GOD'S PATTERN AND NUMEROLOGY
5. The number 10
What springs to mind? The ten commandments surely. The ten commandments were to test the hearts of the people. God foreknew that nobody had the capacity to obey all ten commandments every single moment of their lives. The ten commandments were given to man to convict of sin, and for people to humble themselves before the Lord. God seeks repentant men and women, who acknowledge their sinful ways. There was only one man who never broke the law, and that was Jesus, God in the flesh.
If we think the ten commandments were tough, then the New Testament laws of Jesus were tougher. Anyone who even looked at a woman with lust, had already committed adultery with her! According to Jesus, just thinking about it is sin. There are very few men who haven’t heard what Hugh Hefner brought to the world in 1953. He was a prime force to multiply sin in the western world.
In Scripture, the number 10 is associated with a test or trial of some sort even in the New Testament. For example, when Jesus healed ten lepers how many came back to thank Him? Only one. Nine failed to worship Him (Luke 17:17).
The tithe; It literally means one 10th. Is God short of money? Never! It is God’s test whether we put Him first in our lives. It tests our financial attitude, not only towards God but also towards others. God loves the cheerful giver (2Corinthians 9:7). Many outsiders think that money given to church just goes up like smoke, meaning it doesn’t achieve anything, just makes the church wealthier. It is like any other burnt sacrifice. It does go up in smoke to God. What was the point of giving the best lamb in your flock to sacrifice in the temple, we could ask? Wouldn’t it have been economically better to give the weakest and the worst, especially if nobody was watching? God is always testing hearts.
Then there is the parable of the 10 virgins. Five of them found grace, five didn’t. Five failed the test of waiting and storing oil for their lamps (the anointed Word of God), and were idle (Matthew 25:1). That is why Timothy urges us to study the word of God. Another beautiful example of a test, involving the number 10, is when Abraham sent out his servant to find a wife for Isaac,
‘And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed. For all the goods of his master were in his hand. And he arose, and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor. And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, the time that women go out to draw. And he said, O Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, I pray You, send me good speed this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I stand by the well of water. And the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. And let it be that the young woman to whom I shall say, Let down your pitcher, please, so that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give your camels drink also. Let her be the one that You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by it I shall know that You have shown kindness to my master. And before he had finished speaking, it happened, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the young woman was very beautiful to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her. And she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Please let me drink a little water of your pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord. And she hurried and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave a drink to him. And when she had finished giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking’ (Genesis 24:10-19).
In Genesis 18:32, when Abraham pleaded with the Lord not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Some of Abraham's relatives lived there. The Lord’s final answer to Abraham was that if He found 10 righteous men in Sodom then the city would not be destroyed. Needless to say, the Lord did not find 10 righteous men. 10 is a test for righteousness or sin. As we will indicate and implicate, Adam and Eve failed their test not to eat of the tree on the 10th day of world history. The number 10 will become very important for deducing the age of the Earth.
2. Time Charts. Number 14 – combined with 2 and 10
‘The number 14 represents deliverance or salvation and is used twenty-two times in the Bible. The term "14th" is found 24 times in scriptures. Seven represents completion - thus 7 + 7 = 14, indicating a double completion:
Jesus’ ministry in the flesh was completed on the 14th at Passover.
Jesus’ sacrifice ended or fulfilled the need for animal sacrifices. Everyone covered by animal blood in the past were now covered by the blood of Jesus, retrospectively.
Another double completion of 7’s is the Creative Week and the Redemptive Week.
The two dreams of Joseph in Egypt of prosperity and famine, each of 7 years, completing the picture and verifying that Joseph was not a vain dreamer as his brothers claimed, but a prophet. https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/14.html
The numbers 2, 10, 4 and 14 are linked as we shall see in the famous Passover Scripture when every family had to slay a lamb in Egypt on the night of the first Passover. The 1st of the month marked the beginning of the month of God’s newly established calendar year.
The term Passover comes from the fact that the angel of death would pass over every home in Egypt on the night of the 14th that had blood smeared on the lintels and doorposts. (By this time we should know that a door is symbolic of Jesus, 'I am the door'). Wherever the blood was missing, the first-born of man and beast in that household would die. This was the 10th plague to hit Egypt because Pharaoh would not let Israel go to worship the Lord. It was the last and most crucial of the tests, emphasized by the number 10.
The 10 plagues were God’s judgement against the gods of Egypt. The three days of dense darkness when the Egyptians couldn’t get out of bed, was the judgement of the Trinity against Ra, the Sun-god of Pharaoh. Thereby, Pharaoh lost his first-born son and heir to the throne. It was God’s judgement against the Pharaohs. The Egyptians thought Pharaoh divine, god in the flesh. They thought that it was Pharaoh's power that caused the Nile to flood annually providing nutrients to the fields.
God’s instructions to Moses were very specific, for a very good reason as we shall see.
God is still guarding His 7-day week. It has a message for us who live in end-times, that not only upholds the Creative and Redemptive Weeks (7 plus 7 days), but also shows how they are joined to each other on the time-chart of world history.
