In the Bible, the number 22 is associated with
spiritual knowledge, light, insight, and revelation. The first time the word Òlove,Ó
for example, occurs in any of its forms in the Bible is in Genesis 22.
ÒIn Genesis 22 happens to be one of, if not
THE greatest, macro codes on the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ in the
Bible,Ó says Jordan. ÒGod tells Abraham to take Isaac. GodÕs not authorizing
human sacrifice here, HeÕs laying out a pattern and a type and itÕs one of the
most complete ones.Ó
Genesis 22:2 reads, ÒAnd he said, Take now thy
son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains
which I will tell thee of.Ó
Jordan explains, ÒWe know ÔGod so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son.Õ When He said that to Abraham,
Abraham had another son but Ishmael wasnÕt the seed line. He had only one son that
God recognized. But it was more than that, because when He says, ÔThy son,
thine only son whom thou lovest,Õ itÕs sort of like saying HeÕs the apple of
his eye. HeÕs the one whom his father set his love upon as he set it upon no
one else. God said about the Lord Jesus Christ, ÔHereÕs my beloved Son in whom
IÕm well-pleased.Õ
ÒBy the way, if you were to go to Genesis 23:1
and check the age, youÕll find that Isaac at this point is 33 years old. Just
another one of those little ÔAhas!Õ as you read through here.
ÒAbrahamÕs going to go out to a mountain in Moriah,
which became known as Mount Moriah. Later on in the Bible, if you know the
history of this mountain, it was the place where Onan had the threshing floor
that David purchased from him as the site for the Solomon to build the temple.
ÒIf you come down through history a little
further, youÕll find that it was that little mount that had a little peak on it
that becomes known as the place called Golgotha. All this happens in Genesis
where nobody knew anything about the crucifixion of Christ.Ó
*****
Genesis 22:4 reports, ÒThen on the third
day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.Ó
Jordan says, ÒHe sees it and when he saw it,
it isnÕt just that he sees the place, you know, just physically seeing it, but
it gets to be pretty clear here that Abraham understands thereÕs something more
going on than just the event.
ÒYou notice it is on the third day that
Abraham lifted up his eyes? AbrahamÕs had that boy, theyÕve gone two days and
on the third day, hereÕs the place where heÕs going to go and sacrifice him. In
AbrahamÕs mind, the boyÕs been dead two days, three days. Jesus Christ is dead
for how long? Three days.
ÒBut also in the Bible, a day sometimes
represents how long? A thousand years. So after two thousand years, these
events take place. And if you look at the top of a reference Bible, youÕll see
that Abraham at this time—this is about two thousand years before the
time of Christ so thereÕs all these little straws in the wind flying by here.Ó
*****
In Genesis 22:5, Abraham says to the young
men, ÒAbide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship,
and come again to you.Ó
Jordan explains, ÒNow when he says heÕs going
to come again to them, obviously Abraham believed he was going to go up there
on that mountain, sacrifice his son and God was going to raise him up and then
heÕd bring him back down and theyÕd all go to go home. So Abraham understands
somethingÕs going on here bigger than just the events.
ÒVerse 14 says Abraham called the name of the
place Jehovah-jireh Ôas it is said to this day, In the
mount of the LORD it shall be seen.Õ ItÕs like Abe understood when he saw that
place that thereÕs some prophetic things going on because he gives the name of
the place a prophetic label like he knew he was acting out a prophecy.
Certainly he knew he was acting out the prophecy of the resurrection. He
believed that his seed would be resurrected and thatÕs exactly whatÕs happening
there.
ÒOver in John 8, when Jesus said Abraham Ôrejoiced
to see my day: and he saw it,Õ this is what heÕs talking about. The day there
is the day of resurrection. So, when you go through this, Isaac gets edited out
of the picture here. You read nothing about Isaac coming back with Abraham.
ÒIn the text of Scripture, the Holy Spirit
just edits him out until you get over to chapter 24, and the next time you see
Isaac is when he receives his bride. ThereÕs a lot of typology going on here.
