WISDOM - A TREE OF LIFE

PART 4

MF Blume Jan. 7/96

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

A tree is pictured in this passage of Scripture. This tree has a Branch and on the branch are the 7 spirits of God. We know this Branch to be Jesus. These 7 spirits endow Jesus with the characteristics of righteous and proper judgment. This Tree is reminiscent of the Tree of Life - Wisdom - as the writer informs us in Proverbs 3:18.

She [is] a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy [is every one] that retaineth her.

Wisdom sets everything pertaining to God's will in order. God intended man to live in a specific state of dominion and victory. We left that dominion when Adam fell into sin. Wisdom takes us back there.

Since God founded the earth by Wisdom, as we read in the context of Proverbs 3:18, we understand that He is implying that our lives will be set in order when wisdom is granted to us. Wisdom takes us into Canaan, as it were, our Rest, our Eden. In Isaiah 11, the context moves into an Edenic picture with wolves lying beside lambs. Genesis tells us that the situation of life in the days before the fall saw animals eating green herbs.

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so.

The picture of Isaiah 11, then, becomes quite clear in informing us that the 7 spirited Christ leads us by His Wisdom to Eden! He leads us to His Rest in the spiritual realm, represented by Canaan of old. It is the land of God's Promises! The Promised Land. Isaiah shows the wolf and lamb together in peace together with the leopard and kid, calf and young lion, cow and bear and lion and ox. Each pair depicts a clean and unclean animal. Not only does each pair show a domestic animal at peace with a predator, but also a clean animal aside the unclean, as per the Old Testament Law concerning such divisions. This picture represents the Jew and Gentile together in the single Body of Christ, no longer divided by the Mosaic Law that served as a wall of partition making Gentiles unclean.

Notice the following verse in the context of Isaiah 11, that reveals the very thought of Rest that we have been talking about in this study:

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

"...His rest shall be glorious"! The GENTILES shall seek this ensign! And the picture of wolf and lamb as representing the Gentile and Jew is clearly vindicated in this verse!

Jesus is represented as a lamb with seven eyes in the book of Revelation.

And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

One with SEVEN eyes is said to have COMPLETE insight, as the numeral 7 represents completion. Jesus Christ can truly lead us into Rest. He is given the same 7 spirits for eyes which stood about the throne of God in the form of lamps:

And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and [there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

By seeing these lamps around the throne of God we learn that the lamps are involved with the thought of discretion and JUDGMENT. One who rules on a throne is judge and leader. And these 7 spirits of judgment are upon the lamb as seven eyes making him capable of RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT.

As a man, the Lord Jesus was GIVEN these seven spirits. We know this since these same spirits are first seen round the throne in Rev. 4 before the Lamb was manifested. Before God was manifested in flesh as the lamb of God (1 Tim 3:16), the seven spirits of God were said to be about God's throne. Of course they are not literal lamps any more than Jesus literally had seven eyes. They depict insight, giving one the proper capability to judge righteously. They lighten, as it were, that which stands before the throne upon which God sits, that God might righteously judge the matter. Seven eyes.

The thought of many eyes is also seen in the picture of the creatures referred to as cherubims.

And before the throne [there was] a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, [were] four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast [was] like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast [was] like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about [him]; and [they were] full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

(The living creatures, or beasts, are the cherubims Ezekiel saw in Ezekiel 1).

And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet [were] straight feet; and the sole of their feet [was] like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. And [they had] the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings [were] joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

Ezek 10:14-16 And every one had four faces: the first face [was] the face of a cherub, and the second face [was] the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. And the cherubims were lifted up. This [is] the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar. And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.

We first read of these creatures in Genesis after Adam was thrust out of the Garden.

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The Cherubims depict the restoration of creation, among other things, since their appearance portrays two of the animals dwelling together that Isaiah mentions. Ezekiel saw one of the four faces on the cherubims as an ox, or calf, and another as a lion!

As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a LION, on the right side: and they four had the face of an OX on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

Isai 11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the CALF and the young LION and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

Reve 4:7 And the first beast [was] like a LION , and the second beast like a CALF, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast [was] like a flying eagle.

Since animals such as the lion and ox dwelt together in peace in the days before the fall, and they have since become enemies, the picture of Isaiah depicts the RESTORATION of creation from the fall, and back to the state aforehand. Restoration of the Edenic peace is the only answer for such a scenario. But the most important aspect of the pre-fall state of the world is not the fact that animals do not prey on one another, but that MANKIND IS WITHOUT SIN. And that means full redemption of mankind!! Praise God! When we receive Christ's wisdom, and ourselves receive many eyes, we enter Eden's Garden again! We are restored to our intended position.

The many eyes on the cherubim represent the INSIGHT that those who are restored will possess. Without such wisdom, we cannot return to the Garden in which life dwelt in such peace. In order for an ox and lion to be able to dwell together there must first occur a work of restoration accomplished in order to restore nature back to that pre-fall condition of life. And since these creatures have many eyes, we see a connection with the thought that those restored to God have been led by Jesus Christ's seven-spirited wisdom, and also the thought that those believers, who indeed have been restored, have been granted the insight of His wisdom.

The CREATURES had many eyes. Those restored were granted many eyes. That which formerly preyed upon the lamb, but made to dwell in peace, was given many eyes. This speaks of the truth that God grants His children wisdom, who are being restored to Edenic Rest. This is typified by seven eyes!

An Exodus of sorts is alluded to in Isaiah 11, also. It is an Exodus out of the fallen state of the world and back into the place of original positioning in the Garden. With wisdom we understand how to follow the Spirit. We understand how to use the intuition of our human spirits to sup with God and receive revelation.

THE EXODUS AND THE HOLIEST PLACE OF THE TEMPLE

The seven-branched candlestick in the Tabernacle lit the Holy Place enabling one seeking entrance into the Holiest of Holies to indeed find the entrance. With this in mind, consider the typology of the Holiest of Holies as representing the Garden of Eden! After all, as the Garden entrance was blocked by the cherubims that fallen man might not enter, the Holiest of Holies was blocked by a veil embroidered with the images of cherubims!

And thou shalt make a vail [of] blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:

Compare the three realms of the land of Egypt, the wilderness and the land of Canaan in the Exodus story to picture in the tabernacle of the outer court, the holy place and holiest of holies of holies. In fact, God gave the plans for this layout of the tabernacle/temple in the very book of Exodus in which we read of Israel's journey from Egypt to Canaan! The two pictures are intimately linked!

After leaving the world, illustrated by Israel leaving the land of Egypt, we enter into a walk towards that full restoration of Garden life. We journey towards our Rest - our Canaan! And we must walk through a wilderness to get there. Often many believers are not keen in their spiritual senses of intuition and Spirit-leading. (New babes need to mature.) We, as it were, wander in the wilderness somewhat blind until we learn to be led by the Spirit, as the Israelites followed the pillar of cloud and fire.

The candlestick had seven lamps. It was placed in the holy place, which corresponds to the wilderness - the place between Egypt and Canaan - between the outer court and the holiest of holies. It provided sight and vision so that one might find entrance into the Holiest. Without that lamp, the holy place was filled with darkness. By the light of the candlestick one would see the veil. On the veil was embroidered the cherubims - the emblems of restoration.

So much of the tabernacle construction typically speaks of our approach to God. Notably, when the tabernacle was first built, God filled the workers with WISDOM!

And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; And to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in the cutting of stones, to set [them], and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work.