After asking the Lord, David pursues those who took his people captive: At the word of God, Jesus Christ returns to avenge His afflicted people.

1 Samuel 30:7-10

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click here for a description of the image of the beast.

“Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David.” 1 Samuel 30:7

The ephod was a garment worn by the high priests, such as Samuel, and other priests, and also worn by David, as revealed in 2 Samuel 6:14, as quoted, “And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.” The ephod was made of gold, symbolizing the best of the best. It was blue which symbolizes Holiness or Heaven. It was purple symbolizing royalty. And it was fine linen representing the clothing of the Holy Spirit. David would make inquiries to God with the ephod and God would answer him.

The ephod symbolizes the Lord Jesus Christ, being the best God offers to us as His only Son, who makes atonement for our sin by His death and resurrection. Jesus Christ was God in the flesh living in perfect Holiness and being sent from Heaven. Jesus Christ is the royalty of God who has been given a name above all names in Heaven and on earth. Jesus Christ was born of the Spirit of God and lived in the Spirit of God during His time on this earth. There is only one way to access God, and that is through the ephod, and Jesus Christ is that ephod, as quoted below,

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Romans 8:26-27

“So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” 1 Samuel 30:8

Jesus Christ constantly went off by Himself to pray and to inquire of God when important events were upon Him. One such example is when He chose His twelve Apostles, as quoted, “One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and He prayed to God all night. At daybreak He called together all of His disciples and chose twelve of them to be Apostles…” Luke 6:12-13 Today, Jesus is praying in Heaven, away from the inhabitants of earth. He is praying for us who hold to His testimony during these times when the masses of the global government of the beast dominates every city around the world. He is waiting for His Father’s word to pursue and overtake this world’s system and bring us into the riches of the new heaven and new earth.

Jesus Christ might seem to have left us, but He is alive and in Heaven making intercession for the prayers of Christians (as quoted below) and can be read about in Revelation 5. Also, He is coming back due to the affliction of those who live for Him and the destruction of the Church, as read about in Revelation 4. The prayers of Christians are already in Heaven, and the answer to those prayers is the opening of the scroll, which is the opening of the Seven Seals, the sounding of the Seven Trumpets, and pouring out of the Seven Plagues.

 “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

Revelation 5:8

“So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind. But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor.” 1 Samuel 30:9-10

When Jesus Christ comes back, He is bringing His armies from Heaven with Him to pursue His enemies. Those armies from Heaven are not anybody redeemed from this earth, but are like the angels of Heaven, such as the archangel Michael who is known as the “great captain,” the leader of the heavenly hosts, and the warrior. That is like the “400” of David’s warriors. The “200” left behind are the Christians on this earth who have not yet been taken to Heaven. When Jesus Christ comes back, He will then take us to be eternally with Him in the New Jerusalem.

Although He is coming back with flesh and bones in His eternally redeemed body, He is not coming back as an earthly military might. He brings a spiritual victory over Satan, the beast, and the second beast (false prophet). The first time Jesus came, the mistake was made that He would be an earthly king, so that mistake shouldn’t be made again. The first time the Lord Jesus came, He brought reconciliation to God by the atonement made for sin, and He gave us the Holy Spirit to see us through these turbulent days on earth. When He comes the second time, He will destroy this present world’s system, bring judgement to all those who rejected Him, and give eternal life to all those who believe Him.

The “two hundred” of His followers who are on this earth by the brook experience weariness and are those within the tribulation of this world, just before the coming of the Lord Jesus and His armies. The faithful few Christians are those who stay by the brook of the Water of Life. In our weariness as Christians, we hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Today, those living for God through Jesus Christ are well aware of the constant attacks against drinking from the Water of Life and living by the Holy Spirit, it is a life of affliction and hardship. That is because we make our body the temple of the Holy Spirit and oppose the thing which wants to sit in the temple (our body) as if it were God. It wants to sit within us by the thing which forms thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and words as it enables the image of the beast to live and speak through people. As it lives and speaks through people, they are hostile to Christianity as they are conformed to their place in life by being groomed to the mark of the beast.

The Bible doesn’t hide the hardships from us but assures us that the sufferings of today are more than made up for in the new heaven and new earth where we have eternal life in the New Jerusaelm.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.”

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Revelation 6:10, Daniel 11:33-35, Romans 8:

Revelation 19:11-16 is an excellent description of when the Lord Jesus and His Heavenly army pursues and overtakes His enemies, as quoted below,

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 

His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 

Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1