Our heavenly Father, as we gather together this evening in the name of our Lord Jesus, we do want to offer to Thee our prayer, our adoration, and our worship.
O Father, how we praise and thank Thee for giving Thy Son, our Lord Jesus, to us, and in Him all things. We do praise and thank Thee because in Him there is life, and the life is the light of men. We do praise and thank Thee because we do not need to walk in darkness.
We can walk in the light, as Thou art in the light; and we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord Jesus, cleanseth us from all our sins.
At this moment, Lord, we ask Thee to cleanse us. We pray that Thy Spirit will energize our inward witness, that our whole beings may be open to Thyself. Thou art able to speak to us. Thou art able to transform us. Thou art able to do Thy work among us.
O Lord, Thou dost know that without Thee we can do nothing. We do desire to hear Thy voice. We do desire to see Thee and to be touched by Thee. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We have been fellowshipping together at this time on the vessels of recovery in the persons of Samuel, David, and Solomon.
We mentioned how the promise of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, concerning the children of Israel, had not been fulfilled even after they had entered into Canaan. Instead, we find that the condition of the children of Israel in the land of Canaan was going downward during the time of the judges.
Even though God sent judges to them to deliver them from the oppression of their enemies from time to time, yet they were not able to possess their full possession. They were going downward, farther and farther away from the realization of God’s promise.
Because of that, we find that at the end of the period of the judges, God began to react against that situation. In reacting, God raised up certain vessels. These were vessels for recovery—not only to restore what had been lost, but to recover the original promise of God.
These vessels were in the persons of Samuel, David, and Solomon.
Now, we have mentioned in the past Samuel. Samuel is representative of the principle of divine revelation. Whenever God begins to react and to recover, it begins with revelation.
It pleases God to reveal His Son to us. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ gives the spirit of wisdom and revelation unto the full knowledge of Him. So we find that in the process of recovery, divine revelation is the first basic principle. We must see. Unless we see, God is not able to do any work of recovery.
Then we find in the person of David that he is symbolic of divine authority. To recover to God’s full thought, first there must be revelation, and second, authority. Unless authority is re-established among God’s people, God’s full purpose will not be able to be realized.
So David is the embodiment of the principle of divine authority. Now, this evening we will fellowship on the third person, and it is Solomon.
Now, as soon as we mention Solomon, I think it is very clear what he represents. He represents divine wisdom.
So you will find that in God’s work of recovery, it is a recovery through these three principles: revelation, authority, and wisdom.
Let us read a few passages first.
2 Samuel 12:24-25
And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her:
and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon.
And the Lord loved him;
and He sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet;
and he called his name Jedidiah, for the Lord’s sake.
Now, Solomon means peaceful, and Jedidiah means beloved of the Lord.
The next place is found in 1 Kings 3. We will read from verse 4 through verse 13.
1 Kings 3:4-15
And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there;
for that was the great high place:
a thousand burnt-offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night;
and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto Thy servant David my father great lovingkindness,
according as he walked before Thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with Thee;
and Thou hast kept for him this great lovingkindness,
that Thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.And now, O Lord my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king instead of David my father:
and I am but a little child;
I know not how to go out or come in.
And Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou hast chosen,
a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
Give Thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge Thy people,
that I may discern between good and evil;
for who is able to judge this Thy great people?And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing,
and hast not asked for thyself long life,
neither hast asked riches for thyself,
nor hast asked the life of thine enemies,
but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern justice;
behold, I have done according to thy word:
lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart;
so that there hath been none like thee before thee,
neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked,
both riches and honor,
so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee, all thy days.
And if thou wilt walk in My ways,
to keep My statutes and My commandments,
as thy father David did walk,
then I will lengthen thy days.And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream:
and he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
and offered up burnt-offerings, and offered peace-offerings,
and made a feast to all his servants.
1 Kings 4:29-34
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much,
and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore.
And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country,
and all the wisdom of Egypt.For he was wiser than all men;
than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol:
and his fame was in all the nations round about.
And he spake three thousand proverbs;
and his songs were a thousand and five.And he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon
even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall;
he spake also of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fishes.
And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.
The last place we will read is 1 Kings 6:14.
So Solomon built the house, and finished it.
That is all we will read for this evening.
In the recovery work of God, wisdom is as essential as revelation and authority. You remember in the prayer of Paul for the Ephesian believers, he prays that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ will give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation unto the full knowledge of God.
