Seeing that I was in the Accounting
profession, I love to look at numbers. Now no number in the Bible
is there by accident! No number is just arbitrary. No, numbers are
there for a reason. So today I would like us to have a look at two
similar incidents, with different numbers and see what we can glean
from them. I have a prophetic numbers dictionary of Martin van der
Merwe, so I will use that to see what these numbers mean in the
Biblical sense. Okay, are you ready?
Last year we looked at where Jesus
multiplied the loaves of bread and we learned that we should trust
Jesus and allow Him to perform miracles in our lives. Now I would
like us to have a look at the same instances from a different
angle. Matthew 14 from verse 15 conveys this event for us. It says
that the number of men present was 5,000. Jesus fed them with 5
loaves of bread and with two fishes. And after everyone had eaten
there were twelve baskets of food left over.
Just in the next chapter Matthew 15
the same miracle was demonstrated, this time there were 4,000 men,
seven loaves of bread and a few fishes and seven baskets of food
were left over.
So let us have a look at these two
instances and see what God wants us to learn from them. Let us take
the first instance. The number 5 represents the number of grace and
the number 1,000 represents maturity. Therefore we can say that
5,000 represents that God wanted them to mature in His grace. He
wanted them to see His unmerited favour and to experience it
firsthand. The five loaves is once again the number of His grace,
and two the number of agreement. He thus wanted them to agree with
His grace, to see it and to experience it. And the twelve baskets
left over refer to governmental perfection, seen in the twelve
tribes of Israel and the twelve disciples of God. In other words,
Jesus wanted them to mature and agree with His grace given freely
unto them. When His grace flows there will be governmental
perfection and things will flow out of His Kingdom and provide to
those in need. He wanted His disciples to see that and to realise
who He was and what He came to do for them. He was opening the
gates to the Kingdom of God for them and there nothing was
impossible.
In the second instance, the number
4,000 refers to the maturity of materialism, in other words Jesus
wanted them to mature and not rely on material things anymore. He
used seven loaves to feed them, and seven means perfection. Seven
can also symbolically refer to a 'Man of God'. And interestingly
enough, seven baskets were left over too. Thus in this instance the
numbers portray that Jesus wanted them to be free from materialism
and to walk in perfection with Him, the Man of God.
What we can learn from these two
instances is a clear representation of the whole Bible. God wants
us free from the materialism of this world; He wants us to start
walking in His Divine grace, His unmerited favour in order for His
perfection and His perfect government to reign in our lives and in
this world through us.
Are you ready to let go of the
material things you consider 'precious'? Are you ready to step out
and to trust Him that He would provide for you? Are you ready to
take the hand of the 'Man of God' and to walk with Him in His
perfect government? Are you ready to make yourself available to be
used in a mighty way by Him? I hope so, because then 2017 can be a
year of breakthroughs and substantial spiritual growth for you.
Doing the Will of God and allowing Him to work through you is the
meat that will help you grow into a mature son of His, ready to be
used in a mighty way.
Thank you Father for Your grace
displayed towards us. Thank you for opening the way for us. We love
You and look forward to this year with You. We want to let go of
all material things in our lives and learn to trust only in You.
You know best and we take Your hand. Please lead the way. In Jesus'
Name Amen