As believers in Christ Jesus, when we are led by the Holy Spirit into greater spiritual maturity —which comes with responsibility and encompasses spiritual authority— it is essential that we first recognize our position as sons of God in Christ.

 

This involves a close relationship with our Heavenly Father. This is evident in the baptism of Jesus, where Mark 1:10-11 and Luke 3:21-22 state that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove and the voice of the Father addressed Him personally as His Son.

 

10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

11 And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’

 

21 When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’

 

What is significant here is that we allow the presence of the Holy Spirit to take root in our atmosphere of faith and obedience, so that we may be led from the fullness of God’s truth (Note: ‘all truth’) into the truth allotted to us for the present time. The Holy Spirit within us leads us, through our sonship in Christ, to a deeper understanding of our fellowship with the Heavenly Father (cf. John 16:13 i.c.w. John 14:6).

 

13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

 

6 Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. …’

 

The Holy Spirit upon us empowers us to do what is in accordance with the will of the Father and the Son of God (cf. John 16:14-15).

 

‘… 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.

15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.’

 

Matthew 3:16-17 states that the voice of the Heavenly Father, in the form of a statement, publicly declared Jesus to be the Son of God. What makes the difference?

 

In this passage, the Father is not speaking directly to Jesus Christ, but rather to the others, referring to Him or speaking of Him as His son.

 

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.’

 

As God’s people, we are encouraged to rise spiritually in this season, just as Jesus rose from the waters of the Jordan—‘the one that decends’—after His baptism. This means that we leave the past, that is, our old life—behind us in order to cooperate fully with the open heaven and the Holy Spirit in this life and the life to come.

 

This helps us effectively resist the adversary during times of spiritual testing (cf. Luke 4:1-2a.13).

 

1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2a where for forty days he was tempted [Note: tested] by the devil. …

13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

 

 

There is no coincidence or mistake in the Heavenly Father’s statements regarding the baptism of Jesus; rather, they reveal an important principle for us. This principle involves, first and foremost, living in a close, personal relationship with the Heavenly Father as a son in Christ Jesus, from which arises the responsibility to walk before the public as a son of God (cf. Romans 8:19.21.29).

 

19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children [Note: sons] of God to be revealed.

… 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children [Note: sons] of God. …

29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

 

It is therefore no coincidence that the Heavenly Father speaks personally to His Son Jesus in the two mentioned Gospels, while in Matthew 3:17 He refers to Him as His Son before the public.

 

The deeper we enter into the realm of Christ’s sonship to receive the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, the more necessary it becomes for us as followers of Christ to be aware that we do not live for ourselves, but for Christ (cf. Colossians 2:3 i.c.w. Galatians 2:20; Luke 9:23).

 

… 3 in whom [Note: Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

 

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

 

23 Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. …’

 

 

True fellowship with the Heavenly Father is hard-fought, which is why it is wise to heed Jesus’ counsel on this matter, our role model, for He said:

 

„But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:6

 

This precious time that Jesus spoke of is a time that is fiercely contested, because the enemy wants to prevent us from entering into a deeper relationship with God, our Heavenly Father—a relationship that arises from our time consciously spent in the Word and in prayer.

 

In doing so, the enemy tries to distort our perspective on the Word and prayer by making us feel that God is not present, thereby convincing us that we do not have a genuine relationship with God, our Heavenly Father.

 

It is the adversary’s plan to lead us into deception through this sense of God’s absence, which is meant to convince us that we seek God merely out of religious obligation. Such feelings can result in our defining ourselves only by reading God’s Word, without truly feeling that we have a living relationship with God. This approach can negatively affect our prayer life, causing us to pray more according to our own will rather than God’s will and even pray in self-righteousness.

 

As mentioned earlier, the result of such times spent in the Word and in prayer is a sense of merely fulfilling an obligation. But God did not intended for us and did also not create us to fulfill an obligation; rather, He has given us free will, which we may use for His glory. This means that we must first seek God to thank Him for the gift of His Word and the power of prayer, so that we may then enter the presence of His Word and the power of prayer with a completely different focus.

 

Our Gratitude is an important key to entering the deep ‘chambers of God’s government’ (cf. Psalm 100:4-5).

 

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the Lord is good and his love endures for ever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

 

 

At this point, one can see a connection to Noah’s entry into the ark, which has a similar reference to the inner room Jesus spoke of in Matthew 6:6. Noah responded wholeheartedly to God’s instruction and built an ark that, once completed, became—among other things—a very special place for him, his family, and the various pairs of animals (cf. Genesis 6:17-19).

 

17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.

18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark – you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.

 

Noah willingly entered the ark at the appointed time set by God, so that God Himself took action by closing the door in order to maintain close fellowship with Noah —amidst the judgment taking place on earth— through the ‘water bath of His Word’ and to elevate him (cf. Genesis 7:1.5.7.16-17 i.c.w. Ephesians 5:26).

 

1 The Lord then said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. …’

5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him. …

7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. …

16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth.

 

… 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, …

 

Let us be encouraged to listen to the Father speaking to us and to the public, so that we may align ourselves accordingly with the center of His will in fellowship with Him. The Father’s liberating, true, and faithful love is all we need to do this.

