In Deuteronomy 29:10-11 we can learn that the people of Israel are called upon to stand boldly and confidently before the LORD. Since the LORD has reserved the best for the last days (cf. John 2:7-11), the Holy Spirit puts the emphasis on the hewer of wood and the drawer of water, who are in the eighth and ninth positions in the enumeration.
Deuteronomy 29:10-11:
10 All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God – your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, 11 together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water.
John 2:7-11:
7 Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, ‘Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.’ They did so,
9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realise where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, ‘Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.’
11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
The Use of ‘Wood’ and ‘Water’
With this emphasis, we as God’s people are called to apply ‘wood’ represented by Jesus’ victory and triumph on the cross and ‘water’ represented by the Spirit-filled Word of God (cf. Galatians 3:13 i.c.w. John 6:63; Ephesians 5:26; 2 Corinthians 3:6) to contribute to the increase of God’s glory among us, while we remain in God’s right momentum.
Galatians 3:13:
… 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’
John 6:63:
63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you – they are full of the Spirit and life.
Ephesians 5:26:
… 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, …
2 Corinthians 3:6:
6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
This is revealed through the seventh biblical month of Tishri/Ethanim and represented by the place at the gate of Ephraim (cf. Nehemiah 8:15-16 i.c.w. Leviticus 23:40).
Nehemiah 8:15-16:
… 15 and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: ‘Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and other leafy trees, to make temporary shelters’ – as it is written.
16 So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves temporary shelters on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim.
Leviticus 23:40:
40 On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees – from palms, willows and other leafy trees – and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.
As God’s people, we are called to go forward with Gideonic boldness, even if it seems that we are only a few, like a stump (cf. Isaiah 6:13).
Isaiah 6:13:
13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.’
This boldness involves moving forward with three elements divided into ‘300’, each consisting of ‘3 x 100 units’, which are as follows (cf. Judges 7:16-17.20):
- ram’s horns/shofar => sound of the Spirit in the triumph of Christ,
- empty jars => readiness for brokenness (cf. Psalm 34:19),
- torches in the jars => readiness for the acting of the Spirit of God as a consuming fire (cf. Revelation 4:5).
Judges 7:16-17.20:
16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.
17 ‘Watch me,’ he told them. ‘Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. …
20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, ‘A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!’
The number ‘300’ is linked to the Hebrew letter ‘Shin’, which carries the same numerical value and pictographically represents a ‘cogwheel’ but also means ‘to let water flow/run’. Here we can see a connection to the hewer of wood and the drawer of water from Deuteronomy 29:10, since the name ‘Gideon’ means ‘hewer of wood’.
From Gideon’s life, we can see that before he gathered his ‘army’ on God’s behalf, which consisted of the ‘lickers in humility’ (cf. Judges 7:5-7), he opposed the spiritual principality of Baal and Asherah in the form of the altar and the cult pole. He tore down the altar with the second seven-year-old bull and in obedience cut down the pole of Asherah with the help of ten men (cf. Judges 6:25-27a).
Judges 6:25-27a:
25 That same night the Lord said to him, ‘Take the second bull from your father’s herd, the one seven years old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
26 Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering.’
27a So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. …
The ten men are an indication of the intervening hand of God, that accompanied Gideon and strengthened him in his mission. The Hebrew word for ‘hand’ is ‘jād’ and means, among other things, ‘might and force’. This word has the numerical value of ‘10’.
The demonic principality that we are increasingly dealing with in the Western world at this time is the principality of Baal and Asherah, from whose realm the currently prevalent gender ideology, fornication, and brutality originate.
The Principality of Baal and Asherah
The Word of God reveals that the satanic realm of Baal and Asherah is accompanied by concentrated diabolical communication, as is evident from 1 Kings 18:19. Here, a powerful prophetic dynamic emerges, as with the prophet Elijah through the grace of God, in which this influence of Baal and Asherah is confronted.
1 Kings 18:19:
‘… 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.’
This evil communication resembles the influence of today’s mass media, which distances itself from biblical standards and follows transhumanistic and confusing ideologies that oppose the truth of God’s Word and deliberately rebel against it.
The life of the prophet Elijah reveals to us that after the impressive victory over the principality of Baal and Asherah and its 850 false prophets, who were divided into the dimension of ‘400’ in 1 x 450 and 1 x 400, there is a revelatory reference from God hidden within (cf. 1 Kings 18:19 ff.). Their number was already an indication of Jesus’ coming victory in the form of the cross and their devastating end. The numerical value ‘400’ contains the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, namely the ‘Tav’, which figuratively represents a ‘cross’. Furthermore, the ‘Tav’ is the initial of the end of a dimension that transitions into a new dimension. It is like Jesus’ victory, which He achieved on the cross to transition into the phase of resurrection power through His death.
