For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16This verse, John 3:16, has been called the most important verse in the whole Bible. It encapsulates God's covenant relationship He so desires to have with His creation, man. This relationship was lost when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden. Through sin came death. But God provided a way back through His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.This belief, this faith, constitutes a covenant, an agreement, with Almighty God. It was made possible through the cutting of flesh and the shedding of blood of Jesus Christ. Man cut the flesh and shed the blood of Jesus to where it is said He was unrecognizable as a human being. As it is written.For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Matthew 26:28In the beginning, God cut the flesh and shed the blood of animals to prepare skins for Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness. Although it is also written.For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Hebrews 10:4In the Old Testament, God made the cutting of human flesh the sign of God's covenant with Abraham. God had Abraham cut the flesh and shed the blood of his own foreskin in obedience to God. And on the eighth day it was commanded by God to do likewise for all of Abrahams descendants, whether natural born or adopted as a child of Abraham.This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. Genesis 17:10-12Through science we know that the one blood clotting factor Vitamin K is not produced in the intestines of infants till the 5th to 7th day after birth. We also know that the other blood clotting factor Prothrombin that is available throughout life, starts out at birth at around 90% of normal and dips down below 50% from the 2nd through the 4th day and then starts increasing and actually peaks at around 110% on the eighth day. In other words, the eighth day is the best day of an infants life to be circumcised. God is in the details.Now we recognize that Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem, riding on a foal of a donkey.Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. Matthew 21:5He was welcomed as Messiah by many, on the first day of the week, which we celebrate as Palm Sunday. We also recognize that the blood of Jesus Christ was shed for the many at His death in the middle of the week. This was at the time the lambs were being slaughtered for Passover which began at sundown. We finally recognize that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the next week, which we celebrate as Resurrection Sunday. He was the firstfruits from the dead on the day the Jewish people celebrate as the FirstFruits of the Barley Harvest. This first day of the week He rose from the dead is also the 8th day counting from previous week when He rode triumphantly into Jerusalem.We of course recognize that Jesus Christ's flesh was cut and His blood was shed on the eighth day following His birth when He too was circumcised. But Messiah's foreskin was not cut off for Himself to enter a covenant relationship which would have been with Himself. That would make no sense. It was for the sake of man. It was to fulfill all righteousness and to keep the law perfectly. As was prophesied in Daniel 9:26, "..shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:..". This word, "cut" used in this verse means the cutting of flesh as in a covenant. The cutting off of the foreskin was the covenant sign between God and the sons of Abraham. In the very next verse we find, "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week". Now in recent years this last verse has been taken by many to apply only to anti-Messiah to the exclusion of Messiah, the one actually mentioned in the previous verse. Be assured, the application to Messiah is true. However, that does not mean both are not true. An imitator, a fake, the anti-Messiah, will seek to fulfill prophecy to establish himself as Messiah. We know though that Messiah did indeed confirm the one week covenant with many, in fact twice. He confirmed it first, taking His place as the son of man at His birth with His circumcision. He confirmed it last, taking His place as the Son of God at His death as the perfect sacrifice by His crucifixion. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Both were in the midst of the 7,000 year week. As it is written:But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. II Peter 3:8And we all to gain eternal life must confirm this covenant with God by spiritually eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood of the covenant, Jesus Christ, by believing in Him. For it is written:Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:53We know a week has 7 days. These 7 days stand for 7,000 years. Man will rule for the first 6,000. Messiah will rule for the last 1,000. At the end of these 7,000 years, the heavens above and the earth below will pass away and be no more. As it is written:And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. Revelation 21:1At the end of these 7,000 years, these 7 days, begins eternity. At the end of these 7 days begins of course, the 8th day. Turn 8 on its side and you will see the symbol for infinity. The word translated "Jesus" when written in Greek, the language of the New Testament, has a numerical value total for its letters which also stand for numbers, of 888. The words translated, "I AM WHO I AM" plus the word "Shiloh" when written in Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, also has a numerical value total for its letters which also stand for numbers, also of 888. God is in the details.Now clearly the 8th day has everything to do with God's covenant with man while John 3:16 is considered the clearest expression of this covenant of any one verse in the Bible. But how does Tim Tebow fit in? Well, Tim Tebow had the message "John 3:16" on the eye black under his eyes which was seen by millions on the 8th day January, the 8th day of 2009. On that day he led his team to victory in the 2009 BCS National Championship. Over the next 24 hours, "John 3:16" was the most "Googled" search term in the world with over 90 million searches. God is in the details.Tim Tebow was drafted into the NFL in 2010 by the Denver Broncos. Now the NFL does not allow messages on eye black. It does allow some celebration in the end zone after touchdowns. Tim has used these opportunities to kneel on one knee and lower his head in prayer and reverence to God. The sports media calls this "te-bowing", sometimes in a mocking manner. But God is not mocked. What Tim couldn't express in words he is now expressing in actions.Now again, on the 8th day of January, the 8th day of the year, this time in 2012, Tim Tebow signed "John 3:16", not with face paint, but with his arm. The arm his critics say can't throw. On that day, he led his team to victory in a playoff game with the Pittsburgh Steelers, passing for exactly 316 yards. He completed exactly 10 passes for an average of 31.6 yards per pass. The Nielsen rating for the game peaked the last quarter hour at 31.6. The Pittsburgh Steelers time of possession was 31 minutes and 6 seconds. And the games only interception, which was thrown by Ben Roethlisberger, came on 3rd and 16. Again, "John 3:16" became the most searched term over the next 24 hours on the internet. And Twitter reported that the event spawned 9,420 tweets per second which set a new Twitter record for a sporting event. God is indeed, or should we say God is in both word and deed, in the details.Wikipedia has even a dedicated page to this game, what has now been termed the "3:16 Game".Now, how many references to the 8th day and the number 8 have you seen? Yes, this 3:16 game was on the 8th day of January, the 8th day of 2012. Did you know the game went into overtime right at 8 PM (EST) when Ben Roethlisberger was sacked? The game started with Denver kicking off the ball, the ball then hitting the end zone goalpost, and then improbably bouncing back to land exactly on the other team's 20 yard line, 80 yards from Denver's endzone. There's that number 8 again.The game ended when Demaryius Thomas, number 88, caught a pass for an 80 yard reception into the endzone. Three more number 8's.Three years earlier, Tim Tebow had led the Florida Gators to a BCS National Championship win over the Oklahoma Sooners. Remember when? That's right, the 8th day of 2009. Coverage of that game started at 8 PM (EST). To make these coincidences seem even more unbelievable, in 2007, five years earlier, Tim Tebow led the Florida Gators to a BCS National Championship win over the Ohio Buckeyes. This game was also on the 8th day of the year, January 8th, 2007. Coverage of this game also started at 8 PM (EST). Can we say, Amen? God is in the details.But let's move on to the present. On the 600th day of Tim Tebow signing a 5 year contract with the Denver Broncos, the announcement was made that Denver would be signing Peyton Manning. While the 5 year contract Tim signed right out of college was for around $2 million a year, the 5 year contract Peyton Manning would be signing was for around $20 million a year or right at 10 times what they were paying Tim Tebow. Not bad for Peyton Manning who had sat out the whole 2011 season due to neck surgeries. Not bad for a 36 year old guy when the average NFL player retires by the age of 28.One has to ask, is Tim Tebow really worth only a tenth, a tithe, compared to Peyton Manning? But then God is in the details.Tim Tebow was then traded to the New York Jets a few days later after the announcement. During and after the trade, Tim Tebow has been roundly criticized that he can't pass.But it takes two to make a reception and Denver does not have a powerhouse of receivers. Before Tebow, Denver had not made it into the playoffs since 2005. Have all these commentators forgotten that Tim Tebow is the highest rated passer, that's right I said passer, in the history of SEC football? Have all these commentators forgotten that while in college, using the same formula the NFL uses, he had a rating of 120.72? Peyton Manning while in college had an impressive 100.93. But that's still 20 points below Tim Tebow. And in college Peyton Manning had over twice as many interceptions as Tim Tebow. This is Peyton Manning who was chosen No. 1 in the NFL draft 14 years ago in 1998 when he was 22 and chosen over Tim Tebow by the Denver Broncos as starting quarterback in 2012. The sports prognosticators in 2010 were predicting that Tim Tebow who holds many records in the SEC, had no way of being the No. 1 draft pick. In fact many predicted he wouldn't even go till the 4th round. But then they were also predicting that the Pittsburgh Steelers would rout the Denver Broncos on the 8th day of 2012 and Tim Tebow would be knocked out of the game before it ended. But it seems God is in the details.Oh, those sports writers say we're comparing apples and oranges. Tim Tebow