1)            The Divine inherent latent power of the number twelve was ignited at the Incarnation. Twelve, from the point of Scripture, is the number of the soteriology. The Incarnational phenomenality is irrefutably the hypostatic union of the unwonted one-hundred-percent-God, one-hundred-percent-man of the enigmatic quiddity of Jesus Christ. Jesus often called Himself the Son of Man. We also know from Scripture that He is definitely the Son of God. It says that “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).It also records in God’s word, “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31). Created on day number six, it is the number of the first man, Adam.

                This is the scriptural account of Adam, the husband of Eve, 1Corinthians 15:45 “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” His natural emergence is from the dust, earthly, created on the sixth day. There is a marked difference between the first and the last of these Adams, as we understand 1Corinthians 15:46, “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.” The spiritual realm rules the physical. “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (1Cor 15:47). As the Second Man, His number is 6+6 (12). As the Last Adam, He is the prototypical reality of Adamic beings: for it says, “Let us make man in our image” in Genesis 1:26 and Pauline teaching unveils the ‘image’ in 2Corinthians 4:4 “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” We were made after the image of Christ, the Second Member of the Godhead.

The twenty-four elders represent the perfect Church

                Indubitable soteriological facticity of the number twelve comes to fore in the vaticination of Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” The Messianic reality of establishment coming from the given Son further establishes the Incarnation. The birth of the child underscores the emergence of the Second Man – the second six or twelve –, the Last Adam, being the most enigmatic One to tread upon the surface of terra firma. The Lord from the Rainbow Administration of the empyrean assizes cannot be born: for a being of Adamic procreation begins life in the womb. The Christ, Whose goings forth is from eternality of the timeless past, can only be given, ergo, the Incarnation. Amen.

                His Incarnation brought the timelessness of the Christ into the time of our world. Seven days for a week accounts for the perfection of His being. Twelve number of months for every year makes Him the Owner of our days. In the heavenly assizes, there are twenty-four lesser thrones forming an arc round the empyrean Majesty. The twenty-four elders represent the perfect Church that does not fail to give the true latria to the Most High Jehovah, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

                The deity of Jesus accounts for the titles of Wonderful, Counsellor, The everlasting Father and Prince of peace. I once explained His Deity to a Jehovah’s Witness member, pointing to “mighty God” of Isaiah and, “He is ‘mighty’, not ‘Almighty’,” was his retort. If mighty is given in modification of God, in this case, Jesus, then, He is, no doubt, the Almighty. How do I know this fact? Let us read a Davidic Psalm 24:8 “Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.” The LORD is the Hebraic Yahweh, receiving grammatical qualification of the same ‘mighty’ which in Hebrew is gibbôr (ghib-bore’): ‘mighty, powerful, warrior or tyrant.’

                The first time the number twelve appears in Scripture is in Genesis 14:4 “Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.” This number of soteriological significance easily translates service. Chedorlaomer’s tyranny forced five kingdoms under its domination for twelve years. They failed to stay liberated because they bypassed Christ, the true Owner of the number twelve, believing in their physical warring strength. It took the number of grace – five – for Abraham, friend of Christ, the LORD of Psalm 24, to redeem Lot from Chedorlaomer’s grip. They were five kingdoms only in physical numeration, denying the power of the grace of God, hence, they failed to break successfully from the tyrannical grip of Chedorlaomer.

                Spiritual acquittal and discharge takes place only when one is born again. To be born again, say, with all your heart, this simple prayer:

“Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I receive Him now as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen!”

(…to be continued…)

Visits: 8