Bible Matters 129: 9/6/21

On 9/6/21 after texting the time, 8:28, on my phone, I had put my phone in my pocket.   Minutes later I pulled my phone from my pocket and my phone had pocket text the phrase “Romans”.  

From the Bible we know Romans 8:28 states:

Romans 8:28 – And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

At that time, I was struggling with my church sending people to the jail ministry wanting to read the ABC plan of salvation to people without repentance of sin required by Jesus.   They would then tell the inmates that they were saved and had everlasting life with Jesus.   This ABC plan of salvation is wrong and is in direct conflict with Jesus’s words in the Bible.  Jesus tells us in his words in the New Testament that you must repent of your sins and turn to him, abide in his words and by faith you receive the gift of everlasting life.  (See Bible Matters 113:  Gospel of Jesus Christ.)

With this Romans 8:28 text, I communicated with my pastors and jail ministry team.   The outcome is that I have the jail ministry, teaching the truth in God’s Word and without any interference. 

So why did I get this text on 9/6/21?

In bible numbers:  

Number 9: Nine (teth) – Visitation

Teth is a snake in Hebrew. It can also signify being surrounded, for the snake was often pictured in a circle swallowing its tail.

The number nine speaks God’s “visitation.” This is a Hebraism that pictures God as an Investigator “visiting” a person, city, or nation to expose the hearts, gather evidence, and “see” firsthand, as it were, the truth of a matter. It is much like a divine court case where the evidence is uncovered and presented to the judge for judgment. In Luke 19:43 and 44, Jesus says to the temple in Jerusalem,

43 For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, 44 and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation [Greek: episcope, “bishopric, overseer”].

In this case, the time of visitation was the three-year period of Jesus’ ministry from 30-33 A.D., where God manifested in human flesh to “visit” Judea and Jerusalem and to test the hearts of the people. (Jesus is called a Bishop or Overseer in 1 Peter 2:25.) In another sense, Jesus was the Heavenly Fruit Inspector. Jesus found a few whose hearts were right, and these formed the branches of the good fig tree that brought forth good fruit (Jer. 24:5-7). The majority, however, along with the religious leaders, were of the evil fig tree (Jer. 24:8-10). The good figs were Jesus’ disciples and the converts of the early Church, who were expelled from the land (by persecution), in order that God might spare them from the coming judgment forty years later.

The idea of “visitation” is shown in the Old Testament. For believers, it has a positive connotation, as in Gen. 50:24, 25, Psalm 106:4, and Jer. 27:24. Their visitation results salvation or deliverance. However, for unbelievers, it carries a negative result, as we see in Ex. 32:34, Lev. 18:25, Isaiah 10:3, and Jer. 10:15. The Hebrew word for “visitation” in the Old Testament is peqadah, and the Septuagint Greek equivalent is episcope.

Number 6: Six (vav) – Man

Vav is a nail or peg in Hebrew. It is also a conjunction (“and”), for it takes a nail to connect two things.

Six is the number of man, for man was created on the sixth day (Gen. 1:24-31). Man was also to labor for six days before entering into the Sabbath rest (Ex. 20:8-11), and the Hebrew slave was to serve for six years (Ex. 21:2).

Moses had to wait for six days before he was allowed to go up the mount to meet the Lord (Ex. 24:16-18). Even so, has man had to wait six thousand years to meet the Lord in the second coming of Christ.

Israel compassed the walls of Jericho for six days before the city fell on the seventh (Joshua 6:14, 15). This is a type of 6,000 years of labor in spiritual warfare before the world system falls.

In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon erected an image of gold by which the gold standard was created. Verse 1 says that it was 60 cubits high and 6 cubits wide. The dimensions of this image are too thin to be the statue of a man. It was more likely something else with a gold object on the top or head. But it does speak of man’s effort to establish a system of economic control by means of the worship of gold and money in general.

Hence, Paul writes in 1 Tim. 6:10 that “the love of money [greed] is the root of all evil.” Also, the works of the flesh in Gal. 5:19-21 lists witchcraft as the sixth vice. Witchcraft is simply man’s attempt to manipulate others against their will. For this reason, Saul’s rebellion against God was “as the sin of witchcraft” (1 Sam. 15:23). What is not generally understood is that man’s religion is largely a matter of doing rituals to manipulate one’s god (or gods) into doing things that are beneficial to them.

Number 21: Twenty-One (kaph-aleph) – Distress

To write twenty-one in Hebrew, they wrote two Hebrew letters: kaph-aleph. These signify giving strength as well as the strength of God’s grace to cover sin during our time of spiritual growth.

When twenty-one is used in terms of time (as in a 21-year period) it is the number of trouble or distress (tsarah), during which time we are in need of God’s strength, offered by an open hand. When it is used as a number in itself, it speaks of the end of the distress. Thus, it speaks of the blessing at the end.

Likewise, the 21st time Abram is mentioned is in Gen. 13:3, where he returned to Bethel after being in distress in Egypt. Verse 4 says that there he “called on the name of the Lord.”

In conclusion:  On that Labor Day morning, 9/6/21, I needed the power of God to overcome the wickedness in man by misleading people not in accordance to God’s word.  I was under great distress!  God visited me and gave me his word in Romans 8:28 and told me to have faith and he will take care of me!   That verse gave me strength to stand up against the evils of religion.  Three days later the jail ministry was mine and no longer were heretics coming to the jail abusing God’s word. There is no confusion when you abide in God’s word.  The message is clear. 

Psalm 118:5 – I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place.

Since that Monday morning, God has been so good to me.   I love Jesus so much.   I study his word daily and am always looking for ways to feed his sheep.  Since that day, in God’s name, he has allowed me to publish four books, which contains powerful messages from God’s word on getting victory in your life.   My books are given away freely.  They are not copyrighted in man’s terms and anyone can copy any or all of God’s word from his books.  Today, decide to love Jesus and follow him.

To God be the glory in all you do, Amen.