Remembering the Crown of Thorns and the One who Wore It

It's Easter morning and I wanted to post a blessing. As we were on an excursion this week,  we first went to check out an area a friend told us about, to see it the first warblers had made it to the high places yet. It had lots of forrest service roads and no foliage on the trees, so we got to see some amazing looks into distant mountains that we don't normally get to see. Pine warblers were everywhere, and putting on their Sunday best.  Bright shiney yellow fluff balls hanging in lots of trees along the hillside parking lots and overlooks.  We had one worm eating warbler, a chippy or two, but everything else was a local regular...sparrows, and robins, woodpeckers, and jays, chickadees and titmouse. There was one odd call, similar to a peacock that we couldn't figure out. Grouse maybe? But what captured our attention was the bright white mountain top, we could barely see behind the distant mountains. It barely peeked over the tops of the others, until we got to the highest spot.  It was just a sliver of sparkling jewel, which without binoculars and scope, seemed more like clouds than snow.  Where, we wondered, was so much  snow?

As we drove to lower altitudes, the day was early yet, and I caught on right away that my husband was not finished prowling yet. We took a road toward the Hiwassee River, and came across the most amazing old country church.

 

It had a historical marker, that shared some of it's history, and it was obviously in need of stablizing, for many of the rocks that were it's support had fallen from the foundation. But you could still climb the steps and look inside the window. The glass had been removed, and I could stick my camera through the window frames, and take picts of the bare bones interior. Only a few pews suggested it was a small congregation, a few families at most who attended, but I could almost hear the love and imagine the hours spent fellowshipping there. The walls had been yellow, but most of the paint and stain had weathered away from the pews and pulpit. But the windows, 3 on either side, opened the whole area to views of the river outside. I could see myself day-dreaming while the pastor tried to keep my attention away from that view, if I had been a child on one of those pews. What must it have been like in the fall!

There was a platform for the choir, backed by a door that went upstairs. the pulpit was far left and was small. The setting sun cast a shadow across the front of it, and made it the center of attention in the now sadly unattended room.

I took a number of pictures of the architectural elements inside and out. I noticed that outside there appeared to be old blue buttermilk paint under the paint that was wearing away from the porch ceiling, and the double doors were large enough to bring a piano through.

 

 

 My husband called me to come see the gardens, which had white crocus just finishing their bloom.  It was easy to see there had been love in this place. The banks of a spring had been lined with old bridge iron. Along the bank of the river, under a tree, the flower garden showed signs of daffodils ready to bloom, and many more flowers to come with the spring. There were large flat rocks placed here and there on each level as you walked down. It was obvious that they had been sat upon often. I imagined Sunday School classes being held there in Summer under the shade of that tree, and in the cool breeze coming off of the flowing waters. 

Just above, near the spring, was a sprawling leafless bush. And I was hugged by God's spirit, when I came close and saw what it was. Taking sustenance from the waters was a Crown Of Thorns tree.  How appropriate for a church to have this as a centerpeice to its gardens. The thorns looked treacherous. I had to pause and just stare as I thought of the crown that was woven from thorns just like these. And they placed it on the head of the one I adore. Since this was Easter week, I knew this was my Easter present from God. To be blessed by this old church, to find this garden, and to feel one with saints of another time, who worshipped and loved the same Christ.  To know they loved my savoir, and planted this bush by the waters that flowed to the river.

 Their garden was like a journey, through the Easter Story. Beginning with the crown of thorns to the place where the river of life flowed.  I imagined that children were able to see with their own eyes what that crown might have looked like. That thorny old crown, meant to mock the KING of our hearts. Interestingly, I recalled that the real name of the bush, I beleive, is "Mock Orange," because of its blooms and its fragrance.

How many prayers may have been prayed there.  By the river, where it only seems right that the members of this church were baptised.  I wondered if it was shallow enough.  The old pictures out front, showed a store and a nice large home had been nearby. It had been a community built around their church, with wagon roads, and farms and barns.

Here on the river, I am sure they caught fish, and surely there had been at least one fish supper. And it was clear to me, the pastor and people who built this church were celebrating the life of Christ, and being true to his call to be fishers of men.

I was so blessed by this lovely gift from the Lord.  I hope you can sense the joy that was in this place they way I could. If I were to have a church that inspired me, I would choose it to be just like this one.

Happy Easter Morning!

 

The Feast of Atonement 7 days + 3

Revelation 1:8

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

In my last post, I discussed the number 8. How it means new beginning, and that the second Sabbath, came about because God ended his own work week with rest on the seventh day, but asked man to start his week there, resting in God's finished work and from that day forward man's new beginning would be on the 8th day, or the second Sabbath. We looked at scripture in Leviticus which gave feast days for celebrating these truths, and which celebrated grace, and blessing and how God was the beginning of their productivity and the end of it, and that the six days in between the two Sabbaths was the number of man, of his work.