What is wisdom?
Wisdom, on the one hand, is the substance of revelation. Revelation is wisdom revealed, but wisdom is the substance of revelation. When God reveals something, there is a substance in it, and that substance is wisdom.
On the other hand, wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge.
So you find, according to the Word of God, wisdom can be seen in these two aspects. On the one hand, it is the substance—the wisdom of God. That is, what is in God? What has God in mind? What is God’s heart? What is God’s concept? What is God’s will? What is His counsel? That is wisdom.
Nobody knows this until it is revealed. What is revealed is nothing but that wisdom which is in God. There is a definite substance there.
Then you find wisdom, on the other hand, is the ability to apply the knowledge that God has given to you. That is wisdom.
We can use two passages in Scripture to illustrate these two aspects. In 1 Corinthians 2, you find Paul speaks of the wisdom of God. Of course, in contrast with the wisdom of God, he first mentions the wisdom of this world.
God will destroy the wisdom of the wise. God will confound the wisdom of this world, because He uses the foolishness of the cross to confound the wisdom of the worldly wise. This is God’s wisdom.
When Paul preached the gospel to the people at Corinth, Corinth was a center of civilization and culture at that time. The Corinthians were proud of their knowledge and their wisdom.
So when Paul was sent by God to the city of Corinth, he was determined that he would know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. In other words, Paul did not try to match the Corinthians’ worldly wisdom with worldly wisdom.
Paul had enough wisdom of the world. He was brought up in the city of Tarsus, a center of Greek culture. He was educated in Jerusalem, the center of Hebrew culture. So you will find Paul was a highly educated person. He could very well match the Corinthians with the wisdom of the world that he had, even to conquer them.
But Paul knew that what the Corinthians needed was not worldly wisdom. On the contrary, the wisdom of the wise must be destroyed. How? By the preaching of the cross of our Lord Jesus.
You know, it was not too easy for Paul to do that. Paul was one who knew the cross, so he was able to be determined, when he entered into their midst, to be considered a fool by preaching the cross of our Lord Jesus. He said, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of this world. But Paul said, “Among the full-grown, we speak wisdom.”
Now, do not think that there is no wisdom, no divine wisdom. There is wisdom. But for the Corinthians, before they knew the Lord, what they needed was not worldly wisdom—they had some of it. What they needed was the cross, and that was the basis of their salvation.
But after they had accepted the cross of the Lord Jesus, after they were brought into the family of God, then among the full-grown, we speak wisdom.
Now, you know the word perfect in Scripture does not mean perfection as we understand it today. It means mature, the grown-up. Among the grown-up Christians, among the full-grown, we speak wisdom. But it is not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world. We speak God’s wisdom in a mystery.
Paul gave several descriptions of that wisdom in a mystery, but he never pointed out to the Corinthians what that was. If you want to know that, you have to go to the Epistle to the Ephesians, because there he reveals what the wisdom of God in a mystery really is.
But anyway, you find here there is the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God is the depth of God. The wisdom of God is something that people have not seen, have not heard, and have not even thought of.
The wisdom of God is something that has to be revealed to us by the Spirit of God. So you find here another kind of wisdom. It is not the wisdom of the world; it is divine wisdom.
In divine wisdom, you find there is a substance. There is the depth of God. There is the plan of God. There is the glory of God. It can only be known through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. That is the substance of wisdom.
How much do we know? How much do we have of God’s will? We may be worldly wise, but are we spiritually wise? How much do we see the substance that is in God?
That is what is in God’s thought. That is what God planned to do even before the foundation of the world, as we find in the Epistle to the Ephesians. Now, that is God’s wisdom.
In the recovery work of God, you will see how necessary it is to have that wisdom. Otherwise, we will be groping in the dark. We may think we are wise, but we are foolish.
That is the first aspect. If you turn to the Epistle of James, chapter 3, you will find that James also tries to tell us what wisdom is.
James 3:13-18
Who is wise and understanding among you?
Let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom.
But if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart,
glory not and lie not against the truth.This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above,
but is the earthly, the sensual, the devilish.
For where jealousy and faction are,
there is confusion and every vile deed.But the wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated,
full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace.
