A Heavenly Blueprint for Revival
David’s kingdom was a picture of the kingdom of God, and Davidic worship is a picture of God’s desire for Christian worship — that it would be on earth as it is in heaven.
I have now been praying and ministering here in eastern North Carolina for decades. Over the years, I met others who were hungry for God and longing to see awakening here. As those relationships with like-minded believers developed, some of the seasoned intercessors in the region made me aware of specific promises from God for our region given in previous years. One of these prophetic words from Derek Prince deeply provoked us. In 1975, while visiting eastern NC, he prophesied:
“I have found favor with you here in Eastern North Carolina. I will personally come to visit you. There will be a revival greater than the great Wales phenomenon. There will be kings and leaders from north, south, east, and west that will come and study the Eastern North Carolina phenomenon.”
To be aware of the events during the historic revival in Wales in the early 1900sis to understand how profound a prophetic promise this is for our region. It was reported that 100,000 people came to the Lord in the first year of the revival. Many believe it was the Wales revival that helped spark the Azusa Street revival in the United States around the same time1.
As I began to research this prophetic word, I discovered some of the context in which it was given. There was a church in Jacksonville, North Carolina, influenced by the Latter Rain revival in the 60s and 70s. One of the resources that had deeply influenced the congregation was The Power of His Presence by Graham Truscott. This was the first modern book written on the topic of David’s tabernacle. After reading it, the local church began incorporating Davidic worship into their meetings, and God moved powerfully. Additionally, they were beginning to experience fellowship and unity with other churches in the area.
In 1975, this group of churches decided to invite Derek Prince in for a series of special meetings. Believers crammed into the sanctuary for the first meeting, which was marked by God’s presence during the music and worship. It was said that “most people cared very little about the apparent lack of space. Only one thing mattered: God was in the house!” Remember, the meetings were taking place at the local church that had begun to incorporate Davidic worship — musical instruments and prophetic songs were being released. Creativity and intercession were beginning to flow. Another facet of this meeting was the gathering of worshipers from various races and church backgrounds. One attendee said, “We each began to understand that, although our skin pigments and denominations were different, we were indeed one body.2”
It was in this context that Derek Prince released his prophetic word:
“I have found favor with you here in Eastern North Carolina…”
For many years, I believed that there was something special about our region. We had found favor with God. Surely we would experience revival before anywhere in the world, right? I thought the prophetic word was about our region, but I was missing the point. One day, as I was praying for God to fulfil this prophetic promise (which I have now done thousands of times), the Holy Spirit broadened my understanding of what He was speaking through Derek Prince.
I realized that the body of Christ was joining in unity around God’s presence when this word was released, and it was the context of united, Davidic worship in which God was speaking about His favor! Although God has a unique destiny for every part of the world, this prophetic word was not that our geography was special. It was God’s stamp of approval upon His people coming together on earth as in heaven. The church in our region was engaging in Davidic worship in unity with believers of different races and denominations.
This is the environment in which God releases his favor. I realized that this prophetic word speaks not just to our region, but to the body of Christ. If you want God’s favor in your region — if you want revival — start doing on earth what is done in heaven. The prophetic promise wasn’t just because of a certain geographic location; it was because of a certain activity to which God responds.
Prophetic Insight
King David discovered this same principle when he established his tabernacle of day-and-night worship and prayer in Israel. One question we have yet to ask is: what inspired the dramatic new expression of worship at David’s tabernacle? How did David get the idea to set up day-and-night, prophetic worship music as a means to host the presence of God? There is an important verse that offers insight into how David received revelation for establishing his revolutionary order of worship. This insight comes from the story of Hezekiah, when he restored Davidic worship in Israel.
And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of the Lord by His prophets. 2 Chronicles 29:25
This passage makes it clear that the Davidic order of worship was “the commandment of the Lord by His prophets.” David’s tabernacle was not David’s idea, but God’s idea. The revelation came through “prophets” — namely, Nathan and Gad. Maybe David received direct revelation from the Lord about this, too. Perhaps Samuel the prophet helped David understand this new worship order. We have already described how the schools of the prophetic musicians that Samuel established seemed to serve as a forerunner to David’s tabernacle.
While the Bible does not specify exactly when or how David came to understand God’s desire for the new worship order, the verse above makes it clear that the vision for David’s tabernacle was a prophetic revelation from God, either directly to David or through the prophets around him. This eliminates any possibility that David was simply following a whim or passion. He was following the word of the Lord.
A Heavenly Blueprint
I believe that the prophetic revelation David received was insight into the heavenly worship order that surrounds the throne of God. And I believe this heavenly worship order corresponds to what was established in David’s tabernacle. Understanding the heavenly dimension of Davidic worship will become apparent as we compare the Bible’s heavenly visions with descriptions of David’s worship order.
Other authors have noted this correlation. Jason Hershey connects the importance of the 24/7/365 worship to the incessant worship of the heavenly throne room.3 John Dickson emphasizes the continuous worship of heaven in his teaching on Davidic worship4. Fritch says, “David received a prophetic pattern for replicating the Kingdom of God on earth5.” I believe understanding this truth is the key to unlocking the revelation God wants to give the church about the importance of David’s tabernacle.
The apostle John’s visions in Revelation 4 and 5 give us the clearest picture of the heavenly throne room, and the comparisons between the liturgy of the worship scene in heaven and David’s tabernacle are stunning.
The throne is in the center of the heavenly throne room, just as the ark was in the center of Jerusalem and David’s Tabernacle. Everything centered around God.
The elders in heaven offer sacrifices of musical praise and intercessory prayer (Revelation 5:8) as ministry to the Lord, just as David’s tabernacle introduced “intercessory worship” into the priesthood of Israel.
In heaven, the four living creatures worship day and night (Revelation 4:8), and David established worship “day and night” in the tent (I Chronicles 9:33).
Those four living creatures around the throne in heaven compare to the four “fathers” over the worship leaders in David’s tent — David, Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman (I Chronicles 25:1).
Around the heavenly throne, worship is pouring forth from twentyfour elders who lead the host of heaven in musical praise (Rev. 4:10-11, 5:8). King David established twenty worship leaders who led the teams of musicians at David’s tent (1 Chronicles 25:8-31).
Around the throne, thousands upon thousands of angels sing to God night and day (Rev. 5:11). King David also hired 4,000 Levites to sing and play instruments to the Lord night and day (1 Chronicles 23:5).
The antiphony of worship from the various groups described in Revelation 5 reflects the antiphonal worship that was part of the God-ordained Davidic order, as seen clearly in the stories of Nehemiah and Ezra (Ezra 3:11, Nehemiah 12:24).
Incredible! David did not create a new order of worship. He simply replicated the worship model of heaven on the earth. The worship order of the tabernacle of David is the heavenly worship order! If heaven was David’s prophetic inspiration, then David would have wanted to pursue incessant worship in his tabernacle. This realization provides the strongest case for non-stopworship in the tent on Mt Zion. Even if it was not continuous for thirty-three years, I believe David’s desire was to do his best to enthrone God in praise perpetually—in Jerusalem as in heaven.
