There is a cleansing happening in the Body of Christ, a sifting that is preparing the way for the King of Glory to make his entrance. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and He wants to inhabit us in His glory.
The Lord is a jealous God and will not share His glory with another so when His glory comes into the temple the temple must first be made ready and cleansed of anything that is not God.
First comes the wind
The wind can be likened to when Jesus chased the thieves from the temple. His zeal for His father’s house consumed him, he made a whip from chord and chased out the merchants saying “you have made My father’s house a den of robbers”.
God is sending the fierce His wind of His love to chase the things that are stealing space in His temple and establishing false alters; death, fear, anxiety ,sorrow, grief, sickness, infirmity, lust and the cares of this world are all false alters that occupy His temple and He will not put up with His temples being invaded and abused any longer. He will chase out all that has been oppressing us and re-establish His altar.
Then comes the water
Next comes the water, the deep cleansing. When false alters are established in us, we often make sacrifices upon them by giving our attention to these things and letting them occupy our thoughts, resources and lives, even affecting our emotions and bodies.
We are giving them pre-eminence in our lives over God, so essentially worshipping them. If we think about a normal altar where sacrifices would be made, it leaves a mess of ashes, dead bones, liquids, oil and grains etc. The water comes to cleanse all the leftovers from the sacrifices made to false gods, it cleans the slate so to speak (Malachi 3:2 Jesus is likened to the fuller’s soap and a refining fire).
Then comes the fire
Once the altar of the Lord is re-established, we make sacrifice upon it through praise, prayer, lifestyle choices, generosity and worship to God the way we should: holy, pure and uncompromised. This is acceptable to God and fire then falls on an acceptable sacrifice, essentially sanctifying the temple (setting it apart) and approving the offering.
Last comes the glory
The sanctified temple is now ready to receive the King of Glory in His glory. Once the glory comes, everything changes, God is on the thrown and dominion is established. The temple starts to influence and change the culture and atmosphere around it as the authority and power of God rests in it and up it and godly governance is established.