Here you find the Apostle James also tells us that there are two kinds of wisdom. One is the wisdom from below. It is earthly, it is natural, it is devilish. The other is the wisdom from above, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, yielding, full of compassion, good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
Here the Apostle James is not referring to the substance of wisdom. He is referring to applied wisdom. Therefore, he says, show your wisdom in your works, in meekness of wisdom.
The wisdom from below is earthly, natural, and devilish. People who profess to have that kind of wisdom become very clever, very crafty. They know how to take advantage of other people’s occasions. It is self-exalting and self-seeking, and the result is strife, emulation, and jealousy. That is earthly wisdom.
But the wisdom that comes from above is first pure. In other words, we are purified from mixed motives. God is a God of purity, and we are being purified. Then it is peaceable, gentle, easily entreated. It is not hard and unyielding, but full of compassion, with good fruit, and so on and so forth.
So you find here there are two areas, two different kinds of wisdom. What we need to have is the wisdom from above. That is what we need.
Having this heavenly wisdom, or divine wisdom, then we will be able to be used of God in His recovery. Now, we will illustrate that in the life of Solomon.
First, the birth of Solomon.
Solomon was born after his father David was disciplined by the Lord. David sinned against God. He took Bath-sheba and had Uriah her husband killed. He committed murder.
Because of his sin, God’s hand was upon him. Yes, he repented, and God sent Nathan to tell him that his sin was forgiven. Yet God’s discipline was upon him.
So the first child that was born through this unholy union was smitten with sickness. Because of this, you find David lay on the ground, fasted, and prayed, hoping that God would have mercy upon him.
Israel’s God had forgiven his sin, but he hoped that God would say that the discipline would be lifted by humbling himself before God. But God did not hear him. The child died.
You remember, when David saw that the child had died, people did not dare to tell him. They said, “When the child was still alive, he was lying on the floor, fasting, and would not eat anything. Now, if he knows the child is dead, what will happen to David?”
So nobody had the courage to tell him. But David noticed that something had happened, so he asked, “Is the child dead?” They said, “Yes.”
He acted quite strangely to those who did not know God. He got up, changed his clothes, went to the house of God, worshiped God, came back, and ate.
Why? He said, “God has dealt with His will already. The child cannot come back to me, but I shall go to him.” In other words, he accepted God’s discipline in humility.
Out of that experience, God gave him Solomon. Solomon was born after David repented, confessed, humbled himself, and accepted discipline. Out of that experience, God gave him a son whose name was Solomon—peaceful.
So, is it not true that the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable? Here you find a person had to be purified under the chastening hand of God the Father, and out of that was born the son of peace.
Wisdom, brothers and sisters, divine wisdom is not natural to us. Divine wisdom often comes to us through discipline.
It is true, sometimes God can give us the spirit of wisdom for the asking. But at other times, you find we possess divine wisdom through discipline.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will reveal wisdom to us that we may know God in a real way. But at other times He has to use what we call the discipline of the Holy Spirit. He has the way of environment. We have to go through something before we learn.
You know, that is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. You may acquire knowledge without going through something, but if you want to acquire wisdom, you may have to go through something. There is a difference there.
Because of that, you find Solomon could say, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Where does wisdom come from? It comes from God. But how do you come to it? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
We learn wisdom. Our wisdom is born through the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, today we may accumulate some knowledge, but how much wisdom do we have?
If we want to have wisdom, we have to be disciplined by the Holy Spirit.
You know, there is much foolishness in us, and that is the reason why a rod sometimes is necessary. You know, like Proverbs says, the rod will drive away the foolishness. I think that is spiritually very true—very true.
There is much foolishness in us. We think we are wise, but actually we are foolish. Sometimes it takes the rod to drive away that foolishness. That is the way we learn wisdom.
The second thing you find in Solomon was the prayer of Solomon for wisdom. Now, that is the asking.
When he ascended to the throne, the Bible says he loved God. Because he loved God, he went to Gibeon to sacrifice to God, because the great altar was there.
You know that David brought the ark to the city of David, that is, to Jerusalem. But the great altar, the brazen altar, was still in Gibeon. So Solomon went to Gibeon to offer sacrifice.
After he offered sacrifice, in the night God came to him in a dream. God said, “Ask what you want.”
Solomon said, “You have put me on the throne instead of my father. This is Thy people. Thy people are a great people, and I am but a child. I do not know how to go in and go out among them. Therefore, I ask for an understanding heart, that I may be able to discern and to judge Thy people.”
