In Haggai 2:8, the LORD declares that the silver is His and the gold is His.

 

8 “The silver is mine and the gold is mine,” declares the Lord Almighty.

 

This is followed by a prophetic promise stating that the glory of the latter house will be greater than that of the former. This glory goes hand in hand with God’s ‘shalom—peace’ (cf. Haggai 2:9).

 

9 “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,” says the Lord Almighty. “And in this place I will grant peace,” declares the Lord Almighty.’

 

Since God is Spirit, we can recognize here, first and foremost, a spiritual principle that highlights the importance of the presence of God’s Word —as the silver— and the resulting gold as the wealth of faith.

 

 

As we know, it is faith that comes from hearing the Word of God, which is like refined silver (cf. Psalm 12:6 i.c.w. Romans 10:17).

 

6 And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.

 

17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

 

Thus, it becomes clear to us as disciples that the transformation of God’s possessions—silver as the Word of God and gold as faith—is the prerequisite for the intensity of God’s future glory and presence to increase. Only in this way can it take root in the space of our relationship with God—as the house. The two valuable elements of silver and gold, in connection with the greater glory as God’s presence, correspond to two biblical feast periods, namely:

 

Here, Passover celebrates redemption and Sukkot celebrates the glory of God. It is no coincidence at all that God chose the time frames of these two feasts, after the Tabernacle and the Temple had been erected, to fill them with His glory (cf. Exodus 40:17.34-35; 1 Kings 8:2.10-13).

 

17 So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month [Note: Nissan/Aviv] in the second year. …

34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

 

2 All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim [Note: Tishri], the seventh month. …

10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord.

11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.

12 Then Solomon said, ‘The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell for ever.’

 

 

Both feasts carry within them a special character of God’s ‘peace—Shalom’, which can be equated with Jesus’ statement in John 14:27.

 

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

 

The Hebrew word ‘šālôm’ is closely associated with YAHWEH as ‘SHALOM’ in the time of Gideon, but also with our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace (cf. Judges 6:24; Isaiah 9:5).

 

Shalom further signifies wholeness, a flawless state, well-being, peace, as well as peace in one’s relationship with God and with people, security, health, success, tranquility, contentment, and harmony (part excerpt from Strong’s Concordance No. H7965).

 

It is therefore no coincidence that God spoke to the prophet Haggai in the form of ‘YAHWEH-ZEBOTH’, who is the ‘LORD of Hosts’ or Armies, a character that describes a spiritual battle.

To the judge Gideon, who was amid a battle, God revealed Himself as the ‘LORD of Peace’ (cf. Judges 6:24a).

 

24a So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord Is Peace [Note: YAHWEH – SHALOM]. …

 

Here we see a spiritual symbiosis between warfare and peace, whereby divine peace is established only through the intervention of ‘YAHWEH-ZEBAOTH’ and earthly peace through ‘YAHWEH-SHALOM’.

 

The first peace that Jesus left behind is like silver. It is the peace that Jesus brought about through His established triumph on the cross, which took place during the Passover season (cf. Romans 5:1).

 

1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ...

 

This peace brings forth the quality of the one new man, which refers to the believers in Christ from among the Jews and the believers in Christ from among the Gentile nations (cf. Ephesians 2:14-18).

 

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 

It is the one new man in Christ Jesus who possesses the Hebrew-biblical mindset, which includes an understanding of the biblical times. The Hebrew mindset encompasses the mind of someone who has been transformed by God’s truth, having cast aside the Greek mindset (cf. Romans 12:2).

 

2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

Life within the structure of the one new man involves a transformation toward an anointed, biblical understanding, in which our words are spirit-filled and meaningful as they honor the Word of God in its fullness (cf. Matthew 7:28-29).

 

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

 

The second peace is a gift that Jesus gives to His followers and is linked to a higher place, which is the time frame of Sukkot from eternity in the New Jerusalem, His bride (cf. Revelation 21:2-3).

 

2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place [Note: Heb. Sukkah] is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

 

This second peace is equivalent to the gold mentioned by God in Haggai 2:8. For us as saints in Christ, it arises from the revelatory knowledge of belonging to the Bride, or the Lamb’s wife, and of acting out of this relationship, in which the Father as the almighty God and the Lamb are the temple (cf. Revelation 21:18.22-23).

 

18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. …

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

 

 

It was in Jesus’ interest for us, while He lived on earth, to pray for this revelatory knowledge of the oneness between Himself and the Father, because this oneness is linked to greater glory (cf. John 17:20-24).

 

20 ‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one –

23 I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

24 ‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

 

May we take hold of this ‘gold’ in a manner like that of the disciple Peter, who, at Jesus’ instruction, took the coin from the mouth of the first fish caught with a hook and used it for the sake of the Kingdom. This includes relief through the release of a higher peace, which is cloaked in wisdom and knowledge (cf. Matthew 17:27 i.c.w. Colossians 2:2-3; Colossians 3:3-4).

 

27 ‘But so that we [Note: Jesus and Peter] may not cause offence, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.’

 

2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

 

3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

 

When we shift our focus away from distractions and worldly things and turn it toward the Word of God, which leads us to a greater measure of faith, we will be able to experience this greater glory of unity in the Spirit with the Father. There may be a glory that we have yet to anticipate, but there is also this glory for us as God’s people in intimate fellowship with the Word of God, which speaks faith and peace into our hearts.

 

Who can say that faith and peace is not necessary in these times?

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm

Our calling as the Body of Christ and the people of God is to recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God in the way He reveals Himself to us. Sometimes, due to challenging circumstances or difficult situations in life, we are unable to recognize Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the way He is present to give us inner peace (cf. Luke 19:41-42a).

