Hebrew Year 5787

The Year of Refinement, Crown & the Sword

By Pastor Eric Schroeder

There are seasons when God calls us to move forward, leaving behind everything that would hinder us from receiving the fullness of what He has prepared.

We cannot continually move forward while keeping something behind us as a backup plan. There comes a point when faith requires us to trust God completely—to believe that He will provide, protect, equip, and lead us into everything He has called us to become.

As we enter the Hebrew year 5787, I believe there is a powerful picture before us: refinement, covenant, our words, divine order, spiritual authority, and the sword of the Word of God.

This is a season to allow God to refine us, remember our Kingdom identity, guard what comes from our mouths, take up the sword of His Word, and walk obediently in the authority Christ has given us.

Watching God's Prophetic Clock

Throughout Scripture, Israel and Jerusalem continually appear within God's covenant and prophetic purposes. As believers, our ultimate focus remains Jesus Christ, but Scripture also calls us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and reminds us of God's covenant faithfulness.

Israel reminds us of something important:

God keeps covenant.God fulfills His Word.God completes what He begins.

As we consider the Hebrew year 5787, we can use its Hebrew letters and numbers as a framework for examining several biblical themes.

The Hebrew letters associated with 5787 are Tav–Shin–Peh–Zayin. The 5,000 is normally omitted when representing the year, leaving the visible numerical value of 787.

This gives us a framework:

700 — Refinement and Covenant80 — The Mouth and Decree7 — The Sword, Completion, and Victory

These themes point us toward an important question: What is God wanting to accomplish within His people?

THE FIRE — Refinement, Purification & Preparation

God is a refining fire.

Refinement is not always comfortable because refinement involves removing impurities.

Think about gold and silver. In their natural state, they contain impurities and other materials. To purify the precious metal, intense heat is applied. As the metal is heated, impurities separate and rise to the surface so they can be removed.

Spiritually, God sometimes allows us to experience a similar process.

There are things that cannot accompany us into where He is taking us.

Wrong attitudes must come out.

Old habits must come out.

Compromise must come out.

Fear must come out.

Anything that prevents us from reflecting Christ must be surrendered to the refining work of God.

Malachi describes the Lord as a refiner and purifier. Zechariah speaks about God's people being refined as silver and tested as gold. Peter likewise describes tested faith as more precious than gold.

The fire is therefore not necessarily evidence that God has abandoned you.

The fire may be evidence that God is preparing you.

What feels like pressure may actually be exposing something that God wants to remove so that what He placed inside you can shine more clearly.

A Declaration for This Season

The fire is not meant to destroy what God has placed within us. The fire reveals it, purifies it, and prepares it. God is refining a covenant people who can carry what He is about to release.

Don't run from God's refining process.

Let Him purify you.

Let Him remove what doesn't belong.

Let Him prepare you for what comes next.

THE MOUTH — Words, Decrees & Spiritual Authority

Proverbs 18:21 teaches us about the power contained in the tongue.

Our words matter.

We must become intentional about what we speak over ourselves, our families, our churches, our communities, and the situations surrounding us.

We cannot continually speak fear, defeat, hopelessness, and destruction and then wonder why our thinking remains imprisoned by those same things.

We need to bring our mouths into agreement with the Word of God.

Isaiah 55 teaches us that God's Word accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it.

So when circumstances appear impossible, speak the Word.

When fear comes, speak the Word.

When discouragement comes, speak the Word.

When the mountain stands in front of you, speak the Word and stand in faith.

Jesus taught His disciples about speaking to the mountain in Mark 11. Our responsibility is not to accomplish what only God can accomplish. Our responsibility is to believe, obey, speak according to His Word, and trust Him with the results.

Guard Your Mouth

This also means allowing God to purify what comes from our mouths.

Isaiah experienced this when the coal from the altar touched his lips. There was purification before proclamation.

Perhaps our prayer needs to become:

"Lord, purify my lips. Don't allow my mouth to continually come into agreement with things that contradict Your Word. Teach me to speak what is pure, holy, righteous, and consistent with Your Kingdom."