When Solomon asked God for wisdom, God was very pleased with that, because God said, “You did not ask for yourself long life. You did not ask for yourself riches and wealth. You did not ask for yourself the life of your enemy. But you asked for wisdom, understanding, discernment.”
God said, “I will give it to you. Not only will I give you wisdom and an understanding heart, but I will give you all these things. Wealth and long life will be added to you. There shall be no one before you, or even after you, who will be as wise as you are.”
Here you find Solomon asked for it. Now, what is wisdom? Wisdom is an understanding heart.
In other words, literally, it means a heart that hears. An understanding heart, in Hebrew, if you translate it literally, means a heart that hears. Now, that is wisdom.
We often think of wisdom as being in the mind, but the Bible says wisdom is in the heart.
You know, in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve sought for knowledge, for wisdom. They saw that by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would be able to know good and evil. They would have knowledge; they would have wisdom; they would be wise; they would be as wise as God.
But you know, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would only give them knowledge, wisdom, or discernment in their minds. The result of that was this: if you are wise in your mind, it will not make you a better person; it may make you a prouder person—not better, but prouder.
But here you find divine wisdom is in the heart. It is a heart that hears. It is a heart that is able to hear God, that is able to hear the voice of God.
Of course, this is but another way of saying that it is a heart that can see God. It is the same thing. That is wisdom.
Wisdom is not something in the mind. Some people may be very wise in their minds, but very foolish in their hearts, very dull in their hearts. Other people may not have much in their minds, but they are very wise in their hearts. That is true wisdom.
It is a heart that hears God. Brothers and sisters, do we have a heart that hears?
Solomon’s wisdom exceeded the wisdom of all the people of the East. You know, the people of the East at that time were considered very wise, very philosophical. But Solomon’s wisdom exceeded the wisdom of the men of the East.
He spoke three thousand proverbs. He composed a thousand and five songs. He spoke from the cedar trees on Lebanon to the hyssop that sprang up on the wall. He spoke of the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea, and the animals on the land. In other words, he knew them.
But brothers and sisters, there is a difference here. When Solomon wrote about the cedar of Lebanon and the hyssop on the wall, the cedar of Lebanon was the biggest tree. It represents the greatest in the plant world. The hyssop upon the wall represents the smallest in the plant world.
Here you find Solomon could speak upon the cedar of Lebanon as well as the hyssop on the wall. But remember, he did not write these things as a botanist.
You know, a botanist has knowledge of trees and plants and can write books on botany. He will tell us all about these trees and all about these plants, and his knowledge is very amazing.
But when Solomon wrote about these things, he did not know about them as a botanist. Some people can write about trees, birds, and things like that as a philosopher, as a poet, or as an artist. Very beautiful.
In a sense, they seem to exceed the knowledge of a botanist or a zoologist because they seem to be able to feel something—not merely to describe the physical condition, but even to feel something in it. They can write about the beauty of life: very poetic, very philosophical, very artistic.
But the wisdom of Solomon is not merely poetic, artistic, and philosophical. The wisdom of Solomon is spiritual.
When he touched upon the trees, the birds, and the fishes, he could see God’s purpose in these things. He could see God—what God was doing in these things. All these things reflected the glory of God, and he saw the divine principles in all these different things.
In other words, he had spiritual insight into God’s creation. He was able to lead people to God.
A botanist is able to educate us on what creation is. A poet or philosopher can help us to feel creation. But it takes the wisdom of Solomon to bring us to God through the created things. That is what we need.
Therefore, you find in the Song of Songs, when Solomon writes about the union between a man and a woman, he is revealing to us the union between God, Christ, and His people.
You know, that is wisdom. That is real wisdom. He enters into these things and sees God as God’s creation. That is wisdom.
He asked for that wisdom, and God gave it to him.
It is there in the Epistle of James: if any one of you lack wisdom, ask, and doubt not. Ask God, who gives to all freely, and doubt not.
I think we should take that word literally. Sometimes we think we are not lacking in wisdom, and because of that, we act foolishly.
We know that, as Solomon said, we are but a child. We do not know how to go in and out among God’s people. We do not know how to help God’s people. It takes wisdom.
We should ask God. We should ask God. If we ask wisely and doubt not, He will give it to us, just like Solomon. He did not ask for anything else; he just asked for wisdom—a heart that hears, and an enlarged heart.
So may the Lord give us this wisdom. Later on, you will find how necessary, how needed, this wisdom is.
