This association of Solomon with the Remnant is so pervasive that his other writings equally reflect this. For example, Proverbs reflects the wisdom and knowledge the Remnant will possess, and the fact that the Remnant will be with Yahshua in the beginning of forming the new heavens and new earth - Yahshua's new kingdom (Proverbs 8:22f). Likewise, Song of Solomon is a clear account of the two-part Remnant, particularly the first Remnant that had to die. And even statements like the one in John 10:22 and 23 - "At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter (white glory), and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon" - keys one to the fact that this event prophetically relates specifically to the Remnant. This is the two-part Elijah/Elisha Remnant. Elijah is actually Eli-Yah, and Elisha is Eli-shua. So when Eli-Yah and Eli-shua are gathered together, Yahshua is clearly in this two-part Remnant's midst (Matthew 18:20). Eli-Yah and Eli-shua together bears the name Yah-shua! So when Yahshua was walking in the two-part Remnant Portico of Solomon, prophetically He was walking in the midst of the two-part Eli-Yah/Eli-shua Remnant.

With this hopefully established in your understanding regarding Solomon's representation of the two Remnant, especially the first Remnant, let us now look at more of the prophetic picture regarding the kingdom Solomon received, and how it relates to the kingdom of God. Looking at the beginning of Solomon's reign, everything seemed to have gone well. Solomon cleaned house in the kingdom following David's death, disciplining or killing four men. Despite all the commandments in the books of the Law to "Love Yahweh your God," as well as Yahshua's later reaffirmation of this, very remarkably Solomon is the only person in the entire Bible of whom it is recorded that he loved Yahweh - "Solomon loved Yahweh" (1 Kings 3:3)! David said he loved Yahweh in Psalm 18:1, the writer of Psalm 116 said likewise, and Peter was questioned by Yahshua if he agape loved Him, which Peter responded that his love for Him was phileo. But outside of these, surely to your surprise, no one else, not even one in the entire Bible, is ever said to have loved Yahweh, the Lord, God, or even Yahshua. Knowing this makes the passage in John even more meaningful - "In this is love, not that we loved God (which is evident from the Scriptures), but that He loved us ..." (1 John 4:10). Interestingly, John used the word "love," "loved," or "loves" far more than any other writer of the Scriptures - over one hundred times.

It is very significant, as well as very encouraging, that the only man recorded in the Scriptures of whom it was said he loved Yahweh (that is, Solomon), and the one writer of the Scriptures that far more frequently than any other writer refers to the quality of love (that is, John), both prophetically represent the Remnant and the kingdom of God which the Remnant will occupy - the "John" kingdom. Being those who will experience the first resurrection, the Remnant will more fully know the truth of 1 John 4:19 - "We love, because He first loved us." Oh to be engulfed by that love! Thus it is that out of all the people in the entire Scriptures, there is only one of whom it is declared - he "loved Yahweh." Solomon prophetically represents, in this and in many other ways, the Remnant that will be first to fully know His love by entering into resurrection life, becoming like Him, and truly loving and obeying Him (the true sign of love - John 14:15).

Next in Solomon's chronology he had a dream, and in it he did not ask for long life, or riches, or the life of his enemies, but "an understanding heart to judge (or, govern) Your people to discern between good and evil" (1 Kings 3:9). Yahweh therefore gave him "a wise and discerning heart." But note the striking similarity in this statement, "to discern good and evil," and "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," which Eve equally discerned "was desirable to make one wise." Is not this which Solomon sought the forbidden tree in the original kingdom of the garden of Eden? Precisely! We learn that indeed it is Yahweh's will for man to become like God and to be wise and discern good and evil, to possess His kingdom. But, while man is in the flesh (of this earth) and has yet to become conformed to the image of God in an incorruptible resurrected body, his association with the kingdom (represented by this tree) results in his death. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the embodiment of the first work in the kingdom.

We noted in THE ISSUE that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a grape tree. This is very significant in many regards, in particular concerning the Scripture's testimony regarding wine. This association of the grape tree of the knowledge of good and evil with the kingdom of God, is clearly revealed insomuch that the juice of the grape has the natural tendency to be changed by fermentation into something that is destructive for man - "Do not look on the wine when it is red (lit., adam), when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent (Satan), and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perverse things. And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea (i.e., death)" (Proverbs 23:31-33). Such it is with the kingdom for earthly-flesh "adam," or man. That was the problem with the grape of the kingdom - it became "red," or "adam." It was given to Adam man; and when this happens, the warning is to not look upon it. It sparkles in the cup. It even goes down smoothly. But in the end, it becomes Satan, even as Peter was called Satan, or even as Judas was called Satan. The kingdom of God given to earthly man Adam causes fermentation, corruption, and death. With the leaven of Satan and the flesh, the kingdom became fermented, changed into something that was harmful to Adam/man; no longer pure as it was, it became and remains defiled with strange and perverse teachings and the ways of men, causing the death of man via the serpent, Satan. In the end, kingdom receiving Adam man lies down in the sea of death. Man has never been able to handle God's grape tree kingdom while in the earthly flesh.

