impressive outwardly. But what happened spiritually was huge.

Because by the end of David’s reign, no longer were his enemies attacking him. They were bringing tribute to Jerusalem, bringing tribute to King David.

This is pretty amazing. In that first apartment that we got on Aminadav, and where we started that first watch at our home, it was interesting because God sovereignly arranged that our landlord — our landlady — was a very well-known archaeologist in Israel and the world.

We didn’t know that. We were just renting out this apartment. As we got to know her, she then one time took us to her office and showed us various things about how they arrange all the archaeological items they have. She didn’t even believe in God, she said.

She said archaeologists had said over and over, “David could not have been as great as the David described in the Bible.” Because in the Bible, kings are bringing him tribute and all this, and “we can’t even find his name written in stone.” So they were mocking and saying, “How could they venerate King David like the Bible says, when there’s not even archaeological evidence in stone of King David?”

Well, our landlady was taking a team in the north of Israel, and guess what they found? The name of David in stone, with a list of people coming to bring tribute to him in Jerusalem—to the great King David.

So suddenly the Bible’s true. You know, it’s how foolish people are, but you know, it was there all that time. It just hadn’t been discovered. But amazing that she was the one who discovered it.

Isaiah 62: Why Succat Hallel Watches in Jerusalem

So today I want to talk about the Tabernacle of David, especially in terms of Jerusalem. Why are we here in Jerusalem? Why is it so important we be in Jerusalem? Why is it so important there be 24/7 in Jerusalem?

It’s important everywhere. The vision and the scriptures about the Tabernacle of David are for the whole world. But they’re not limited to the whole world. They are first and foremost to Jerusalem, saying what God would restore what was in Jerusalem 3,000 years ago.

He says later on in Isaiah 62,

“I have appointed watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, who will never hold their peace, but will cry out to me day and night, night and day until I make Jerusalem a praise in the midst of the earth.”

But what will make Jerusalem a praise? It isn’t the restoration of 24/7. It’s the restoration of His presence. We’re not after being able to say, “Oh, we have 24/7,” or “others in the city, we work together, we’re 24/7 here.” But it’s not ultimately about 24/7. That is simply an invitation to Him, His presence.

We don’t care if we have 24/7 worship and prayer if we don’t have 24/7 presence. The Tabernacle of David is first and foremost about the presence of God. He said he desires this city of Jerusalem as a resting place, as a place where his presence can dwell, not just make a little visitation.

So we’re not talking about a visitation. We’re talking about a habitation. That’s an important distinction.

Why is the Tabernacle of David important? Number one: it is a picture of the believing community in a time of revival. It is a time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Now with these different words used—revival, outpouring, awakening—the bottom line is that they’re referring to an amplification of His presence.

Acts 15: 16-18: God is After a Dwelling Place

I give here a definition of this kind of outpouring of the Spirit: It is a powerful manifestation of the presence of God that results in a new fire and a new purity among believers. It leads multitudes to come to believe in Yeshua, and it makes a great impact on society.

So I don’t believe we’re where God wants us to be just because we feel some kind of movement of the Holy Spirit. Obviously, we’re thankful every time we feel this moving—right? We don’t take that for granted. But God is after habitation. He’s after a dwelling place.

When he’s here, it will change not just our personal lives, not just our community together and the various kehila (various communities and churches), but it will change society. It will affect what happens in society.

You can look at history. Whenever there’s a great move of the Holy Spirit, such as the great move that happened in England in the time of the Wesleys and others, the result was the abolishment of slavery, the abolishment of child labor.

In Acts 15, in verses 16–18, they’re trying to describe what’s going on. Gentiles are coming to the Lord. What do we do with these Gentiles?

They’re speaking in tongues! This isn’t supposed to happen here! They’re trying to figure this out, as a Jewish group of people in Jerusalem who just didn’t have this on their radar.

Even though it was clearly prophesied in the scriptures, it was still really hard to believe. What? Gentiles got filled with the Holy Spirit and came to know God—the God of Israel?

It says here: when they met together, they prayed and they sought the Lord. Finally, they said, “This is what seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”

They discerned what God had decided. They said the Gentiles don’t have to come under all the things of the Law of Moses that pertained to Jewish people.

