Lesson on 17 to end '17

In the second “miraculous catch of fish,” the apostles aren’t getting any bites fishing in the Sea of Galilee until Jesus tells them to cast the net one more time and Simon Peter draws 153 “great fishes.”

"Large quantities of ink have gone into explaining why there should be 153 fish,” reads one website on hermaneutics. “At the purely historical level, it is unsurprising that someone counted them, either as part of dividing them up amongst the fishermen in preparation for sale, or because one of the men was so dumbfounded by the size of the fish ...”

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“There are all kind of different meanings placed on that number 153 and the one most Bible teachers generally give is it represents the number of Gentile nations on earth that go into the kingdom,” says Jordan. “What I think is fascinating is if you take the numbers 1-17 and add them together one by one you get 153.

“E.W. Bullinger explains that 17 is the seventh prime number and 9 times 17 is 153. You’ve got the numbers 9, 17 and 7 associated with it. 17 is 8 plus 9.

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“The number 17 turns out to be a fascinating number in Scripture. There’s Revelation 13:17, talking about the Antichrist and the other beast, the false prophet.

“Verses 17-18 say, [17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
[18] Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

“So, if Israel’s going to have wisdom in its stand against the Antichrist, one of the things they have to do is count the number and the number is 666.

“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting to count the 666s in the Bible?’ You ever found the six hundred and sixty-sixth verse? The 666^th chapter in the Bible is Ecclesiastes 7. Verse 25 says, [25] I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness.

“By the way, Ecclesiastes is a book written to instruct the ‘little flock’ in the ‘last days’ on how to identify the philosophy carrying the Lie program of the Adversary found in Revelation.

“What did Revelation tell you to do if you wanted to seek wisdom? 'Count the number.' So you come down two verses in Ecclesiastes 7 to 7:27 and it says, ‘Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account.’

“Somebody’s counting ‘one, two, three,’ and when he does, he’s seeking out wisdom. It’s a point of interest in Scripture that counting numbers, and the use of numbers, is something associated with getting some wisdom!

“Now, I realize this is sort of like climbing a tree, getting way out on a limb and giving somebody standing at the trunk a saw and saying, ‘Bet you can’t saw me off.’ They don’t have to; you’re so far out there nobody else wants to go out there with you!

“But what happens is the way you get up the tree and out further and further on that limb is you just keep believing the verses, keep believing the verses, and pretty soon the limb looks like it’s fixing to crack out from under you but it doesn’t. That’s sort of the way it is with these numbers kind of things.

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“The No. 17 is associated with change, with transition from the old to the new in the Bible. The first 17 in the Bible is Genesis 1:17: [17] And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

“That’s the 17^th time since the beginning of the Bible that the term 'God' appears. It’s in the same verse.

“In Genesis 6:13 God’s going to bring an end to humanity in the earth save for Noah and his family. There’s going to be an end to the old and a beginning of the new.

“That expression ‘God said’ in verse 13 is the 17^th time the expression occurs in the Bible. Come down to chapter 7 and notice when the change takes place. 7:9 says, [9] There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

“When it says ‘as God had commanded Noah,’ that’s the 17^th  time the name Noah appears in the text, and it appears in connection with the ending of the old world and salvation of life going into the new world.

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“Matthew 7:28 says, [28] And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

“That’s the 17^th time the name Jesus appears in the Book of Matthew, the first of the gospels. Now, what did He do? He ended those sayings. When Noah’s name occurs the 17^th time, it’s because God had commanded him. Both are connected with the Scripture.

“In John 2 you see Christ’s first miracle, where He turns the water to the wine, and John 2 happens to be the 70^th chapter in the New Testament. So these connections keep going.

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“Genesis 7:11 says, [11] In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

“The world ended on the 17^th day of the 7^th month; that’s when the rain started. Genesis 8:3-4 says, [3] And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
[4] And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

“Like I’ve been saying, 17 is associated with the transition from the old to the new. Now, you’ll notice there’s symbolism that told him the new earth was there. One was a dove. What is a dove a picture of in the Bible? The Holy Spirit.

“When Jesus is baptized, the Father speaks from heaven and the Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. Well, what’s the olive tree a symbol of in the Bible? The nation Israel. Hosea 14, Romans 11.

“It’s the spiritual life that God the Holy Spirit’s going to give to the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the nation Israel. So what we’re looking at here is how new life is going to be established in the new world. It’s going to be the Holy Spirit working through ultimately the nation Israel. And it’s connecting all of it.

“One of the ways you can help identify the thrust behind the number is the Book of Genesis has 50 chapters. Most of the chapters will kind of clue you into what that number is about and will give you some help and understanding.

“You understand, some of the numbers in Scripture are very clear. Like 13 is the number of rebellion because that’s what Genesis 14 connects it with immediately. Three and seven are divine numbers of perfection and completion. Twelve is Israel’s number. Those numbers are real easy.

“Nine is the number of fruit bearing. Eight is the number of a new beginning. Seventeen is the number of the old passed away, changed to the new.

"So what do you wind up with when you put those numbers together in a sentence? You wind up with a perfect transition of Israel into fruitfulness. You’ve got this perfect new beginning of fruitfulness in the kingdom that comes and you say, ‘Wow! How ’bout that?!’ "