Sons To Glory Newsletter #24 |
Feast
of Trumpets - September 15, 2015
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The Numbers 33 and 13by Paul Jablonowski
"The SECRET of the LORD is for those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." (Psalm 25:14) The numbers 33 and 13 are associated with the secrets of the LORD and those secrets are shown to people who understand the "Spirit of the Fear of the LORD." As Psalm 25 asks - "Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will be instructed in the way he should choose. His soul will abide in prosperity and his descendants will inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him and He will make them to know His covenant. My eyes are continually towards the LORD, for He will pluck my feet out of the net." (Psalm 25:12-15). One of the benefits of welcoming the Spirit of the Fear of the LORD into our personal lives is that He will show us His secrets. Today is the Feast of Trumpets (Lev 23:23) or Rosh Hashanah which is also the new moon of the 7th Hebrew month. This year I celebrated the Feast of Trumpets by attending a "re-digging the wells" march and rally in Montgomery Alabama which is the current capital of my home state. My son Stephen and I met some friends from Mobile AL who drove the same distance from the south as we did from the north to meet centrally in Alabama. The four of us prayer-walked the River Front in downtown Montgomery which used to be the boating dock where they brought African slaves into town. The slaves used to be marched in chains down Commerce Street to be sold at the Court Square which is now a Fountain with a small Park next to it. This park has a permanent pulpit with an open bible inside the glass pulpit. This bible is open to the book of Proverbs where the first verse at the top of the page says: "The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death." (Proverbs 14:27). This was where we started the march with a worship rally. The Fear of the Lord is one of the 7 Spirits of Yahweh mentioned in Isaiah 11:2. We prayed the Spirit of the Fear of the LORD to flood our streets in America, especially on the police departments, guards & military. Because when the Fear of the LORD resides upon these men and women, then they will not have to use their weapons. People will honor them and obey the common laws of conscience not to kill, harm or steal based on the Lord's presence. This Park is also the place where Rosa Parks helped to start the civil rights movement with her refusal to give up her seat at the bus stop on this corner. Martin Luther King Jr. also walked the same path from here to the Montgomery capital with his stand on voting rights for African Americans. This re-digging the wells event honored a Jewish man named Abraham who marched with Martin Luther King, and another Jewish man named Abraham Mordecai who was instrumental in creating the cotton gin in Alabama as well as other AL industry. The theme of the prayers on the capital steps were about the FATHERHOOD of God and how our sonship (maturity in Christ) comes from understanding and relating to God as OUR FATHER! This is a basic truth that must be walked out within the context of the relationships God puts us into, especially with our children. Several Fathers stood with their sons praying including Paul Hughes whose son Daniel really had some powerful prayers as the sun was setting before us. Understanding God as "our Father" was one of the secrets of the LORD until Jesus came to reveal this truth to mankind: The Fatherhood of God! The number 33 is about the secrets of the LORD, and the number 13 is about agape love. "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the works of this law" (Deut. 29:29). The secrets of men are kept based out of fear, but the LORD's secrets are hidden FOR us and not FROM us. He wants us to understand them, but we must have the Fear of the LORD first. The reason I believe 33 represents the "secrets things of Yahweh" is because the "Hebrew word pictures" show it. For example, The Hebrew word for "Father" is "Abba" spelled with two Hebrew letters: aleph, and bet. Each letter in the Ancient Hebrew is also a picture, so that words can also form word pictures. Aleph is a lead-ox, and Bet is a house, so that Father in Hebrew means "leader of the house" or "strength of the house." This is done so that words cannot change meaning in the ancient Hebrew the way that English words change meaning over time. A very good resource on this topic is a book by Dr. Frank T. Seekins called Hebrew Word Pictures. (1) Hebrew letters are also numbers; and the number for 33 in Hebrew contains two letters: lamed and gimel. Lamed is "30" and gimel is "3," hence 33. Lamed is a shepherds staff or rod (authority) and gimel is a camel (lift up or benefit). The Hebrew word for Lamed & gimel is "Log"- which: "comes from an unused root" (Strongs #3849)(2) and means "to deepen or hollow." One Lexicon says log (33) is "a deep cavity, a basin, or the smallest of the measures of liquid things."(3) Another Lexicon says this word has an "Unknown Meaning."(4) So you can see how "secret things" is a good definition for this word which is also the number 33 in Hebrew. This word "log" is used in the Scriptures only five times in Leviticus 14:10-24 when referring to a "log" of oil with regards to the offerings for the cleansing of lepers. This liquid measure has no exact known amount which is why it can be likened to a hidden secret. If you put the Hebrew letter "hey" between these two letters it spells "study" as in the deeper "study of letters." This Strongs #3854 word is only used once in the Bible and is an admonition NOT to study too much: "My son, be admonished of making many books there is no end, and much study (Strongs 3854) is wearisome to the flesh." (Ecclesiastes 12:12) Jesus lived for 33 and 1/2 years at which point He reached the greatest agape love maturity as a son and gave up His life as an atonement and complete forgiveness of our sins. David ruled for 33 and 1/2 years in Jerusalem. Also, Bonnie Gaunt believes Adam lived 