I believe that God weaves His design into the Bible in many ways. One thing He uses is numbers and the number He uses most prominently is the number seven. I saw this again today as I worked on a study of the Third Epistle of John. Although by verse count, its 14 verses are one more than the 13 verses of 2 John, it actually has 4 words less than 2 John. Therefore, by word count it is the smallest book in the Bible. But in this tiny book, God leaves His footprint. The subject matter is fascinating and helpful, but there is much for the lover of numbers as well. Seven is used in the Bible as the number of God's perfect work. Let's see how this number shows God's work in 2John. An outstanding number of statistics are multiples of seven.
Alfred Edersheim wrote a major life of Christ called "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah." Edersheim's Jewish heritage gave him interesting insights into many of the beliefs and ways of life during the time of Christ. In his book (Vol.11, p.12), he wrote of the Jewish traditions concerning the defilement of hands and the accusation that Jesus did not keep these traditions (as recorded in Mark 7:1-9).
I received the following excellent comments on the earlier blog called Using Biblical Terminology. I often can see points in the different sides of arguments and wanted to give everyone a chance to see another side of this. My thanks to the one who gave this response (I will leave you anonymous): "Brother I greatly enjoy David Cloud's material, but on this issue of asking Jesus into our hearts I think he is making a mountain out of a mole hill. Consider the following verses: Galatians 4:6 - God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. Ephesians 3:17 - That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. While these verses are not exactly a sinner's prayer, the idea of Jesus in our hearts is in there sufficiently and so I don't understand why Bro Cloud 'blasts' asking Jesus into your heart so adamantly."
In the 1780's, the Baptist pastor John Leland was fighting against Virginia state taxes going to support the Episcopalian clergy. One clergyman argued that they had to have the tax income in order to have the time needed to prepare for sermons. Leland responded that he could expound the scriptures without special preparation and the Episcopalian challenged him to prove it by preaching on a text provided just before the sermon. "Leland went into the pulpit and was handed a text which proved to be Numbers 22:21, 'And Balaam saddled his ass.' Mr Leland first commented on the account from which the text was taken, and then said he should divide his subject into three parts: 1st, Balaam, as a false prophet, represents a hireling clergy; 2nd, the saddle represents their enormous salaries, and 3rd, the dumb ass represents the people who will bare such a load." Quote taken from "How Satan Turned America Against God" by William P. Grady (p.159-160).
One of the most interesting short verses in the Bible reads, "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying." In seven simple words (seven being the number of perfection), The Bible identifies the source of what Moses wrote. It did not come from Moses, but directly from the Lord Himself. The words of the law are the words of God. This is an important doctrinal truth. However, I do not know what Bible reference to give you for this verse. It occurs with these exact seven words a total of 72 times in the Bible. 72 is 6 times 12 (6 being the number of man and 12 the number of Israel). Perhaps this indicates that God used Israel to bring His words to man.