In that post I tried to stay strictly on track with the subject of how that new beginning theme began, but I want to day to make an exclaimation mark upon the subject as further proof that I am not reading something into the numbers that isn't there.

God himself established this pattern. As a cycle of hope for a future. And the verse at the top of the page re-interates it. So much so that God repeated the verse and emphasized it through the writer of the book of Revelation.

May I note that we look closely at the chapter and verse for this statement.  I believe that it is no accident that even the registration of the verses, enforces the number system of God. Chapter 1, verse 8.

• The two days that represent the Sabbaths that sandwich mans week.
• The number one represents beginning, the number 8 - new beginning
• The math equation: 1 + 6 + 1 = 8  ~  God -man- God = new beginning
• And expanding it to the words in Revelation,  God is the beggining and the end, and it"s our lives he has sandwiched in between.

And he is present on all the days in between.

Once again, God sets down his Holy sequence. Begin with him and end with him, and count on him on all the days in between. Start in his rest, end in his rest, and labor completely bracketed by his finished work. Every time we reach a seven, a day when something is complete, we always have a new beginning..
and it is a cycle of rest in him, and in his finished work. His day of rest is our day of new beginnings.

I am so blessed by this message.  God built this message into the very creation. 
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But I want this post to recognize a second set of numbers as well.

TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST

In the feasts of the atonement there are two separate days celebrated.
On the surface they seem redundant. God gave one feast that was represented by the 7th month and 10th day and one was the 7th month and 15th day,(which I discussed last post).  Both are called the feasts of redemption. Also they are described in conjuction with atonement.

In the first one, the Israelites were to have a solemn feast, not a celebrating feast. It was a time for seeking God for the forgiveness of sins or consideration of God's work in their lives. This feast was 7 days plus 3 days. Seven represented taking a complete or whole week to take part in the feast, but the extra 3 days were to represent God. The triune God. 

The Day of Atonement

²⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁷ “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹ For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰ And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. ³¹ You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³² It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.” Bible Gateway.

(Notice the Sabbath again begins in the evening, even as Jesus died before the soldiers came to break their legs because it was about to be the Sabbath. Just as in our last post, we saw the foreshadowing.)

In this feast, we find the foreshadowing of the Crucifixion. But because of the 3 days following the week of affliction, there is given an expected time to follow this Sabbath even,t before the end of the affliction of their souls would be complete.It is clear that we are being told it would be a very sad time.
 Christ rebuked the Scribes and Pharasees because they didn't see him when they read the verses. He was saying, if we search the scriputures we will find him there. >

John 5:39

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

 

Some saints were said to be more willing to test the things they were being taught by searching the scriptures. Something the Thessalonicans failed to do. The disciples taught that Jesus fulfilled the scriptures and was the final sacrifice, the completion of the years of foreshadowing.

 

 Acts 17:11

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

 

One of the places they were looking was at the numbers and what they had been taught their whole lives those numbers stood for. Why keeping the feasts was on certain dates, and were observed for a certain number of days or weeks. They knew there was a significance.

Why the 10th day of the seventh month? The 10th day was 7 days (God's completed work) plus 3 days, which may be obvious that they indicate 3 unusual days.  The number of 3 is significant for a couple of reasons. 3 represents the trinity of God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Even the Israelites understood that God had 3 forms of revealing himself to them. When the old scriputures say: the angel of the Lord, they knew this being was from God, but they couldn't understand who he was. Even in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve knew him. This was Jesus.  Many knew the interaction with the Spirit of God, and he was present often with representations of being in the fire, wind or water.  Not the figure or image of a man, but totally unseen except for the element that showed his power and presence. But they also knew God as a disciplinarian and guide, a loving attribute who provided. Jesus called Him specifically, the Heavenly Father.  One God, but a triune being.

 

The 3 days represent the trinity. But they also forshadow that upon completion of his work, and beginning with the day of rest, God the Son would be resurrected on the 3rd day. 

 

I am blessed to be able to observe the first day of that 3 days today. And on Easter Morning I Will rejoice in the 3rd day.

 

Thank you Dear Jesus for Dying for me and for the promise of ages that you would bring new life to all mankind in only 3 days! AMEN

The Number 8 is for New Beginning

From only 1 bloom last year to dozens this year!

 

God called the light Day,

 and the darkness He called Night.

 So the evening and the morning

 were the first day.

Genesis 1:5 

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It is not a fluke that this scripture says the evening and the morning were the first day.  God intended that we look at our life in the opposite way most of us see it. We wake, work hard, and end our "day" exhausted and so ready for bed that we can't sleep sometimes.  But God would like for us to think of our day in this way:

Prepare for your day with rest, awake ready to tackle the day, and use the hours until evening when rest once again will begin your new day.  If you let that sink in, it will give you a glimmer of God's desire for a more positive look at how he is there to bless each day. By beginning our work rested.