For example, the covenant of circumcision of the firstborn sons is commanded to Jewish people to be part of the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But they said, for Gentiles, that’s optional. They can if they want to, but they don’t have to become Jewish first in order to become a believer in the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua.

A little earlier in verse 13, when they finished sharing what God was doing, James spoke up and said,

“Brothers, listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for His name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: ‘After this I will return and I will restore or rebuild David’s fallen tent or David’s fallen Tabernacle. Its ruins I will rebuild. I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name,’ says the Lord, who does these things that were known from long ago.”

So he makes it very clear—James, giving summation of what has the Holy Spirit said to us—that this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, not only here in Jerusalem upon the Jews, but now in Caesarea and other places upon Gentiles.

And it’s spreading quickly. He said, “This is God.” And he ties it in with their understanding of the tent of David, of the Tabernacle of David, that somehow this kind of visible revival, outpouring of the Holy Spirit, whatever you want to call it, that is resulting in multitudes coming to the Lord, is tied in with the restoration of the Tabernacle of David.

Because in their community, they see a restoration of seeking after God, worship and prayer. It’s no longer just a ritualistic prayer—it’s now an on-fire prayer. The fire of the Holy Spirit has come, and they have to tell others about it. Something begins to change and shift.

So they understood themselves as one part of the restoration of this prophecy. Now, most prophecies in scripture have many layers of fulfillment. That’s why sometimes it’s hard—you know, has as it been fulfilled or has it not?

It’s a bit like pouring water in a glass. It fills up some. Many scriptures are fulfilled at different times, at different levels, and then finally there’s the overflow, there’s the final fulfillment.

That doesn’t mean there’s nothing more to be fulfilled of the Tabernacle of David. But it does mean that the whole outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Shavuot, and the results that happened—going out into the Gentiles, even beginning to know the Lord, and speaking these strange languages and all these things—all of this was a restoration of David’s Tabernacle that was prophesied. That’s very important to understand.

It’s a picture for us to hold on to. What would it look like, you know? The second thing here is that it is key for the establishment and protection of the Throne of David.

Amos 9: Restoring the House of David

Now literally in Amos, which he’s quoting here in Acts—he’s quoting from Amos 9—and in Amos 9 when it talks about the rebuilding of the Tabernacle of David, the word that is used there could mean something like a simple dwelling or house.

Some have interpreted that to mean the restoration of the House of David, the royal House of David. Others say no, it means the worship and the prayer and the presence that were part of this little Tabernacle that David set up.

I believe it’s both. How was David’s throne established the first time? Like we said, enemies on every side—armies, well-armed armies, much better armed armies—coming against them to wipe them out.

How was this throne established? It was established, we’ll see, through 24/7 worship and prayer and the presence of God. But that didn’t establish only the presence of God here. It also established David’s house and throne.

So when Jesus comes back, when Yeshua comes back to this city, how does he come back? As the son of who? As the Son of David, He will come back as the Son of David.

He will rule on the throne. He’ll come back over there on the Mount of Olives, but his throne will be on what we call the Temple Mount. It’s very clear in the scriptures—he said that he has chosen His holy hill, that he’s put his King on his holy hill, and that he will reign from that holy hill.

Ezekiel talks about that hill being the footstool of the Throne of God forever and ever. There’s only one place in the whole world where it’s the footstool of the Throne of God.

Since the Holy Spirit came, we can now worship in Spirit and truth all over the world. People don’t have to come to Jerusalem with expensive tickets to be able to worship. But we can worship him in other countries.

However, we cannot come to the footstool of his throne anywhere else in the whole world than that hill right behind us. That’s why there is such spiritual warfare over that hill.

When we first moved here, I said, “God, help me understand this whole Middle East thing, this hill. It seems so complicated.” I felt like the Lord spoke to me and said the bottom line is the spiritual battle for Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem, the bottom line is the spiritual battle for the Temple Mount.

And on the Temple Mount, the bottom line is the spiritual battle for who will have their throne there and who will be worshiped there. So it’s ultimately all that. Once again, we see that the whole October 7th thing was called Al-Aqsa Flood.

Why? Al-Aqsa is the name of that mosque, the darker dome mosque there. Why did they call it that? Because it was all about Jerusalem.

It was not ultimately even about destroying the Jewish people. It was ultimately about destroying the Jewish people so they could take back this holy hill completely and no one else could have any claim to it in any way.

If you see the photos of terrorists, almost always they have a photo behind them of the Temple Mount and of the mosque. Why? Because spiritually they understand—more than a lot of Christians—that it’s ultimately about that city and about that hill and about who will be worshiped and who will have the throne up there on that hill.

We are all from all over the world. All of our worship, all of our prayer contributes to building up this throne. But we need to realize, when we’re called to Jerusalem, that there’s a very specific aspect of building up the throne of the Lord, which is the throne of David.

Some say, “Well, I think that scripture in Amos about the rebuilding of the Tabernacle of David is about the House of David.” And it is about the House of David too.

But how do you get the House of David rebuilt? The same way the first House of David was built, the same way the first Throne of David was built, through worship and through prayer. In Isaiah 16:5 it says,

“In mercy the throne will be established, and one will sit on it in truth, in the Tabernacle of David, judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.”

So when Yeshua returns as king, he actually is going to sit in the Tabernacle of David. We don’t understand what all that means, but somehow, you know, the Tabernacle of David will be spread over that whole hill. He will sit in the Tabernacle of David, enthroned on the praises of his people Israel. Somehow, his throne is established through praise, through worship, through prayer, just like it was with the first statement.

Psalm 27: Whom Shall I Fear?

Number three, and this is very important for Jerusalem, is what David wrote in Psalm 27.

When we were called to Jerusalem, the Lord gave me this scripture and I took it. At that time, we lived in Belgium, Europe. I took it just very spiritually, you know: “When the wicked advance against me to devour me, though an army besiege me…” I was just picturing all these spiritual forces coming against us. And that’s true, isn’t it?

Those who live there—there are spiritual hosts that would like to devour us. But it’s not just spiritual, it’s physical too. Listen to what David says here.

This most likely was a record of something that the Holy Spirit came on David. He says this in Psalm 27:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom should I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me”—besiege means surrounding—“my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.”

“One thing I ask of the Lord, this only do I seek—that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in his temple.” Then he says, “For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe.” Where? “In His dwelling,” where His presence has been welcomed.

“He will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent,” which, of course in this context, is the tent of David, the Tabernacle of David. He said, “My shelter is not the big stone walls and fortresses we built. My shelter is this simple little sukkah where the presence of God is.”

“I run to the mercy seat. I run to his presence. He is my protection.” And he said, “He will set me high upon a rock.”

“Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me.” Once again, he’s just surrounded. David felt and literally was surrounded on every side.

But he said, “My head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me. At his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy.”

Why does he use the word sacrifice? Because if your enemies have their bows and arrows pointed at you, have their spear pointed at you, it’s a real sacrifice to say, “Praise the Lord!” Not exactly what you think of first. But there is power in that.

It’s just like in 2 Chronicles 20. They’re surrounded by five huge armies, far greater than they are. And the Lord says, “Send the choir out in front and let them sing: ‘Give thanks to the Lord.’”

Picture this. This is war, with spears, arrows right at them, and they’re going, “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” It sounds absolutely crazy. But God’s ways are higher than our ways.

God uses our praises to defeat the enemy, even the praises of the children. As in Psalm 2. He even uses their praises to silence the foe and the avenger.

So there’s actually a literal military effect to the Tabernacle of David, to worship and prayer. It literally stops things that would happen militarily that would destroy us and devour us.

Again, we saw this at the beginning of Succat. We started in February, the first of Adar. Then, as I remember, I believe it was in September, we were doing some things we felt the Lord told us to do, blowing summer trumpets down in the Ben Hinnom Valley and some things like this.

We felt like the Lord wanted us to go from there down to the Gihon Springs and to pour oil into that spring. That’s where Solomon was anointed and blow the trumpets.

The problem was, the day we had set for a group to meet down there and do this was the day after Ariel Sharon set foot on the Temple Mount and the intifada broke out. Tires were being burned, people were being threatened all over the city.

Down at the bottom of this hill, there were a lot of young men that were armed and said, “Nobody is to go through here. No one is to go past this point.”

