December 11 (Leviticus)
Just as one would expect, God began giving me ideas for this study last night while I slept. I awoke refreshed and anxious to come downstairs and begin. We are going to launch this study pointing out the different ways God uses numbers to declare something about His nature. If you’re like me, please don’t be concerned that I’m going to get really weird and try to calculate the day Jesus is going to return using those numbers. I have a dear friend who has read an apparently scholarly presentation on such gibberish who has tried unsuccessfully to convince me he can calculate accurately, within very few years the exact date of Jesus’ return (a series of obvious contradictions).
I read for years that one could calculate the precise, though not exact, age of the planet by adding the various genealogies together. I actually discovered it can be done with reasonable accuracy. I use the term reasonable accuracy for two reasons: 1. there are a few tiny time gaps I haven’t been able to fill yet using scripture; however, we can tie secular historical records, i.e., the reigns of Babylonian kings like Ahasuerus, to biblical history and get a close date from which to continue counting. One day I just decided I didn’t want to take anyone else’s word for it any longer, so I began adding up the years for myself as I read through the bible. I came up with a figure of about 6,150 years from creation to the year 2010. The Jewish calendar suggests it’s only been about 5700 years. Also, the research I did indicating slight differences are bound to occur just because the Jewish calendar and either of our Western Civilization calendars calculate time differently.
The reason this information will help us understand important things about God’s nature is that numbers, especially as they have to do with major topics like creation, Jewish holidays, and sacrifices, speak to several issues. The seven days of creation, which included six days of labor and one day of rest, represent the completeness of God. I don’t think that number is ever used in scripture without it intentionally being used to tell us something less obvious than is clearly understood by its common usage. This problem is at the very core of the deception used by those who suggest the six, twenty-four hour days of creation, could just as easily have been six eras of time. Those liberally inclined, wannabe theologians have two glaring problems: 1. they think they have to make the biblical record fit into the lying, deceiving, atheistic, evolutionists’ theories. 2. in doing so, they are denying the very essence of God, His omnipotence.
Of course, God could have taken seven periods of time instead of seven days to create the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, but He didn’t. To suggest Peter was speaking to this issue at all just demonstrates one’s complete lack of any disciplined approach to biblical hermeneutics (II Peter 3:8). I argued this issue for years with my father-in-law when I was just a budding child in the faith. He was an a-millenialist, which didn’t make him a heretic, just misguided. The clear context of Peter’s statement has nothing to do with defining the length of a day. Peter was addressing the teaching by the heretics of his day who were telling their listeners it was a waste of time to wait for Jesus to return, because He wasn’t coming back. They were the false teachers and false prophets who have infiltrated the church for nearly 2,000 years. Every gospel record, and every writer of New Testament books or letters warned us these people would infiltrate and remain in the church from time immemorial. Jesus addressed the issue first in Matthew 13:24-30.
The problem with even suggesting God didn’t actually create the heavens and earth and all its inhabitants in six twenty-four days is that it suggests God couldn’t have done that. It literally and blatantly denies His omnipotence. In doing so, it tells us much about the god these wannabe theologians worship. First, it tells us their god has to construct (create things) like man. Thus, they conclude, if it takes one hundred men using the finest technology and man-made machines, three years to construct a 100 story building, certainly no one could create the heavens and earth in six days. That’s utter foolishness on so many levels, I refuse to waste much more space on paper addressing it. I will point out the major flaw of such reasoning. It fails to understand that God does not build anything. He doesn’t go through the process of making a set of blue prints, getting permits, and seeking out the best company to do a job. God speaks things into existence. And because He’s both omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing), He does it, literally, faster than instant of time. It’s a concept almost too much for our finite brains; but God lives in eternity past, the present, and eternity future all at the same time. It’s extremely difficult to grasp the significance of a Being who is time transcendent; but the bible declares hundreds of times, He sees the beginning, the present, and the end (terms used only in a time locked universe) all at once.
Finally, lets address the use of “the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh day” in the creation account. If God would have actually created the earth in seven periods of time, He would have had Moses use that terminology rather than use a phrase that has always meant approximately a twenty-four hour period. Please don’t get excited about my use of “approximately.” There are tiny differences in the length of a day on the Jewish calendar, and should be on the Gregorian calendar. Both are dependent on extrapolating and coordinating existing data about the activities of three celestial bodies: 1. the time it takes the earth to circle the Sun (one year); 2. the time it takes for the moon to circle the earth (approximately thirty days); and 3. the time it takes the earth to rotate one full turn (twenty-four hours).