In the story of the Crucifixion of Christ, we discussed that Christ had finished his work in man's body, as man would have done, and was totally exhausted, discouraged and quite ready to just die when it was over.  He had taken on all the elements of life in the most literal way, and literally was ready to lay down and die. 

I recently noted that among people I know there are at least 20 who have come to a point in life that they feel like it might be better to just lay down and die. Some have even done something about how they feel by acting upon that discouragement.  I do not condemn them, because I myself have been there! I know what it is to believe there is simply nothing you can do to turn your life around, though you have tried, in prayer, no less, to honor God to the best of your ablility.  I have felt driven to the last thread of hope, and have found myself lost and helpless. I begged God to help me out of the pit. Jesus allowed the prince of this world, "ole Satan," to influence the people around him in such a way that it carried him to a place that he would experience what we experience when we are there.  Allow me to quickly interject that Jesus could have with one word stopped it all, but he chose not to. Think about how many times during those last hours it is said of him that he spoke not a word.

What does that have to do with Bible number sequences?

Watch closely. "The evening and the morning were the first day."  In accordance with that peice of scripture, the Jews sought to have the legs broken of the men who remained alive on the crosses, because they realized that they were about to break their own law that they so fiercely enforced on their own people.  The bodies had to be attended to before the Sabbath, the 7th day, because you simply couldn't do such things on the Sabbath. It was considered unholy.  No work was to be done on the Sabbath. Now, we discussed that God himself established that law in the very first book of the Bible, so why shouldn't it still be viable.  It was, but the Pharisees and Saducees had take the laws and made slave masters of them. Even these poor men on the crosses had to fall under the "law" and were not allowed to die in their own time.  By breaking their legs, they would die quite quickly because they couldn't push themselves up any longer to fight for life. (John 19:31) They would literally be suffocated to death as much as if someone put a bag over their heads.

Do you see the irony of it.  Some, I am sure saw it as merciful, but the Synogogue leaders saw it as keeping the law. In other words: they now became murderers in order to keep a statute of not breaking the Sabbath. It was the upside downess of this kind of thinking which discusted Jesus, and probably others as well. When Jesus said they should not worry so much about the splinter in someone else's eye before they pulled the log from their own, in one of his parables, this is the kind of thing he was talking about.  Which was more wrong?  Making these men suffer and die for punishment until it suited the religious leaders to put an end to it, in order to make them look good, or kill the offenders quickly in the first place so they didn't have to suffer. 

The religious persons of Christ's day had taken God's mercy out of the equations in life and instilled laws that put them in control.  God's laws were not meant to put anyone in control but God. They were meant to protect, and shelter his people from harm and disease and so much more.  They were supposed to show his grace and mercy, help and protection. 

Now where does the first day come into play if it was God's seventh day they were suppposedly honoring? Now recall that they were keeping the letter of the law which started the new day in the evening. That's just it. It was God's seventh day, but in his own words, the evening and the morning were the first day. God wanted his rest day to be man's first day. This is confusing until you view the cycle. 

Before I get into the number 8, notice that the scripture says, to labor for 6 days and then rest again from labor a day. The number six is the number of man and his works. It is sandwiched between 2 of God's rest days. Man's first day of work is the day after God's 7th day. Man works on his days, rests on God's day, and begins again to work on the first of man's days. However, God asked man to take his rest day, and claim it as man's first day. The eighth day forever after the first week of God and man, is the beginning of man's week.

That sequence is recognized more clearly in this verse:
 

Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. Leviticus 23:39  ( Why we worship on the 8^th day)

 

In this Levitical law, which was intended to give a holiday, with

 feasting and celebrating the abundance of food that the people had worked so hard to raise in crops and then harvest. They were ready for a break, and what better way to rejoice than to eat the fruits of their labor.  The date given to celebrate was 15/7 - the 15th day of the 7th Jewish calendar month.

(We most often would say 7/15.) 

In the numbers for this date are 1 and 5. One is God, 5 is grace.  Symbolically this means 1 (God) plus 5 (Grace) equals 6 (the number of man.) Who does God grant grace through out the history of interactions with man. Man of course. (that one may have a bit of me interjecting something I see but the next one is strictly by God's design.

The number 1in the number 15 actually, of course, stands for 10, the number of atonement; and 5 the number of grace.  Grace follows atonement. Without atonement there can be no grace. Jesus died for our sins, paid the price, fulfilled the law, offered the sacrifice, even to the point of death for any sin that might require that for atonement, and it was done. Once it was finished, we are no longer under law, but free from the law, by virtue of the atonement.  We are under grace.  They are legal terms that derive from religious law. Even though the Israelites didn't understand Christ's death, they understood their own sacrifices for atonement. They understood that the dates were selected to have meaning.
 