Why then did Solomon pray in his dream that he have understanding to judge Yahweh's people to discern good and evil? Because it was the first Remnant who first ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The first Remnant was the first of the two brides Yahshua receives. She was a Leah, one who had weak eyes. And as we see in the original garden kingdom, it was the woman, the bride, who first ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then passed it along to the man. Why? Because the first Remnant was the first to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil kingdom. This was the Solomon work, who asked for the ability to discern good and evil and received the forbidden tree in the garden. Like Uzzah, man has reached out while in the flesh and touched the ark of the covenant and died (2 Samuel 6:6-7), as was the curse associated with that tree. Like the 50,070 men in the town of Bethshemesh (or, "house of the sun"), earthly man has looked into the ark of the covenant and has been struck down by Yahweh (1 Samuel 9:19). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is man's opportunity to become like God and receive His kingdom, and in the end it kills him. Man with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has been dying for nearly 2,000 years.

So when Solomon asked "to discern between good and evil," he was taking his first Remnant position of asking for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil kingdom of God, a request that in the end resulted in his own failure, even as it has meant failure for kingdom-receiving man for 2,000 years.

Up to this point, everything seemed to be OK with Solomon's kingdom reign. With "wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind" he judged the people, established his kingdom, and then began to build "a house for the name of Yahweh" - the temple. With very much gold and silver and cedar, the temple was built. Upon its dedication, Yahweh's glory filled the house! "I have surely built You a lofty house, a place for Your dwelling forever" (1 Kings 8:13), said Solomon. But, did Yahweh dwell in that house forever? Not at all! That house was torn down by the Babylonians.

We have already noted that the Solomon work is the first Remnant work. Did the first Remnant work last forever, even though it too essentially received the promise and certainly had the anticipation that it would bring the King on His throne? No it did not. What happened to the work of the first Remnant? Essentially the same thing that happened to the first temple. While Babylon tore down Solomon's temple, it was Mystery Babylon, or Christianity, that tore down the work of the first Remnant.

Though we must attempt to be brief here, it would be very beneficial to examine the pattern and testimonies of all three temples. Even as we find the order and pattern of the kingdom of heaven in Zechariah 4, so we see the same order and pattern in the three temples. Let us see.

In Zechariah 4 ,we read that the kingdom of heaven, or the work that is not by might nor by power but by His Spirit, is on the one hand three works. First is the first Remnant son of fresh oil olive tree, followed by the seven-branched lampstand of Christianity, then concluded by the second Remnant son of fresh oil olive tree. So now let us look at another testimony to these three parts - the three temples.

The first Remnant testimony is the first temple, or Solomon's temple, as we are considering here. Christianity's witness is, of course, the second temple, or Zerubbabel's temple, which was refurbished by King Herod just before being torn down by the Romans. Most significantly, both of these temples were burned on precisely the same day - the tenth day of the fifth month (Jeremiah 52:12, Josephus, War 6, Ch. 4). What meaning could this have? In truth, these two works of the first Remnant and Christianity are one in testimony. They are the two parts of the kingdom that are "cut off and perish" (Zechariah 13:7-8). In other words, they all sleep. What makes the first Remnant different in this is that they are sealed and covered as the separate Moses work that must stand with the second Remnant Elijah work. But nonetheless, though separate, the two are in one sense one. They are the kingdom of heaven for 2,000 years which comes down in one day.

So we find the first two temples foreshadowing the first "two parts," or 2,000 years, of the kingdom of God. The first temple was the temple of gold, or the first Remnant. The second temple was the temple of bronze, or Christianity. So what is the third temple?

The third temple is the work of the second Remnant, and is foreshadowed in Ezekiel's temple where there is a change in priesthood (Ezekiel 44). This is the second Remnant temple with the water flowing out from under the east gate which flows to the sea, and the "waters (of the sea) become healed" (47:8). It is the temple that promises Yahshua's return (46). It is the work of the second Remnant that defeats death and results in the dead coming back to life. The sea speaks of death - the 2,000 swine went to the sea, Yahshua, who had the power of an indestructible life, walked on it, and more - and it is the work of the second Remnant who bring the dead back to life.

So we see then that the three temples speak of three works in the kingdom of God: Solomon's temple of gold speaks of the first Remnant, Zerubbabel's temple of bronze speaks of Christianity, and Ezekiel's temple speaks of the second Remnant who defeat death, and is the only temple remaining to be built and will never be torn down. That temple will remain forever, for it will ascend alive!

Still, everything thus far seemed to be continuing OK in Solomon's first Remnant kingdom. Next, two seemingly obscure yet identical numbers appear. In 1 Kings 9:14 we see that "Hiram sent the king 120 talents of gold." Then the queen of Sheba came, marveling at Solomon's wisdom, and equally gave him 120 talents of gold (1 Kings 10:10). (We will examine the great significance of these later.) Then a peculiar statement is made which would raise the concerns of most readers. 1 Kings 10:14 states - "now the weight of gold which came in to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold." Most would believe that 666 is the mark of the beast found in Revelation. Is the appearance of this dramatic number an unrelated coincidence in Solomon's life? Not in God's word! There are no coincidences in His word. When stated here that Solomon received 666 talents of gold in one year, one can be very certain that this number prophetically relates somehow in this account. The question is - how?