Fri.’s Devo - Numbers

Read: Numbers 28:16-29:40; Luke 3:23-38; Psalm 62:1-12; Proverbs 11:18-19 This is the book of numbers and God has a purpose for every letter and every number. They all have meaning and teach us about God and his ways. Passover was always celebrated on the 14th of Nissan, the first day of their religious calendar and the 7th month of their civil calendar. Passover represented salvation through Christ but before Jesus died, they celebrated with animals to foreshadow the cross. The next day, the fifteenth began the Feast of Unleavened Bread which lasted seven days. It was to represent your new life with Christ and the process of sanctification. The number of offerings were 2 bulls, 1 ram and 7 lambs. These were to be offered with grain mixed with oil. The amounts were 6 quarts with the 2 bulls, 4 quarts with the 1 ram and 2 quarts with the 7 lambs (6,4,2). An extra offering of one goat for a sin offering was added everyday. I wonder if the animals stand for the blood sacrifice of Christ and the grain offering is ourselves offered with him. Galatians 2:20 says that we are crucified with Christ. Six is the number of man since he was made on the sixth day. Four means to reign or rule and two means divided. So the number of the grain is “man reigns divided.” It is the Word that divides between soul and spirit, joint and marrow and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. On the Feast of Harvest or what we call Pentecost, the animal count was 2, 1, and 7 and the grain was 6,4, and 2. This feast was always 50 days after Passover. The count changed for the Feast of Trumpets which was the first day of the seventh month on the religious calendar and the first day of the seventh month on the civil calendar. Instead of 2,1,7, the count of the animals changed to 1,1,7. This festival will be the day when the trumpet sounds and the dead in Christ will rise first and the day the Christians call the Rapture. Ten days later was the Day of Atonement which the count is 1,1,7 and the grain is still 6,4,2. On the last feast everything changes. It is the Feast of Tabernacles which marks the return of Christ to rule and reign in the earth. The animal count of the bulls begins a count down where the number of rams and lambs doubles. So on the first day the count is 13 bulls, 2 rams and 14 lambs. The second day the ram decreases by one and the other animals remain the same. Every day the bull decreased by one until the seventh day. On that day the number is 7,2,14. On the eighth day which eight means “new beginning”. it is another holy day and the count goes back to 1,1,7 like on the Feast of Trumpets. This day is called Simbat Torah and they celebrate “going back to Eden” and beginning to read the Torah once again. One day we will be celebrating a new heaven and a new earth and we will live as in the Garden of Eden. In Luke, Jesus had reached the age of 30 and was assumed to be Joseph’s son. We are given Joseph’s lineage. He was of the tribe of Judah and his lineage goes all the way back to Adam who was the son of God. Adam was a type of Christ and vice-versa. In First Corinthians 15:45 it says that “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” Lord, thank you that we were grafted into your great family and your great plan. Thank you that we were crucified with you in death, that we might reign with you in glory.