Now on this day of grace, the people were told to rest and rejoice. Not in those words, but they were not unaware that the number seven, or the seventh day meant they were being given rest that was likened to God himself taking rest. By God's grace they could take these days of rest and find joy in their labors, by accepting the blessings from God, partaking of all that was good about the harvest. 
 

Now look closely at the feast days of Lev.23:39 -
7 days of rest plus one.  (7x7 plus 1 = 50 or 10 [atonement] x 5 [grace] = 50 [the day of atonement])
7 plus 1 = 8 The day of beginning again.
 

They were told to feast for seven days. But those 7 days were sandwiched between a Sabbath and the next Sabbath, or the 8th day. The verse specifically says, "on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest."
Is it a little more clear?

After the atonement, Grace. This verse forshadows the time when Christ would bring atonement and rest from his work, so that we might have grace. The fruit of his labor would bring forth a new beginning. The eighth day. Man would have a new start, complete with the finshed work of Christ, and beginning in the freedom of Grace. This feast mimics the second week of God when he established that man, whose number is 6, should begin his life of work symbolically on the 8th day from the very first of creation. For Christ is was the end of a segment of his work, for man the beginning of all things new, a new creation, a new means of joining God's family, etc.
 

If we dedicate our rest days to God, in memory of his creation works, consecrating the day to God, we gift the day to honor him on his day. The seventh. But he then began the cycle of atonement and new beginning, by allowing his last day to become our first day. Each type, or forshadowing must make a full picture. And this only is a true forshadowing when we understand the whole of how God set up the picture and also fulfilled it.  ~Reversing the week to begin with rest, just as he had the day.

The evening and the morning would begin our day with rest, so our bodies might be prepared, and now the Lord was asking us to begin our work week with rest, to prepare for the coming week. It was a gift from God, just as salvation is a gift, and life is a gift. He looked into our needs and provided for them. Because in the above feast, the eighth day is the last day of the feast, which was celebrated for 7 days, (the number of completion,) God was saying that from this point on, they were to recognize that God had given them rest to start a new week, a new segment in life, a new year of preparing, planting and reaping the harvest...all things new in life. (Note in my next segment, I will discuss this sandwich of days that begins with a Sabbath and ends with a Sabbath.)
 

There is so much more hidden in this verse, and it brings up more questions than I have answers for as well, that it gives me great pleasure to say I don't know it all now.  The Spirit of God hides away depths of jewels in every verse. All of scripture is a mine waiting to be dug, full of golden nuggets. And for me, the numbers and sequences with their meanings and symbolism, make it all the more pleasant for me to dig.  It also quiets my mind from wondering "why" sometimes.
If it seems like it is all twisted together, it is. The intircacies of the numbers and their meaning are so entwined that no human could invent it without it being flawed. It is like a Crochet pattern of one exqusite thread being woven through out centuries of text.

Consider for example that a day is 24 hours. 3 x 8.  Could mean God through out our day.
or 21 hours plus 3 or 3x7 plus 3, God completes our day, begins and ends our day.
 

Dr. Charles Stanley did a set of sermons once, which showed the levels of Spiritual growth based on these numbers. At the time, I was in the 6th level, the level of man, tired of trying under my own steam to be Christlike enough, discouraged that life had not gone a I planned, and feeling deserted by God. Over the months I begged God to bring it all to an end, so that my pain would go away. I was physically ill, and chronically mentally ill.  I see it now as Satan's design, and he wanted me to fail as a Christian, so that all I beleived would seem to be of no value to anyone else. He wanted me to die, so I could be of no help to anyone else to becoming a Christian or to help them through the hard times. But because of Dr. Stanley (and a number of other men and women of God who were honoring God in the words they spoke,) I realized I should have victory over Satan, and not let him defeat me. As I sought for truth on how I could overcome stage six in my life, it loomed very large at me that 6 being the number of man, must mean that I had been trying it man's way.  I was well aware that we had attended churches that taught things I didn't believe were in God's word. I had felt for a long time that a couple of people were like the religious men of Jesus time. Using God's word against their flocks instead of to benefit them. They were legalistic and domineering and lacking in fruits for their labor. I made a commitment to find my end to the misery and see where the 7th day led me.  The 7th day was the day of my healing, a day of restoration to faith and health in so many ways. It was my day of rest from the turmoil and sorrow. It was my gift of new life.
 Dr. Stanley didn't teach about the eigth day, but I knew when it began that it was my era of new beginning and by then I was well aware of the Bible numerics. I new that this was my symbolic new beginning. The place where I was able to stop trying to live by laws and adherence to someone's judgements of me. I was free, to live in Christ by Grace, the way I knew all along I should, but allowed people to take that away from me. 
Each time, life brings me to a stopping place, I remember that in God there will always be a day of rest, which will also be my new beginning. My eighth day. There would be no one Lording over me to suppress the fruits of my labors from being blessed by God.
 

