Day Victory (17) Swallows Death (23)
Lily said, “I am so looking forward to the coming “Bride theft!”
Obadiah replied, “The coming harpazo!”
Virginia chimed in, “The rapture of the Saints!”
Elizabeth exclaimed, “Halleluiah! The day victory swallows death!”
Stuart said, “Let it be so. As it is written:”
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. I Corinthians 15:54
Lily said, “And as it is also written.”
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. I Thessalonians 4:16-17
Obadiah said, “And in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ as spoken through His prophet Isaiah:”
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. Isaiah 25:8
Virginia exclaimed, “Wow! How beautiful. He shall take the rebuke of His people from off all the earth. All the earth! His people have suffered rebuke by the rest of humanity and then they will be taken away in the rapture!”
Elizabeth exclaimed, “Praise you Jesus! Heaven take me now, take me now!”
Stuart said, “Remember the original time our Lord came down from Mont Sinai and asked His people whom He brought out of Egypt to be faithful only to Him, to have no other god’s before Him.”
Lily said, “Yes, on the 50th day from leaving Egypt, the original Pentecost. The fire on the mountain descended!”
Obadiah said, “Also, the third day from when Moses told the people to prepare themselves.”
Virginia said, “Like a Bride preparing herself for her wedding day. And then He shall raise us up on the third day!”
Elizabeth said, “Like the disciples prepared themselves in the Upper Room on Pentecost for the tongues of fire when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. God came down to become one with His people in the form of the Holy Spirit. Halleluiah! Praise God! Glory to Jesus!”
Stuart said, “You know this coming May 17th is Shavout, Pentecost.”
Lily said, and 3 days before that is the 73rd anniversary of the creation of Israel which was on May 14, 1948.
Obadiah said, “As it is written:”
Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Isaiah 66:8
Virginia said, “You know, George Orwell wrote his famous book, “1984” in 1948. He reversed the last two digits of the year to get its title.”
Elizabeth said, “It sure feels like 1984.”
Stuart said, “I remember the book ‘1984’ topped Amazon’s list of best sellers on January 16, 2021.”
Lily said, “I saw someone wearing a facemask with the words ‘COVID 1984’. Doesn’t that just perfectly sum up our present state of the world!”
Obadiah said, “You know, “1984 was 37 years ago and 1948 was 73 years ago. Which we know the product of 37 and 73 is 2701, the Hebrew number count of the first verse in Genesis. To top it all off, adding together all the integers from 1 to 73 also equals 2701! Maybe this pinpoints the year of the rapture? Maybe this coming Pentecost, this May 17th our bridegroom will be coming for us?”
Virginia said, “I thought May 23rd was Pentecost?”
Elizabeth said, “Well, I know Catholics and Protestants who celebrate it on that day. But, as I remember the counting of the Omer by the Jews lands on May 17th this year. Those two rarely fall on the same day, by design. Rome hated the Jews. Rome destroyed Jerusalem. Rome cut down all trees and poisoned the soil around Jerusalem after they burned it so nothing would grow.”
Stuart said, “May 17th or May 23rd. Which one is it? Didn’t God give Noah a 7 day warning to gather all the animals inside and then the ark was sealed by God? When I count from May 17th to May 23rd I get 7 days. You know how we are watching for the day that victory swallows death? Whenever I have a question about number meanings I turn to the book, ‘Arithmetic of God’ as scribed by Don Kistler. The number 17 happens to mean victory while the number 23 means death. Here, you can pull it up yourself.”
The Arithmetic of God – Galilee Word Ministries (galmin.co.za)
Lily said, “Wow! Listen to this:
Jesus became victorious over death on the 17th day of the month. We have already discussed that Jesus died on the day of Passover, the 14th day of the month; three days later or on the 17th day He arose from the dead and became victorious over death, hell and the grave.
When Jesus showed Himself to His disciples the third time after His resurrection there was a catch of 153 fish. (John 21:1-14) When 17, the number of the day of the month on which Jesus arose, is multiplied by three, for the resurrection, and by three again for the third time He showed Himself (17 x 3 x 3 = 153), the product is 153, the number of fish caught on this occasion. VICTORY!
Obadiah said, “What I find even more mind blowing is all the integers from 1 to 17 add up to 153. On top of that, one third of all the possible integers God created in the Universe converge to 153 when their digits are cubed and added together, and the process repeated as needed.”
Virginia said, “So it’s by taking the cube, which is the same as taking to the power of three. Three like in Trinity. I keep visualizing the Trinity separating out the number 153.”
Elizabeth said, “Oh, I get it. One to the third power is one, five to the third power is 125, and three to the third power is 27. One plus 125 plus 27 is 153! You end up with the same number!”
Stuart said, “And don’t forget God’s divine plan is to replace the one third of the angels who rebelled with lucifer with us, His children. Those who have become the Sons of God being washed in the blood of the lamb. We are fishers of men through God and through God our nets have been filled to overflowing to replace those angels who fell with Lucifer.”
Lily asked, “So what about the number 23?”
Obadiah said, “Oh my, listen to this:”
Christ died at the ninth hour of the 14th day. When nine, the hour of death, is added to 14, the sum is 23, or death.”
Virginia said, “Double oh my! Listen to this:”
Let's take Paul's voyage toward Rome. In Acts 27:20-24 there is the account of the storm and the shipwreck. Acts 27:37 states that there were 276 on that ship. They faced death in the storm. The 20th verse states that "all hope that we should be saved was then taken away." Then God sent His angel to tell Paul that there would be no loss of life. Upon the authority of God's Word, Paul told them that none would die. When 276, the number of men on the ship, is divided by 12, for the divine authority, it comes out exactly 23 times, or the number for death. The numbers from one to 23 added together equal 276, the number on the ship that faced death.
They all just sat silent, awe struck, absorbed in the moment, reveling in the thought of how mighty is our God!
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. Luke 21:27-28