Hopefully, we have dispensed with any notion the earth was not created in six, twenty-four hour days. I have dealt thoroughly with the age of the earth and problems with Noah getting things like dinosaurs on the Ark in my study on Genesis, so I’m not going to address that here. Please contact me if you’re interested and request a copy of that study. I’ll send it to you free of charge. I believe I have thoroughly demonstrated it is not necessary to interpret any of the literal truths of scripture to accommodate atheists’ suggestions any of it is not trustworthy. The Bible is not a book of science or history, but it is always concurrent and in perfect alignment with any truly scientific or historical work of man. Any time it appears otherwise, we need to question the methods, motivation, ethics, and actual processes those doing it used for gathering their evidence, not God. Those who conclude the veracity of God’s word is subject to the finite thinking of what He created, are dumber than the rocks they claim to analyze.
As I consider the number seven, I recall having read about its use in scripture for nearly 4 decades, There are four significant uses of it: 1. The seven days of creation. I know the earth was created in six days, but I will avoid the clumsy attempt to explain my use of the phrase “seven days of creation,” anymore in this study. I believe God intended us to consider the day of rest (the Sabbath), part of the creative process; 2. the seven weeks of seven days each He had them count off from sowing of their seed to its harvest (aka the Feast of Weeks); 3. the seven days they were instructed to count from the first day of each feast to taking another Sabbath day of complete rest; and 4. the Year of Jubilee, 49 years (7 years X 7 years, aka seven weeks of years), when they were told to release all Jewish servants and return each one’s property. The Jews currently celebrate 27 Holy Days.* I am not going to make any attempt to deal with the ones not mentioned in scripture.
*(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_holiday#Purim_.E2.80.94_Festival_of_Lots)
There are only four mentioned in the Bible, other than the Sabbaths of course. They are referred to with different terms in different places, so it can be a little confusing. We need not be concerned. It is common in a culture to call holidays by different names. For example, some prefer to call Easter, spring break. Some call Thanksgiving, turkey day. Some call Christmas, the winter holiday. I’m actually unconcerned with such distinctions personally. It makes little difference to me if pagans choose not to acknowledge the true believer’s motive for celebrating Christ’s birth. Actually, I think tossing around a greeting like “Merry Christmas” can border on blasphemy, depending upon the heart of the one speaking it. One person sees visions of sugar plum fairies and overcharged credit cards when he says the words. One person imagines a bearded, white haired, pagan deity flying around the earth, dressed in a comical red suit with a ridiculous looking cap, magically descending chimneys, eating home-made cookies, and leaving just what his children wanted, taken from his magical list. And, one person imagines double digit profits in just 30 days of sales in his company’s fiscal year. I suggest it’s likely less than 1% of those using the phrase ever consider what it means to the born-again, God loving, evangelical, true believing follower of Christ. And I further suggest, we need not waste anymore time worrying about how any of them greet you at any of your local merchants. If you really want to be a witness, just say very loudly as you leave, “Have a blessed time celebrating the birth of the Messiah.” Trust me, that’ll make those within hearing stop and think. Maybe they’ll only stop and think for a fleeting moment, but they will stop and think.
Anyway, back to the four feasts mentioned in scripture. They are the Passover (aka Feast of Unleavened Bread), the Feast of Weeks (aka Feast of Harvest), the Feast of Booths (aka Feast of Tabernacles), and finally, the feast of Purim (Esther 9:22). The feast of Purim is sometimes referred to incorrectly as the fast of Esther (Esther 15-17). The two events are dependent on each other for meaning, but are definitively different. They all have the number seven or three imbedded in the pattern of how they are to be celebrated. Of course, the number three is also significant in divine revelation. I will be dividing this study by devoting a chapter to each of the feasts and a chapter to each significant number as it is related to the feasts. Finally, before we begin, allow me to assure any reader, I am not a numerologist. Like everything else in scripture, Satan has his own version of the truth. Numerology is the demonic theory that concludes every event in your life is somehow connected to numbers, beginning with the day you were born. It is practiced by witches, warlocks, seers, and mediums. It is in no way related to God’s use of numbers to tell us things about His nature. I can absolutely guarantee no one can calculate with any accuracy when Jesus is going to return using numbers. Even suggesting such foolishness means Jesus, the one and only divine Son of God didn’t know that.
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