33 and 1/2 years before he sinned, and that Satan's "short time" to be released at the end of the millennium (1,000 years from now) will also be 33 and 1/2 years. So there is a completion or maturity that is reached at 33. Satan will be let loose for 33 years to complete the maturity of evil., But there is a maturity of agape love represented in 33 that I believe we are currently living in as we transition into Christ's Kingdom on earth during the Millennium. Mt. Hermon is 33 latitude and (ancient) 33 longitude where Jesus was transfigured, because part of maturity has to do with bodily resurrection. The number 13 is about the mystery (secret) of God's kind of LOVE. Agape love is the God type of love where "agape" is the Greek word for this deeper kind of love. It is only a "secret" because mankind finds it hard to believe how much God really does love them enough to send His only son to die for their sins. Even the angels were not fully able to comprehend this kind of God agape love until after Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. If the principalities and fallen angels understood this "secret" they never would have crucified Jesus because it led to their defeat: 1 Corinthians 2 is the "power chapter" on knowing God's secrets. In it Paul said, "I did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling (he understood the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord which brings God's secret wisdom). And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit of power, so that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." Paul then goes on to explain how this secret wisdom is only known by the mature, which is represented by the number 33: "However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the LORD of glory." This chapter then ends by explaining how the great secrets in God CAN BE understood by HIS Spirit! "These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. But the natural mind does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them." (13-14) "Eye has not seen, nor ear
heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man, The things which God has
prepared for those who love Him, The secrets of the LORD are not like the secrets of men. The LORD actually desires men to know His secrets, but men must position themselves in humility and in the Fear of the LORD before the secrets of God will be revealed to them. One of the greatest secrets of the ages was the crucifixion of Jesus paying for the sins of all mankind. As 1 Corinthians 2:8 above shows, IF the devils would have known this secret, they would never have killed the Son of God. But their pride and selfishness blinded them to this awesome secret of Yahweh. IF the LORD hides something from you, it doesn't matter how hard you try to "find" it, you will be wasting your time and efforts. You must come to God on HIS terms to get HIS secrets. "It is the glory of God to conceal (hide) a thing; but the honor of kings is to search out a matter." (Proverbs 25:2) Mary, the mother of Jesus, understood this secret wisdom was found in the Spirit of the Fear of the LORD. Because after the LORD visited Mary, she said, "His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation... He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, but exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich He has sent away empty." (Luke 1:50-53) What does it mean to "fear" the LORD? Quite simply, to fear the LORD is to obey Him. If you fear your parents, you will honor and respect and obey them. It is not the type of "fear" that the enemy would try to instill in you, where you are paralyzed to do anything or be creative. But there is a component of Holy awe and reverence where you stand amazed in His presence and at the ways in which He operates outside our finite minds. If you fear the LORD, then you will not have to fear anything that man could do to you. Psalms 27 says: "The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?" David understood the Fear of the LORD because he goes on to say, "When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. Though an army should encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war should rise against me, In this will I be confident: One Thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple." The benefits of fearing the LORD are found in the next few verses: "For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me: He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD!" (Psalms 27:1-6) THIS is my "prep plan" for end times! To worship the Father!!!!!! The number 13 is often associated with rebellion, which is true in mankind's fallen state. However, in man's redeemed state the number 13 represents the God-kind of love that lays down its own life so that others may live. I don't think it is a coincidence that chapter 13 in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians happens to be about LOVE and the characteristics of the agape God type of love: "LOVE is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." (1 Cor 13:4-8) The love of God in Christ Jesus is the greatest secret of which we will never be able to fully dive into the depths and heights and widths and dimensions beyond our current knowledge. There is no greater adventure that we were created to do than to explore and plumb the secrets of His love. John the apostle was shown by Jesus some of His greatest secrets, yet John always came back to this simple truth about God's amazing agape love: "Dear friends, let us LOVE one another, for love comes from God!" (1 John 4:7) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (2) The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible; James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D.; Thomas Nelson Publishers; #3849 (3) Gesenius Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament; Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan. (4) The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the
Bible; Jeff A. Benner. ISBN 1-58939-776-2 - page 156 |
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