Key Of David - Part One

THE KEY OF DAVID It Unlocks Your Wonderful Future First Harvest Ministries International Rev. John Shane Vaughn, Founding Apostolic Overseer TEXT "And to the messenger of the assembly 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 "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." — Genesis 49:10 I. THE KEY IS AN OFFICE — NOT A FEELING Beloved FHaMIly, we live in a generation that has reduced everything YAHWEH gave us into a feeling. Men speak of the Key of David as though it were a mood that comes over you in worship, a warm sensation in a service, a private blessing you carry in your pocket. It is nothing of the kind. A key is an instrument of authority. A key says this house is mine to open and mine to shut. When a man holds the keys, he holds the household. And YAHSHUA the Messiah did not say He had a key. He said He holds the key of David — the key of a throne, the key of a dynasty, the key of a kingdom that has been running underground through the centuries and is about to surface in front of the whole world. Hear where that key comes from: "And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." — Isaiah 22:22 Notice how the key is received. It is laid upon his shoulder. It is not seized. It is not campaigned for. It is not voted in by a committee. It is placed there by YAHWEH Himself. But now catch what the Spirit is saying in the anatomy, because there is a revelation buried in one word and most of the church has walked past it for two thousand years. The key was not laid on His head. It was laid on His shoulder. The head is where a crown goes. The head is where authority is displayed. But the shoulder is not the head — the shoulder is the body. It is the first member of the body, the joint where the head connects to everything it governs. And YAHWEH deliberately, specifically, prophetically laid the key of the house of David there. Why? Because the head directs the government — but the body carries it. Messiah is the Head, and Scripture settles that plainly: "And he is the head of the body, the assembly." — Colossians 1:18 But the key is not on the crown. The key is on the shoulder — and the shoulder belongs to the body. Beloved, this is why the Kingdom will never be administered by one man with a title and a microphone. The key of the Kingdom rests on the hierarchy of the body. Look at how YAHWEH moves His own throne through the earth. David tried it once with a new cart. Innovation. Efficiency. Good intentions, good music, and a wagon — and a man died reaching out to steady what was never supposed to be riding there. When David came back the second time, he had learned the lesson: "And the children of the Levites bare the ark of YAHWEH upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of YAHWEH." — 1 Chronicles 15:15 Upon their shoulders. Not on wheels. Not on whatever conveyance seemed reasonable that season. The presence of YAHWEH travels on the shoulders of ordered, appointed, consecrated bearers — and every generation that tries to move the government of YAHWEH by machinery instead of by shoulders buries somebody. Now look at the priest: "And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before YAHWEH upon his two shoulders for a memorial." — Exodus 28:12 Twelve tribes. Two shoulders. The whole house of Israel carried on the shoulder of the priesthood. And a body has order in it, or it is not a body — it is a pile. "But now hath YAHWEH set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him." — 1 Corinthians 12:18 That is not a crowd — that is a hierarchy, and it is the only structure YAHWEH has ever consented to lay a key upon. And now name the shoulder. Ask what a shoulder actually is. It is the joint standing between the head and everything the head intends to do. The head gives the direction — but nothing in the body moves until the shoulder transmits it. Every arm that lifts, every hand that labors, every burden that gets carried passes through that joint first. That joint is the five-fold ministry. "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Messiah." — Ephesians 4:11-12 Five offices. One shoulder. Now read the next words slowly, because the entire architecture of the Kingdom is sitting in one sentence: "...may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Messiah: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body." — Ephesians 4:15-16 Watch the direction of the flow. It comes from the Head. It passes through the joint. It arrives in the Body. Paul says it again, even more plainly: "And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of YAHWEH." — Colossians 2:19 Joints and bands. That is shoulder language. The nourishment of the Head does not fall on the body like rain — it is ministered through joints. YAHWEH ordained a connection point and appointed five offices to be it. This is why a body without the five-fold is a body with a severed shoulder. The Head is still speaking. The direction is still being given. But nothing reaches the hands. You get an assembly full of sincere people who love YAHSHUA and cannot move — willing, saved, and disconnected. And ministers, hear the weight of your own office: the shoulder carries the Head to the Body. The shoulder does not become the Head. Verse 12 tells you exactly why the joint exists — for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry. The five-fold was never given so that five men would do the work. It was given so that the whole body would be equipped to do it. A joint that keeps the nourishment to itself has stopped being a shoulder. So when you take your place in the order of this house, understand what is actually happening to you. You are not honoring a man. You are becoming shoulder. You are being fitted into the one place in the body where the key of David has ever been laid. And now hear the prophet again, one chapter family away: "...and the government shall be upon his shoulder... Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever." — Isaiah 9:6-7 The same shoulder. The key and the government rest in the same place, because they are the same thing. To hold the Key of David is to hold the government of YAHWEH. YAHSHUA carried a cross on that shoulder before He carried a kingdom on it. The last Adam bore the weight of a world's rebellion before YAHWEH highly exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name. That is why the key is safe in His hand. He is the only one who ever bore weight on that shoulder and did not drop it. Every other steward has failed. Read Isaiah 22 from the beginning. Shebna was over the house, and Shebna carved himself a tomb in the rock — building his own monument in YAHWEH's house — and YAHWEH removed him. And even Eliakim, the nail fastened in a sure place, is cut down before the chapter ends. Hear me, FHaMIly: no man keeps this key. Not a bishop. Not a board. Not a denomination. Not a pastor. The key passed through every hand in Israel's history and slipped out of all of them, until it came to rest on the shoulder of the Son of David — and it has never moved since. II. THE SCEPTRE THAT NEVER DEPARTED Now go back to the deathbed of Jacob, and hear the oldest prophecy of the throne: "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." — Genesis 49:10 This is not ancient history. This is end-time prophecy, and we are watching it come to term. The sceptre — Hebrew shevet — is the ruler's rod. It is David's throne. The lawgiver — Hebrew mechoqeq — is the one from whom the statute proceeds. Jacob is saying that from the tribe of Judah there will never be a moment when the rod of rule and the authority to legislate are absent from the earth. Look at what that claim survived. Babylon burned the temple and carried Judah away — and the sceptre did not depart. Rome hung the King of the Jews on a tree with a mocking sign over His head — and the sceptre did not depart. The nations have spent two thousand years attempting to erase the seed of Judah from the earth — and the sceptre did not depart. Kingdoms that swore they would bury this throne are themselves buried. Their empires are museum exhibits. And the throne of David is still standing, still occupied, still legislating. Until Shiloh come. That word — Shiloh — means the one to whom it belongs. The rightful owner. The sceptre was held in trust across the centuries until the true Heir came to claim what was always His. He has come. He is coming again. And He is coming with the deed in His hand. "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book." — Revelation 5:5 Judah's Lion. David's Root. He prevailed to open — because He holds the key. III. YIQQAHAH — THE GATHERING THAT IS OBEDIENCE Now come to the most beautiful word in the prophecy. "...and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." The Hebrew is yiqqahah (ההקָּיִ) — pronounced yik- kaw-HAW, the weight falling hard on that last syllable. Say it with me. Yik-kaw-HAW. And it does not mean a crowd. It does not mean a headcount. It does not mean a stadium full of people who showed up because the music was good. Yiqqahah means obedience. Submission. Do you see what YAHWEH just did? He defined the gathering as the obeying. In the Kingdom, to be gathered is to be surrendered. There is no such thing as a gathered rebel. There is no such thing as an assembled soul who will not bow. When Messiah gathers the nations to the sceptre of Judah, He is not collecting bodies — He is receiving submission. And beloved, this is why we do what we do right now. Somebody has asked you why you keep Sabbath when the world does not. Somebody has asked you why you keep the feasts, why you eat the way you eat, why you order your home the way you order it, why you submit to correction when everyone around you does exactly as they please. Here is the answer. We are learning yiqqahah — yik-kaw-HAW — now so that we are not strangers to it then. We are practicing the posture of the Kingdom before the Kingdom is publicly enthroned. When the whole earth is called to bow to the sceptre of Judah, the FHaMIly will not be learning submission for the first time — we will be at home in it. That gathering has a date on YAHWEH's calendar. It is called the Feast of Tabernacles. "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, YAHWEH of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles." — Zechariah 14:16 Every year you go up to Tabernacles, you are not observing a quaint custom. You are rehearsing the gathering of the nations. You are keeping in your body the shape of a world that has not arrived yet. IV. SATAN'S GREAT WRATH Now understand why the road is hard. "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." — Revelation 12:12 Great wrath. Not mild irritation. Not passing annoyance. Great wrath — and it is aimed at exactly one thing. Understand what the adversary lost. He was placed over a government on this earth. He was the covering cherub, the anointed one, set in a position of trust — and he looked at a throne he was permitted to serve and decided he would rather own it. "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars... I will be like the most High." — Isaiah 14:13-14 Five times I will. Five times a steward reached for a key that was never laid on his shoulder. He was removed. And from the moment of his removal until this hour he has hated one thing above all others: the government of YAHWEH resting on somebody else's shoulder. So hear me carefully, FHaMIly. He cannot take the key. That question is settled and closed — YAHSHUA holds it and no man, no principality, no accuser shuts what He opens. So the adversary does the only thing left to him. He attacks the ones standing in the open door. Look again at what Messiah said to Philadelphia: "I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength." Little strength. Small congregation. Limited resources. Few names. And an open door that hell itself cannot close. That is why the assault comes. That is why the accusation comes. That is why the harassment comes, and the slander, and the pressure on your family, and the long seasons where it feels like every hand is against this house. It is not because you are failing. It is because the door is open and he cannot reach the latch. And notice the words that follow the wrath: he knoweth that he hath but a short time. His rage is not the confidence of a victor. It is the panic of a defendant who has read the verdict. V. OBEYING FAMILY GOVERNMENT Now I must bring this into your house, because