This brings up my final thought for the Leviticus feast day on the 15th day of the 7th month. This Feast was all about being glad there had been a harvest. That the blessings on the people had been about fruits for their labors, and that 7 days of rest, was appropriate for working so hard. But they were spending that 7 days knowing who blessed the work they did. They were to honor God for bringing increase to their efforts. When there is no increase, God is not in it. Sometimes with churches, Satan makes a false copy of this truth by drawing people to a charasmatic individual, who promises wealth. It's a sly, upside down version of the truth. So people respond. But these pastors then can begin to control their people by using guilt trips, bringing up their sin, as if they still have something to do to have righteousness.  Christ took care of sin. In God's eyes, Christ's death brings complete and utter forgiveness, (atonement) and a new day full of grace. In Satan's upside down version, Christ died, because we were so full of sin, and therefore we must do something about our guiltiness.  This is one of the reasons I am glad there is a Leviticus Feast celebrating the increase. Because, what God wants our life to be about, is not worrying over sin, but working for the increase.  That alone is what God will bless.

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Thank you dear Jesus for a new beginning. That when Dr Stanley talked of the stages of life, he allowed that there would be a day that I could take a rest from trying to be a Christian. And on that day I could take up a new understanding of life, that God gave grace to begin again. Please nourish hurting hearts with the wonder of your Word, and how you used numbers to prove that you are working in lives. May the numbers give assurance that you do have a plan for our lives to bring good and to increase to our labor, and bless us.

(New number: 2 = blessing)

 

The 8th day- seeking the why

 

I have a lot of wonderful friends who are Seventh Day Adventists.  I love them dearly and fellowship with them often. I try to be respectful of their choices, because they are just as dedicated to worshipping Christ as I am.  There are some differences in HOW we choose to worship, but that's OK, because the thing God blesses is that we make choices to serve him. Christ allowed, as Paul often taught, that we be respectful of various customs among peoples of the world, even while we remain dedicated to our own choices. So as I consider the elements of God's view on rest, I wish to convey that I am merely putting to "print" the reason why I choose to worship, as many Christians do, on the 8th day. Not to rebuff anyone for choosing the 7th day. For God, it is about making the Choice to honor him, to find rest and fellowship, and to be consistant as much as possible.  We honor him by accepting his grace, that allows us to find his blessings in whatever way we are able. As I make a case for my choice to set aside the 8th day, (Sunday,) as my chosen "day of worship" I will initially seem to contradict myself.  Because for thousands of years, the people of God followed the direction of God, to rest on the 7th day.

The Old Testament is a storyline that covers hundreds of years of the history of God's people, the Israelites. But they were not even called that in the days of Abraham.  The style of their worship developed over those hundreds of years, just at the Christian mode of worship has changed in the hundreds of years since Christ died. The Ten Commandments were only given to God's people when, after coming out from the influence of the Egyptians, they seemed not to understand that God expected them to worship only him, and have a greater respect for one another.  They had picked up some really bad habits while on Egyptian soil. Again, not that Egyptians are "bad" people, but that in the 3 -400 years since Joseph was a prince in Egypt, a great conflict had developed as the children of Joseph's family became slaves to the world of the Egyptian Pharoahs.  The people of God were lost in more ways than being  physically away from their homeland. They were lost about how to worship God.

God's own people had lost a sense of his provision and blessing, and they were full of pent up frustrations, fear, and discoragement.  They lacked a sense of faith, and their situation had robbed them of making choices that honored God.  Escaping Egypt had taken a great deal of courage, but they had no idea that they would find themselves lacking in so many areas. Many which took the courage to make their own choices, on how to actually live with one another, without the hand of Pharoah guiding their every move.  Moses found himself needing to become an instructor of discipline, so he sought God for guidelines. And God obliged beginning with the 10 commandments. 

This need for self-discipline is recurrent through out history. The very word Disciple comes from the root word of Discipline. Or is it the other way around?  To be a disciple of Christ we must make choices of self-discipline. One of the first elements of self-discipline established in Scriptures came long before the 10 commandments era.  It began with God himself. It is making a choice to rest. When God had spent 7 days of making our world he chose to rest. He took a break to reflect and also to look forward to the plan he had that would give us an opportunity to know his full love for us, and become one with him. Because he had given us the gift of choice.  Something that exudes freedom, and is a major element in his own character.

