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