We said, “Lord, if you want us to do this, then you’ve got to open the door and make a way for us.” So we blew the trumpets down here. We proclaimed the kingdom of God. We proclaimed his sovereignty, his greatness.

We proclaimed that the Son of David would reign in Jerusalem. That Jesus is the King of Jerusalem.

Then we said, “What do we do? The burning tires are down there. They’re threatening people not to go through.”

We prayed and we felt the Lord said, “Go — like they did around Jericho — and go in silence. Go all the way in silence and then see what I’ll do at the bottom.”

So we went down. We were praising the Lord kind of, you know, in silence going down. Suddenly a lady remembered a friend of hers who had a little shop, an Arab friend, right next to the Gihon Springs where we were going.

She thought she should go off to the side and just call him quickly and say, “Could you do anything to help us get through?” He said, “Just keep on coming and I’ll send my young men, and they will escort you through and bring you up to the Gihon Springs.”

So we went. We got to the Gihon Springs. We thought, how are we going to do this?

There are tourists down there—they’re going to think this is really weird. The guards may think it’s strange.

We got there and the shop owner said, “Oh, I have a key to the Gihon Springs. It’s closed today because of the intifada.” He said, “I have a key and I can let you in, and we’ll guard outside here and you just all go in.”

We poured the oil in. We blew the trumpets. Did all our crazy stuff.

Over the next four years, of bus bombings and restaurant bombings and all these kinds of things, we were getting desperate. We said, “God, we cried out to you. Why? Why is this going on so long? Lord, give us a breakthrough.”

And what we realized was the power again of worship and prayer of the Tabernacle of David.

Right at that time, the Lord had supernaturally brought enough people that we finally were able to go 24/7, there was never another successful bus bombing in Jerusalem after that day. Now, I’m not saying it’s all because of us. There were a lot of people praying here and all over the world, but it was partially because of us.

Did you hear what I’m saying? There’s something about when the Tabernacle of David is restored God arises with His presence and confounds His enemies. Things begin to happen.

That we started the 24/7 was Thanksgiving Day, and that fits in with the scripture:

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His mercies endure forever.”

So that’s when the battle was won—on Thanksgiving Day, when there was 24/7 worship and prayer, praising the Lord.

We have no clue how powerful praise is. It is so powerful.

I don’t think we understand. We get so used to the Holy Spirit and the power of the Spirit that we don’t understand how it affects unbelievers sometimes. And so yes, it’s powerful, it’s mighty, it’s a force. It’s a force. That Thanksgiving pushed back the enemy.

And the result was no more bus bombings. They did attempt more bus bombings, but there was never another successful bus in Jerusalem after that.

The bottom line is, we thank the Lord, and there’s power in just that simple act. Again, we can take this for granted. It seems so normal. We don’t realize we’re setting off nuclear things in the heavenlies when we worship, when we pray, when we praise, and we thank the Lord.

It’s setting off missiles. Huge things are happening in the heavenlies.

So it’s very important to realize that the Tabernacle of David is one of God’s keys for the end-time battles for this city. And it’s so important that as things happen, we don’t come into that spirit of heaviness that is often released in a war.

You think there’s heaviness now? For those of you who were here at that time in the early days, there was just such a heaviness that would come over the city after bombings.

Of course you feel heavy, and we do grieve with those who grieve. We would come into a watch, ready to start a watch, and suddenly get the news that there’s been a bombing. When that news would hit you could always hear it. But we would grieve and we would weep and then we would press into the presence of God.

We began to thank Him, and we began to praise Him.

There was something when we got to that point of true praise that lifted. No longer were we under the circumstances, under the heaviness, but we were above it. And then we could help other people. We went to the store, we went to the bus stop, wherever we could, just encourage people.

I remember the man at the little store over here saying, “Why are you here? All the other internationals left. Why are you here?” We said, “Because God told us to come here and pray for you.” And He said, “Pray for us more!”

God wants us to grieve. Jesus grieved, remember? I thought there was this great celebration as Lazarus came out of the tomb. He thanked the Father in His prayer. There’s something about thanksgiving that just breaks things open.

