2012 A.D.: The Number 23 in the Bible
As science probed, searched, experimented and advanced their understanding of the Creation that God with Jesus had made there came a point when men could start to determine almost exactly how it was that our bodies were being manufactured. At a certain point a code - our DNA, as we say - was discovered and its mysteries began to be worked out....its secrets began to be revealed.
Today it is fair to say that quite a lot has been learned. But, one thing that has been discovered is that humans have 23 chromosome pairs - 23 chromatids from our mother and 23 from our father - and it is via these that our unique physical characteristics as human individuals are specified. So, the number of these is 23, and they carry the language specifying our individual design. They carry our personal blue prints.
Not all creatures have 23 chromosome pairs. And it's good for our humility (if we think ourself a complex creature) to realize that our dog has 39 pairs, and a lowly jackass (donkey) easily exceeds us with 31 pairs. We do finish in a dead heat with a guppy, however, who like us has 23 pairs. We soundly defeat a house cat, with their 19 largely disinterested pairs, a corn plant with its 10, a rye plant with its 7, but some other plants have many more chromosome pairs than humans. A certain type of fern has many hundreds....around 500. The tobacco plant has 24 - one more than the human - and maybe that is why it so easily evades man's attempts to give it up. It is a superior organism!
But man has 46 Chromosomes, each paired, for a total of 23 pairs when you include the "gender" chromosome. Geneticists have numbered them, each one, with the numbers 1 through 23. My number 12 chromosome governs the same set of human characteristics as the next person's number 12 chromosome. The same is true of our number five chromosome, number eight chromosome, etc. There is order to it all. The last one - the number 23 chromosome - determines whether we will be a male or a female.
On another note, concerning the number 23, I have read about a Jewish tradition which holds that Eve, the first woman, eventually gave birth, in total, to 23 girls and 33 boys. Both of those numbers are Biblically relevant numbers. We're discussing the number 23, but it does seem to relate to death, and death came through the woman, and this old legend has it that Eve gave birth to 23 women. Odd, huh? As for 33, when Jacob and his family traveled to Egypt to be saved by Joseph, Jacob's son, from the severe 7-year trial of the great ancient famine, the Bible names how many descendants came along from each of Jacob's 4 wives. There were 66 total, which is a number that always seems to relate to God's people being rescued or getting away from danger just in time. It mentions that the descendants of Leah, Jacob/Israel's first bride, the one with 'delicate' eyes (poor eyesight?), the one that Jacob had not originally intended to marry, this Leah had 33 descendants from her branch of the family. I think she may also represent the Gentile church or a part of it, but I'm probably wrong. Here is that section from Genesis 46:
15 These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram,[c] besides his daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all.
End Quote That section of scripture then goes on to list them individually.
A human male's number 23 chromatid from the father's side looks somewhat like the letter 'Y', which is sort of great because one of the names for God the Father is Yahweh, which starts with a 'Y', and we were 'made in God's image', the scripture says. A female's 23rd chromatid from the father's side looks more like an 'X', which is also somewhat like a 'cross'. Our Lord Jesus was hung on a cross to take away our sin, and sin, we learn in Genesis, first came about through the woman, Eve, who listened to the Serpent and ate the forbidden fruit. Because of her, for her sake, Adam ate it too. And so he too sinned.
Serpents are famous for placing themselves in a coiled position when they are at rest. Our DNA stores within our cells in a coiled position. So, the 'X' and the 'Y' and the 'coil' are all there. And when we reproduce, and the woman's chromosomes and the man's chromosomes meet and align with each other, then attach to each other to form pairs, if it is to be a male, then the 23rd man chromosome (a 'Y') attaches to the woman's 23rd chromosome (the 'X') just as Yehoshua (Jesus in Hebrew) was attached to the wooden cross upon which He died for our sin. The 'seed' (the Messiah was portrayed as a seed in ancient scripture) died and was placed for a time in the ground (three days in Jesus' case) so that it could bear fruit through its bride, the newly born Christian church. And billions have been baptised through and into the name of Jesus since He was crucified. They have been born as new children of God through this 'bride' which is the church, just as new physical humans are born from the woman, who is the intended bride of a man. In this way as well as others, marriage and reproducing are Holy re-enactments of higher, purer, and nobler things.
When you consider how deep that seems, and how it describes the building of a creature - man - that is sort of a centerpiece for all of the created world, and of how God makes so many very complex things work together so majestically for each others' continued best interests and the acheivement of His divine purposes, it is almost natural to want to quote the scripure "What has God wrought?" from Numbers 23:23. 23:23 There's that number again!
How about Genesis 2:3 , which is the first '2' and '3' that show up in scripture? " And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it, he had rested from all his work which God created and made." So, maybe this one doesn't apply. Or does it? Does the seventh day, the Sabbath, apply to mankind as the number 23 does? Here are some words from Jesus from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 2:
23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” End Quote Mark 2: 23-28 (did you notice that the first verse was v. 23?)
So, there is a sort of a numerical link between man, the number 23, Jesus, and the Sabbath or seventh day. Interesting, right?
And it happened that Jesus said the part about 'the Sabbath being for man' in verse 27? There are 27 books in the New Testament, and 3 (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) raised to the 3rd power also equals 27. I don't know what that means, if anything, but I have noticed it.
Here's an interesting number 23 connection with the Bible: We discussed how the number 23 relates to making babies (the 23 chromatids that each parent provides to make a baby.) Well, the first place in the New Testament where the numbers 2 and 3 appear together is in Mattew 2:3, and it falls in a section of scripture speaking about the birth of a baby....a baby named Jesus! Here's Matthew chapter 2, verse 1-6.
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”
End Quote
So, the number 23 is important in the making of babies (chromosomes), and first shows up in the New Testament in scripture relating to the greatest baby of all....Jesus of Nazareth! Sort of interesting, right?
The Latin alphabet has 23 letters, and the Bible was spread widely in the Latin tongue.
The number 23, regarded by some groups as an unlucky number and a number associated with death, does have an association with death, in that sin - therefore death - came through the woman, and gender is, as mentioned, determined within the 23rd human chromosome. But, how odd that this idea has been around for centuries when knowledge of DNA has not. (And by the way, Eve was a real woman, yes, but she may also represents the church, or humanity I believe. And Adam was a real man, but he represents Jesus. Jesus took sinful flesh onto himself - became man - to rescue human kind, who had taken sin unto themselves. Jesus is even called 'the last Adam' in scripture. Adam ate the forbidden fruit because Eve had. Jesus lived among men and was crucified by us because we had embraced sin, and that was the only way to save us...He apparently had to become one of us!)
Let's consider the creation and the number 23. All of creation is formed from the elements, we say, so which element is number 23? Vanadium...a hard, silverish grey, ductile and malleable metal. It was discovered in 1801 by Andres Manuel del Rio. Andres means 'man, warrior' and Jesus was born as a man and was a spiritual warrior.....Manuel means 'God is with us' and that was one of Jesus' propheseyed names. And del Rio means 'of the River', and Jesus began His ministry after being baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
Satan fell because of vanity, or pride. Vanity....Vanadium. Different spelling, different origins, yet they sound quite a lot alike, and it is our human vanity which causes us to sin, it is our sin which brought death, and as we're discussing, the number 23 seems to relate to death.
It seems like Vanadium is almost designed to be an element with a Christian connotation. One of it's chief uses is in STRENGTHENING TOOLS. We Christians are tools for Jesus, who strengthens us from within and without. And the symbol for this number 23 element, Vanadium, is the letter 'V', which we have used as the symbol for 'VICTORY' in modern times. And it is through Christ that we gain our victory and attain eternal life. In fact, there's one more interesting thing - Jesus is sometimes said to be symbolically related to the RED HEIFER of the Old Testament - a special sacrifice of a Red Heifer cow so that its ashes might be mixed with water and then used for cleansing. The original name given to Vanadium is 'erythronium' which in Greek refers to its red color when Vanadium's salts are chemically treated a certain way. Element 23 is pretty Biblical. But so are most elements, as has been noted in another account on this website.
The Earth circles the sun....the solar system's center. That bears a resemblance to how all created things revolve aroung God the Father, the center of it all. The moon circles the Earth, which is like how Jesus (the light that lights the darkness, scripture calls Him) constantly watches over mankind and especially His church. But the Earth, which seems to be analogous to mankind or the church, has a tipped axis that it rotates around. So, as time passes during our yearly orbit, we ( the Earth) sometimes incline towards the sun, sometimes away from it. We sometimes incline towards the moon, sometimes away from it. That mirrors how mankind sometimes obeys and worships God, sometimes obeys and worships God's Son Jesus, but sometimes pulls away from them and becomes sinful. Why mention this? The angle that the axis leans at is 23.44 degrees. That rounds to 23 degrees. 23...the 'death number'? And this alternation that we humans seem to engage in, where we turn to God, but later turn away from God, but then turn back towards God...that is where disobedience came from...and then sin...and through sin...death. And His loving care for us is warm as we 'tip' towards him, but He sometimes withdraws His blessings and turns 'cold' towards us when we, as people, lean away from Him in our behavior. That is somewhat like warm rich summer and cold hard winter, right?
But here is another strange fact about the 23.44 degree lean of the Earth's axis: that means that it is tipped fully through 23 degrees, and partway through the 24th degree. And as mentioned earlier, the Earth seems analogous to the church, or to mankind, in many ways. So, consider this: the number of the church, the number of God's people rescued out of harm's way, usually seems to be the number 66. I consider the number 66 to be the number related to Israelites, the Church, God's people, because in so many places that you see God's people being rescued, the mumber 66 is prominently close by. So let's look at the book of Isaiah, sometimes called the 'little Bible', which is the Protestant Bible's 23rd book, and which has '66' chapters. Here's the question I'll ask about Isaiah: The tilt of this Earth is 23.44 degrees. That is more than 23 degrees and less than 24 degrees. Does Isaiah have anything related to planet Earth when you are finished reading its 23rd chapter, and now are reading its 24th? Yes! Read all of chapter 24 and see!
