• Jehovah has many treasures. The first and most famous of them are the gold and the silver. All the gold and silver of this world belong to Jehovah. He is the one who declares: “‘The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,’ says Jehovah of Armies” (Hag. 2:8). He deals out these precious metals. Eliphaz, one of the three friends of Job, accusing him, said: “Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you. Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents. Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you. For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God. You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows” (Job 22:21-27). Solomon says: “Jehovah’s blessing brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it” (Prov. 10:22). Material wealth is the blessing of Jehovah the Almighty (Prov. 22:2). Jehovah even makes the usurer (Prov. 29:13).

We can state with certainty that this treasure that the worshippers so covet does not come from Jesus. His doctrine always spoke against gold and silver. He said: “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal” (Matt. 6:19-20). A rich young man said to Jesus: “Good teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? […] Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sad, for he was one who had great possessions” (Matt. 19:16-22). And Jesus went on: “Whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).

• Jehovah also has the treasures of the darkness (Is. 45:3). Jehovah gave the treasures of gloom to Cyrus, the Persian. The treasure of darkness is the temporal power, to put an end to the nations through wars and open the doors of the kingdoms for Cyrus to come in victorious (Is. 45:1-3). Cyrus was a ferocious and killing king. In 1622 Rubens, notable Flemish painter, born in Antwerp, painted a monumental picture where he shows Tomyris, queen of the Messegetas, who bathed the head of the powerful Cyrus in blood in fulfillment of his promise of vengeance for the death of her son. In the middle of her court, dipping the head in the blood, she said: Drink blood, bloody king. These are the treasures of darkness, or treasures of evil, for Jesus said: “This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil” (John 3:19; Eph. 5:8-14). Jehovah is hiding in the darkness because he manipulates all the wars that happen under the sky. David, in a Psalm, said: “He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters” (Ps. 18:11). He hides in darkness, because all wars, revolutions and uprisings, and terrorism come from him. The war between Jews and Arabs come from Jehovah, but nobody realizes this and, therefore, he is hiding in darkness. The darkness of the waters that surround him are peoples devoted to crime, theft, and to the pursuit of riches (Rev. 17:15).
• The treasures of the impurity of corruption belong to Jehovah. Moses wrote: “How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Jehovah had delivered them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter.  Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps. Isn’t this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures?” (Deut. 32:30-34). Unbelievable, but it is written.  The corruption of Sodom and Gomorrah, Israel and Judah is part of the treasures of Jehovah. David, in another psalm, says: “From men by your hand, Jehovah, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children” (Ps. 17:14). The hidden treasure of Jehovah is precisely the wine of Sodom.
• The weapons of Jehovah are another of his treasures, the instruments of his indignation and anger. Jehovah is speaking: “I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, Babylon, and you weren’t aware: you are found, and also caught, because you have striven against Jehovah. Jehovah has opened his armory, and has brought forth the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, Jehovah of Armies, has a work [to do] in the land of the Chaldeans” (Jer. 50:24-25).

Jehovah says: “I have made the earth, the men and the animals that are on the surface of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to me. Now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the animals of the field also have I given him to serve him” (Jer. 27:5-6). And it came to pass. Nebuchadnezzar did not know that the destruction of Babylon was determined in the treasures of Jehovah. And the destruction was such, that there was nothing left of the Chaldeans. Jehovah had already elected Darius, king of the Medes, to do this work. The destruction was described 150 years before by Isaiah: “Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in the wrath of Jehovah of Armies, and in the day of his fierce anger. It will happen that like a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers, they will each turn to their own people, and will each flee to their own land. Everyone who is found will be thrust through. Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword. Their infants also will be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be ransacked, and their wives raped. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it. Their bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes will not spare children. Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Is. 13:13-19). And Jehovah called sanctified the cruel and destructive Mede warriors and their king, Darius: (Is. 13:3).

The worst of it all is that Israel, led by their Messiah, was predestined for the same mission of the Medes (Jer. 51:19-24). Jehovah chose Israel as his singular treasure: not to practice peace, but to tread upon and enslave (Ps. 47:3). He chose him to tear, and not to save. This should have been done 2,000 years ago. Jesus, though, refused to rule in hell and preached the kingdom of God, the Father, which is outside the earth (John 14:1-3; Matt. 25:31-41). Paul declares the same (Phil. 3:20-21; 2 Tim. 4:18). Peter declares it, too (1 Pet. 1:3-4).

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira