Came across
this interesting piece and thought I would share. REMEMBER. TEST EVERY SPIRIT.
Look into these things and find the truth in them for yourself. A bit long but
worth the read.
“Three is the number associated with the Godhead, for
there are "three persons in one God." Three times the Seraphim cry,
"Holy, Holy, Holy"--one for each of the three persons in the Trinity
(Isa 6:3). The living creatures also in Revelation 4:8.
Three times is the blessing given in
Numbers 6:23, 24:--
- "The LORD bless thee and keep thee (the
Father);
- The LORD make His face shine upon thee; and be
gracious unto thee (the Son);
- The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and
give thee peace" (the Holy Spirit).
Each of these three blessings is
two-fold, so that there are two members in each, while the name Jehovah
occurs three times. This marks the blessing as Divine in its
source. No merit drew it forth; grace was its origin and peace was its result.
In Genesis 18:2, the same three persons
appear to Abraham. Abraham "looked, and, lo, THREE men stood by him."
But verse 1 declares that it was "Jehovah appeared unto him." It is
remarkable that Abraham addresses them both as one and as three. We read first
that "they said," then "he said," and finally, in verses 13
and 17, 20, etc., "And the LORD said." The whole narrative, which
begins with the appearance of the LORD, ends (v 33), "And the LORD went
His way."
As we have in the number one the
sovereignty of the one God; and in two the second person, the
Son, the great Deliverer; so in "three" we have the third person, the
Holy Spirit, marking and completing "the fulness of the Godhead."
This word "fulness" is remarkable, occurring only three times, and in
connection with the Three Persons of the Trinity:
- Ephesians 3:19, "The fulness of God.
- Ephesians 4:13, "The fulness of
Christ."
- Colossians 2:9, "The fulness of the
Godhead."
The "fulness" was manifested
visibly in Christ, and is communicated by the Holy Spirit, for it is a fulness
of which we receive by His mighty power (John 1:16).
This is why Abraham brought "three
measures of meal" for his heavenly guest. This is why "three measures
of meal" formed the great meal offering; because it set forth the
perfection of Christ's perfect and Divine nature. In Leviticus no particular
quantity of meal was prescribed, but in Numbers 15:9, we read, "Then shall
he bring with the bullock a meal offering of THREE tenth deals of flour."
This was the measure for the whole burnt offering, and also for great special
occasions such as the New Moon and the New Year, etc. It was also the special
measure for the cleansing of the leper (Lev 14:10). The poor leper had several
gracious blessings beyond others. He alone was favoured with the anointing
which was given only to the Prophet, Priest, and King! He alone had the
priestly consecration. It is sinners who are now singled out
from the mass of those who are lost, and dead in trespasses and sins, to be
anointed with the Spirit, and made, in Christ, kings and priests unto God.
But there is more in these "three
measures of meal." We have them in the parable (Matt 13:33), pointing to
Christ in all the perfection of His person and His work, when He said,
"Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." There are different opinions
about the "leaven," but what is the "meal." This is the
point on which the interpretation turns. According to the popular
interpretation, this pure "meal" is the corrupt mass of mankind, and
the defiling "leaven" is the pure Gospel of Christ! Was there ever
such an exhibition of man's perversity in calling sweet bitter, and bitter
sweet? Was there ever such a proof that man's thoughts are contrary to God's?
No! the "three measures of meal" point us to the perfections of
Christ and the purity of His Gospel. And the hidden "leaven" points
us to man's corruption of the Truth. A corruption for which we have to look,
not after the third century, but in the first!
No leaven could be put into any
sacrifice or offering made by fire to the LORD, because in Christ was no sin;
therefore, there was to be no leaven. He was, in Himself, "a sweet savour
to Jehovah."
True, in one offering
there was leaven. But mark the difference and the lesson. In Leviticus 23 we
have a list of the Feasts:--
- 1st. The Passover (v 5), on the 14th day.
- 2nd. The wave-sheaf of first-fruits on the
morrow after the Sabbath (v 11), which might be burnt on the altar as a
sweet savour (Lev 2:14-16), because unleavened.
- 3rd. Then (50 days after) the oblation of the
first-fruits at Pentecost (vv 15-17). This might not be burnt on the altar
(Lev 2:12), because it was mixed with leaven!
In the antitype of this we see Christ:--
- 1st. Christ our Passover sacrificed for us.
- 2nd. As the wave-sheaf of first-fruits, He was
raised from the dead and became the first-fruits of them that slept (1 Cor
15:20), for in Him there was no sin (and hence no leaven).
- 3rd. Then, after fifty days, on the Feast of
Pentecost came the oblation of the first-fruits in the descent of the Holy
Ghost; for "we are a kind of first-fruits of His creatures"
(James 1:18). But His people are not without sin, therefore this oblation
had leaven mixed with it. It could not be offered to the
LORD as a "sweet savour" (Lev 2:12). It was accepted only
because asin-offering was offered with it (Lev 23:18,19), and
the Priest waved all together for a wave-offering before the LORD.
This proves that the "leaven"
is a type of error, evil, and sin. While the "three measures of meal"
with which it was mixed and hidden typified the truth and purity of Christ and
His Truth, and not the corrupt mass of mankind amongst whom it was introduced.
The popular interpretation reverses the types of the meal and the leaven, and
makes the leaven that which is good, and the meal that which is evil. But the
great Teacher made no such mistake. "Church doctrine" is not
"Bible truth," but it is leavened meal.
The number three, therefore,
must be taken as the number of Divine fulness. It signifies and
represents the Holy Spirit as taking of the things of Christ and making
them real and solid in our experience. It is
only by the Spirit that we realise spiritual things. Without Him and His
gracious operation, all is surface work: all is what a plane figure
is to a solid (John 3:6). He it is who has wrought all our
works in us, and by whom alone we can serve or worship (John 4:24).
Hence it is that the Holy of Holies,
which was the central and highest place of worship, was a cube.
Hence it is that the third Book
in the Bible is Leviticus, the book in which we learn what true worship is.
Here we see Jehovah calling His people near unto Himself, prescribing every
detail of their worship, leaving nothing to their imagination or their taste,
crowning all with the "MUST" of the great rubric of John 4:24. In
true worship we see the FATHER seeking these true worshippers (John 4:23); the
SON, the one object of all worship; and the Spirit qualifying and enduring the
worshippers with the only power in which they can worship. Thus in Genesis we
havesovereignty in giving life--the Father, the beginning of all things;
in Exodus we have the oppressor and the Deliverer--the Son
redeeming His people; while in Leviticus we have the Spirit
prescribing, and ordering, and empowering them for Divine worship.
THE
FIRST OCCURRENCE
of the number is in Genesis 1:13.
"The third day" was the day on which the earth was
caused to rise up out of the water, symbolical of that resurrection life which
we have in Christ, and in which alone we can worship, or serve, or do any
"good works."
Hence three is a number
of RESURRECTION, for it was on the third day that Jesus rose
again from the dead. This was Divine in operation, and Divine in its prophetic
foreshowing in the person of Jonah (Matt 12:39,40; Luke 11:29; Jonah 1:17). It
was the third day on which Jesus was "perfected"
(Luke 13:32). It was at the third hour He was crucified; and
it was for threehours (from the 6th to the 9th) that darkness
shrouded the Divine Sufferer and Redeemer. The "loud voice" at the
end of those twice three hours, when, "about the ninth hour," He
cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me" (Matt 27:46),
shows completely that nothing of nature, nothing of the light or intelligence
of this world, could give help in that hour of darkness. Does not this show
us our impotence in the matter? Does it not prove our
incapacity to aid in delivering ourselves from our natural condition?
With the light at the ninth hour came
the Divine declaration, "It is finished." So divinely finished,
completed, and perfected, that now there is no such darkness for those who have
died with Christ. Light, uninterrupted light, shines upon all who are risen
with Him; uninterrupted sunshine--even "the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ." That three hours' darkness, therefore, testifies to our
complete ruin, and our complete salvation, and shows that His people are
"complete in Him."
While we are speaking of the Divine
perfections of Christ, let us note the many marks and seals of this
completeness.
"The Spirit, the water, and the
blood," are the divinely perfect witness to the grace of God on earth (1
John 5:7).
The three years of His seeking fruit
testifies to the completeness of Israel's failure (Luke 13:7).
His three-fold "it is written"
shows that the Word of God is the perfection of all ministry (Matt 4).
The Divine testimony concerning Him was
complete in the threefold voice from Heaven (Matt 3:17, 17:5; John 12:28).
He raised three persons
from the dead.
The inscriptions on the Cross in three
languages show the completeness of His rejection by Man.
The perfection of His offices are shown
in His being Prophet, Priest, and King, raised up from among His brethren (Deut
177:15, 18:3-5, and 18:15).
The Divine completeness of the Shepherd's
care (John 6:39), is seen in His revelations as--
- The "Good Shepherd" in death,
John 10:14.
- The "Great Shepherd" in resurrection,
Hebrews 13:20.
- The "Chief Shepherd" in glory,
1 Peter 4:5.
His three appearances in Hebrews 9 show
that His work will not be divinely perfect and complete until He appears again.
- He "hath appeared" in the end of the
age to "put away sin," and to "bear the sins of many"
(Hebrews 9:26,28).
- "Now to appear in the presence of God for
us," He has ascended into Heaven (v 24).
- He "shall appear" again part from all
question of sin for those who look for Him (v 28).
ABRAHAM'S
COVENANT
To go back to the Old Testament history
we have God's Covenant with Abraham stamped with this number of Divine
perfection (Gen 15). It was (like David's, 2 Samuel 7) Divinely "ordered
in all things, and sure." God was ONE, i.e., the one party to it; for
Abraham, who would willingly have been the other party, was put to sleep, that the
Covenant might be unconditional, and "sure to all his
seed." The Divine seal is seen in the choice of three animals,
each of three years old (the heifer, the she-goat, and the
ram). These, together with the two birds (the dove and the pigeon), made five in
all, marking it all as a perfect act of free-grace on the part of a sovereign
God.
THREE
THINGS PREDICATED OF GOD
(in John's Gospel and Epistles)
- "God is love" (1 John 4:8,16). We are
therefore to "Walk in love" (Eph 5:2).
- "God is spirit" (John 4:24, RV,
margin). We are exhorted to "Walk in the spirit" (Gal 5:16).
- "God is light" (1 John 1:5). We are
to "Walk in the light" (Eph 5:8).
"ASK
OF ME"
To three people did God give this
command:
- To Solomon (1 Kings 3:5).
- To Ahaz (Isa 7:11).
- And to the Messiah (Psa 2:9).
MAN'S
THREE GREAT ENEMIES
are "the World, the Flesh, and the
Devil":
- The World is set over against the Father (1
John 2:15,16).
- The Flesh is set over against the Spirit (Gal
5:17).
- The Devil is set over against the son (the
Living Word, Matthew 4:1, etc, and 1 John 3:8; and the Written Word, John
8:44).
THE THREE-FOLD CORRUPTION OF GOD'S WORD
By taking from, adding to, and altering.
THE
THREE-FOLD NATURE OF TEMPTATION (1 John 2:16)
- "The lust of the flesh."
- "The lust of the eyes."
- "The pride of life."
These seen in our first parents when Eve
saw (Gen 3:6) that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was--
- "Good for food,"
- "Pleasant to the eyes,"
- "To be desired to make one wise."
COMPLETENESS
OF DIVINE JUDGMENT (Daniel 6:25-28).
- MENE. God hath NUMBERED thy kingdom and
finished it.
- TEKEL. Thou art WEIGHED in the balances and
found wanting.
- PERES. Thy kingdom is DIVIDED and given to the
Medes and Persians.
THE
THREE GIFTS OF GRACE:
Faith, Hope, and Love, five times
repeated.
THE
THREE-FOLD NATURE OF MAN:
Spirit, and Soul, and Body, the man
consisting of neither separately, but of the whole three together.
COMPLETENESS
OF PEOPLE
- Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
- Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.
- Saul, David, and Solomon.
- Noah, Daniel, and Job.
- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
- Peter, James, and John, etc.
THE GREAT FEASTS
·
were three; Unleavened Bread, Weeks,
Tabernacles (Deut 16:16).
THE SHEET
·
let down three times to Peter was the fulness of the
testimony as to the admission of the Gentiles into the Church (Acts 10:16).
THE OLD TESTAMENT
·
Testimony was complete and perfect in
its three-fold
division--Law, Prophets, and Psalms (Luke 24:44). The same three divisions mark
its character to the present day.
"TWO OR THREE"
·
As three marks completeness and perfection of
testimony, so it marks the number of spiritual worshippers; and intimates that
true spiritual worshippers would always be few.”
Excerpt by E. W. Bullinger
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