Be Continually Restored Through Worship

A fourth point here is that Davidic worship is the pattern to be continually restored from then on throughout the Scriptures. Every time there was a move of God—like in the time of Jehoshaphat, or the time of Josiah, or the time of Hezekiah, Nehemiah, and again in the book of Acts … every time there was a move of God in this city, there was some degree of restoration of the Tabernacle of David.

The singing, the Psalms, using the instruments again. For those of you that are here in person, this sheet gives an example of each time period, things that were restored: singers, keeping the feast, great joy, trumpets, shofars, drums and cymbals, lyres, lutes, harps, dancing, shouting, prophecy, bowing, prostrating, Levitical families, consecration, prayer, victory over their enemies.

Then we put a cross with the different ones: King David, King Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, Josiah, Nehemiah. Every time there was some degree of restoration in this city, a spiritual restoration, there was a degree of restoration of the Tabernacle of David.

So from then on, I’ve had people say, “Well, where is that in the New Testament? I don’t see playing the instruments to the Lord like that in the New Testament.” There’s even a denomination that says instruments are not to be used now.

But where it is in the New Testament is, “In that day I will restore the fallen Tabernacle of David.” All you’ve got to do is look at the Tabernacle of David—it’s full of instruments, full of singing, full of joy, full of worship, full of prayer, full of praise, thanksgiving, dancing, shouting, raising hands.

All these things are there in the Tabernacle of David.

And in the New Testament, The apostles said, “This is the restoration.” They say partial, but it was a partial restoration of the tent of David. And so of course they would have understood, as Jewish people, they would have understood immediately that that means using things like singing, and instruments, and prayer, and thanksgiving, and all of these things.

1 Samuel 4-5: The Effects of the Presence of God

Now, the history of the Tabernacle of David, I’ll not go into in length. I’ll give some scriptures and a quick background about it. The bottom line is that because of Eli’s sons sinning and bringing immorality into the gates of the Tabernacle of Moses, God said, “If you don’t turn—if they don’t repent—I’m going to have to take away my presence.” The ark.

He didn’t say His presence, but He said the ark. And the ark was the ark of His presence, the Ark of the Covenant. And they lost it in a war. Remember, the Philistines took it. And remember how this little ark, it was just like a little box.

And I can imagine the Philistines in Gaza, and some of the cities of Gaza where it went, they brought it in before their great god Dagon. And Dagon, according to archaeologists, was a huge idol—two stories high—half fish, half man.

They looked at their god—huge!—and Israel’s god, which they had acquainted with the little box. And what happened?

In the morning, remember? Dagon was on his face before the little box. And so they had to get him back up. And it’s very embarrassing if you’re an important god and you can’t even get yourself up off the ground.

So they had to get the pulley with the ropes, and when they got their god finally back up in place, the next morning they came in. What happened? Now he not only fell but his head was cut off, his hands were cut off. The head represents the ability to give direction, communicate, and lead. And the hands represent the ability to work.

Suddenly this idol can’t even keep his head on straight. He can’t even keep his head on. He can’t keep his hands on. How embarrassing for a major idol.

And God shamed him and embarrassed him. And you know the end of the story—and again, you can look this all up in 1 Samuel 4 and 1 Samuel 5.

The end of the story is, they moved from one city to another, thinking, “Well, maybe it’s just coincidence.” And the same kind of things happened—rats and tumors. I mean, it’s just not pleasant in Gaza anymore at that time. And it was because of the presence of the ark—the presence of God—the Ark of the Covenant.

And so then, they sent an SMS to Israel: “Please come get the ark. We don’t want it anymore.” And long story short, that didn’t work out so well either. They tried to put it on an ox cart, which you’re not supposed to do, and they didn’t do it according to directions.

Finally, in 1 Chronicles 13, they bring the ark up as far as Obed-Edom. It rested there for a long time. Obed-Edom wasn’t even Jewish, but his house was tremendously blessed because they had the ark of God, the presence of God, in their house.

1 Chronicles 15: Bring in the Ark, but Inquire of the Lord

Then God spoke to David about bringing it up. Let’s look at this in 1 Chronicles 15. In 1 Chronicles 15, we want to see what happens as David begins to get the vision of bringing it up again.

Once again, they even had—well, we won’t take the time for that—but in chapter 13 they tried to bring it up from there again with the ox cart, and it didn’t work. It was a big show of power, basically, it’s like a Mercedes limousine bringing it back.