As with many discussions, there are differences in the beliefs of how long those "seven days" took to occur.  Scripture tells us that a Day in the Lord is as a thousand years.  Within the description of *1000 years is a symbolism that it was in God's time frame, not ours. And man's understanding, early in the story of historical mankind, had little concept of a thousand years, much less the emmenseness of God's time frame. So I really don't care if God actually made the world in the seven day time frame as we know it. (Although I believe he could have.)  I even doubt that God intended us to see it as a literal 7 human days, because at one time early in creation, day and night as we know it, were not even created yet. So, if it was in God's framework of thousands of years, I am satisfied that God is less concerned that we know how long it took, as that, even in his timeframe, (not even a literal 7000 years,) there were set aside times to start and stop. Time itself began with God, and an operating funtional framework of time allowed God to begin to teach us a lot about himself.  As he named the time he created for us - evening and morning were invisible markers for beginning a clockwork for setting boundaries. Within it, God knew we could function and find the rest our bodies would need. So the earliest "law" that he demonstrated to us was taking an extra break, beyond our daily sleep, to rest from our labors, and the number 7 was his number of completion for that "week." Thus establishing a definite period of time, but also a number upon which to formulate many more cycles of life.  Numbers became one of the earliest formats upon which God began to help us understand his designs,and the structure upon which all the universe functions. 


I was recently rebuffed by an non-beleiver concering the timeframe in which God was said to have created our earth.  He was mocking the ridiculousness of all of earth's history being under a human 6 day creation time. This person never considered that he actually didn't have any idea what I actually believe about creation.  He also was not even recognizing this underlying concept of time and numerics and boundaries based on math, and light and units of "time: as being far too much a part of the existance of the universe to not have a basis for their existance. Those very things that "scientific" thinking individuals use to discount God's existance are the very things that prove to me he exists. The vastness of the knowlege conveyed to men who barely understood the basics of it's workings, much less the true mathmatical truth upon which we now build the rockets that get us into space for instance. And yet we are so small in our knowlege of it, we can barely get past the moon, and assume that all that keeps the vastness of all we do not know is not based upon a power we do not fully understand? I call that amazing power, GOD.  He is so much greater than we can percieve, that I am humbled that He even cares about us at all. All the universe, no matter how big or small, cannot be an accident with all of the controls in place that make it disciplined within itself, so much so, that I can count on day and night, and year after year, just because it happens to be the unique sequence that was needed for me to exist.  I believe that we are not the only ones in the universe to be the recipients of that kind of love, but that there is enough distance between us that we will not know of others in God's design until we become a part of his world.  The Spiritual World.  One of my questions when I get there, if I could take questions with me, would be - Why does God even establish times of rest for himself?  I imagine the answer to that question will be nothing I even dream of.  But I rejoice that he began the Book of Genesis by guiding its writer to include early in the verses the concept of numbers, and that the number seven indicates a place where we stop, to find rest.

The number seven means complete, finished, a time for rest, done, pause, contemplate, seek God, and about anything that brings us to a place where we must take time to prepare for a new beginning. 
Til next time.  When we discuss the number 8.
Thank you, Jesus that the first number you helped me understand beyond the numbers one and 3 which obviously were symbolic of you - as one God, and as a triune being- was the number 7.  The number of working through to a point of completion. Helping me to know that there could be a pause in life, each and every week to stop. To regroup, to seek communtion with you, to rest from work.  I love all the implications both to life and to my interpretation of the scriptures this concept brings. Bless my study of the deeper things in the word, that knowing that you also began by establishing this as the first number with which to start this study.  YOU gave me the number 7 as a place to begin understanding the deeper things pertaining to Grace and Holy blessings. And to becoming one with your Spirit.   AMEN

*For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night. Psalm 90:40

*But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. II Peter 3:8

In Revelation, chapter 20, the reign of Christ on earth is discussed as a thousand year reign 3 verses in a row.  These verses define death and resurrection in those days as Satan being detained for 1000 years, bound by the power of Christ, unable to interfere in Christ's interaction with mankind.  Symbolic of the 3 days of Christ's rest time in the tomb, followed by Christ victory over death due to his resurrection; it is also a reminder that symbolically, Satan is allowed to rule the earth til the morning of the 3rd day since Christ died.  But then Christ once again returns to defeat Satan's work on earth which embattles Christians in their daily walk.  Makes a strong case for us nearing the end of this AGE. We are in the morning of the third day.

In all three of the above, a thousand years is only a day in the Lord's time...

In God's timing we are in the day of Atonement. Year number 10 in the 1000s of years of the "Story of Mankind."  7 plus 3 is the day of Atonement.  In human years and in God's time. Not only symbolic, but definitely in our world and his.

Rest:

Number 7 is the scriptural symbol for rest.  – Stopping point

Also significant is 7x7 plus 1 is 50  = grace,  grace follows patience and rest = the crucifixion

7^th day of 7^th month plus 3 days is day of atonement - equates to the resurrection

Sabbath to Sabbath is 8 days, significant of 7 days plus God’s intervention is the 8^th day, or a new beginning. 