A Declaration for This Season

In this season, we cannot allow our mouths to come into agreement with fear, defeat, or merely what we see in the natural. Our mouths must come into agreement with what God has spoken.

THE SWORD — The Word Is Our Weapon

We must understand that the Word of God is not merely something we read.

The Word is a sword.

Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 10 that the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power for destroying strongholds.

When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He demonstrated something powerful.

He repeatedly answered the enemy:

"It is written."

Jesus didn't need to enter into an endless argument with the devil. He answered temptation with the truth of God's Word.

That is why knowing Scripture matters.

You cannot effectively use a sword you never pick up.

We need the Word in our hearts, in our minds, and coming from our mouths.

When the enemy whispers lies about your identity—It is written.

When fear attempts to control your future—It is written.

When circumstances contradict God's promises—It is written.

When the enemy attempts to rebuild a stronghold God has already torn down—It is written.

It is time for the Church to know the Word and learn to stand upon it.

THE SEVEN — Completion, Divine Order & Obedience

Throughout Scripture, the number seven repeatedly appears alongside themes of completion.

Genesis tells us that God completed His work and rested on the seventh day.

We also see a powerful picture in Joshua 6.

Israel marched around Jericho according to God's instructions. On the seventh day, after completing what God commanded, they shouted—and the walls fell.

But notice something important:

Their victory required obedience.

They couldn't rewrite God's instructions.

They couldn't decide His process was taking too long.

They couldn't substitute their own plan for His.

They had to remain obedient until the instruction was completed.

There are times when we want God's promised outcome without walking through God's prescribed process.

But obedience positions us to see the fulfillment of what God has spoken.

Don't stop on lap six when God told you there would be seven.

Keep walking.

Keep believing.

Keep obeying.

Keep declaring His Word.

God finishes what He begins.

THE CROWN — Remember Your Kingdom Identity

In the middle of refinement and warfare, we cannot forget who we are or whose we are.

Our identity is found in Jesus Christ.

The crown reminds us that we belong to a Kingdom greater than anything this world can offer. We are not called to live defeated, powerless lives controlled by fear.

We belong to the King.

That means our identity, authority, purpose, and direction must come from Him.

Before we attempt to exercise spiritual authority, we must understand the authority under which we live.

We belong to Jesus.

A PEOPLE PREPARED TO ADVANCE

When we bring these themes together, a powerful picture emerges:

THE FIRE — God refines His people.

THE COVENANT — God establishes their identity.

THE MOUTH — God puts His Word within them.

THE CROWN — God reminds them who they belong to and their Kingdom identity.

THE SWORD — God equips them with His Word.

THE SEVEN — God brings His purposes into completion and divine order.

THE VICTORY — His people advance through obedience and spiritual authority.

I believe this captures an important call for the season ahead:

God is refining a people who know their covenant identity, guard what comes from their mouths, carry the sword of His Word, walk in His divine order, and exercise the authority Christ has given them.

Let God Complete the Work

Maybe you are experiencing the fire right now.

Don't automatically assume something has gone wrong.

Ask God:

"What are You refining in me?"

Maybe God is dealing with your words.

Ask Him:

"What have I been speaking that needs to come into agreement with Your Word?"

Maybe you're facing a mountain.

Pick up the sword.

Find what Scripture says about your situation and begin standing upon the truth of God's Word.

Maybe you're waiting for the walls to fall.

Keep walking.

Don't abandon obedience because you haven't seen the outcome yet.

God may be doing something deeper than simply changing your circumstances.

He may be changing you.

Let Him complete His work of refinement in us. Let our mouths speak what the Kingdom is saying. Let us carry the sword of His Word. Let us remember our Kingdom identity.

And let us walk forward in the victory God has prepared for His people.

Refined by the fire.Established in covenant.Crowned with Kingdom identity.Speaking the Word.Carrying the sword.Walking in divine order.Advancing in victory.

The time has come to move forward.