And God said, “No. Just simple. Let the priests carry it on their shoulders.” Not in a fancy, impressive way will it be brought back, but in the simplicity of priests carrying it on their shoulders.

So then, in 1 Chronicles 15:11, David summoned these different Levites and heads of the Levites. He said to them in verse 12:

“You are the heads of the Levitical families. You and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of Him about how to do it in the prescribed way.”

So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.

Then the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord.

So the bottom line again is: we need to inquire of the Lord.

And I can tell you from our experience, many of the steps made no sense. His ways are higher, and we just had to obey the Lord and trust Him to bring forth 24/7. For Him to do it—we couldn’t make it happen, but He can. The bottom line is inquiring of the Lord and doing whatever He chooses to do.

So then in verse 16, David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their fellow Levites as musicians to make a joyful sound with musical instruments—lyres, harps, and cymbals. And it goes on to talk about them bringing it back into Jerusalem with great rejoicing,

David danced before the Lord, which his wife was not too happy with. But he just got so excited about the presence of the Lord. The word says he was spinning around, just so excited that they finally got the presence of God back in Jerusalem.

So again, the Tabernacle of David is not just about worship and prayer. It’s about presence, 24-hour presence. It’s about His presence being there.

Let’s skip ahead. I encourage you later on to read all of this—1 Chronicles 15 and 16—and study it more in depth. But let’s look at chapter 16, starting at verse 1. They brought the Ark of God and set it inside the tent. Again, the Tabernacle of David, the tent of David, they set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it.

And they presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God. After David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.

Ezekiel 44: Ministering to the Lord

Then in verse 4, he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the Ark of God. In other words, before the presence of God. Their first ministry was not to people, their first ministry was to God Himself. As it says in Ezekiel 44, the highest ministry is the ministry to the Lord Himself.

And when you do not take that for granted, it’s a very amazing thing. So then he says there in verse 4, he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the Ark of the Lord, to extol, to thank, to praise the Lord. That word “extol” can have the idea of both intercession and praise toward God.

And they were to do that, to thank and praise the Lord, the God of Israel. They were to play lyres and harps; Asaph was to sound the cymbals; and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow the trumpets regularly before the Covenant of God, before the presence of God.

Then it speaks about how they were to “continually minister to the Lord,” but actually in the Hebrew it’s the word “tamid,” which is the word used for the 24-hour store, 24/7, always open. So they were to continually minister. And we can tell it’s continual because later on we find out there were 4,000 musicians.

I doubt they all crowded into the tent at the same time. It talks about them taking turns and having a rotation. So the word used there in Hebrew is “tamid.” They were to minister continually to the Lord day and night, night and day. And it’s very clear from some other passages as well that they did that.

The Seven Principles of the Kingdom of God

Now, there are seven foundational principles of the Kingdom of God. We won’t go in depth on these, but I want to touch on them, and then you can look these things up later yourself.

1. The Tabernacle of David Was a Place of Continual 24/7 Worship and Intercession

Now, a lot of places will call themselves 24/7, but what it means is that they just put on playlists or whatever for hours a day, and then once a day they come and they worship and pray.

There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s good. But we shouldn’t call it 24/7 worship and prayer. The sound is going forth, but it’s not the same as in the Tabernacle of David. It was live, day and night, night and day. It was live people worshiping and praying and inviting His presence.

Now when the Lord first spoke to us to believe God for that here in Jerusalem, that just seemed so impossible. I remember a Jewish man named Dan Juster said, “There have been two people in my life who, when they told me their vision, I almost laughed and thought, ‘That’s impossible.’” He said, “One of them was you.”

“But here it is—it’s 24/7,” he said. “This seemed so crazy. How are you going to come, as a Gentile, into Jerusalem—24-hours, 24/7—even with Jews and Arabs and internationals together?” And he said, “But God did it.”

And we can say that, God did it. We did not. Even now, though most of you know it well enough to know that it’s continually a miracle how He sends people, many of you. right at just the right moment.

Just when we’re saying, “I don’t know what we’re going to do two weeks from now; we don’t have a night watch person,” many know, we now have so many, they’re fighting over night watches.