is in the NFL now. He still somehow managed to take the Denver Broncos from a 1 and 4 start before he became the starting quarterback, to finish 8 and 8 and into the playoffs. Then, on the eighth day of 2012, he led the Denver Broncos to beat the much more highly favored Pittsburgh Steelers. But then God is in the details.Let's take a closer look at this game. With losing 8 games, the Denver Broncos had lost twice as many games during the regular season as the Pittsburgh Steelers who sat with only four. Clearly this should be a blowout on paper. During the regular season, Pittsburgh had only given up one pass for over 45 yards. In the past 10 years in any one game, Pittsburgh had never given up more than two passes for 50 yards or more. Tim Tebow threw three for 50 yards or more. That's right! Oh I forgot, Tim Tebow can't pass.Okay, sure, during the game Tim Tebow completed less than half of his passes. Doesn't sound good on paper. Especially for those who need an excuse to put down Tim Tebow. But for every pass attempt, completion or failure, he averaged during the game over twice as many yards as Pittsburgh. This earned him an impressive NFL passing rating of 125.6.But its not about giving Tim Tebow the glory. Tim is not about giving himself the glory. He is about giving God the glory. For that, for his unapologetic proclamation of the Christian faith, he is as famous or infamous off the field as on the field . Just his existence is enough to send aborticide activists up a wall. He has graciously accepted the scorn of those who can only be described as anti-christian bigots. His John 3:16 emblazoned eye black told them the message they needed to hear, but also the message they did not want to hear. For as it is written:And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil John 3:19Now you would have thought we had exhausted the references to 3:16 in the game played on the 8th day of 2012 when Pittsburgh came to Mile High Stadium to steel a win and destroy the broncos. But we haven't. God is in the details.Let's start with the game tied and in overtime. Denver has the ball on their 20. Tim Tebow stands waiting for the ball to be hiked. The Bronco's offensive front has lined up off their 20, standing on their 19, 3/16ths of the way, that's right, 3/16ths of the way down the 100 yard football field.The ball is hiked. The pass is thrown. A stiffarm was given. And in 3/16ths of a minute, that's right, 3/16ths of a minute, the game is over. Tim Tebow had thrown the game winning touchdown and in the process set a record for the fastest win in NFL overtime history! An amazing 11 seconds!The knee is bent. The head is bowed. Jesus is thanked. And Tim Tebow is seen by millions giving credit and glory to Jesus Christ! Tebowing. Whether being made fun of or admired the world over, the world has set up and noticed.Was this an isolated, admittedly miraculous, win? Defying seemingly impossible odds, Tim Tebow had led his team to victory in the last moments of many regular season games as well. When the Broncos played Miami they were behind 15-0 with less than 3 minutes left in the game. Denver came back to tie the game and then win the game in overtime. Not since the AFL/NFL merger in 1970 has a team come back from a 15 point or more deficit with less than 3 minutes to play in the game, to win.The Broncos went on to win all 3 of their 16 regular season games that went into overtime. Three out of 16, Hmmm. But then they lost the last 3 of their 16 regular season games as well. Three out of 16 again. Double hmmm. But then the kicker is that over the course of the whole regular season the Broncos averaged, wait for it, 316 and 3/5ths yards per game.It doesn't matter if the NFL doesn't allow religious expression on eye black. Nor if the NCAA no longer allows religious expression, dubbed the Tebow rule, on eye black. All the world can see the message 3:16. But then, God is in the details.Did most of these facts go unnoticed by the average viewer? But then we all are almost completely blind to the vast majority of what God does. Even in His personal dealings with each and every one of us. Even though we know God is a God of numbers, even numbering the hairs on our heads. As it is written:But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Matthew 10:30Because of football, many people know the story of Tim Tebow. It is similar to the story of Samuel and his mother Hannah in the Bible. Tim Tebow's parents were Baptist missionaries in the Philippines. While pregnant, his mom suffered a life-threatening infection. Drugs were used to bring her out of a coma and treat her for dysentery. The unborn child in all of this experienced a severe placental abruption. The doctors were expecting a stillbirth and recommended an abortion to his mom to protect her life. She refused. She prayed to God and promised that if her son was spared, she would dedicate Him to God to become a preacher of the Gospel. Tim lived, and has reached people the world over who would never have set foot inside a Church!For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16So simple. Yet so hard for so many to accept. So hard for those who want to deny there is a God. But to have a Lord God, Jesus Christ who died to redeem mankind and controls destiny down to the second, down to the yard! That's just unbelievable! But then, God is in the details!Shalom-Ted PorterThis is being posted to FiveDoves.com. As I have freely received, I freely give.