(Is.33:5-6)
5 “The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, And the strength of salvation; The fear of the LORD is His treasure.â€
The Lord is exalted, even when we don’t see it. The Lord is dwelling on high, filling Zion, filling the earth with justice and righteousness even when we don’t see it. Remember, our perspective is usually far different than the Lord’s in regards to time. Most people in the west see time linearly. We perceive a timeline set before us and running behind, and it’s usually a very slow process. We perceive it very slowly, and our minds cannot grasp the magnitude of history. Our minds cannot grasp and track the magnitude of God’s plans nor his dealings from the beginning to the end (Ecc.3:11). One day with him is as a thousand years to us (2 Pet.3:8). He is indeed filling the earth with justice & judgment as the scripture declares, and his righteousness shall bud forth in all the earth as the gospel continues to permeate the condition of man & creation itself. And yet, in most cases, we do not perceive it. He fills the day with His goodness. With his mighty outstretched arm He is saving, healing, & delivering his people from innumerable horrors which cannot be fathomed, and yet our minds cannot track these movements because we cannot grasp that one day for him took a thousand years for us. Yet He’s still doing it!
When the Lord arises in the earth and administers his kingdom rule and his kingdom reign, justice and righteousness are made manifest. Out of justice flows both judgment and shaking. This shaking is perceived on the world stage through “times of trouble” that come (Is.33:2). These times are times of darkness yes, days of evil yes, times of hardship and suffering for many yes. But we must never forget, no matter what Satan is doing God is doing something greater, and at no point is Satan stopping the Lord. At no point is Satan impeding the Lord’s progress. Just as it was with the mystery of the cross, Satan is still playing into God’s plans today and He cannot perceive the snare that has been set for him and his followers. He will be utterly spoiled by our king. He will be devastated in his plans and judged by our Lord for all his wickedness and for all his deeds. This is a surety because of who our God is. Our God is a God of justice. Our God is God of glory! He will avenge the weak and set all things right!
But what I want you to see with the reading of this scripture today is that as the Lord arises, as the Lord is exalted in the earth (vs.5) there is a shaking that comes as a result. The earth and its inhabitants must respond to his glory. For some that is refining and empowerment, and for others that is judgment. For some justice is served and for others justice is executed against. But in the shaking as the earth responds to the glory of the king there is always a “stability” afforded to the people of God, and that stability is both wisdom and knowledge.
KNOWLEDGE & FEAR LEAD TO GOD’S WISDOM
I once heard the late Kenneth E. Hagin talk about the importance of knowledge in the life of the faith-filled Christian. He used to say that your faith is limited by your lack of knowledge. If you don’t “know” the promises of God, how can you believe for them? And if you can’t believe for something then you will never target your faith towards something in order to receive it. Many times our minds go right to the big things in the Christian walk such as faith and love, but what are the roots of such things? What makes up faith, how do we get our faith working for us, how do we strengthen our faith & grow in it? Knowledge is one of those roots. It’s one of those key components that is often bypassed out of a desire for the “greater”, but the greater does not work without its roots.
In the kingdom, God doesn’t just want us to have head knowledge, or what’s been called book-knowledge. He wants us to have a living experiential knowledge of God and his goodness which will stabilize us during times of trouble and times of testing. Do you know things about God or do you know God? Knowing God, having a working knowledge of God, his Spirit, his ways, and his Word will be the difference between life and death in such days of trouble and shaking. We must treat knowing God and walking daily with him like our bodies treat oxygen. We can’t go another step without it!
The Knowledge of God leads to the treasure of the fear of the Lord, which as the scripture says is the beginning of wisdom (Ps.111:10; Prov.1:7,9:10). The Fear of the Lord, you might say, is the Author of wisdom. You cannot even begin to grasp, you cannot even begin to articulate and put into action God’s wisdom without a relational knowledge of God, and it’s that intimate knowledge of God that is marked by the fear of the Lord. To truly know God is to fear God. Those that know him know exactly what I mean when I say this. See the trembling man who stood before the fiery bush that burned without being consumed (Ex.3:1-4). See the priest who stood and trembled as the Lord struck him with muteness for doubting the word of the Lord brought by the archangel (Luke 1:5-23). This is to know God. This is to fear God.