Praise the Lord! Good problem. And God just keeps doing it. We can’t make it happen—it’s crazy at times how people show up here right at the time when a watch they feel called to do needs to be fulfilled. And God just keeps it going. God does it.

So, number one, this is not a heavy yoke. It doesn’t mean that every House of Prayer has to be 24/7. Please understand that. We’re not saying that. Many Houses of Prayer are called to be one, two, three, four hours a day, and that’s their calling. Nothing’s wrong with that.

But the Tabernacle of David restoration means there have to be some places in the earth—especially Jerusalem—where there is actually 24/7, day and night, night and day, people. And when we first started, the Lord spoke to Patricia that we were to get a menorah and light physical candles by hand.

She said, “I believe the Lord wants it to be seen that people are here—that the fire is on the altar again.” When it talks in Leviticus about the fire on the altar, it’s that same word: “tamid”—continually, day and night, night and day. The fire is never to go out.

So she said, “I believe we need to light those physically, because it’s like a picture that we’re here. We’re here for You, Lord. We’re not absent. We’re here. We’ve come in, we’re tired, whatever, but we’re here, and we’re going to worship You and pray and press in for Your presence.”

So, 24/7 has to happen in certain places. I believe every capital city in the world should have 24/7 in their city. I believe probably every major city.

So this is not a heavy burden to lay on people, but it is to help us realize there are some places that are called. And that’s what He said at the beginning of Succat—He said, “I want you to believe Me for 24/7 worship and prayer in the spirit of the Tabernacle of David—and within walking distance of it.”

2. Corporate Intercession and Continual Worship

Let me give you some scriptures: 1 Chronicles 16:37 and secondly, 1 Chronicles 25:6–7.

In those passages, it makes it very clear that there were a lot of people involved, that there was a rotation involved, there was scheduling involved. It was corporate. Now, we don’t have a corporate worship every single watch at this point, but that’s our goal.

We want to get to the point where every single hour, day and night, is covered corporately, not just by one person. As we move toward that, we have as many watches as we can corporately, and then others are individual.

3. Intergenerational Vision

Now, as we’re saying this, they’re getting set up for the kids who are coming in for the kids’ perfect day. In 1 Chronicles 25:8, it’s very clear there are Levitical families — grandparents, parents, children — generations.

It doesn’t mean there’s no place for the singles. God sets the solitary in families. But there is a place in the Tabernacle of David for Levitical families and for generations. It’s intergenerational.

You might picture a relay race where someone is running with a torch, and they’re just about to pass out and hand it off to the next runner, but it’s not just that. If you look at their timelines, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had a lot of time where all three generations were walking together. There’s something about the intergenerational in the Tabernacle of David..

4. Expressive Worship and Intercession

Fourth, the Tabernacle of David was emotionally and physically expressive.

That’s a very important part of the Tabernacle of David, because we can so often kind of just adapt it to our culture and say, “Well, that’s not in my culture to shout,” or “It’s not in my culture to dance,” or “It’s not in my culture to do this or that.” But we see in the Tabernacle of David, there were times of great shouting and times of great quiet.

There were times of dancing around the room, and times of laying on their face before the Lord in silence. There were times of great anger expressed toward the enemies of God, drums and strong warfare. There were other times of just deep intimacy in His presence.

Some people try to put what they’re more comfortable with as what it should always be. I’ve never seen a House of Prayer succeed that has only one expression.

I remember one that started here in Israel up north. This man said, “Every single watch, everyone should be on their face before the Lord on the floor.” And when God comes in that way—we’ve had some powerful times on our faces on the floor—but it’s not the only way He moves.

You see what I’m saying? It became a heavy burden. People would fall asleep on the floor, and they couldn’t keep the worship and prayer going because many were sleeping. But that’s not the Lord.

When it’s the Lord, I can sit and wait a long time on my face. But when it’s not the Lord, I can’t. Sometimes I just pace back and forth and pray and worship, because I want to stay awake.

Night people—you hear me?

So again, it’s not making one thing the norm. It shouldn’t always be quiet intimacy, or always drums and shouting. It should be both, all of the above. Yes. Yes. Yes. All of it.

There’s a whole range of expressions — physically and emotionally — in the presence of the Lord. And there needs to be a freedom.

5. Prophetic Flow

There was a prophetic flow and spontaneity. They didn’t know everything that was going to happen when they came in.

You can see that when you read the Psalms. In the Psalms, there’ll be a few verses that are great warfare, then a few verses that are very quiet and still before the Lord, then a few verses that are singing joyfully, and then a few verses that are silent.

In other words, if every watch always looks the same, I’m afraid we’ve gotten into a rut. Can you hear what I’m saying? I say that to myself too. Let’s be open to the Holy Spirit to come in new ways, or in ways we didn’t expect, in a particular watch.

But when the Holy Spirit moves, let’s follow the Holy Spirit.

6. Pure God-Centered Worship and Intercession

It says the Levites were consecrated. That means set apart for worship. That was their primary ministry. It was God-centered rather than self-centered or self-conscious.

In other words, it’s not about, “Am I being videoed? Am I getting enough likes? Am I getting views?” It’s not about people or, “Are people coming to my watch?” It’s not about that. It’s about Him. Is He coming to my watch?

I can have a lot of people there and He may not be there. The bottom line is: is He there?

And that brings us to the last thing, number seven, which is sacrificial worship and intercession.

7. Sacrificial Worship and Intercession

When there was a plague over here on this hill, before the temple, there was the threshing floor of Araunah and God told David to offer a sacrifice, a bull. And Araunah said, “I’ll give you the wood, I’ll give you the land, I’ll give you the bull, even everything.” And David says, “No way. I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing.”

That’s a very key understanding about David. He said, “I’m not going to offer to the Lord something that’s not costly. I will give to the Lord that which He asked from me. I’ll give it to Him, and I will sacrifice for it to come to Him.”

We close with this last little story. Over in the building in Mount Zion Hotel, we had a man who came for a year. He said he wanted to learn about the House of Prayer and worship at the Tabernacle of David, and then he felt called to the Lord to help start it in a city in Europe, which he did.

During the year he was with us, he had been the worship leader first and then senior pastor of a very large church in Dallas, Texas. So, when he led worship, there were like 2,000 people in front of him. He was living in a house with a jacuzzi and two cars, all the stuff. Suddenly, he was here in Jerusalem: no car, no jacuzzi, and no crowd.

It was a Sunday morning, and he was to do the watch. He came in and sat down at the piano, and he said, “I have to be honest.” He said his first thought was, “I am crazy. Why did I ever do this? Leave all these wonderful things at home to come to this intense city?”

And here he was in a room, and there were like two or three people in the room as that was going through his mind. And he said, “Suddenly I heard angel wings rustling, and I heard the room filling up with angels.” Then he said, “I heard one of the angels say to the other one, ‘Shh, he’s about to begin.'”

Not accustomed to having visions, he said, “Oh, is that me? Am I crazy?” And a lady—one of the two or three in the room—she came up and said, “I’m so sorry to bother you, but before you begin I just have to tell you, when you sat down at the piano bench, I heard angel wings in the room. I heard a rustling of angel wings, and angels filled up the room.” She said, “Then I heard one of them say, ‘Shh, he’s about to begin.'”

He said, “I’ll take that any day.”

And you see what I’m saying? It’s not for people acclaiming us or whatever. There’s nothing wrong with leading worship for 2,000 people, please understand me, I’m not saying that. But what I’m saying is: it’s not all about the numbers or the acclaim or any of it. It’s all about His presence.

It’s all about being where He wants us to be, when He wants us to be there, doing what He wants us to do, and ministering to Him because we love to do it. I look out here at several of you, and you love to worship the Lord. You love to pray. That means so much to us.

We never want anyone to come here and do it just out of duty in a sad way. We want people to be excited: “I’m going to be in the presence of the Lord. I’m going to welcome His presence. I’m going to help establish the throne of the Son of David in Jerusalem.”

You understand what He wants. He wants joy.

He said, “There shall be joy in My house of prayer.” So, the Tabernacle of David, one of the key marks of the Tabernacle of David was joy. There was great joy.

It was not just, “We’ll kind of make it through our time here, and if I can stay awake till the end of my watch,” or whatever. It was, “Lord, we’re going to press in until Your joy is our strength, and with Your strength we will praise You. We will worship You.”