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm

In the Word of God Amos 3:7-8 states that God does nothing unless He reveals His plan to the prophets. This kind of revelation is closely connected to the roar of the lion.

 

7 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

8 The lion has roared – who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken – who can but prophesy?

 

It follows, then, that this concerns the principle of cause and effect. We know that there is no cause without an effect, nor is there any effect without a cause.

 

 

The lion’s roar represents the dynamic of God’s breath, which extends into the atmosphere —that is, into the spiritual realm above the earth — and is received by the prophets — men and women in this office — who translate the dynamic of the roar into understandable words.

 

It is the breath of God, which is not blown into the nostrils as it was during the creation of the first man – Adam, but rather penetrates the ears of the ecclesia as a loud, stirring sound through His prophets. It is the counsel of the eternal King, which resounds in the atmosphere above the earth and causes the prophets to prophesy.

 

This results in the presence of the Spirit of the fear of the LORD, which opens the way for the Spirit of wisdom, so that the hidden realities of the LORD may come to light and become more understandable (cf. Psalm 111:10 i.c.w. Proverbs 9:10).

 

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

 

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

 

To better understand the dynamic of God’s breath in the form of a roar, let us consider the principle of the seven angels who sound the seven trumpets after the Lamb opened the seventh seal. This is because a trumpet is a wind instrument associated with a louder volume and is not used to provide soft background sound (cf. Revelation 8:6).

 

6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

 

To place the correlation between the lion’s roar and the prophecies of the prophets on earth in a spiritual context, we can also say that there is an interaction between the lion and the eagle, both of whom are also found in God’s throne room (cf. Revelation 4:7).

 

7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.

 

When we consider this communication within the essence of God, the influence from the first position to the fourth and final position becomes apparent. These positions can also be viewed as representing an interaction between heaven and earth.

 

 

The situation is similar to that of the eagle, which appears in connection with the blowing of the fourth trumpet by the respective angel, who heralds the yet-to-come triune dynamic of the breath in the form of the three remaining trumpets yet to be sounded (cf. Revelation 8:12a.13).

 

12a The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, …

13 As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in mid-air call out in a loud voice: ‘Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!’

 

Since the eagle flew through the sky and the fourth being of God is a flying eagle, it shows us with regard to the prophets of the LORD that they must move forward in the Holy Spirit, grounded in the truth of God’s Word and His holiness, in order to understand what God, the LORD is communicating — ‘roaring’ and thereby seeking to make known (cf. 2 Peter 1:19-21 i.c.w. Hebrews 12:14).

 

19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.

21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

 

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no-one will see the Lord.

 

Within the spiritual realm of the ‘breath of God’ in the form of the seven trumpets, the ‘roar of the lion’ is also revealed at the sound of the sixth trumpet by the sixth angel (cf. Revelation 9:13a).

 

13a The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, …

 

Revelation 10:1-4 states that, at the sound of the sixth trumpet, a mighty angel came down from heaven into the spiritual realm, where John was located. This angel was clothed with a cloud, with the rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.

This one had a small open scroll in his hand, placing his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the earth. At this he began to roar loudly like a lion, so that the seven thunders sounded in the atmosphere, carrying within them revelation that John understood, but was instructed by God’s command to seal.

 

1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars.
2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke.
4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”

 

This process of revelation is accompanied by the stirring of the inner man through the fire of God (Note: spirit and soul => right foot of the angel on the water, left foot of the angel on the land) and the presence of His glory (Note: face was shining like the sun), faith (Note: cloud) as well as His covenant (Note: rainbow).

 

God’s covenant is related to the solid food in order to go forward with exercised spiritual senses in the maturity of the Spirit in Christ (cf. Genesis 9:3.12-13 i.c.w. Hebrews 5:14).

 

3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. …

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

 

14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

 

 

Since John was one of the sons of thunder (Note: Boanerges), it is evident from this that he understood the realm of the concealed powerful voice of God that accompanies the presence of the dark cloud (cf. Exodus 19:16).

 

16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.

 

The goal here is to legitimately and legally unlock the hidden realities of heaven. To be able to do this, we must have developed spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity involves becoming familiar with the principles of God’s Word and His realm of rule by learning them with integrity and living by them.

 

The sealed realities of heaven or sealed things act like the dark cloud that surrounds God. The explanation for this is because the divine darkness is designed to protect the hidden things of the LORD from profane influence and unholy acting.

 

This is what Jesus was likely expressing by naming the Boanerges. The Boanerges understood how to release fire from heaven because they were aware of and lived in the principles of God’s government and His work (cf. Mark 3:17 i.c.w. Luke 9:54).

 

17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), …

 

54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”

 

James and John were trained in this by their mother on the basis of the Tanakh or also called ‘Old Testament’, which is evident from her request, asking Jesus if their sons could sit next to Him on His right and left in His kingdom (cf. Matthew 20:20-21).

 

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

 

Based on this we can see that the sons of thunder – Boanerges were allowed to be spiritually in a certain area of the throne room of God and thus John understood the voice of the seven thunders and was instructed by God to seal the revelation.

 

We can learn from this that our proper response to the hidden realities revealed by God on earth through the words of the prophets — the ‘roar of the lion’—is crucial. Their words create a positive external pressure within the inner person and are also decisive in determining how God will respond to us.

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm