Trading in Heaven
If I ever gave a thought to “trading,” my mind would have probably thought about trading baseball cards when I was a kid or some form of bartering system where goods were exchanged from one person to the next. I might also have thought about the stock exchange in a place like New York City, where fortunes are made and lost through the act of trading, and trades are made to seek to increase wealth and secure power.
Most people I know would be surprised to find that “trading” is a part of heavenly activity. I was, in fact, surprised to discover that like here on earth, where we can step on the trading floor of the New York stock exchange and transact, there are “trading floors” in Heaven we can step onto. In fact, now through our computerized systems, we can step into this stock exchange in New York without leaving our homes or offices. So it is in this heavenly realm. When we understand the systems of Heaven, we can take our place and make “trades.” We can trade not just for financial breakthrough but also family destinies. We can trade for people to come into the realms they were created for. This includes children, grandchildren, family members, and others who are dear to us. We can also trade for the destinies of cities, states, and regions. It might surprise you, but God has given us a place on the trading floors of Heaven where we can even shift nations into their destiny and purpose. For these reasons, it is imperative that we learn to operate on these trading floors in the spirit realm.You will find that there are different trading floors in Heaven for different spheres. Different levels can be traded for on these floors. They will “open” for us when we are ready to trade on that level. Just like you have to learn how to trade on the New York stock exchange, so we have to learn how to trade in Heaven. The trades made in New York are powerful. The trades made in Heaven can shape lives, the earth, and even nations for generations to come. When we speak of “trading,” we are not talking about “buying” something from God. We are communicating about moving into a realm of faith where our passions and desires toward God are being released on these trading floors. From these places in the spirit, we can experience great realms of breakthrough.John 14:2 speaks of the “Father’s houses.” Jesus describes them as “many mansions”:
In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
When Jesus spoke of the “Father’s house,” He wasn’t talking about a church building on a corner somewhere. Neither was He talking about the temple. He was speaking of the spirit realm and the unseen realm that the Father dwelled and lived in. Solomon spoke of this when he was dedicating the temple. First Kings 8:27 shows that God at the least dwells in the Heaven of heavens. Solomon, in asking God to bless what he had built, declared that God was so huge and magnificent even where He dwelled could not contain Him.
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, Heaven and the Heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!
God dwells in the Heaven of heavens. This speaks of the spirit dimension where we have been seated with Him (see Eph. 2:6). Jesus said in this dimension that He called “the Father’s house” there were many mansions. “Mansions” is the Greek word mone, and it means “a staying, a residence” (Strong’s #G3438). So Jesus is declaring that in the spirit world where God lives there are many residences, many places where we can live and function from. In other words, there isn’t just one place in the spirit for us; there are many places of encounters and activities we can come into. One of them is the trading floors in the spirit realm.
To get the significance of trading, we have to go back before the beginning of time. In Ezekiel 28:14-16, we read a description of activity that was taking place in Heaven, where the one who would become known as satan in his previous place was angelic in nature has iniquity found in him, which causes him to get thrown out of Heaven.
You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.
Before satan was cast out and became the arch-enemy of God, he was a high-ranking angel. He was in the mountain of God and walked back and forth on the fiery stones. The mountain of God is a reference to the realms of authority and government. As an angelic being he operated in this sphere of governmental authority. Isaiah 2:2 declares that the mountain of the Lord’s house is established in the top of the mountains.
Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.
The word top is the Hebrew word rosh, and it means the head in place, time, and rank (Strong’s #H7218). So the mountain of the Lord’s house is a governmental place in the spirit that is over all other mountains or governments. Satan, because of his fraudulent operation in this place he was given, was cast out from this mountain. As New Testament believers we have been positioned in “Mount Zion,” which is the “mountain of the Lord.” In the spirit realm we have been granted a place satan occupied before his fall. The position satan operated from before he was cast out is now the position we hold in the dimension of the spirit. The place of his function is now the place of ours! This is why he hates us so much. We are now operating in “the mountain of God” that was once his domain.We are told in Hebrews 12:22 that we have now come to this mountain.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.
But why was satan cast out from the mountain of God? And what does it mean in Ezekiel 28:15-16 when the Scriptures say he walked back and forth on the fiery stones?The fiery stones are places where offerings are brought, and these offerings in turn become trades. This is the trading floor of Heaven. Trading floors are a part of the spirit dimension where God lives. We can step into them and learn to function there. They are in fact a part of the “Courts of Heaven.” When we move onto the trading floors, we are stepping into a dimension of the Courts of Heaven where verdicts can be rendered based on the trades made. In fact, the trades become the testimony that is necessary for God to render verdicts from His Throne. We see this in Hebrews 11:4.
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
Notice that God, based on the offering or trade of Abel, testified of his gifts. The word testified in the Greek is martureo and means “to be a witness and give evidence” (Strong’s #G3140). God, because of Abel’s offering, gave witness—Himself—that Abel was righteous. Abel’s trade caused a verdict or decree to come from God’s Throne. As Abel traded what was dear to him, God declared him righteous and Abel gained a voice still speaking today. Death did not have the power to silence his voice because of the trade he made. Abel’s faith caused him to trade or offer on a trading floor an excellent and expensive trade. The level of his trade caused his influence to still speak today.
We also see this in Noah’s day when he came out of the ark after the flood. In Genesis 8:20-22 we see the first thing Noah did was build an altar. This was a place of trading. From this place Noah traded into the spirit realm.
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”
Notice that Noah offered a burnt offering on this altar. He had a revelation of the power of something consumed before God. His burnt offering created a soothing aroma that touched God’s heart. This became a trading floor. Noah could not in the natural step onto the fiery stones of Heaven where trades were made and consumed. He could, however, build an altar on the earth where a trade could be made and consumed. Just like trades are made in Heaven on the fiery stones, Noah made a trade from this altar and it became a trading floor. Noah, now as the steward of the earth, made a trade in the spirit realm on behalf of the earth. The aroma from this trading floor released the necessary influence that caused God to let the earth go from a curse and gave God the right He needed to set the earth free to produce. Noah took that which was precious—some of the remaining animals of the earth—and offered them as burnt sacrifices. When he offered the precious and traded with it, God traded back with Noah.Noah’s burnt offering we know is a prophetic type of Jesus and His sacrifice. When Jesus died on the cross, He was the whole burnt offering of God. He traded His life for the redemption of mankind and eventually the complete redemption of creation. This is why Second Corinthians 5:21 says He traded Himself for us.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Jesus traded the righteousness He had gained through sinless living for our sin. This trade allows us redemption. Just like Noah offered animals and their bodies in trades, Jesus offered Himself and His body in trade. Just like Noah offered animals in trade and God set the earth free, Jesus offered His own body in trade and redeemed all of creation.There is another aspect of Jesus’ trade on our behalf however. We can now step onto the trading floors of Heaven because of the trade Jesus made. We, as the righteousness of God, can stand in these heavenly places because of Jesus’ trade for us. Not only can we benefit from Jesus’ trade, we can now operate on this trading floor. This is why we have come to Mount Zion (see Heb. 12:22). Jesus’ trade has now positioned us in this place of governmental authority to make trades for the purposes of God and ourselves.Ezekiel 28:15-16 speaks of the “trading” satan was doing before his fall. On the fiery stones of Heaven, from the mountain of God, he traded. If we do not read this carefully, we might think there is something wrong with trading. The problem, however, was not with trading but with the condition of the heart involved in trading! There was iniquity in him and impurity in his heart. His motive in trading was what was wrong. The heart connected to the trading is what is important as we will find that trading is a big part of transactions in the spirit realm.Jesus addressed how important it is to stand on trading floors with a right heart. In Matthew 5:23-26 we see Jesus cautioning about making trades or offerings with a wrong heart.
Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.
If we bring an offering and remember there is a problem with someone, we are to leave our gift and get it corrected. Jesus was saying we are not to bring an offering with a defiled heart of bitterness, anger, unforgiveness, or hatred. To do so is to risk being judged and thrown into prison in the spirit realm. The reason is our offerings/trades carry the condition, sound, and testimony of our hearts. If we bring an offering with these issues in our hearts, our adversary the devil will use this evidence before the Judge. The Judge will have no alternative than to allow us to be thrown into prison and suffer the consequences.To understand this we must know the word adversary is the Greek word antidikos. It means “one who brings a lawsuit” (Strong’s #G476). A lawsuit can only be brought with evidence to back it up. The sound/testimony attached to our offerings in the spirit realm can provide the evidence needed to bring the lawsuit. The devil presents this before the legal realm of the spirit or the Courts of Heaven. He makes his case against us. The Judge has no alternative than to sentence us to prison in the spirit. This is why Jesus warned against bringing an offering or making a trade with an impure heart. This is what satan did while he was still in Heaven. The result was he lost his place in the mountain of God and from the fiery stones, the trading floors of Heaven. He lost his right to trade in this dimension. We too must learn how to make trades in the spirit world. God has given us the right because of the offering of His Son Jesus to stand in this dimension. From this place in the spirit we can trade. The result can be breakthrough for our families and us. It can also result in even nations being freed into their destiny when we operate as the governmental people of God.
Robert Henderson, co-author of The Trading Floors of Heaven
