40 is one of those God numbers

Isn't it interesting that 40 is the only number in English whose letters (f-o-r-t-y) appear in alphabetical order? If you type into a search engine, "Who wrote the Bible?" you're informed, "Forty authors wrote the Bible in a period of 1,500 years."

Forty is the number of probation and testing in the Bible, making it interesting that the American work week is 40 hours. People say a woman waits nine months to have a baby but a typical pregnancy actually lasts 40 weeks.

Here's a funny one: Why do they call it WD-40? Google answers, "It took them 40 attempts to get their water displacing formula to work, but on the 40th attempt, they got it right in a big way. WD-40 Multi Use Product was born. WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th formula."

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"Do you remember how long there is between the Exodus and Israel going into the land? 40 years," says Richard Jordan. "(Bible chronologist James) Ussher puts 41 years between Genesis 15 and Genesis 22, then he puts 41 years between Exodus 14 and Joshua 2.

"Any Jewish recipient of this Book would have understood what 40 was right off; they'd have seen the significance of it. 

"With the Flood it rained for 40 day and 40 nights. Moses is 40 years in Egypt, then he's 40 years on the backside of the desert, then he's 40 years with the nation Israel, delivers them in the wilderness. He goes up on the mount and receives the law and he's there 40 days.

"The spies go in to explore Canaan and check it out for 40 days. Saul, David and Solomon, those three great kings that mark the transition between the first course of judgment and the second course of judgment, they each reign 40 years.

"Goliath defied the armies of Israel for 40 days. How many days was Nineveh given to repent? 40 days. The 40th book in the Bible is Matthew.

"The Lord Jesus Christ fasts for 40 days and then He's tempted of the devil. The record of the greatest testing of man in all of humanity's history is in the 40th book of the Bible. It's in Matthew 4 that you see the Son of man tested.

"The test that every man will have to pass is found in Matthew 27: 'What think ye of Christ?' Isn't that the question every man's going to have to face? That old song says , 'What will you do with Jesus? Neutral you cannot be. For one day your soul will be asking what will He do with me.' "

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Here's a 40-related article:

Alex Kurz explains, “We read in II Peter 1: 21: ‘For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’ Peter’s saying that when God reveals truth . . . How many men did God use in human history to give us this Book? More than 40 authors writing over 1,500 years.

“Daniel alone did not receive the full revelation. Daniel was given a piece. John, on the Isle of Patmos, was given another piece. You put those two pieces together and you have a better picture, right?

“Isaiah has a piece, Malachi has a piece, John the Baptist has a piece, Jude has a piece. The Bible was not deposited to one individual. With that understanding, can the Koran be considered scripture? Where did the Koran come from? How many men? You see the wisdom of Mohammed. The Koran is the product of this so-called advanced revelation that was given to how many people? This is not God’s wisdom.

“Can the Book of Mormon be considered Scripture according to this principle? The Book of Mormon is the product of what? The so-called advanced revelation given to one man.

“The wisdom of God is, ‘Listen, I give a piece over here, and 1,500 years later I’m going to give a piece over there, and when you put those pieces together, and they don’t contradict but they operate in harmony, what does that testify? This is not some book written by human ingenuity. There is the invisible hand of Almighty God who’s put this Book together.’ "

“That why Peter says (to the Jews), ‘Go to Paul.’ Now, think about this for a second: They’re circumcising their children, obeying the laws of Moses, providing animal sacrifices, and then here comes this guy Paul who was thrown out from the ranks of the Pharisaical system.

“You think Paul retained his position as a Pharisee after he went around saying, ‘I saw Jesus!’? So you have a failure in the ranks of Judaism and he says, ‘You know what? Circumcision doesn’t avail anything.’

“Can you imagine their horror? ‘Oh, we’re not under the law, we’re under . . .’ You see the problem here? So what is Peter now saying? ‘Scripture is of no private interpretation.’

“God didn’t deposit everything to Daniel, nor did he deposit it all to Paul. What Peter’s getting it as this: God’s Word is given over time in a progressive manner and Paul’s revelation is a piece that provides an answer to the Jewish dilemma—the Little Flock dilemma of, ‘Where’s the kingdom?’

“Peter is saying that what Paul is writing is authoritative. It does follow the principle that God has used for 1,500 years. ‘Little Flock, don’t dismiss Paul’s Epistles. It’s just part of the way God’s revealing His eternal purpose and plan.’ ”

(new article tomorrow)