Scheduling life from rest to rest forms a new mindset for new beginnings.

Rest, restore, restoration

God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Gen 1:5

Genesis 8:4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

Another word for anxiety is restlessness.

Genesis 40:13 Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place,

Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed. Exodus 23:12

How does not resting affect others?

Exodus 33:14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

If you pull up the laws and read about all those rest scriptures and the days and numbers of days…you will discover that hidden among the numbers and words are a picture of Christ’s death and resurrection. “A solemn rest and a Holy Convocation, afflict your souls…

Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. Leviticus 23:39   Why we worship on the 8^th day.

Numbers 10:33 So they departed from the mountain of the Lord on a journey of three days; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them for the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them. Leviticus 23:27

“Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. Leviticus 23: 27

We all know that God rested on the seventh day, not because he needs rest in the physical sense, but because setting boundaries for our world was important to him, and because he took time ot reflect before he moved on.  Rest is a very large part of the human existance because our whole being needs it. Think about the words that are derived from the word rest: rest, restore, restoration, restraint. Stopping within a boundary to be revived.  And this one - restlessness, another word for anxiety.  It goes without saying that rest is about more than just sleep, but do we really think, when we are unrested, about what the lack of it is doing to our lives and those around us? Rest is about boundaries, having the mental strength to reflect on where we have been, deciding when to stop, bringing things back to normal,  and taking a stand for our own well being.

Scriptures define the boundaries for our rest with the number 7. It is the number for completion, being finish, and for rest. On the cross, Jesus said:
“It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:30
Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away...John 19:31

It was because it was the time for the Sabbath, the same 7th day that God established after his work week was finished, that Jesus called for his suffering to end. He made the decision for himself before the Jews went to Pilate. The same 7th day about which so many old testament laws revolve. The same one that is repeated over and over throughout centuries when referencing times frames for the feasts. He decided that an end had come to his work, and it was time to honor God's seventh day, to rest. (excerpt was also used on My Wings Are Made of Faith blog.)

The feasts were often on a 7 day time frame as well and intended to set aside a time for the people to rest, and find joy.  Many of the feasts were meant to be celebrations. So rest is also meant to be a time to restore your joy.

It used to bother me that the time frame and the numbers didn't fit with our 24 hour daily routine, which included 8 hours of rest. That is until I discovered the correlation between the number 7 being the Stop time and 8 being the Beginning time.  This establishes the number 8 as the Bible symbol for new beginnings. Now lest there be someone who thinks the numerics are hocus pocus, they were very important to God.  When reading the Old Testament, you often run into time frames that are laid out around groups of 7 plus 1. 8 hours of rest, according to Old Testament thinking, began a new day. Where we see it as an end, God wanted us to see it as a beginning. But when the number 7 is used, the rest follows work and is also the predecessor for a new week beginning. In this concept 7 plus 1 is the begining of a new week.  

5 which is the number of Grace, and 10 which is the number of Atonement when multiplied make 50. 50 is also a set of *7 sevens plus 1. The symbolism is that there should be a definite time frame when, although life's difficulties overwhelm week after week, we decide to say, "Enough! I am finished for the moment. I am finding rest for myself!" Then that time is followed by a new beginning, and in doing so I am honoring God's command to do so. In other words, you have the God given right, in fact the God given command to give yourself the break. You see, the number for God the creator, most high, and author of our destiny is 1. In times of hardship, he expects us to seek him to intervene for rest from our circumstances. Or when we have finished a segment of time in life when something has come full circle. As you get older, you begin to see these life patterns. Allow me to build a scriptural case: 

Here's the law: (as in the law of night and day, the law of gravity, and of forward motion...all the things God put in place to make life possible and functioning.) 

Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed. Exodus 23:12

Within this law is a reference to how rest will affect every one around you, including employees, your animals and people you don't even know. Even your employees' children. Your rest or lack of it will effect everything around you. When you don't rest, your family, friends, employees, neighbors, and the customer who walks into your business, whom you never met, will notice and be affected by it.

 Now consider this:

Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.Genesis 8:4 

The ark is the place of safety when everything else was destroyed. The symbolism in the story of the ark is about the earth being cleansed of sinfulness and God making atonement, and when that process was complete - finished, he allowed that there would be a new beginning. In Noah's story are strong references to Christ as our savoir. And throughout the story are numerical references. (The number7 being how many pairs of animals were brought into the ark, and 2 for pairs, meaning blessing, reproduction, and  restoration.) You can almost go crazy with the number connotations but to be short -  

1.  The ark rested in the 7th month - the flood was finished.
2.  It was the seventeenth day - 10 the number of atonement + 7 the number of completion,  the atonement was finished.
3. 17 is a 1 and a 7 - which when added is 8, meaning it was time for a new beginning.
4. The final meaning - God's (1) completed work of atonement, when finished is a point of new beginning, blessing, restoration, and a fresh clean start.

