Chapter 1: Introduction

Before David could rule Israel as king, God trained him in the wilderness for many years. King Saul, without whose training David could never have grown into an overcomer, had been king over Israel for ten years before David’s birth. Saul had been crowned on the day of wheat harvest (1 Sam. 12:17), which is the day later called “Pentecost.” It was the day that the priest offered to God the new grain offering of wheat, signaling the beginning of wheat harvest (Lev. 23:15-17).

We show in our book, The Wheat and Asses of Pentecost, that King Saul was a type of the Church under Pentecost, while David was a type of the Church under the Tabernacles anointing. We have now concluded the Pentecostal Age that began in Acts 2. King Saul reigned 40 years. It was 40 years from Jesus’ ministry (30-33 A.D.) to the Roman War that first destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and concluded with the taking of Masada in 73 A.D.

On a broader scale, it was 40 weeks of years (Sabbaths) or 40 x 7 years from Jesus’ ministry to the fall of the pagan Roman Empire in 310 A.D. Forty weeks of years is 280 years. Jesus began his ministry in 30 A.D. after John was cast into prison. Forty “weeks” later was 310 A.D., when Constantine conquered the Roman Empire. Jesus was crucified in 33 A.D., and the day of Pentecost came about seven weeks later. Forty “weeks” (280 years) later brings us to Constantine’s Edict of Milan, that formally ended the persecution of Christians.

On the broadest scale of measurement, it has been 40 Jubilees from the events in Acts 2 to the year 1993 A.D. This is 40 cycles of 49 years during which time the Age of Pentecost has run its course. It was the age in which the Church has ruled as King Saul by its Pentecostal anointing.

It is now time for a new move of the Spirit, a full anointing, a greater anointing of the Feast of Tabernacles. Those who rule in the coming Age will be those identified with King David, rather than King Saul. These are not mere Christians; they are the overcomers. There are many who, like Saul, fear the overcomers and force them to run for their lives into the wilderness outside the denominational structure. Such people and denominations are called to help the overcomers to learn total dependence upon God and to hear His voice. The Sauls in the Church have a sacred calling, and the Davids in the wilderness training owe them a great debt.

Saul was called to be king after just one week’s notice (1 Sam. 10:8). God did not take the time to train Saul, for he was of the tribe of Benjamin, rather than of Judah. The scepter was to be given to Judah, not to Benjamin (Gen. 49:10; 1 Chron. 5:2). It was God’s will that Saul be king—and even have a perpetual dynasty (1 Sam. 13:13). But it was God’s ultimate intention that Saul should fail, for it had already been established that the true King would come from Judah.

Even so, the Church under Pentecost in the past 2,000 years was begun mostly by Jesus’ disciples who were from Galilee. Five hundred years earlier the tribe of Benjamin had settled in villages north of Jerusalem (Neh. 11:31-36), while the tribe of Judah had settled in villages south of Jerusalem (Neh. 11:25-30). By the time Jesus was born, Galilee housed most of the Benjamites, while Judea was home to Judah. When Jesus chose his disciples from Galilee, He was choosing men of Benjamin, because the Pentecostal Age was soon to come. Even Paul (Saul) was a Benjamite (Phil. 3:5). Pentecost was the day the new Saul company was crowned King.

Even as Saul was a good king throughout his first year and into his second, so also the early Church “reigned” quite well in the first century—that is, in the first Jubilee cycle and into the second. They conquered men by love and by the power of the Spirit. Strong enemies were smitten by their tongue, which was a sharp sword that could divide soul and spirit, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12). They needed no force of physical arms, for they had a better, more powerful conquering sword. No amount of persecution could conquer the Church, though many were martyred, first by the Jews, and later by the Greeks and Romans.

As time passed, however, the Saul Church disobeyed God and refused to repent, even as King Saul did in his second year (1 Sam. 13:1). Eventually, God forsook Saul and told Samuel to anoint a new king—David. Even so, when the Church became a religion and lost its first love, God forsook it and called the next body of believers to be the future king over the earth. This was the David company of overcomers.

During the following centuries, God trained this body of people through persecution at the hands of the Saul Church. Though many were martyred for their faith, they will live again in the first resurrection, for they will be alive on the earth to see and experience the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles. They will rule in the age to come—the Tabernacles Age.

Some call this the Millennium; others call it the Messianic Age or the Kingdom Age. Whatever our terminology, it is the Age where the Davidic company, the overcomers, bring righteousness into the earth by means of the anointing of Tabernacles. It is their calling as the body of Christ to bring heaven to earth. It is their calling to manifest Christ to the rest of the people of the earth, so that the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14). What Pentecost could NOT finish—for it was weak through leaven (Lev. 23:17)—the Feast of Tabernacles will complete this task of filling the earth with His glory. The prophets tell us that the Kingdom of God will then grow mightily until it fills the whole earth (Dan. 2:35).

Then will the end come, and God will raise the dead, small and great, before the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11-15). It would appear that the Age of Tabernacles will last about 1,000 years (Rev. 20:5-7). This fits the prophetic measurement of Moses’ Tabernacle, where the Holy Place was 20 x 10 x 10, or 2,000 cubic cubits. This represents the present Pentecostal Age, a period of about 2,000 years. The Holy of Holies, on the other hand, measured 10 x 10 x 10, or 1,000 cubic cubits. This represents the Tabernacles Age in years.