In connection with the prosperity of God, the Holy Spirit revealed that it is connected with one of the four living beings before the throne of God, the bull. It is the bull which is related to the spirit of strength (cf. Revelation 4:6-7 i.c.w. Isaiah 11:2).

 

6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back.

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.

 

2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord – …

 

Where the divine characteristic of the bull occurs in connection with prosperity, it carries the anointing of divine administration of the prosperity of God in order to break burdens (note: debts) over people (cf. Isaiah 10:27).

 

27 In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat (note: by the anointing).

 

God's Wealth and Glory
 
God's wealth is not primarily earthly or material prosperity, but spiritual prosperity having its seat in the glory of God from where earthly wealth arises. The reason is, because God is spirit and His wealth as well.

As God is spirit and His prosperity is of eternal character, earthly prosperity is only temporary, i.e. transitory (cf. John 4:24a i.c.w. Matthew 6:19-20).

 

24a God is spirit, …

 

Matthew 6:19-20:
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

 

Therefore, spiritual prosperity is the fullness of spirit, soul and body, whereby the focus is not only on earthly wealth.

 

The Plan of the Adversary
 
There are plans of the adversary of God to direct the focus of His people towards earthly wealth in order to make people see from an earthly perspective. Herein the enemy causes to bring about a break in the sound of worship towards God.

It was no coincidence that right after the exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt, Satan tempted God's people in the desert. They had taken the wealth of Egypt given by God to build a golden calf in order to worship it as their god (cf. Exodus 32:2-6).

 

2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”

3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.

4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”

6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

 
The reason is because Satan knew that God had strongly linked prosperity to the living creature of the bull before His throne. Originally, it was God's plan that the people of Israel should worship Him (Note: YAHWEH) as their only God in the desert (cf. Exodus 3:18; Exodus 5:3).

 

18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’

 

Exodus 5:3:
3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

 

The Second Attempt of False Worship

Israel's idolatry, the people's false worship of the golden calf, was later reapplied by Jeroboam, who was king of Israel at that time, by placing two golden calves in two places in Israel (Note: Bethel and Dan).

In addition, he deliberately perverted the time of God's glory by postponing the Feast of Sukkot/ Feast of Tabernacles by one month to the fifteenth day of the eighth biblical month, although the beginning of Sukkot was originally set by God on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (cf. 1 Kings 12:28-33).

 

28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

29 One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan.

30 And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.

31 Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.

32 He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made.

33 On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings.

 
Satan prompted Jeroboam to use the form of cattle for false worship knowing that the bull is the highest expression of God's strength, which is that of the Father.

 
The Father, The Bull and the Lamb
 

In Hebrew the word “Abba” is used for the word “father”, which begins and ends with the Hebrew letter “Aleph”.

 

“Aleph” is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet and connected with the words “ox, leader, strength, master, lord, thousand“.

 

Furthermore it has the pictographic representation of a bull's head.

 

Also, at the Feast of Sukkot, which is the feast of celebrating the glory of God, the bull has an important significance, because in the past the bull was given by the people of Israel as a burnt offering together with rams and lambs as a sweet fragrance for God (cf. Numbers 29:12-39).

 

The offering of the bull and that of the lamb during these eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles was as follows:

 

1^st day => 13 bulls and 14 male lambs a year old without defect

2^nd day => 12 bulls and 14 male lambs a year old without defect

3^rd day => 11 bulls and 14 male lambs a year old without defect

4^th day => 10 bulls and 14 male lambs a year old without defect

5^th day => 9 bulls and 14 male lambs a year old without defect

6^th day => 8 bulls and 14 male lambs a year old without defect

7^th day => 7 bulls and 14 male lambs a year old without defect

8^th day => 1 bull and 7 male lambs a year old without defect.

 

The main focus here is on the number of the bulls and lambs, though on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles only one ram was sacrificed from two rams, which were offered together with the bulls and lambs as a burnt offering on the seven days before. Along with a bull and seven one-year-old lambs.

 

As the number of the bulls and lambs as the burnt offering to the LORD at the Feast of Tabernacles is the highest, the position of these two animals is of particular importance.

 

It is the bull being first mentioned for the burnt offering and is an indication of the presence of the Heavenly Father. The Lamb is named hereafter and refers to the love given by the Heavenly Father, which is the Son of God, Jesus Christ (cf. John 3:16 i.c.w. John 1:29).

 

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 

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

 

Therefore, I consider the decrease of the number of the bulls and the number of higher value of the lambs until the end, as an indication of the responsibility of the judgment given by the Father to the Son.

 

The responsibility of judgment which God as the Father has entrusted His son with results in greater glory and the presence of the Father and the Son (cf. John 5:19-23).

 

19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

 

 

This is why there is that desire of the adversary to distract the people of God from the center of the relationship with the Heavenly Father. The enemy knows that every believer residing there is able to go ahead with the greatest “authority” of heaven, so that he must flee (cf. James 4:7 i.c.w. 1 John 4:18a).

 

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

 

18a There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, …

 

Satan's highest endeavor is to prevent the love relationship between believers and God the Father by trying to pervert the worship of the believer and even to distort the schedule of believers.

 

If the enemy succeeds in this, there is a “broken sound” in the worship of believers. This broken sound means that the focus is more on the earthly things or earthly wealth than on their personal love relationship (note: intimate, close) with God.

 

This can lead to different kinds of fear, as the fear of loss in the life of the respective believer. It is the influence of fear that results in withdrawal or decline of the true relationship with God as the Father.

 

 

Only if we completely surrender ourselves to the Heavenly Father with our spirit, soul and body given by Him, and worship Him (see Matthew 22:37 i.c.w. John 4:24), the spirit of strength gets activated before His throne. The spirit of strength according to the nature of the living bull pushes all our enemies away, similarly as the blessing of Moses onto the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh reveals (cf. Deuteronomy 33:17).

 

17 In majesty he is like a firstborn bull; his horns are the horns of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even those at the ends of the earth. Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim; such are the thousands of Manasseh.”

 

 

The spirit of strength does not search for prey like a lion in the first place, but is set to scatter the enemies of His people with the power of God! This is not only about the dispersion of a small unit of darkness, but about the dispersion of great opposing units!

 

This strength of God combined with the fullness of divine prosperity is also related to Joseph's royal administration, which causes the breaking of oppression of debt over people.

 

One reason why many believers do not see the desired breakthrough in their financial field is because they do not make their God-given resources (note: their entire spiritual and earthly life with all values) fully available to the Lord.

 

This clearly does not mean that they either should sell everything they possess or give everything away, but true worship means perfect surrender to the Heavenly Father (note: with an undivided heart).

 

The personal recognition of God revealing Himself and by letting us know what can be found in His throne room presence can be the key to worship Him more freely by letting go fear and seeking Him as the highest authority in the Heavens, as the Father and source of all. Like David made the experience over and over again how God would give him strength and victory (cf. Psalm 18:15.39).

 

15 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, Lord, at the blast of breath from your nostrils. …

39 You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me.

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm