Dear
Doves,
I think that there could be a numerical pattern in the
book of Joshua which applies to the Church. It
occurs after the second generation of Israelites conquers
the land of Canaan and when Joshua assigns portions of the
land to the various tribes. Take a look at the following
quote:
“Now
the men of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and
Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him,
‘You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God at
Kadesh Barnea about you and me. I was forty
years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me
from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I
brought him back a report according to my convictions, but
my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the
people melt with fear. I, however, followed the
Lord my God wholeheartedly. So on that day
Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have
walked will be your inheritance and that of your
children forever, because you have followed the
Lord my God wholeheartedly.’ Now then, just as the
Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five
years since the time he said this to Moses,
while Israel moved about in the desert. So here
I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still
as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as
vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now
give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that
day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were
there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the
Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he
said.’ Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of
Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.
So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the
Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the Lord, the
God of Israel, wholeheartedly. (Hebron used to be
called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man
among the Anakites.) Then the land had rest
from war.” Joshua 14:6-15.
We see Caleb approach Joshua and remind him that God had
promised him a specific portion of the Promised Land
because of his faithfulness to Him. He states that
he is 85 years old, dividing his life into the 40 year
period prior to the time he was chosen to be one of the 12
spies and the 45 year period prior to the conquering of
the Promised Land. He has waited 45 years
since God’s promise of land to him. Joshua, the only
other person who survived out of the original generation,
gives Caleb Hebron as his inheritance. Then the land
has rest from war.
If you take apart the specific components of this
narrative, you will see an interesting parallel between
Caleb and the Church. If true, then the end of a 45
year period could be significant to the Church as
well.
Caleb
the Gentile
It is interesting to find out that Caleb, the man who was
chosen to spy on behalf of the Tribe of Judah, was
actually a Gentile. His father is called “Jephunneh
the Kenizzite.” The Kenizzites were one of the
peoples who inhabited the land of Canaan. (God
promised Abraham the land inhabited by the Kenizzites and
others in Genesis 15:17-21.)
Furthermore, the meaning of the name “Caleb” is dog.
The Jews of Biblical times referred to Gentiles as dogs –
including Jesus. When a Canaanite woman requests
healing for her daughter, Jesus initially refuses
her. But after she persists, He rewards her for her
faith:
"A
Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying
out, 'Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My
daughter is suffering terribly from
demon-possession.' Jesus did not answer a
word. So his disciples came to him and urged him,
'Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.'
He answered, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of
Israel.' The woman came and knelt before
him. 'Lord, help me!' she said. He
replied, 'It is not right to take the children's bread
and toss it to their dogs.' 'Yes, Lord,' she said,
'but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their
masters' table.' Then Jesus answered, 'Woman,
you have great faith! Your request is
granted.' And her daughter was healed from that very
hour." Matthew 15:22-28.
We can assume that Caleb has been adopted into the Tribe
of Judah – the kingly tribe and the Lord's line.
Likewise, the members of the predominately Gentile Church
have been adopted into the Lord's line. "In bringing many sons to glory, it
was fitting that God, for whom and through whom
everything exists, should make the author of their
salvation perfect through suffering. Both the
one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are
in the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed
to call them brothers." Hebrews 2:10-11.
Faith
is Essential
We see that Caleb was permitted to enter the Promised Land
because he exercised faith – he followed the Lord
wholeheartedly. Faith is essential then and
now. "And without faith it
is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to
him must believe that he exists and that he rewards
those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6.
Like Caleb, we cannot enter the Promised Land without
faith. "Therefore, since
the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be
careful that none of you be found to have fallen short
of it. For we also have had the gospel
preached to us, just as they did; but the message they
heard was of no value to them, because those who
heard did not combine it with faith.
Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God
has said, 'So I declared on oath in my anger, They shall
never enter my rest.'" Hebrews 4:1-3.
Joshua
We also see Joshua in his role as the leader of the
Israelites. He is giving out inheritances of land to
the various tribes. Please note that Caleb the
Gentile is the first to receive an inheritance from the
actual Promised Land, before the remaining Jewish
tribes. (The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and 1/2 of
Manasseh had already agreed to take land to the east of
Canaan.)
The name Joshua (also Yeshua) is a Hebrew variant of the
name Jesus. So, we have a picture of Jesus rewarding
a Gentile after a period of 45 years. We know that
all of us will stand before the Bema Seat of Christ where
we will be judged and (hopefully) rewarded. (See 2
Corinthians 5:10.) If Caleb is any indicator, then a
faithful Gentile Church will receive its reward prior to
Jewish believers – perhaps after a period of 45
years.
Inheritance
Caleb was given the inheritance of an earthly city.
He was eligible for this inheritance because he was
adopted into the Tribe of Judah. Likewise, as the
children of God, we are eligible to receive an
inheritance. "The Spirit
himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's
children. Now if we are children, then we are
heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed
we share in his sufferings in order that we may also
share in his glory." Romans 8:16-17.
Hebron
Caleb is given Hebron. The first time that Hebron is
mentioned in the Bible is when Abraham and Lot part ways
due to the increase of their respective flocks and
herds. Lot settles in the area of Sodom and
Gomorrah, while Abraham dwells in Canaan. God then
makes an eternal promise of land to Abraham and his
descendants.
"The Lord said to Abram after Lot
had parted from him, 'Lift up your eyes from where you
are and look north and south, east and west. All
the land that you see I will give to you and your
offspring forever. I will make your offspring like
the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the
dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go,
walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I
am giving it to you.' So Abram moved his tents and
went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron,
where he built an altar to the Lord." Genesis
13:14-18.
It is fitting then that Hebron is the first portion of the
Promised Land to be parceled out. It symbolically
represents the fulfillment of God’s land covenant to the
Jews. Hebron also has much Biblical
significance. Abraham bought a cave there for a
burial place for his wife Sarah. The subsequent tomb
is called the Tomb of the Patriarchs. According to
Jewish tradition, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah,
and Leah are buried there. It was one of the
forty-eight cities allotted to the Levites, who did not
receive any part of the land of Canaan for their
inheritance, because "the Lord, the God of Israel, is
their inheritance." Joshua 13:33. It was also
one of the six cities that were to serve as Cities of
Refuge. See Numbers 35. David was anointed as
King of Judah and reigned there for 7 years. (In
fact, the Lord actually told him to go to Hebron.
See 2 Samuel 2:1.) David was also anointed King of
Israel in Hebron before he moved his capital to Jerusalem
for the remaining 33 years of his reign. See 2
Samuel 5:1-5.
In modern times, Hebron has been the site of much
contention. In 1929, 67 Jews were killed there in an
Arab pogrom and the remaining Jews were forced to
flee. It was not until the Six Day War of 1967 that
Hebron was recaptured by the Jews.
It is interesting that Caleb of the kingly tribe of Judah
was given Hebron as his inheritance – a place that was
also given to the priestly tribe of Levites. In him,
we see the unique pairing of kings and priests.
Likewise, the Church is composed of kings and
priests. "You have
made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God
and they will reign on the earth." Revelation
5:10. We, like the patriarchs of old, look
forward to living in a city – an eternal one made by God
Himself.
"By faith Abraham, when called to
go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance,
obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he
was going. By faith he made his home in the
promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he
lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs
with him of the same promise. For he was
looking forward to the city with foundations, whose
architect and builder is God …. Instead, they were
longing for a better country – a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for
he has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:8-10,
and 16.
Someday, the Church will receive its inheritance of the
New Jerusalem. "But you
have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem,
the city of the living God. You have come to
thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to
the church of the firstborn, whose names are
written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge
of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made
perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to
the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the
blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse
him who speaks. If they did not escape when they
refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will
we, if we turn away from him who warns us from
heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth,
but now he has promised 'Once more I will shake
not only the earth but also the heavens.'"
Hebrews 12:22-26.
Enter
His Rest Today
The writer of Hebrews tells us that we have been given the
same choice that the first generation of Israelites was
given: trust in God or turn away from Him. “So, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today,
if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you
did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the
desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for
forty years saw what I did. That is why I was
angry with that generation, and I said, Their hearts are
always going astray, and they have not known my
ways. So I declared on oath in my anger, They
shall never enter my rest.’ See to it, brothers,
that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that
turns away from the living God. But encourage one
another daily, as long as it is called Today, so
that none of you may be hardened by sin’s
deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if
we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at
first.” Hebrews 3:7-14.
After Caleb received his inheritance, the land had rest
from war. We too have the promise of rest through
faith in Jesus Christ. But access to that rest is
limited to a period of time called “Today.” "Therefore God again set a certain
day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke
through David, as was said before: 'Today, if you hear
his voice, do not harden your hearts.' For if
Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken
later about another day. There remains, then, a
Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who
enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as
God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every
effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by
following their example of disobedience." Hebrews
4:7-11.
It is imperative that each of us make our decision for
Christ while it is still Today. Remember that the
first generation of Israelites could do nothing to change
God’s mind after he forbade them from entering the
Promised Land – even though they lived on for another 40
years. So do not wait. Tomorrow will be too
late.
The
Forty Plus Forty-Five Years Pattern
As much as I love Biblical patterns and types, I have
trouble with numerical patterns. If you do not get
the starting point right, then you get egg on your face
when something does not come to pass. So, while I am
sure that there is a Forty plus Forty-Five Years Pattern,
I cannot say for a fact that I have got the timing
right. So, for what it’s worth, I think that
the year 1967 is key to the pattern. Since the
Biblical narrative concerns the doling out of land as an
inheritance, I think that the physical land of Israel must
come to play in the prophetic fulfillment of the
pattern. During the Six Day War (June 5-10, 1967),
Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West
Bank, Old City of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
The City of Hebron was also recaptured during this
war. So there was a significant increase to the
physical area of Israel in that year. If we take
1967 as our point of reference, forty-five years ahead
would bring us to 2012. And forty years behind would
bring us to 1927.
So, did anything of consequence occur to the land of
Israel in 1927? Surprisingly, yes. There was a
major 6.2 earthquake on July 11, 1927 in the northern Dead
Sea area. It caused at least 300 deaths. A
2007 article from WND.com states: “According to a report
from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at the time of the 1927
quake, there was ‘not a house in Jerusalem or Hebron’
that did not sustain some damage.” According
to a 2010 article from HAARETZ.com: “On average, a
destructive earthquake takes place in Israel once every 80
years, causing serious casualties and damage. The
more time passes since the previous earthquake, the closer
we are to the next. In other words, we are running
out of time.”
Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the average period of
time between major earthquakes in Israel is 80
years. For example, the last three major quakes
occurred in 1759, 1837, and 1927. Thus, the year
1927 is still mentioned today by researchers who
anticipate the next major earthquake to occur in Israel at
any time.
Caleb was 85 years old when he received his inheritance of
Hebron. Will something significant happen with
regard to the land of modern Israel after an 85 year
period? Perhaps the end of war in the land?
Perhaps an earthquake? The Bible talks about an
earthquake in connection to the Gog Magog War of Ezekiel
38-39. “When Gog attacks
the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused,
declares the Sovereign Lord. In my zeal and fiery
wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a
great earthquake in the land of Israel.”
Ezekiel 38:18-19. Even more significant, as
a result of that war, Israel will finally know that the
Lord is their God. And He will bring all the
Jews back to the land of Israel – “to their own
land.”
“From that day forward the house
of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God.
And the nations will know that the people of Israel went
into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful
to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them
over to their enemies, and they all fell by the
sword. I dealt with them according to their
uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid my face from
them. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord
says: I will now bring Jacob back from captivity
and will have compassion on all the people of Israel,
and I will be zealous for my holy name. They will
forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they
showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land
with no one to make them afraid. When I have
brought them back from the nations and have gathered
them from the countries of their enemies, I will show
myself holy through them in the sight of many
nations. They will know that I am the Lord their
God, for though I sent them into exile among the
nations, I will gather them to their own land,
not leaving any behind. I will no longer
hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on
the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Ezekiel 39:22-29.
Like
Caleb, will the Gentile Church receive its inheritance of
a city after a 45 year period? It should be noted
that resurrection events have been connected to
earthquakes – see Matthew 27:51-53 and Revelation
11:11-13. So, the Rapture could also result in a
major shaking of the earth.
I do not know for sure, but if 1967 is the correct point
of reference for the pattern, then something significant
should happen in 2012. It cannot hurt for us to be
ready. May we all be found to be faithful like
Caleb, following the Lord with our whole heart.
Maranatha.
– Lisa Taylor