The word of wisdom is a God-given gift of the Spirit (not learning from some institution or school, or not just "common horse sense"--although it is commendable to have wisdom and common horse sense). The gift is a fragment of deity from God's storehouse of knowledge and of wisdom. You can read this in Col. 2:3:"....in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge...."--from God's reservoir or storehouse He gives us a fragment of His deity. To some people the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge are similar, but as we study the Word we will see they are not. The word of knowledge is revelation of fact, while the word of wisdom is given in a time of quick decision or time of crisis. Let me illustrate it this way: Science has the knowledge to blow the world to pieces. If I were to ask if it would be wisdom to do it, all would say "No!"
We could say, then, that this is the way that the word of wisdom and word of knowledge are applied; wisdom to apply knowledge which is a fact.
Let me give you a few examples in the Word. In II Chron. 1:10-12, Solomon, who is to become king of Israel, prays for wisdom in order to rule such a great people. Soon after he was made king, however, he needed a word of wisdom. He had a grave problem on his hands! (I Kings 3:16-28) Two ladies gave birth to two babies about the same time and they lived together in the same house. One woman rolled over upon her baby and it died, so she stole the other woman's baby while that woman was sleeping! In other words, she swapped babies. In the morning these two ladies had an intense argument! It would take godly wisdom on Solomon's part to solve this problem!
By God's gift of wisdom, the king spoke only four words: "Give me a sword."
Then he told them, "Divide the living child in two."
He soon found out who the real mother was! The real mother would rather that the baby live and allow the other woman to have it than to kill the child! The word of wisdom soon solved the problem.
This is how the word of wisdom works. The gift of the word of wisdom will be imperative in the days to come with worldwide crises on every hand--such as wars (there are many wars going on right now!). We will need the word of wisdom in that crisis hour.
Luke 21:14-15 says: "Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what you should answer, for I will give you a word, a mouth of wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or to resist."
A great persecution is coming, I believe, upon the Church. Many countries are experiencing this and soon it will come in our own country as well. We see the evidence on every hand--even preachers in the United States of America are in jail because they have been accused of saying the wrong thing in the pulpit! Those who stand for Christianity will be the target (fundamentalists and evangelicals). Bibles are not allowed in schools, or prayers to be made. The hour is upon us that we will need more than natural wisdom to survive. We will need a word of godly wisdom.
In Acts 23:6-10 Paul was given this gift. He had been brought before the chief priests, the Council, and Ananias, the high priest. He was in serious trouble, and a simple word of wisdom was given. Only four words were needed: "I am a Pharisee."
This caused an argument between these two sects because the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, nor angels, nor spirits--nor did they believe in miracles. But the Pharisees believed in them all. So Paul's word of wisdom caused dissension among them, causing them to divert their anger towards each other rather than at Paul! This caused an awful commotion, and so the chief captain sent soldiers and took hold of Paul by force. In doing so, they brought him into a place of safety. This word of wisdom saved his life for the Word says "the commander was afraid they would tear him to pieces."
Our Lord Jesus, of course, had this gift of the word of wisdom. He was all wisdom. In John 8:3-11 they brought unto Jesus a woman caught in adultery. Remember, the Scribes and Pharisees always tried to accuse Jesus. They would try to confuse Him in His speech. Jesus said that He had come to fulfill the law, and because they ardently tried to keep the law but could never do it, they wanted to trip Him up in some manner.
Therefore, they brought this woman to Him and said "Master, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. But what sayest Thou?"
It was obvious to Jesus that they sought to accuse him. They were thinking, "Now we have Him! He can't get out of this one!"
Then Jesus stooped down and wrote something on the ground--perhaps it was the ten commandments, I don't know! When they continued to bait Him, He stood up and simply spoke a word of wisdom: "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her." Then he stooped back down and continued to write in the dirt.
The Word says, "...and they, which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one ....and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst....He said to her, Woman, where are thine accusers?"
This showed her, I believe, that Jesus knew they were hypocrites--and it gave Jesus the opportunity to deal with the woman.
So then He asked, "Hath no man condemned thee?"
She said, "No man."
Jesus, knowing she had a repentant heart, forgave her and exhorted her to sin no more. Thus once again Jesus used a word of wisdom to solve the problem.
The word of wisdom could also be found in the form of a question, such as Matt. 21:23-27. From the biblical examples we have given, a "word of wisdom" Is a "choice word with a supernatural utterance," and Jesus gives us a good illustration here.
The chief priests and elders came unto Him questioning His authority for teaching the Gospel. So, too, today we find that if we have not been endorsed by a certain organization or some bishop has not laid his hands upon the individual, then he has no business preaching the Gospel. However, Jesus was onto their tactics, He was ready for them.
He simply asked them a question--a word of wisdom: "The baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men?
"They reasoned among themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell." So we are instructed by the words of Jesus--He answered with a word of wisdom: "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things."
In Matt. 22:15 we read, "Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk."
The Pharisees tried to ensnare our Lord through His speech as He taught God's truth without apology. They brought Him this question: "Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?"
They were endeavoring to get Him into trouble, but notice what the Word says: "But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money.
Now, this money had on it Caesar's inscription. So Jesus said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God, the things that are God's."
The Word says they "marveled" at Him. They were dumbfounded and walked away, beaten at their own game.
I have given you some biblical examples. So now I shall give you some more modern illustrations. In London, England, some years ago when there was great persecution upon the Church, a young lady was on her way to an evening prayer meeting. When she came to the bridge that spans the Thames River, a soldier was there who called out, "Where are you going, young lady, at this hour of the night?"
The truth could get her into trouble, but without missing a step she said, "I am going to hear my brother's will read."
So the soldier thought that was important and that he'd better let her go. The young lady, returning about the midnight hour, met the same soldier who was curious, of course. He asked her, "Well, did you hear your brother's will read?"
She said, "Oh, yes!"
"Well, did he leave you anything?"
She answered, "Oh, yes, everything!"
Did she tell a lie? No. Jesus was her elder brother, and the New Testament is God's will for all of us. It was a supernatural word from God!
Here's another illustration that shows how the gift of the word of wisdom operates. We need to pay attention to the Scriptures which show us how the gifts operate. An infidel asked a young preacher a question: "If God is everywhere, is He also in hell?"
What would you say if somebody asked you that question? God gave the young man a word of wisdom, and he replied, "God's glory is in heaven, his grace is on earth, and his wrath is in hell."
Humorous? Yes. But indeed, the fact of the matter is that that young preacher had a word of wisdom.
This next one comes from the Reader's Digest (but I doubt if the editor realized that it was a word of wisdom!). It tells the story of a missionary who went to South New Zealand to work with the aborigines. They were headhunters and usually killed, cooked, and ate their victims. However, it was the tribe's custom that before they killed their victim they allowed him to make an affirmative statement of some kind. If the chief of that tribe decided the statement was a lie, the victim died by fire; if the chief decided it was the truth, he died by a poison arrow. In this case, when they captured the missionary, God gave him a word of wisdom.
He said, "I die by fire."
So they reasoned that they weren't able to kill him either way. If they burned him by fire, which was the penalty if he told a lie, it would make him to tell the truth because he said, "I die by fire." If they killed him by poisoned arrow--which was the penalty If he told the truth--It would make him to tell a lie, because he said, "I die by fire."
So they felt compelled to let him go and not kill him at all! It would take some time, I think, to figure this out, but it shows that sometimes we need a spiritual intervention of God if we are to live. The gifts of the Spirit operating properly leave no doubt in any man who observes such a miracle.
May I share a partial testimony? I was in Reading, Pennsylvania, showing some pictures of my work In Japan, when suddenly I received a word from God! I thought, This is strange, to get a word from God in the middle of showing my pictures on Japan! So I stopped the projector, and said the words I'd been given: "There is someone here who is about to make a business transaction, but if I were you I would be reluctant to do it."
After the service was over, a young Amish brother came with his wife and family and said to me, "That really hit me very forcefully what you had to say because I am going to have a business transaction on Monday. I've invented a hydraulic barn cleaner--a device that cleans the gutters behind the cattle in our dairy barns in Pennsylvania. On Monday the lawyers are coming to my home to sign papers."
I said, "That is what it is! That's the word of the Lord to you! The lawyers will try to get money out of you--some of your royalty money. Don't sign any papers, but go yourself to a patent office and present your invention. Get a proper patent from them and avoid the lawyers who are interested in getting your money. If they can, they'll try it every time."
Three years later, I had to go back east, and It so happened that I was in Washington, D.C., attending a Full Gospel Businessmen's banquet. Believe it or not, here came the young Arnish man and asked if I would eat with him!
I said, "Certainly."
While we were eating together he told me what God had done concerning the patent.
He said, "I did what you told me to do. I got my invention patented and now I have a shop where I employ 25 men. I am manufacturing those machines and I sell them all over. I have even sold one In Hawaii!"
I believe that all of us will agree that the gifts of the Spirit not only work for our spiritual benefit but help us in temporal things. I believe that God can give us wisdom in our businesses, and to the believer in the marketplace, so that God may prosper and turn things around for him. Nine times out of ten, if God enables them to have a successful business, they are very apt to give to the Kingdom of God. There is no limit to what can be accomplished if we draw from God's treasuries of wisdom and knowledge.
I repeat: "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Colossians 2:2-3)
Sometimes it's a word of wisdom that can spark an idea for an invention, something that could create mighty things for God and for the Kingdom. We are to covet the best gifts--those which fit our ministry and our particular calling. This equips us to bring in the harvest. There is so great a harvest today we need all the gifts of the Spirit in operation as we go to different countries in heathen lands.
The early Church had these gifts in operation. Peter could say, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk," and the man was immediately healed.
The word of wisdom may not be such a spectacular gift but it is very important indeed.