Can you see Jesus's death and ressurection in the timing of the ark's numerics? Jesus underwent more than a human could  bare on the cross, and even in his misery, he called a time for rest, completion, a stopping point. And he did it in accordance to God his father's command to rest on the Sabbath, the seventh day. But once the atonement was complete in his 3 days of rest, he brought forth new life in his resurrection.  

 In God's language of creating the universe, it said... 

 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:5   

The old bilbical day began in the early evening. Jesus knew that the day of rest was at hand.  He said it is finished, just as his father had, because he was God, and it was very much a part of God to conclude his work and follow it with a day of rest. Now if you haven't already noticed, Atonement is 7 days plus 3 or 10.  The number is 1 plus a zero - God plus nothing else. Or with out God there is no atonement. Once Jesus came to his resting place in order to fulfill the numerical order for atonement, there must be 3 days before his new beginning.  So Jesus waited until the 3rd day in his place of rest, before he came forth from the grave, to establish a new beginning for all of mankind.  

The Lord Knows Best

I love when you can see the Lord working on your situation. I have learned to look for the times when He changes the agenda to be able to look backwards and see how by changing things He did it for your benefit.  A recent change of destinations for a birding trip/mini vacation, was just such an instance.  We were limited to how far we could go by a smaller budget, but discovered upon return that we weren't ready for a longer trip.  Thank you Jesus for your gifts of protection and love.AMEN

Do you need a Savoir

 

When we take on a ministry of helping others by sharing God's word, and giving uplifting or hopeful information, we sometimes risk reaching the lost and producing fruit for the Kingdom of God.  Sometimes, it seems like you are "preaching to the choir" as they say.  Like everyone you are speaking to already knows all this, and you are just rattling your tongue.  But, I try to remember, that everyone does have times that they need encouragement, and a gentle reminder that Christ cares.  And yet, is it all fluff when we aren't winning souls?

Both ministries are valuable, but reaching the lost far exceeds the helping ministry.  So I sometimes feel pulled between the two.  Until I remember that the Lord can use you where ever you are.  There was a time that I was daily among so many Christian friends that I could not name a single person whom I knew that was lost.  And almost all of those persons were practicing Christians.  Most of my ministry was to share prayer and encouragement as is my ususal practice now. But I hired a high school teen, and found myself flustered when he asked me one day, "Who is this Jesus, anyway?"

I had begun to pray that God would use me to lead souls to Christ, and He answered by sending me one person who in his whole life had not understood or even heard much about a loving savoir.

Over time, this young man began to seek Christ's salvation by asking multitudes of questions. He found himself at odds with his parents over it. And Satan stepped in and did some pretty scarey things to destroy my testimony and crush this young man's desire to know an answer to "Is God real?"

Eventually, he walked into my living room one day, and said, "Can you guess what happened to me this morning?" I had told him of how you could actually see in the eyes of chlldren the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when they accept Christ as Savoir.  I was practicing piano and I didn't look up when he asked me to guess, so he wouldn't tell me until I stopped playing and looked up.  Never once had it crossed my mind that he had asked Christ to be his savoir, but the instant I looked at his face I could see it in his eyes. I gasped and smiled and laughed and declared, "You asked Christ to save you! "

He could hardly wait to tell me. His hair was still wet. "I just wondered if you would see it in my eyes too, " he said. "And you did, so it must be real."

I laughed, "you mustn't go by my acknowlegement. You tell me what happened to you this morning." He then told me of how as he took his shower, and was washing himself clean, he thought of how simple it would be to just have Jesus wash his soul clean as well. So he just prayed, right there while the water ran down across his face, that God would do for his soul the kind of cleansing his Bible spoke of.  And he said, "Immediately I knew you would be able to see it in my eyes that Jesus had cleaned my sins away too."

I don't know who out there needs to know that there is a definite time that Jesus spoke to their heart, and asked for the opportunity to walk in through the heart's door and do house cleaning.  Maybe, someone is just not sure of their salvation. I pray for you. I long to be productive in winning souls to Christ while continuing to share the blessings of being a Christian.  What I do isn't about good feelings, it is about knowing God, and letting him live in your soul. 

A relationship with God is the most valuable gift you will ever get.



 



Lord I pray for a soul needing Christ today to find the path to getting the answers they need, so they might also come to a saving Knowlege, and open their own heart to the Spirit of God that indwells and keeps us.  May they find the love that You offer, and not be afraid to submit their sins to your cleansing power.  In Jesus Name, AMEN