SIFTING FOR GOLD
We had just landed in Anchorage. We were standing, leaning against our seats ready to walk out the isle. The man behind me was talking about searching for gold. This was his third season in Alaska and he had done rather well. He and his partner boated six days up a river for sifting.
He told us one year, after paying taxes on their gold, he and his partner netted $700,000 each. Not bad for four months work. As he spoke I heard the Lord say, “I am establishing a new Gold Standard.”
America went off the gold standard in 1971. The idea of restricting our money to the value of gold was stifling. People thought we would generate greater success with an economy built on debt. Fifty years later many are doubtful of that strategy’s success. In fact, there is a significant movement, even in White House circles, to move us back to a gold standard.
HOLINESS: A GOLDEN STANDARD
When the Lord told me, “I am establishing a new Gold Standard” I started to think about holiness. Holiness and gold are linked in Scripture.
AARON’S BREAST PLATE OVER HIS HEART WAS MADE OF GOLD
Ex 28:36 “Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: HOLYTO THE LORD.
SOLOMON PANELED THE MOST HOLY PLACE WITH GOLD
2 Chron 3:8 He built the Most Holy Place, its length corresponding to the width of the temple — twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide. He overlaid the inside with six hundred talents of pure gold.
Think of this: A 30’ by 30’ room plated, with six hundred talents of gold. Do the math. A talent is 75 pounds. 75 X 600 = 45,000 pounds of gold! At $1716 for today’s spot price the value was $1,235,520,000.
And who got to see the gold in the Holy of Holies? Only two. The high priest and Almighty God!
THE HEART’S TREASURY
The heart is the place we keep our treasures of love, faith and courage, our secret thoughts and ambitions. You may speculate about what is in my heart, but ultimately only God and I know what is really there. And God understands my heart far better than I do!
In many ways the church went off the gold (holiness) standard. We did not want to be encumbered with the limitations holiness required. We said, “Perhaps we could be happier and more successful without holiness. Let’s give it a try. We want to be free!” Of course, worldly “freedom” lead us into bondage.
The Creator of the Stars is establishing a new Gold Standard! Holiness is Golden. May our inner hearts be paneled with it!
I’d love to hear your perspectives. What does it mean when the Lord says, I am establishing a new Gold Standard?
Steven C Johnson
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