 

41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42a and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – …

 

Leah’s statement regarding her firstborn son Reuben — ‘See, a son!’— makes it clear that she associated ‘seeing’ with God’s perspective, who saw her distress (cf. Genesis 29:32).

 

32 Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, for she said, ‘It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.’

 

The Hebrew word used here for ‘misery’— עֳנִי (’ŏnî) — can also be translated as ‘depression, distress, or oppression.’ (Note: definition taken from Strong’s Concordance with the word key number: H6040)

 

Furthermore, it is a promise from God for us to enter divine rest, which is accompanied, among other things, by the manifestation of blessings (cf. Hebrews 4:1.9).

 

1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. …

9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; …

 

 

Since spiritual ‘seeing’ is connected to the prophetic, it is essential that we, as the people of God, respond sensitively to the spirit of prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus (cf. Revelation 19:10e).

 

‘… 10e For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.’

 

In this context, the prophetic dynamic associated with the office of the prophet takes on special significance.

 

John 1:29 ff. states that John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and, as a result, spoke a prophetic proclamation —based on revelatory insight— to the people who were with him in the wilderness. In doing so, he made it clear that Jesus was not yet known to him in all details, but that God had previously spoken to him about His Son Jesus and had revealed to him the supernatural sign of confirmation. This sign was the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus in the form of a dove and remaining upon Him as a sign that He would be endowed with greater spiritual power— namely, the baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

 

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

30 This is the one I meant when I said, “A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.”

31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptising with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.’

32 Then John gave this testimony: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.

33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.”

34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One. [Note: the Son of God]’

 

In this context, the geographical location and the waters of the Jordan River played an important role.

 

The Jordan River is associated with the entry of the people of Israel into the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua. Jesus, too, entered the waters of the Jordan to be revealed as the fulfillment of the Father’s promise to John the Baptist, the prophet, and to the people present (cf. Joshua 3:17 i.c.w. Matthew 3:16-17).

 

17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

 

16 As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

17 And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’

 

 

The growing revelation concerning Jesus Christ as the Son of God is evident in the following sequence according to the Word of God:

 

As already mentioned, the presence of flowing water —in the form of the Jordan River—takes on special significance here.

 

After Jesus encountered the water of the Jordan in the presence of the prophet John the Baptist, the heavens were torn open, so that the supernatural presence and movement of the Holy Spirit manifested itself in the form of a dove, and the voice of the Heavenly Father then resounded.

 

It reveals that John the Baptist’s proclamation as a prophet went hand in hand with the presence of the rushing waters of the Jordan. This led the people to take notice of Jesus and followed Him (cf. John 1:35-37).

 

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.

36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

 

It is evident that other followers of the prophet were among John’s disciples, who later joined Jesus as His disciples.

 

 

As we know in the Word of God it states that the voice of the Almighty and of the Son of God is like the sound of many waters (cf. Ezekiel 1:24a i.c.w. Revelation 1:15b).

 

24a When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty [Note: Shaddai], …

 

…, 15b and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.

 

This means for us that prophetic communication, in the form of the testimony of Jesus, creates a realm of revelation in which we recognize Jesus Christ as He reveals Himself in the moment. We may allow the Holy Spirit to flood our vision with the light of God’s revelation in the form of His eyes, which are full of light (cf. Luke 11:34a i.c.w. 1 John 1:5).

 

34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, [Note: generous] your whole body also is full of light. …

 

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

 

This perspective, which we allow to be flooded with the light of His revelation, leads us deeper into our relationship with Christ.

 

 

From which eye socket do we look with the eyes of our heart in the form of wisdom and revelation (cf. Ephesians 1:17-18)?

 

17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, …

 

We can look out from the region of the seven eyes of the precious cornerstone —or keystone— the Lamb of God, the eyes of the wheels, or even from the region of the eyes of the four living creatures (cf. Zechariah 3:9; Zechariah 4:10; Revelation 5:6; Ezekiel 1:18; Ezekiel 10:12; Revelation 4:8).

 

9 See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes [Note: facets] on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.

 

10 ‘Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone [Note: the plimb-line] in the hand of Zerubbabel?’

 

6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the centre of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

 

18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.

 

12 Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels.

 

8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all round, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: ‘ “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,” who was, and is, and is to come.’

 

The position of the eyes defines the light of revelatory knowledge, which enables us to see the truth that is still unknown to us—the truth in which the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of Truth, desires to instruct us, so that the unknown truth becomes revelatory truth to us.

 

In addition, this may involve, among other things, recognizing the truth about God’s movement such as works represented by hands, walking represented by feet, faith represented by wings and His respective characteristics (Note: lion, bull, man, flying eagle).

 

When we are at this deeper level, it is essential for us to know the name of God, which means having an honorable, intimate relationship with Him and this also implies supernatural protection, so that we may enjoy life with Him in this season and come to know Jesus more and more (cf. Psalm 91:14.16 i.c.w. Ephesians 3:19; Colossians 2:2).

 

14 ‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. …

16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation [Note: Heb. ישועה – jĕšǔ’āh].’

 

… 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

 

2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, …

 

May we, as the people of God in this era, come to know Jesus Christ, the Son of the Heavenly Father, in the way the Father desires to reveal Him to us through His Spirit in this time, and vice versa, so that we may walk with confident steps along the path of the revelatory truth in Christ (cf. Matthew 11:27).

 

27 ‘All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. …’

 

Our prayer is that, as disciples of Jesus, we may have a deep longing for Christ and, as a result, grow in the love that has been given to us because God sees us as we are in everything.

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm