Purpose in our Lives:
Now all of this is interesting, but how is it useful? More importantly is all of this just academic detail that God tells warns us about in Titus 3:9, “But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.”?
It could be if you let it, but it is much more valuable than that. If you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you, you will see the Bible in a deeper and more complete way and find that as you learn more about God, you will see that you are only tipping the iceberg of what God desires for you to understand.
Here are a few examples of how understanding the meaning of the numbers deepens our understanding of God’s purpose.
Jesus with his disciples:
Acts 1:3 says that Jesus was with the disciples for 40 days after his resurrection. We have learned from this study that 40 is associated with struggle and difficulty. Why would Jesus be identified as 40 with his disciples? It is because Jesus told them that He needed to leave the disciples so the Helper could come in John 16:7. Similarly, during the 40 years in the wilderness, God was *with* the Israelites every day in a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night-Exodus 13:21. But the Israelites still rebelled. During the 3 years that Jesus was with the disciples they were still lost. It was not until God was *in* the disciples via the Holy Spirit that their eyes were opened. This 40 day period is a reminder that despite our natural feelings, we are better with the Holy Spirit in us than with Jesus next to us.
Schadrach Meshach and Abendego:
Daniel 3 describes the exciting and popular Bible story of the 3 Jews thrown into the fire for not bowing down to an idol. I always thought it was harsh thing to take a stand on. Paul says that food offered to idols is no different than anything else since idols are nothing. Could they not have just bowed down to nothing to live and fight another day? If they were bowing down to nothing, that would have been a reasonable option, but they were not. The idol was 60 cubits tall and 6 cubits broad per Daniel 3:1. They were not looking at nothing, they were looking at pure evil, and they would not bow down to evil. Jesus was given the same offer by the devil during His temptation, and He also refused it. As you can imagine, the king was not thrilled and cranked the fire up, but it was God who made sure that the fire was raised to 7 times its normal level to ensure that He would be the only explanation for the miracle that happened when they walked out.
The Israelites mirroring the Christian’s life
The Israelites spent 400 years in bondage to the Egyptians. God freed them from that bondage, but they were not yet fully reliant on God. Instead they got afraid and spent 40 years wondering in the wilderness, until all of the adults died and the fear was gone. Then they went into the promised land, but they were still not living at the full promise of God. They had to clear out the existing inhabitants. They destroyed 7 nations in Canaan in 10 years and rested in God’s promise 50 years after God freed them from the Egyptians (Acts 13:19.20).
This story is familiar. As Christians, we are born into a life of bondage to sin. It is a known though uncomfortable life of slavery. Then God rescued us and “paid it all” with Jesus blood just as the passover lamb’s blood rubbed on the doorposts foreshadowed. ‘Wiping our slate clean’ is a popular phrase, but the truth is that we don’t like a clean slate, and God never intended us to live with an empty slate. After we become Christians, we spend some amount of time in our own wilderness. We are thankful that Jesus removed our sins, but we do not yet have the faith to fully trust God with our life. We need to become fully convinced that our old life is gone and was bad. Just like Paul said, we need to “die to ourselves.” Once we are ready to cross that “Jordan” into that promised land life of faith we discover something else. There is a lot of baggage that we need to get rid of from our old life. We ask ourselves what were the good parts of our life before Christ. Paul said that his life’s accomplishments before Christ were like dung. Ours are worse than his. So we must spiritually ruthlessly kill our old life. That is why God was so harsh with the people of Jericho and the other nations. He was telling you and me that we need to show no mercy to our old sinful life. When we have fully cut out the sinful life, we can live a life full of reliance on God and we will live the full and abundant spiritual life God speaks to in John 10:10.
Joseph in Genesis
Joseph was 17(1+7=8) years old when he was sold. He was in enslaved or in prison until he was 30 years old. This is 13 years(1+3=4). The 4 makes sense given that Joseph was in a difficult trial. How do we know though that 13 means 4 and that is a trial. Joseph’s father Jacob tells us in Gen 47:9 “the days of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life…” But we see here that 4 is not just a trial, but rather God with you in the trial. Gen 39:2 and vs 21 say, “The Lord was with Joseph” in Potiphar’s house and in the prison. Then God was accomplishing his big task when Joseph was 30 years old revealing God’s power to Pharaoh and bringing the Israelites to Egypt. But something else happens too. God is not only with you in your trials, but He brings trials too. Genesis 41:32 shows us that the number 2 in the Bible means that the thing is fixed by God and He will shortly bring it about. Going back into Joseph’s life we see the number 2 twice. First, he was sold by his brothers for 20 shekels of silver(Gen 37:28). This reminds us that this is not just some mean activity by angry brothers, but an intentional plan by God to bring about His plan. We see this specifically in Gen 45:5 and vs 7 where Joseph says to his brothers “…do not be distressed or angry with your selves because you sold me here, for God sent me…” They had willing hearts to sell or destroy Joseph, but God used it for his greater purpose. Secondly, the cupbearer forgot about Joseph for 2 years(Gen 41:1). This one just seems cruel to say that God caused him to forget. But what would have happened if the cupbearer would have remembered to tell Pharaoh immediately? Pharaoh would have put Joseph in with the other magicians and wise men. Then when his dreams came, Joseph as one of Pharaoh’s men would have just done their job(Gen 41:8). Instead, Pharaoh’s power failed. Only then was he open to listen to Joseph reveal God’s power. When Pharaoh heard the wisdom from Joseph, he did not just make him one of the smart guys, but rather set him above all of Egypt. This is the hard truth of the phrase “God’s ways are greater than our ways.” God put Joseph in slavery in Potiphar’s house so he could be next to Pharaoh. Then he put him in the jail to get him even closer. Then He left him in jail to make sure that God was going to be the only answer to the King of Egypt. God will sacrifice our comfort to serve His greater purposes, but He has much greater purposes beyond what we can imagine. God cares for us individually too. Gen 47:28 “And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life were 147 years.” Jacob lived 17 years with Joseph at the beginning of Joseph’s life and 17 years with him at the end of Jacob’s life. 17 is renewal and newness (1+7=8). And in those 17 years God turned Jacob’s life from a life of 130(1+3=4) sojourning years to a fulfilled 147 years(1+4+7=12). In this way God began to fulfill the promises God gave him in Gen 46:2-4 where He said that Jacob would see Joseph again and that God would bring the Israelites into Egypt to make them a great nation(Through their own trial of 400 years). ”
Jesus walking on water Matthew 14:22-33
After the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus sent the disciples away on a boat so He could pray alone. Then He walked to them in the 4th watch of the night. This was a night that the wind and waves were beating on the boat with the disciples. As we read and listen to what God is telling us we learn more about what He wishes to reveal. Jesus sent the disciples into the wind and waves. He puts us into struggle just like he put Joseph into slavery before He used him to save the people from the famine(Gen 45) and God sent the people into slavery for 400 years(Gen 46). Then Peter asked to go out on the water too. When He stepped out, he kept his eyes on Jesus and walked through the storm. But, when he took his eyes away from Jesus, he sank. All of this led the disciples to learn deeper who Jesus was, vs 33 “Truly you are the son of God.”
Jesus healing the woman and the girl.
In Mark 5 and Luke 11, the same account is shared along with the same numbers. Jesus was called by a man to heal his 12 year old girl who was sick. On the way, “and there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years,” Mark 5:25. This woman touched Jesus and her issue with blood went away immediately, and Jesus said that her faith had made her well. After this, the 12 year old girl died while he was heading over. Jesus then got to the house “and immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.” Mark 5:42
It is easy to see these as just examples of two more miracles that Jesus did during his three year ministry. However, knowing the numbers are significant, ties these two together. Both women were identified as 12. 12 years sick, and 12 years old. For the girl, He healed the body, and for the woman he healed her blood. Body and Blood, just like Jesus said during the last supper. Here we have examples of women(like we are the Bride of Christ) having their body(physical) and blood(spirit) healed by the one who sacrificed his body and blood. This instance on the walk was a picture of Jesus fulfilling(12) his purpose of restoration with the church.