ÒAbraham said, ÔMy son, God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering.Õ Now Abraham didnÕt know what he was
saying in the context we think about it but we know things he didnÕt know. We
can go back and look at that and say, ÔWhew, isnÕt it interesting how God put
that in His Word and what you see here is God already had some things planned.
You can see those kinds of things in a typology like this.Ó
*****
Psalm 22 is all about the crucifixion of Jesus
Christ and is, in fact, the mental conversation Christ
has with God the Father while HeÕs on the Cross. In the very first verse, He
says, ÔMy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?Õ
Jordan says, ÒThereÕs a point in the darkness
on the Cross where those words actually come out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus
Christ and you know whatÕs in His mind because you hear what comes out of His
mouth and HeÕs crying exactly what this text is saying.
ÒAt the point where he cries this in the
darkness, verse 6, the Lord Jesus Christ, at that moment, was suffering in his
soul the transformation that the Bible calls the second death. It was the death
of our inner man that Jesus Christ was experiencing personally for you and me
on the Cross, and one of the great testimonies to that is what you read when
you hear him cry the words, ÔMy God why hast thou forsaken?Õ and you see in the
text things that no one could have understood until after the events.
ÒIn verse 22 he begins to talk about the
resurrection and the glory of the kingdom thatÕs going to come and so forth.
Oftentimes, the No. 22 gets associated with things in which the spiritual light
and knowledge isnÕt necessarily right on the surface but will be there in the
text under the surface waiting to be illuminated later.
*****
Psalm 119 is divided in verse markings and
there are 22 sections. In verse one is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet and each paragraph begins with one
of the letters. In other words, there are 22 sections of eight verses that
match the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
WhatÕs fascinating is the word Òletter,Ó
either singular or plural, occurs in the New Testament 22 times. Also, there
are 22 ÒlettersÓ in the New Testament once you subtract out the Gospels and the
Book of Acts.
Jordan explains, ÒIn the New Testament, itÕs
the epistles that begin to give light and revelation and knowledge and
understanding to the events, whether itÕs for the Body of Christ or for the
tribulation saints.Ó
*****
In Psalm 119, there are 10 terms for the Scripture
and they occur in all but three verses. The Book of Lamentations does very much
what Psalm 119 does and in chapter 1 and 2 of Lamentations, there are 22
verses. Then you notice chapter 4 and 5 have 22 verses. This is because each
one of the verses in Chapters 1-5 begins with the next letter of the Hebrew
alphabet.
ÒChapter 3 has 66 verses so if you divide 22
into 66 you get three so 66 is three times 22,Ó says Jordan. ÒWhat happens in
Lamentations 3 is every third verse begins with the next Hebrew letter.Ó
*****
In Exodus 25, talking about the Tabernacle, it
says itÕs made of layer after layer of animal skins and is pitch
black dark inside. There arenÕt any windows, thereÕs no illumination
except for this candlestick.
ÒThe thing that gives physical light in the
tabernacle is that candlestick because itÕs got bowls of fuel oil in it,Ó says
Jordan. ÒIn Scripture, oil is a type of the Holy Spirit. The light the Holy Spirit
gives; the illumination, the knowledge, the wisdom, the understanding, and, by the
way, on that table of shewbread are 12 loaves of bread. And there are six on
one side and six on the other. The BibleÕs called Ôthe bread of lifeÕ and it
just happens to have 66 books in it.
ÒVerse 34 says that in the candlestick Ôshall
be four bowls made like unto almonds.Õ ThatÕs three branches on each side; each branch has three bowls
that come out of it. Three times six is 18. IÕve got 18 bowls. How many did he
say were in the shaft?
ÒIn the candlestick shall be four bowls. In
the shaft of the candlestick, youÕre going to have four bowls. So, if IÕve got 18 in the branches and four in the shaft, how many
bowls are there? 22. WhatÕs that candlestick doing? ItÕs giving light.
The oil is giving illumination to the bread of life so the prayers of the
saints can apply the bread of life to the details of their lives and it just
happens to be 22 bowls.Ó