True Leadership

The film Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe is a powerful reminder of things dear to us. It is essentially a film about leadership, contrasting the leadership qualities of two kings - Richard the Lionheart and his brother John - with that of the more common Robert Longstride aka Robin Hood. True to history, Richard and John are portrayed as flawed kings; Richard is blinded by a desire for military glory and John by material greed and a lust for power. The good thing about the film is that it clearly leaves room in the viewer's imagination for the possibilities and potential of good kingship. John is urged by his counsellor to be a shepherd king but, of course, rejects the advice.

Robin Hood's leadership is based on his integrity as a man. There is a great scene in the film where, under Robin's leadership and stewardship, the village he becomes lord of is enjoying a night of celebration and revelry. All the village's young men have left to become scavengers hiding in the nearby forest. However, they all sneak back to see the village having its big celebration. The symbolism is potent: the "orphaned" and the outcast are drawn back to the joy in the camp, a camp transformed by a real fathering leader. The film cries out for such leadership. By the end of the movie, Robin leads these young men in a clear fathering role.

The key of David requires such fathering leadership. In Isaiah 22, the self-serving ministry of Shebna is rejected for the father-heart ministry of Eliakim. Sardis is the church where leadership is based on rank and title. It is the church where pastors and teachers hold sway, with the tolerance of the evangelist ministry. The Church of Philadelphia, by contrast, is where leadership is based on having a shepherd's heart and is where apostles and prophets are restored to their true governmental authority.

Those who see Robin Hood as a lick against monarchy and a blow for democracy are missing the point. The point is not that leadership of a commoner is to be preferred over that of a king. The point is that true leadership is fathering and shepherding. Kings can have these qualities; in fact, I believe the film very blatantly posits the question: What if the man on the Throne had the qualities of Robin Hood?

Such a shepherd king upon the Throne of Britain is our heart's longing.

The Shepherd Boy

The song "The Shepherd's Boy" is a very unusual one in that it comes from an age of the Church that is only now beginning to manifest; that is, the Church of Philadelphia. Although it speaks of ancient history, it is a song of the future when the Key of David will be known to many. As someone in our fellowship put it, it makes you want to cry without the guilt of a Sardis song. There is no guilt in Philadelphia, only love.

The song makes me think of the boy David. I can see the Father in heaven watching the lad as he shepherds his father's sheep in the fields. You can sense the heart of God bursting with love for this boy. There's something about David that delights God. It's almost like Yahweh got caught by surprise by David. Saul has not long been anointed king of Israel and proven himself a dud when up pops a boy in the hills tending sheep who gets Yahweh's attention. Samuel is then dispatched to anoint David while Saul is still on the throne. It's almost like God rips up the plan for the throne of Israel and switches to a new one.

The Bible speaks about the sure mercies of David and tells us his throne is founded upon mercy. Saul had no such promise undergirding his kingdom rule. God knows He will have to pillow David with mercy because He knows he is not infallible. But this is David already pushing Yahweh into a New Covenant paradigm because such a concept and relationship of sure mercy is found only in the New Covenant era. David always broke the boundaries of his own time. He set up the tabernacle where the worship was not according to the order prescribed under the Old Covenant but had definite aspects of the New Covenant.

The most startling thing about David is that he had a relationship with Jesus Christ one thousand years before Jesus walked the earth! In Psalm 110 David speaks of his own lord being at the right hand of Yahweh. David knew that Someone was at Yahweh's right hand and that this Person was his own master. Would that all monarchs on David's throne had such a vision! David is a man who is not content to be a man of his dispensation. He pushes Yahweh into giving him blessings and privileges of the age to come.

David's heart clearly delights God so much that He bends history and the timeline to accomodate David. He even makes David a patriarch like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Acts 2:29) and loves this shepherd boy so much that he makes him a sharer in Abraham's promise of innumerable seed (Jeremiah 33:20-22). Since Yahweh cannot have another covenant partner because He is already covenanted with Abraham, He does the next best thing; He seeds David's seed into Abraham's. This commingling of David and Abraham's seed has been proven in history and is borne out by DNA statistics (see my book The Key Of David for a fuller explanation). God's desire to bless and honour David made Him perform extravagant - even outrageous - things for the wee boy who captured His attention tending the sheep in the fields.

We in this 21st century who have seen the Key of David and who understand that his throne resides with us still in our British monarchy have a sacred duty and responsibility to uphold this throne by our prayers and actions. We know this glorious throne is Yahweh's instrument of dominion on planet earth. We know that Jesus must reign upon this throne as the King within the king who sits upon it, until that marvellous day He splits the skies and comes to reign upon it in His own corporal body. So we pray for the shepherd king who is coming. That king who will lead our nation back to God and usher in what Paul spoke of as life from the dead. The age of Philadelphia is upon us. This is the day when the tabernacle of David is restored and all Israel shall be saved.