In relation to this confrontation, the fourth church in the region of Thyatira takes on special significance because it was the community of saints who had to deal with the demonic influence of Jezebel. It was Jezebel who submitted to the principality of Baal and Asherah and was active in it as the wife of king Ahab (cf. Revelation 2:18-23).
Revelation 2:18-23:
18 ‘To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.
22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.
23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
It is Jesus Christ who reveals Himself to the church in Thyatira as the Son of God, who has eyes like flames of fire and legs like burnished bronze. This points to the dimension of sonship and the influence of the omniscient God, as well as His eternal existence and holy character.
The Water Carrier and the Feast of Tabernacles or Succot
Now let us move from the spiritual realm of the woodcutter to that of the water carrier, which is connected to the Feast of Tabernacles/Succot, because every year at the Feast of Tabernacles, the high priest performed a prophetic act connected with drawing water.
=> Here, the high priest took water from the pool of Siloam/Siloah and brought it up to the temple to pour it out beside the altar.
This symbolized the call to God to send the latter and former rain (Note: latter rain: The rainfall at the end of the rainy season, around March/April; important for the development of winter grain; former rain: usually at the end of October or beginning of November, at the start of the approximately six-month rainy season, necessary for new sowing after the dry season of summer).
In this context, this act reveals to us the call to God to send His ‘spiritual rain’ in our time, which is the outpouring of His Spirit prophesied by the prophet Joel (cf. Joel 2:28-29).
Joel 2:28-29:
28 ‘And afterwards, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
The act of the outpouring by the priest was performed every day during the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus gave us an important promise at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, where He spoke about the river of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 7:37-39).
John 7:37-39:
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’
39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
This scripture reveals that the Feast of Tabernacles relates to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and we can expect the Holy Spirit to increase even more in us!
On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which was the great feast day, a large crowd accompanied the high priest in the prophetic act as he brought water from the pool of Siloam/Siloah to the temple. They became, so to speak, witnesses to the great outpouring!
And at that very moment, Jesus stood in that place and spoke of the living water: ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ <= (Note: The text enclosed in ‘=>’ is based on a revelatory teaching by Dr. Robert D. Heidler from the book ‘The Messianic Church Arising’, pages 211-212.)
The Hewer of Wood, the Water Carrier, and the Presence of Great Joy
Furthermore, the LORD revealed that He connects the two roles of the woodcutter and the water carrier with the presence of great joy, in which the anointing of the Holy Spirit increases among His people, accompanied by a seven-colored rainbow dynamic of His promise made to us. It is like how the voice of the Heavenly Father sounded over His Son Jesus Christ when He came up out of the water of the Jordan after being baptized (cf. Matthew 3:16-17 i.c.w. Isaiah 61:1-3).
Matthew 3:16-17:
16 As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’
Isaiah 61:1-3:
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour.
Let us bring forth the nine fruits of the Spirit through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, whose foundation is the love of God – agąpē, which implies a higher or excellent way (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:31b i.c.w. Galatians 5:22-23).
1 Corinthians 12:31b:
… 31b And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
Galatians 5:22-23:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love1, joy2, peace3, forbearance4, kindness5, goodness6, faithfulness7, 23 gentleness8 and self-control9. Against such things there is no law.
With God, the excellent or higher is always connected to the first, because, among other things, the first acts like a peak that completes the construction of a building. With God, ‘peaks’ are often connected to the beginning, such as the beginnings of times, e.g., Rosh Chodesh, the beginning and peak of the month, or Rosh Hashanah, the beginning and peak of the year.
Thus, as God’s people, we are called to walk in God’s love – agąpē – in order to recognize the Heavenly Father and His presence when He speaks from the realm of His Son’s resurrection power in the midst of the realm of promise (cf. John 21:4-5 i.c.w. Genesis 22:17; Genesis 32:12).
John 21:5:
5 He called out to them, ‘Friends [Note: Children], haven’t you any fish?’ ‘No,’ they answered.
Genesis 22:17:
17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, …
Genesis 32:12:
12 But you have said, “I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.” ’
By devoting ourselves to preventing evil from our children and the next generation in Christ’s triumph and our faithful stand for truth, we remain in God’s love in the joy that is our strength.
In all challenges, we apply grace in the form of ‘wood’ and life-giving power in truth in the form of ‘water’ to glorify our King Jesus Christ.
Amen and Amen.
In His Wisdom,
Daniel Glimm
