A Thought On Forty in the Bible

 A Thought On Forty in the Bible

 

While reading I have seen the number 40 quite often. In particular:

ü  Israel wandered in the wilderness 40 years before entering the promised land.

ü  Moses was on the mountain 40 days and, at the end, was given the 10 commandments.

ü  Goliath confronted the Israelites 40 days before David killed him with one of the 5 stones he took from the brook.

ü  Jesus fasted 40 days at, by the end, had proven temptation and sin had no hold on Him.

 

·       In all these cases (and many others) there were forty days before the event start and finish.

·       In each case the difficulties came first (chaos, sin, temptation) and the victory at the end.

·       In each case victory came strictly from God.

 

Ø  With Moses on the mountain the end was God giving the people the 10 commandments, His blueprint for righteous, effective, successful living.

Ø  With David it was the overcoming of sin, Goliath, after the Israelites were confronted by sin for forty days.

Ø  With Jesus it was fighting off sin and temptation for forty days and having final victory by being completely obedient to God.

 

The consistency between the messages provided in each case is unmistakable.

In the case of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness for 40 years it was due to the fact they were not obedient.

 

In the case of David and Goliath there seems to be a direct tie in between 1 Samuel 17:40-49, Acts 11:29 and Ephesians 4:7-13, especially verse 11. In Ephesians 4:11 we are told there are 5 gifts of the ministry, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. These gifts of ministry are given to the church and Acts 11:29 tells us the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. I take that to mean they were not just for the early church but were given to and for the church until Christ returns.  Back to David and Goliath. David chose one of the five smooth stones he took from the brook. We do not know which one in particular and it really does not matter. ANY of the stones would have killed Goliath. I look at this and see Goliath as a representation of sin and David as Christ or maybe more appropriately, the church. David took one of the stones and killed Goliath. There are five gifts of the ministry just as there were five stones. Any one of the stones could kill Goliath just any one of the five gifts of the ministry can slay sin. The power is with God but the slinger, just like David, must be will to confront sin through faith in God and His gifts.

 

If you get time to read and consider this please comment.