Then thirdly, wisdom is not merely expressed in talking. Wisdom is to be manifested in works.
People who talk too much probably do not have much wisdom.
In China, we often say that the reason why a drum, when you beat it, is so loud is because it is empty. If something is solid, when you beat it, it does not give you much noise.
So, too much talking probably means there is not much wisdom there.
Anyway, wisdom is not merely in talking. Here Solomon talked about all these things, but more than that, you find that the wisdom of Solomon was demonstrated in the building of the temple.
It does not take wisdom to destroy things. On the contrary, folly and foolishness destroy. It takes foolishness to destroy. But wisdom builds.
Therefore, you find Proverbs says that wisdom builds her house, and she has hewn out her seven pillars. It takes wisdom to build, to do.
God used Solomon to build a house. For that reason, you find God gave him wisdom. Wisdom is practically used in the building of God’s house.
God gave the pattern of the temple to David. In 1 Chronicles 28, you find David showed Solomon the pattern of the whole house, which God showed him by His hand in writing.
So David got the blueprint from God, and he gave the blueprint to Solomon. Solomon built the house.
I came from a family of builders. My grandfather, my uncles, and my eldest brothers were all builders. But I had no knowledge of building.
I remember when I was in school, sometimes I went to visit my elder brother, who was building big buildings in Shanghai. I can remember very well when I went to visit him at his office.
I went into his office where he was working, and I saw on the table lots of blueprints—sheets and sheets of blueprints. When I looked at them, you know, I could only see all these lines and curves and all these things, but I did not understand what they represented.
They were just like pictures to me. They had no meaning to me whatsoever. Why? Because I did not have the wisdom to read the blueprint.
Not so with my brother. When he looked over these blueprints, he could see through the blueprint. He knew exactly how that building must be built. But to me, it was vague, unreal, nothing.
Brothers and sisters, do you know God is building His house today?
The Lord said, “I will build My church.” He is the Master Builder. He is building a magnificent building, which is called the church.
A pattern of that building has already been revealed. The blueprint is in the Bible. But it takes wisdom to read the blueprint.
We are all reading the Bible. We know all the letters. But can you interpret the blueprint? Can you read the blueprint? Do you see in the Bible God’s heart, what God is after, how He is building it, and what materials He is using?
We are all reading the Bible, but it takes divine wisdom to see the pattern, to read it, and to interpret it. Otherwise, when you read the Bible, all you see are letters—all letters.
For me to try to interpret all those lines and curves on the blueprints without knowledge and wisdom—I do not know what would come out. It may come out not a building, but something different. I do not know.
You know, that is the way people are reading the Bible. We are all reading the Bible. We all try to interpret with our natural minds, with the knowledge in our minds, not the wisdom in our hearts.
The result is that everybody has his or her own Bible. We have the same Bible, and yet it is all different. You interpret in this way, and I interpret in that way, and it is all according to our imagination—especially in the book of Revelation.
Brothers and sisters, why? Why?
Because we have something in our minds, but we lack something in our hearts. Do we have a heart that hears?
If we have a heart that hears, then you will find the Bible becomes living. You will hear God’s voice. You will begin to see what is in the heart of God, what He is doing today, and He will show you how the house is to be built.
It takes wisdom to do that. That is the reason why, in God’s recovery work, wisdom is so important. Divine wisdom is so necessary. We need to hear and to see God’s heart, God’s plan, and God’s purpose.
That is wisdom. Now, how much of God’s wisdom in a mystery do we have? Paul says, “By what I write, you can see that I have God’s wisdom.” But how much do we have?
Secondly, Solomon’s wisdom was expressed in following faithfully the pattern that was given to him.
If he had become clever in himself, he might have thought that he was improving on God’s pattern. But you know, if anybody dares to do that, he is foolish. He is destroying God’s work.
Brothers and sisters, you find today in Christianity so many people who consider themselves wise, and they seek to change God’s plan. They say they are improving it.
There is much worldly knowledge, but very little divine wisdom. Solomon was wise because he followed faithfully all the pattern and specifications that David gave to him, without adding anything and without taking away anything. That is wisdom.
Thirdly, the wisdom of Solomon was demonstrated in his ability to make use of all the materials that had been collected.
David prepared a great deal of material. Out of the spoil of war, he set apart gold, silver, stones, timber, iron, and all these materials. He set apart these things for the building of the house.