‘And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth of this month they shall take to them each man a lamb for a father's house, a lamb for a house. And if the household is too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take according to the number of the souls, each one, according to the eating of his mouth, you shall count concerning the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take from the sheep or from the goats. And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take some of the blood and strike on the two side posts and upon the upper door post of the houses in which they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. Do not eat of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire, its head with its legs, and with its inward parts. And you shall not let any of it remain until the morning. And that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. And you shall eat of it this way, with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in a hurry. It is Jehovah's passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am Jehovah. And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you for a destruction when I smite in the land of Egypt. And this day shall be a memorial to you. And you shall keep it as a feast to Jehovah throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by a law forever’ (Exodus 12:1-14). The bold text will form the basis of our key and foundational time-chart in the next article.
Passover was first acted out symbolically by the Hebrew slaves in Egypt at the time of the Exodus. They would not have known why they had to kill a lamb and put its blood on the door posts. [They would have had some knowledge of Abel's and Abraham's blood sacrifices].
The first Passover was more than a symbol, of course, because it brought death to some and life to others. The communion, taking bread and wine, is also more than just a symbol or remembrance of Jesus. Jesus said, unless we eat of His flesh and drink of HIs blood, there is no life in us (John 6:53). Have you ever taken that literally in church? If not, we should, because He transfers a measure of His life force as we take communion by faith.
Concerning the blood on the door frame in Egypt at the time of the Exodus, Jesus explained 1500 years later that He was the door of salvation. Their obedience to Moses was a foreshadow of the attitude of Christ during His crucifixion, Not My will, but Yours be done'. The Hebrew slaves obeyed Moses. Through obedience, they were delivered from slavery to follow the cloud that led them towards the Promised Land. The cloud pictured the presence of the Holy Spirit, who no doubt, gave them enough faith to obey Moses.
The entire picture of the Exodus is a parallel of the Christian gospel and our daily walk. We, who believe, are being delivered from our slavery to sin. Governments have expectations for us to emulate extreme forms of materialism, gambling, growing sexual immorality, and family dysfunction. Gambling, you may ask? Haven't you received lottery tickets to support charities, enticing you to spend more? It is enticing. Who wouldn't want a new luxury house or car or holiday? And now the government has legislated adversely on gender issues!
The true substance of Passover was realized in Jerusalem the day our Lord was crucified. To any who believe and follow Christ, the death angel will pass over them even now and not affect them on the day of judgement. Death will pass them by - not so for ones not covered by the blood of Christ.
Today, the Jews celebrate Passover with a typical Seder meal, as shown above, to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt. However, the symbolism of the Jewish ceremonial Passover meal cannot escape the notice of Christians; Matzah, the scored unleavened bread representing the sinless flesh of Christ shredded by Roman whips, the wine for His spilled blood, the eggs representing new life and deliverance, and the bitter herbs representing Christ's bitter experience and the bitter herbs/vinegar mix that which was offered to Him on the cross. Before Matzah is baked, the dough is marred with a serrated roller or pricked with a fork. The fork is used to run grooves into it. These represent His stripes, the multiple pricks from the crown of thorns and His pierced side. In effect, the Jews are really having a form of communion.
Of course, the Jews believe that they are only emulating the first Passover of the Exodus. They use no leaven to bake the matzah because they left Egypt in haste, the bitter herbs for their years of bitter slavery in Egypt, and so on. In reality however, there are three layers of symbols that align: Passover in Egypt, The Passover meal of the Jews, and the crucifixion of Christ. God will never allow any to forget. In fact, all of the three major Feasts of Israel, Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, parallel not only the journey of the Israelis, but also the journey of the Christian, with Christ. At no stage in the Scriptures is Christ irrelevant. Its all about Him!
'And I will pour on the house of David, and on the people of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of prayers. And they shall look on Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be bitter over Him, as the bitterness over the first-born' (Zechariah 12:10). I doubt whether the prophet Zechariah knew what he was talking about 540 years before Christ. Mourning will become the response of modern Jews when the truth finally dawns on them.
At Passover, the Matzah is first broken into three (representing the work of the Trinity), the middle one is then broken and the larger of the two pieces is hidden away in a napkin for children to find later. It can also be redeemed with money. The amount of Christian symbolism that Jews annually carry out is stunning! The middle piece represents the Son who was broken.
The 4 pieces represent the four days that the lamb had to be hidden, and the hidden piece that had to be eaten last (the afikomen) represents the ongoing communion of unleavened bread and wine that Christians carry out.
Thus, not only do the Jews unknowingly commemorate the sacrifice of Christ, but they are also having communion without realizing it. Abraham had communion too, when Melchizedek brought him bread and wine in Genesis 14. Read the context of Genesis 14 and you will discover that Melchizedek was none other than the pre-incarnate Yahweh (Jehova) Son appearing to Abraham the father of our faith. Melchizedek was priest to God the Father and had no father or mother, no genealogy, because He was the middle member of the eternal God with no beginning and no end.
Remember how Jesus told the Jews,
'Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and He saw and was glad. Then the Jews said to Him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham came into being, I AM!' (John 8:56-58).
So do not be surprised or offended when I shall be shortly telling you that the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon, and all its articles and rituals, and even Ezekiel's temple, are symbolic of Christ and the modern church. All these contain a hidden portion of the time-chart of God's plan for mankind. That is why God was so particular that everything be built precisely according to the pattern that He had shown Moses and King David. It was all for our benefit who live at the end of time. God is alerting us that its time to become serious about things, because the Second Coming is not all that far away. But much still has to happen first. God works according to patterns and He will not deviate from them.
The next article will demonstrate how the significance of what happened in Egypt plays a key role in determining our time-chart.
HOME OR READ ARTICLE 6 NEXT OR PREVIOUS
コメント