“… the secrets of wisdom …”(Job 11:6, NKJV)
We are currently delving deeper into the Scripture to understand what exactly the Spirit of wisdom is, how it works and what it does, in other words we are plunging into “the secrets of wisdom” (Job 11:6).
The seven Spirits can be compared with the seven colours of the rainbow, each with its own specificity, manifestation and glory, but the mixing of its different parts can bring about a manifestation of another Spirit. The colours are however one rainbow, here typological of the seven Spirits that form the Christ. If the seven colours are drawn together through a prism it becomes white light, which is one of the characteristics of God, as 1 John 1:5 (IAV) clearly spells out: “Elohim is light …”
It is of great importance that believers understand what exactly it would mean if 1 Cor. 1:24 then spells out: “Christ [is] the … wisdom of God.”
To truly understand this, we first need to know that Jesus is the embodiment of God’s wisdom. In Prov. 8:12 He starts to explain this by taking in a clear position and identity as Wisdom: “I, wisdom, …” In verse 15 and 16 of the same chapter the believers that reign as kings are qualified by this: “By me kings reign, and rulers decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, all the judges of the earth.”
When Jesus then starts speaking in verse 22, and He presents Himself by noting, “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old,” there is no doubt that Jesus alone can take in that position. It is after all what Col. 1:15 & 17 witnesses of: “He is … the firstborn over all creation … And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” From verse 22 onwards it becomes a long, lyrical passage about Jesus as Son, but also as the Wisdom of God: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primal dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men.”
It is of great importance that we realise that this passage is centred around the Person speaking, namely Jesus. But it is equally important that in this eternity before time in which these consecutive events occurred, we realize that Christ was already there too, and participated as Homo Ludens, the playing man (the philosopher Huizenga’s famous term). These “children of men” were thus also there, eons before creation, “in Him”.
[We place eternity above in cursive, as there is often great confusion about how something in eternity can occur in certain ‘periods’. In this way, for instance, Keil & Delitzsch in their Commentary on the Old Testament define it (wrongly) as follows: “In order of time all His attributes are coincident and eternal as Himself. But to set forth the importance of wisdom as devising the products of benevolence and power, it is here assigned a precedence.” We want the readers of these teachings to remember what we explained about the concept of eternity in the teaching of Day 1468-1470. This is the definition in Ellicott’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, which renders it clear: “the Greek word which is rendered ‘eternal’ does not, in itself, involve endlessness, but rather, duration, whether through an age or succession of ages, and that it is therefore applied in the N.T. to periods of time that have had both a beginning and an ending (Rom. 16:25), where the Greek is ‘from aeonian times;’ our version giving since the world began.’ (Comp. 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:3) — strictly speaking, therefore, the word, as such, apart from its association with any qualifying substantive, implies a vast undefined duration, rather than one in the full sense of the word ‘infinite.’”
This is the same period, at the lack of a better word, as Job. 38:4-7 was concerned with: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened. Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” What God is asking Job are not sarcastic questions, but real questions about him forgetting that he was part of the creation of the heavens and the earth.]
This description of Wisdom in Prov. 9 calls up the characteristics of the other seven Spirits of God: I, (the Spirit of) Wisdom, dwell with produce, and find out (the Spirit of) knowledge of (the Spirit of) discretion (= mind). The (Spirit of the) fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. (The Spirit of) Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I am (the Spirit of) strength.” Obviously all these Spirits are fed by the “Spirit of the Lord.” It is absolutely remarkable that the seven Spirits of God are often found in the same periscope!
[Eph. 1:4 explains that “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love”. Selah about this for a minute. It is then more understandable what is spelled out in 1 Cor. 1:30 (take especial note of the gift of all four, and especially their order: “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption …” We are now technically looking at the Spirit of Wisdom, but we receive the three other concepts as well – and this while we are conditioned to think we need to work for it! We gladly proclaim the truth of 2 Cor. 7:1 – “let us perfect … holiness in the fear of God”, or warn ourselves with Heb. 12:14: “Pursue … holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Jesus is not only our righteousness, or even our redemption – He is also our sanctification! And you inherit it the moment that you find yourself in Christ!]
When the Spirit of Christ is received, the born-again believer gains “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). Later in this subtheme we will get to what this implies, in practical terms.
The book in the Bible that is perhaps most concerned with the Spirit of Wisdom is the book of Proverbs. It can be understood, as Solomon is closely associated with wisdom, more than any other person in the entire Bible. Yet we are wrongly taught that after Solomon became king, he asked God for wisdom. This is not what he asked for: “‘Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?’ The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. Then God said to him: ‘Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you.’” (1 Kings 3:9-12).
Solomon asked for an understanding heart, not wisdom as such. This word, which is the Hebrew word shâma‛, is beautifully defined by Strong as: “to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively to tell.” This does not mean that an understanding heart is your own insight or wisdom, but God’s, as Prov. 3:5 makes clear: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” To be understanding means that you can carefully listen to what God says about a matter, and judge it based on the situation. Prov. 2:6 then spells out that wisdom comes from God: “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” This is why the AMP’s translation of this is so apt: “So give Your servant … a hearing heart …” It is not only an “understanding mind” as most translations present it, as thoughts are part of the soul dimension, while the heart includes both soul and spirit. (Read the teachings of Day 1419-1421, exactly 100 teachings ago!)
From this teaching we now understand that the soul and spirit are sanctified when we become born-again, and thus the wall of division is slowly removed. This is exactly what Heb. 5:14 makes clear: “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Rom. 16:19 phrases it in other words: “For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.” For this reason, the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible explains that the Hebrew pictograph of the word heart is “the shepherd staff representing authority”, which is juxtaposed with “a picture of a tent representing what is inside”. It’s explained as follows: “Combined these mean ‘authority inside.’” The Spirit of Wisdom is a heart function of the sanctified soul and sanctified spirit of the spiritual man.
For many years it was preached that we should not distinguish between right or wrong or good and evil, as this belongs to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which we don’t want to be concerned with. But now we know that it is a very important faculty function of the soul dimension that we have received since the fall, BUT we need the Spirit of Wisdom to truly be able to reign, and to make decisions according to God’s perspective.
That Solomon received the Spirit of wisdom is undeniably true. We for instance read the following, a short while after he received it, in 1 Kings 3:28: “And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.” In the next chapter we read: “And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore.” (1 Kings 4:29). In the New Testament it is reported of the queen of the South: “she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here” (Matt. 12:42). We will shortly return to her typological significance.
With the Spirit of wisdom Solomon became a formidable king and world ruler, and built the majestic temple of Israel.
But the fact that someone has access to the Spirit of Wisdom does not mean that you own this forever – it can be taken away from you. In 1 Kings 11:3-4 we read of the later events of his life: “And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.” Take note, as it is repeatedly specified – his heart was compromised, seduced.
The immense warning that accompanies this is Heb. 6:4-6: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good rhema-word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” It can then be understood that this once formidable man, once he had lost both the Spirit of the Lord and the Spirit of Wisdom (and everything that goes with it), could write the book of Ecclesiastes, where the refrain is “Everything is meaningless.”
- Selah: It is thus possible to lose your salvation?
- Read: Amos 3-9; Obad. 1; Jonah 1
- Memorise: 3:3