David said, “Out of my affection for God, out of my love for God, I set apart gold, silver, refined gold, and other things for the building of the house.”
In other words, love prepares the material, but wisdom puts these materials together.
We may have a great deal of love, but if we do not have wisdom, all these materials may be gathered and prepared, but we do not know what to do with them. We do not know how to put them together or how to make use of them. You know, that takes wisdom.
Oh, how we need love, that we may prepare materials for the building of God’s house. How we need God’s love, that we may go out and win souls for Christ.
Oh, we must gather a great deal of the treasures—gold, silver, and precious stones. We need to gather these materials out of love through our contacts. We must gather these things.
But, brothers and sisters, love must be added to by wisdom. Love alone will not know how to use these materials. Lots of people are saved and gathered, but how are you going to build them together to be the house of God?
Where are you going to put them? How are you going to fit them together, that each may find its place in God’s house? That is wisdom—divine wisdom.
That is the reason why you find Paul says he is a master builder. He has divine wisdom. He knows how to use these materials, how to bring God’s people together, and how to help them to be built up together in love. That is wisdom.
Lastly, Solomon’s wisdom was demonstrated in his ability to mobilize and coordinate tens of thousands of people in the building of the temple.
You see, in 1 Kings 5 it is said:
And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel;
and the levy was thirty thousand men.
And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses:
a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home;
and Adoniram was over the levy.And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens,
and fourscore thousand that were hewers in the mountains;
besides Solomon’s chief officers that were over the work,
three thousand and three hundred,
who ruled over the people that wrought in the work.And the king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones,
to lay the foundation of the house with wrought stone.
And Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders did fashion them,
and the Gebalites;
so they prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.
That is wisdom. He was not only able to use the materials; he was able to coordinate all these laborers.
Brothers and sisters, are we able to coordinate? Are we able to join many as co-laborers in the great work of the building of God’s house? That takes wisdom.
To do the work by yourself is one thing. To be able to coordinate, to bring everybody in and work coordinately, is another thing.
You know, sometimes you think, “Well, I think this has to be done. It is much easier if I just go ahead and do it.”
It seems to be harder if you try to draw some other people in. You have to explain to them. You have to help them to see. Then you work together, and when it comes out, probably it is not as good or as efficient as you would have done it by yourself.
Because of that, you find we will just go ahead and do it. The result is that there is no fellowship, there is no coordination, and lots of other brothers and sisters will just be left waiting.
We will never ask them to participate because, when they participate, well, they may seem more a hindrance than a help. So we say, “Get out of the way. Let me finish it.”
But brothers and sisters, this is not wisdom. This is not wisdom. Because if you are doing it all by yourself, you will never be able to build God’s house.
It is not only that you will do it. You will teach people, help people, draw people in, and do it together. That is fellowship.
That is body ministry—that each part will perform its work, wherein the whole body will be built up in love.
So, brothers and sisters, you find this wisdom is very practical. It is applied wisdom, and it really takes wisdom to do that.
So, altogether, you find this: when God is doing His work of recovery, He has to have these three things—revelation, authority, and wisdom; divine revelation, divine authority, and divine wisdom.
These are not theories. These have to be embodied in us. We have to be vessels of revelation, of authority, and of wisdom.
When God is able to obtain these, then you will find that what God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was fully realized at the end.
If you read your Bible, you will find how true that is. Everything that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and everything that God intended for His people, through Samuel, David, and Solomon, God brought them all in.
This is what God is doing today. So may the Lord be gracious and merciful to us, that we may be vessels like Samuel, David, and Solomon—vessels of divine revelation, divine authority, and divine wisdom.
Our heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee because Thou dost desire to have us as Thy vessels for recovery.
We confess that in ourselves there is darkness; there is no light. In ourselves there is rebellion; there is no authority. In ourselves there is no wisdom, but foolishness.
But we praise and thank Thee because Thou art the God who gives wisdom, authority, and revelation.
So we do come to Thee together tonight, humbling ourselves before Thee and asking Thee, by Thy Holy Spirit, to deal with us; to take away our darkness, our rebellion, and our foolishness; and to replace these with Thy revelation, Thy authority, and Thy wisdom.
Now we ask this not for our own sake, but we ask Thee for the sake of the realization of Thy eternal purpose among Thy people.
Grant our humble prayer. So we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.