God tells us through the mouth of His prophet Hosea, that; - “I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.” – Hosea 12:10
The Similitude of David
The definition of a similitude is; -
A likeness; resemblance: a similitude of habits.
A person or thing that is like or the match or counterpart of another: This expression is a similitude of the other.
Semblance; image: a similitude of the truth.
A likening or comparison in the form of a simile, parable, or allegory: He spoke by similitudes.
Throughout the scriptures God has used similitudes to foreshadow the Messiah Jesus. For example, the prophet David is used as a similitude of the Messiah. –
But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. Jeremiah 30:9
In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. – Jeremiah 34:24
And I the LORD will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them: I the LORD has spoken it. – Ezekiel 34:24
And David My servant shall be king over them; and they shall have one shepherd: (John 10:16) they shall also walk in My judgments, and observe My statues and do them. – Ezekiel 37:24
And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt therein, even they and their children, and their children’s children forever: and My servant David shall be their prince forever. – Ezekiel 37:25
It is obvious from these references that God is not referring to a mere man in these instances, but a ruler that will reign “forever” - eternally.
In order for a man to reign forever, he would have to be born, die, and be resurrected with a new eternal body - exactly what the Messiah Jesus did, fulfilling all the prophecies concerning His death and resurrection from the dead.
Jesus prophesied of His supernatural return to earth (Matthew 24:26-44) and we also see that supernatural second coming In Zechariah 14. In Zechariah’s prophecy, the Messiah is referred to as God Himself, the LORD. Obviously this Messiah can reign forever and not die.
God was in Messiah reconciling the world to Himself - II Corinthians 5:19.
I and My Father are One. - John 10:30
Christians are often accused of idolatry for worshipping Jesus. We are actually worshipping God through Him (Ephesians 3:21) for they are the same Spirit (Romans 8:9).
In I Chronicles 29:20, we are shown the literal king David being worshipped with God. –
And David said to all the congregation, “Now bless the LORD your God.” And all the congregation blessed the LORD God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the LORD, and the king.
This scripture does not indicate that this event is idolatry. The reason for that is again, that king David is a similitude of the Messiah in the scriptures. The Messiah is a representative or image (Colossians 1:15) of the one true God of Israel and for this reason they are viewed as one.
When Jesus told the religious leadership of His day that God was His Father, (John 5:18) they wanted to stone Him for blasphemy. According to a custom of their time, whenever a father sent a son to represent him in business, the transaction was made as if the son was the father himself. Therefore Jesus was claiming to be equal with God.
Jesus as the Messiah, was fulfilling His role as God’s image and representative, and He was declaring in this instance, His inseparable union with God. When we see Jesus, we are seeing the Father who resides within Him through His Holy Spirit (John 14:9-11).
Therefore David is worshipped with God as a similitude of the Messiah who is to be seen as God Himself manifested in human flesh (I Timothy 3:16), and this worship is not idolatry, for God and His image are one.
David, the messianic similitude, died at a mere seventy years. The resurrected immortal Savior, as we have been shown, will reign forever; for Jesus is “the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9) - the similitude of God.
Copyright 2019 by H. D. Shively