the Key of David is the key of a house. Isaiah did not say the key of the nation of David or the key of the army of David. He said the key of the house of David. YAHWEH's government has always been shaped like a family, and it is administered first in a home. You cannot rule a kingdom you would not rule a kitchen for. Hear the pattern: "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." — Deuteronomy 6:6-7 Sitting, walking, lying down, rising up. That is not a Sabbath program. That is a household under government — every hour of it, every room of it. Husbands: the key was laid on a shoulder that bore a cross first. Your authority in that home is measured by what you are willing to carry, not by what you are able to demand. A man who rules by volume has already forfeited the office. Wives: your submission is not weakness and it is never servitude. It is yiqqahah — the same posture the nations will take at Tabernacles — practiced early, practiced willingly, and practiced by a woman who understands she is rehearsing the Kingdom. Children: honor in the home is the training ground for authority in the Kingdom. You will never carry a rod you would not first receive one under. And to this whole FHaMIly: when correction comes into this house, do not despise it. Every time you submit to order you did not choose, you are being fitted for a throne you did not earn. A home without government produces a saint without a seat. VI. THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS Hear now where all of this is going. "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things." — Matthew 17:11 An Elijah came in our own era, and the government of YAHWEH — the truth of the Sabbath, the feasts, the law, the throne, the very Key of David — was restored to the assembly. But understand the boundary of that work. It was restored to the Church, not to the world. Measured against the billions on this earth, only a remnant ever heard it, and a smaller remnant still ever obeyed it. The full restoration is not a man's work. It is the Messiah's. "And he shall send YAHSHUA Messiah, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which YAHWEH hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." — Acts 3:20-21 Restitution of all things. Not most things. Not the salvageable things. All things — restored, healed, set right, brought back into the order they were made for. The same government the covering cherub was given and then rebelled against will be re-established over the whole earth, and this time it will rest on a shoulder that will not drop it. And this — this — is why the training matters now. "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." — Revelation 3:21 That promise was made to Philadelphia. To the little-strength assembly standing in the open door. YAHSHUA is not returning to a world in order to rule it alone — He is coming back for administrators. He wants a government already in place, already trained, already fluent in submission, ready to help Him implement His law across the nations. That government is not a denomination. It is everyone grafted into the sceptre of Judah — Judah and returning Ephraim, natural branch and wild branch, every scattered one of the FHaMIly brought home to the throne that never fell. VII. THE CHARGE FHaMIly, hear the charge. The key is not in your hand. It is on His shoulder — and that is your security. Nothing in your life is being opened or shut by an enemy, an accuser, a court, a critic, or a circumstance. It is being opened and shut by the One who prevailed. The door in front of you is open, and it will stay open. Not because you are strong. He said plainly you have little strength. It stays open because He is holding it, and no man can shut it. The wrath against you is a compliment. It is the measure of what the adversary can see coming and cannot stop. And the obedience you are practicing today is the throne you will occupy tomorrow. Every act of submission in this house is a rehearsal for the gathering of the nations. So keep the Sabbath. Keep the feasts. Keep the order in your home. Keep the Name you have not denied. Keep His word when it costs you. Because the sceptre never departed. Shiloh is coming. And unto Him shall the gathering of the people be. Let the FHaMIly say amen. APPENDIX — PRONUNCIATION GUIDE Stress falls on the CAPITALIZED syllable. Hebrew almost always stresses the last syllable — resist the English instinct to hit the first one. The key word yiqqahah — ההקָּיִ — the gathering that is obedience (Gen. 49:10) Traditional (Strong's)yik-kaw-HAW Modern Hebrew yee-kah-HAH Break it down slowly: yik (rhymes with kick) — kaw — HAW. Three beats. Hold the middle k just slightly, like the k in bookkeeper, because the Hebrew doubles that letter. Then drop your voice into the last syllable and land there. Practice line: "Yik... kaw... HAW. Yik-kaw-HAW. And unto him shall the yik-kaw-HAW of the people be." Construct form as it actually appears in Genesis 49:10: yiqhat ammim — yik-HAT am- MEEM — "the obedience of the peoples." The throne words WordSay itMeaning shevet (ט  בֶשֵׁ )SHEH-vet sceptre, ruler's rod mechoqeq (קק  חֹ  מְ)meh-kho-KEK lawgiver, one who decrees Shiloh (ילֹהשֵׁ)shee-LOH the one to whom it belongs Two warnings on these three. Shevet is the exception to the stress rule — hit the first syllable. SHEH-vet, not sheh-VET. Shiloh is shee-LOH, not "SHY-loh." The American church has said it wrong for two hundred years because of the battlefield in Tennessee. The guttural in mechoqeq The ch is not the ch in church. It is a scrape at the back of the throat — the sound in Bach, or in challah bread. Write it in your notes as kh so you don't soften it: meh — kho — KEK Both k sounds at the end are the letter qof, made further back in the throat than an English k. If you simply say a normal k, no one will fault you. Names in the sermon NameSay itNote Shebna (אנָ  בֶ  שֵׁ)shev-NAH the steward who carved his own tomb Eliakim (יםקי  לְ  א)el-yah-KEEM "El will raise up" ephod (פוֹדא )ay-FOD the priestly garment with the shoulder stones The Names YAHWEHYAH-weh — two beats, stress the first YAHSHUAyah-SHOO-ah — three beats, stress the middle Rev. John Shane Vaughn First Harvest Ministries International