When your living knowledge and tangible relationship with God reaches the manifestation of the fear of the Lord, then nothing happening on the earth will ever shake you. Fear for yourself, fear for your livelihood, fear of the things which are coming upon the earth in the nations,;... all of these fears will bow to the fear of the One who reigns inside you. The fear of God consumes every other fear that seeks to manipulate people into the plans of nations. The fear of the Lord leads to the kingdom, whereas the fear of man leads to the plans of nations who rise to resist the Lord. So in this way fear is a test of allegiance. Will you bow to King Jesus or will you bow to the agenda that the Spirit of Fear serves in this present evil age?
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God is the Author of God’s wisdom. It causes us to have his words of wisdom written upon the tablets of your heart, that you might become the manifestation of the sons of God in the earth. Manifest sons and daughters of God our manifestations of the wisdom of God in the kingly nature of Christ. When sons and daughters rise up in this state they have overcome the fear of man (the fear that dominates this present evil age), and in this state they become a resource of heaven to the world around them with this uncanny other-worldly wisdom and the stability that it brings.
JESUS, THE POOR WISE MAN IN ECCLESIASTES
(Ecc.9:13-18)
13 This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me:
14 There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it.
15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man.
16 Then I said: “Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
17 Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.â€
In (Ecclesiastes 9:13-18) a story is told about a city that comes under siege, and a wise poor unknown man appears at just the right time to deliver the city through his wisdom. He’s not remembered for it, and eventually his words are ignored once He’s no longer needed because the people despised his poverty and lack of status, but nonetheless He saved that city and brought stability to it during a time of war, and he did all of this through wisdom.
The man in this story is Christ and every son of God downs through the ages that rise to manifest the Spirit of Christ upon the earth. The Lord in his people has been scattered throughout time to affect and influence the course of history according to wisdom. Their stories are not told because “the wisdom of the poor is despised and his words are ignored” (Ecc.9:16), but their wisdom changes the course of history and provides stability for the times, and their hidden treasure is their fear of God.
The fear of God is indeed a treasure. Still today the Lord is beckoning his children, “Come away little ones, hearken unto me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Ps.34:11). It is for the sons of God who do not crave worldly recognition, but who desire the nearness of God and the intimacy of God more than anything else. I believe the Lord would say to us today, “Let wisdom have its place in your heart. Let wisdom rule your speech and your conduct. Become that resource of stability for your times and do it in the meekness and love of Christ.”
It is the love of Christ to give without any thought of reward. It is the love and meekness of our King to serve the city even if in the end the city despises you for it. It was Christ who came to his own, to save his own (the lost sheep of the house of Israel), but because He came in a humble lowly form, stripped of his heavenly divinity in appearance, having laid aside his eternal regal robes, they rejected him and did not recognize him for who He was, just like in the story of poor wise man in (Ecc.9). Therefore the gospel went to the Gentiles and now sons and daughters of God are being born from every tribe and tongue in due season and time! What a glorious mystery we see here in the Word! This mystery is still being revealed today. The Lord still has need of these wise humble vessels in every city who will be that resource of heaven to the world around them during times of trouble.
HOW CAN WISDOM STABILIZE US IN THIS TIME?
Let wisdom make you smarter and let wisdom provide the answers and solutions to problems that evade the sons of men who do not know their God (Prov.8:12).
Let wisdom rearrange your relationships to dwell among others who carry this precious resource, and let it deliver you from destruction that awaits the companions of fools (Prov.13:20).
Let wisdom relieve your tired arms and strained back to provide a better way which brings success (Ecc.10:10).
Let wisdom open up the abundance of God which has seven to eight streams of provision, even during times of disaster, so that you might dwell in this land and prosper; so that you might be a blessing to others who are in great need (Ecc.11:2).
Let wisdom lead you into good counsel so that purposes and plans are established more than they are disappointed (Prov.15:22).
Let wisdom make the knowledge you have attractive to others so that you can actually release it and bless others with it (Prov.15:2)
Let wisdom open your eyes with purpose and drive so that you might be satisfied with daily bread. You do not have to slip into the slumber of the lazy and be overcome with poverty, as long as Wisdom is your friend (Prov.20:13).
Let wisdom shut the voice of lies around you, to not associate with the talebearer who eventually brings down the king (Prov.20:19)
Let your wisdom and knowledge of the divine be your stability during these times, and do not sell it for anything. In doing so you will be that precious resource of the king in the earth. In doing so you will become that stabilizing factor that others so desperately need during this time, and in that power you will lead others beside the still waters. You will lead others into the domain of the Prince of Peace, because his fear is your treasure and wisdom has made you a stabilizer for these times!
In His Service,
Stephen Powell