For thousands and thousands of years, some scholars have studied the Bible by focusing on the meaning or symbolism of certain numbers. We must be very careful when studying those numbers, for it is all too easy to focus on the numbers themselves and search for so-called hidden meanings while failing to understand why God has given specific numbers for us to understand. But that’s not to say that all Biblical numbers are meaningless, for some numbers we read most certainly do have implications for our study of the Scriptures.
Take, for example, the number 40. When God sent the great flood to destroy the wicked people while preserving only Noah and his family – and preserving the life of animals and birds – Genesis 7:12 says that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on Mt. Sinai when God gave him and us the Ten Commandments – and when the Children of Israel rebelled against the God who had led them from the slavery of Egypt, they were forced to spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness before their children could finally enter the Promised Land. Following His baptism, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness as He was tempted by Satan. Last Thursday we marked Christ’s ascension into heaven – an event that took place 40 days following His resurrection. What you see here is a pattern – a pattern of the number 40 representing either a period of testing or a critical period of God’s redemptive history of His people.
Another symbolic number – one that is less often used but which has great importance – is the number 12. In the Book of Genesis we learn how God chose the 12 sons of Jacob to be His covenant people. Those sons and their families – better known as the 12 Tribes of Israel – were given more than just the promise of a homeland flowing with milk and honey. More importantly, were given the promise of being the ancestors of the Messiah, the one who would lead them not only from temporary, painful human bondage, but from the deadly and eternal spiritual bondage of sin.
As we continue our study of the Old Testament we see how God did, indeed, lead the 12 Tribes to the Promised Land. This great nation that had descended from the 12 sons of Jacob now began to live – or so it seemed – in one communion as God’s faithful people. But the oneness was often tested and was sometimes shattered. In the Book of Judges we read of conflict when members of the Tribe of Dan, who were unhappy with their portion of the Promised Land, so they set out to conquer new lands for themselves. Then we read of the Tribe of Benjamin being attacked by armies of the other 11 tribes. Under King David and King Solomon the 12 Tribes seemingly were united in peace. But following Solomon’s death, the Promised Land was broken into two nations, the nations of Israel and Judah. The 12 Tribes were broken apart, never again to be unified or complete. Just as sin had corrupted all of God’s creation when Adam and Eve first defied God, sin had likewise corrupted God’s chosen people, and they would never again – never in all of recorded history – be one.
The memory of the 12 Tribes remained firmly planted in the psyche of Jacob’s descendants who still followed the true God in what was left of Israel 2,000 years ago. And it was then – 2,000 years ago, during the ministry of Jesus – that 12 again became an important number in Scripture. Although we are told that large numbers of people followed Jesus for much of His ministry, Jesus personally selected 12 men to be His Apostles. On one occasion recorded in Matthew chapter 19, when Jesus was discussing life in heaven following His second coming, He told the Apostles: “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
And yet, it was one of the 12 – Judas Iscariot – who broke the fellowship of the Apostles by betraying Jesus and killing himself. In the days following the Resurrection and the Ascension but prior to the day of Pentecost, the fellowship of the Apostles had been broken by the sin of that one man.
And so the eleven and those who also followed Jesus awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit by devoting themselves to prayer and the study of Scripture. Peter addressed the group and recited verses from two of the Psalms, including these words from Psalm 109: “Let another take his office.” Peter and the other followers of Jesus understood that the full number of the twelve must be restored. They identified two men who had been followers of Jesus from the start of His ministry – Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. God’s choice, determined by casting lots, was Matthias. And now the number of the twelve was restored. Everything was in readiness for the sending of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Everything was in readiness for the Apostles – the twelve – to begin following Jesus’ command to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
After these few verses, we are told no more in Scripture about Matthias – he is never mentioned again. For that matter, only a few of the Apostles are actually mentioned in the final 23 books of the New Testament. All of our attention will now be focused not on this number, but to the apostolic witness to Christ and the spread of the Gospel throughout what then was most of the known world.
It is in this witness and spreading of the Gospel that we focus in on the number cited by Jesus in today’s Gospel lesson: the number one. In His prayer for the Apostles, Jesus asks: “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”
“Even as we are one,” Jesus said. Today Christians confess creeds – statements of what we believe – in the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed – but in Jesus’ day, the creed of the Jewish people was represented by these words from Deuteronomy chapter 6, words known as the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Even though the Shema was spoken for centuries before God’s people understood the Trinity – and, in fact, it is still spoken today by faithful Jews who reject Jesus and the Holy Spirit – it actually is totally consistent with everything that Jesus taught and everything that we Christians believe. Two weeks from today is Trinity Sunday, the day that we focus so specifically on our belief in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – three persons but one and only one God.
This belief in the oneness of the Triune God – our confession that we make here and now – represents the prayer of Jesus “that they” – that we – “may be one.” One of my favorite Psalms is a Psalm of David, Psalm 133. Many people are familiar with more frequently-referenced Psalms – certainly Psalm 23 or Psalm 51 in which we pray: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” But Psalm 133 is not familiar to many of us. It’s only three verses long, and these are its words:
1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.
Unity … blessing … life forevermore. What beautiful words, representing the life we have – or should have – as redeemed believers in Christ. But as we look around the religious landscape of modern Christianity, we seldom see much if any unity. Instead, we see denominations based on false teachings and flawed understandings of Scripture. We see churches that deny the truth of Scripture and substitute the sinful and shortsighted opinions of mankind. In our own beloved Missouri Synod our fellowship is divided by issues including forms of worship, denial of the clear Biblical mandate for closed communion, and even – by a few – calls for the ordination of women pastors. Sometimes congregations are split into warring factions to the extent that hate and fear replace love and fellowship. As long as we draw breath on this earth, Satan will never stop trying to divide us by sin and destroy our fellowship, just as he destroyed the fellowship of the 12 Tribes and the fellowship of the 12 Apostles.
I thank God every day that St. Paul Lutheran Church here in Pana is not beset by these false beliefs and false practices. I thank God that this congregation holds fast to the teachings of Scripture and the teachings of Scripture alone. This doesn’t mean that we may not, on occasion, disagree on some issues or details. But in matters of faith, we are one. Jesus prayed: “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one.” Jesus continues to make that same prayer for us. And He will do so continuously until we are brought to Paradise, where we and all believers shall worship our Triune God with one voice, in unity for all eternity.
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