August 1925
TH E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
351
The Scriptures are In teresting in Their Numbers “He telleth the number of the stars.*** G reat is our Lord and of g reat power: of His understanding th ere is no num b er” (Psa. 147:4, 5, m arg in ). He can number hu t He can not be numbered. Everything in n atu re proclaims th a t God is the God of number. I give b u t one illu stration . The num ber th ree is stamped upon th e bee. In th ree days the egg of the queen is hatched; it is fed for nine days (3 x 3 ), it reaches m atu rity in" 15 days (5 x 3 ), the worker grub reaches m atu rity in 21 days (7 x 3 ), and is a t work 3 days afte r leaving its cell. The drone m atures in 24 days (8 x 3). The bee is composed of 3 sections—h ea d and two stomachs. The 2 eyes are made up of about 3,000 small eyes each having 6 sides (2 x 3) like the cells of the comb. Underneath the body are 6 ( 2 x 3 ) scales w ith which the comb is made, it has 6. legs (2 x 3 ), an d 'e ach leg is com posed of 3 sections, th e antennae consists of 9 sections ( 3 x 3 ) and th e sting has 9 barbs ( 3 x 3 ) on each side. This is not chance bu t Divine purpose and skill. W hat is found in God’s works is evident in His Word. In th e num erals of Scripture th ere is generally the Divine and th e human side. One is the num ber of Divine Sovereignty. The Lord our God is one Lord and His name is One (Deut. 6 :4 ; Zech. 14 :9 ). God alone can forgive sins (Mark 2: 7) and salva tion is found in the “None other Name” (Acts 4 :1 2 ). Three is the number of completeness.. Evil, in its com pleteness, is made up of the world, th e flesh, and the devil; man in th e completeness of his n atu re is spirit, soul, and body, and th e unity of the Godhead is made up of the T rin ity of F ath er, Son, and Holy Spirit. Seven is the number of sp iritu al perfection. The parables of the Kingdom are seven (Matt. 1 3 ); th e seven Churches are representative of the epochs of th e Christian E ra (Rev. 2 and 3 ); the Spirit of God in the perfection of His grace is designated under seven p articu lars (Isal 1 1 :2 ); seven times the blood was sprinkled before th e mercy seat— typ ical of th e perfect work of Christ' (Lev. 1 6 :1 4 ); and the Book of Revelation is the Book of sevens. Ten is the number of moral perfection. The ten com m andments rep resen t God’s claim upon man and man’s obligation to God. The ten virgins rep resen t th e responsi bility of the believer to obey the Lord. F ive is the number of grace w ith God and weakness w ith man. Let us enlarge on th is number. The whole Bible may be summed up under five: THE OLD THE LAW TESTAMENT THE COVENANT HISTORY JOSHUA
The first five books are significant in th e ir order of tru th . There must be th e Genesis of th e New B irth, before th e re can be the Exodus of redem ption; there must be the Exodus of redemption before th ere can be the Leviticus of wor ship; th ere must be th e Leviticus of communion before th ere can be th e Numbers of a pilgrim life and th e w arfare of victory, and th e re m ust be th e Numbers of victory, before th ere can be th e Deuteronomy of discipleship.. The Book of Psalm s is divided into five sections: Book I (Psa. 1-41) is the Genesis Book. Book II (Psa. 42-72) is the Exodus Book. Book III (Psa. 73-89) is th e Leviticus Book. Book IV (Psa. 90-106) is the Numbers Book. Book V (Psa. 107-150) is the Deuteronomy Book. The number five is identified w ith grace. Five times in th e fifth book of th e Bible God said He specially loved Israel (Deut. 4 :37 ; 7:7, 8; 10:15; 2 3 :5 ; 3 3 :3 ). Five sections are found in Christ’s prophetic name— “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting F ath e r, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9: 6). Five times God Is said to be the God of peace (Rom. 15:33; 16:20; Phil. 4 :9 ; 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 13:20, 2 1 ); and “Advocate or Com forter” is applied to Christ and the Holy Spirit five times (John. 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16 :7 ; 1 John 2 :1 ). When “ five” Is applied to man it is th e num ber of weak ness. Israel came out of Egypt five in a ran k (Ex. 13:18 m arg in ). David took five stones when he w ent against Goliath (1 Sam. 1 7 :4 0 ), and th e re are five classes of work ers the Lord uses— fools, weaklings; base, despised, and nobodies (1 Cor. 1 :2 8 ); bu t God can do more w ith five who are rig h t w ith Him, th an He can w ith 5,000 who are not rig h t; hence His prom ise is “Five of you shall chase a hundred and a hundred of you shall pu t ten thousand to flight” (Lev. 2 6 :8 ). The “God of num ber” numbers our days th a t we may remember our frailty (Psa. 9 0 :1 2 ); He numbers our steps th a t we may walk carefully (Job 1 4 :1 6 ); and He gives every h air of our head a number th a t we may tru st Him implicitly (Luke 12 :7 ). The Scriptures are P ractical in Their W orking The practical good anything confers is th e evidence of its power in the life. A skeptic once said to a m inister, “ I believe the account of Christ is taken from heathen w rite rs;” who replied, “Will you abide by your own deci sion on two questions, which I will pu t to you?” “Yes.” “ Suppose all men were Christians according to the account given to us in th e Gospels concerning Christ, what would be th e state of society?” “ If all men were really Christians we should be a happy brotherhood indeed.” The next question is, “Suppose all men were infidels what would be th e state of th e w orld?” “You have beaten me th is tim e for I certainly never saw before th e two effects upon society; I now see where the Christian builds up, the infidel is pulling down.” , “By th e ir fru its ye shall know th em .” There is no sec tion in the Book where, th e effects of th e Word are so pow erfully seen and exemplified as in th e Acts. Trace the word “W ord” th rough the Acts and you will see th a t th e Holy Spirit by means of the word of th e tru th of th e Gospel tu rn ed 3,000 people on th e Day of Pentecost from sin to the Saviour (2 :4 1 ), and directly afterw ard s 5,000 more (4 :4 ), and yet more effectual was it, for th e number of disciples were multiplied and a g reat company of priests, were turned from th e hollowness of Judaism to th e reality of Christ (6: 7 ), unclean sp irits were cast out; diseased were healed, and
1. GENESIS 2. EXODUS
JUDGES & RUTH SAMUEL & KINGS CAPTIVITY BOOK CHRONICLES PSALM BOOKS PSALMS JOB CANTICLES ECCLESIASTES PROVERBS
3. LEVITICUS 4. NUMBERS 5-, DEUTERONOMY THE PROPHETS ISAIAH JEREMIAH & LAMEN TATIONS EZEKIEL DANIEL MINOR PROPHETS
NEW TESTAMENT
GOSPELS
CATHOLIC EPISTLES
ACTS
REVELATION
PAUL’S EPISTLES
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