Meaning Of Biblical Numbers

It is with good reason, then, that the 40 th time Abraham’s name is mentioned has to do with Hagar and Ishmael’s
defective spiritual condition. This was the same spiritual condition found during Israel’s forty-year testing, as well as King
Saul’s forty-year rule. It makes us wonder if perhaps the New Testament Saul was converted at the age of forty, or
perhaps came to be renamed “Paul” when he was forty.
The 40 th time Joshua’s name is mentioned is in Joshua 4:1. Israel had just crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land.
The 40 th time David’s name is mentioned is in 1 Sam. 17:51, which says that he cut off Goliath’s head with his own
sword. The purpose of a time of trial or testing is to overcome the flesh and subject it to the rule of the spirit. Goliath, as a
Philistine, depicts the flesh prophetically, and David subdued this “giant” in a great type and shadow.
In the New Testament we find that Jesus ascended after appearing to His disciples (and to about 500 people) over a
period of forty days (Acts 1:3). When He ascended, He said He would return in like manner. Perhaps this forty-day period
is prophetic of a forty-Jubilee period, wherein He has continually taught us since His resurrection. Perhaps He will return
some time after forty Jubilees of the Church’s time of trial and testing. If so, we are in that season now, for 1993 was the
40 th Jubilee of the Church’s wilderness time.
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