1 See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth
and devastate it;
he will ruin its face
and scatter its inhabitants—
2 it will be the same
for priest as for people,
for the master as for his servant,
for the mistress as for her servant,
for seller as for buyer,
for borrower as for lender,
for debtor as for creditor.
3 The earth will be completely laid waste
and totally plundered.
The LORD has spoken this word.
4 The earth dries up and withers,
the world languishes and withers,
the heavens languish with the earth.
5 The earth is defiled by its people;
they have disobeyed the laws,
violated the statutes
and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse consumes the earth;
its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,
and very few are left.
7 The new wine dries up and the vine withers;
all the merrymakers groan.
8 The joyful timbrels are stilled,
the noise of the revelers has stopped,
the joyful harp is silent.
9 No longer do they drink wine with a song;
the beer is bitter to its drinkers.
10 The ruined city lies desolate;
the entrance to every house is barred.
11 In the streets they cry out for wine;
all joy turns to gloom,
all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.
12 The city is left in ruins,
its gate is battered to pieces.
13 So will it be on the earth
and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.
14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
from the west they acclaim the LORD’s majesty.
15 Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD;
exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel,
in the islands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
“Glory to the Righteous One.”
But I said, “I waste away, I waste away!
Woe to me!
The treacherous betray!
With treachery the treacherous betray!”
17 Terror and pit and snare await you,
people of the earth.
18 Whoever flees at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit;
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare.
The floodgates of the heavens are opened,
the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is broken up,
the earth is split asunder,
the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion
that it falls—never to rise again.
21 In that day the LORD will punish
the powers in the heavens above
and the kings on the earth below.
22 They will be herded together
like prisoners bound in a dungeon;
they will be shut up in prison
and be punished[a] after many days.
23 The moon will be dismayed,
the sun ashamed;
for the LORD Almighty will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before its elders—with great glory.
End of Chapter, End of Quote Notice that this Chapter of Isaiah - Chapter 24 - even has 23 verses.
Isaiah is book 23 in the Protestant type Bible, and Isaiah has 66 chapters just as the Protestant Bible has 66 books, just as 66 people came with Jacob to be re-united with Joseph, just as the Christians fled Jerusalem in A.D. 66. That tilt of the Earth's axis is 23.44 degrees. That's a full 23rd degree and part of a 24th. And if we look Isaiah the 23rd book, and read it's 24th chapter it has multiple references to the physical condition and rotation of the Earth, and to how the Earth is not 'upright'. (Tilted....not upright?)
Kind of amazing, is it not? The Bible is engineered by the ultimate mind! God's mind!!
Let's consider the Psalm so often listed by people as their favorite and most comforting....Psalm 23! From the NIV (not as beautifully written as the King James, I'd say)
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
End Psalm 23
This is certainly a beautiful Psalm about our need for God, and God's faithful shepherding of us. Overall, the number 23 has some deep connotations in the Bible for the relationship between mankind and our maker.
If you add up all of the whole numbers which precede the number 23, along with the number 23, you come up with 276. That is how many people were saved when the Alexandrian ship that the Apostle Paul was on broke up on a reef off of the Island of Malta. (Book of Acts chap 27). If you are from Alexandria, you are from Egypt. About Jesus it was said "Out of Egypt I will call My Son." Hosea 11:1 Again, Alexandria is a city in Egypt. Again, there is the scripture in the Bible which says 'out of Egypt I will call my son'. It was fulfilled by Jesus, who as an infant was hustled away from Israel by his parents and into Egypt to escape the murderous paranoia that filled Herod's heart when Herod learned that a certain foretold Jewish King, predicted by great Israelite prophets in days of old, had just been born in Bethlehem and might threaten his reign.
The Alexandrian ship (out of Egypt) brought 276 souls (again, this is the sum of the numbers leading up to and including the number 23, the 'death' number) to safety through a great storm (a great natural tribulation) to Malta, or Melita, which means 'honey' or related things. Remember how the Jews were brought to a land of 'milk and honey' by the Law of Moses, and then practiced it there. The Alexandrian ship was crushed by the storm...it didn't survive...it was physically destroyed. But by clinging to pieces of its broken remains the entire crew was saved...made it to shore. Like Christians clinging to the broken body of Christ, a body broken for our sakes?
That's similar to how faith in Christ is prophesied to bring the people of the coming great tribulation through to safety, via the church. Or maybe it's similar to how the Jewish faith of the Mosaic Covenant brought them to Jesus? Or maybe it better resembles something else altogether that I'm not noticing yet.
Did you read in the Book of Acts chapter 28 about how when they shipwrecked on Malta's cold and rainy coast, the Apostle Paul was gathering up branches to use as firewood and was bitten by a poisonous snake right in front of the watching Maltese natives? But the poison of the snake had no affect upon Paul, who taught people about the Lord Jesus. That is similar to how the true followers of Jesus can be bitten by a poisonous snake and yet not be harmed. It's one of the signs said by scripture to follow a true Christian.
It's also similar to how Christ in the flesh gathered followers, and though Jesus was destroyed (killed on the cross) he was not allowed by God to see decay. He was formed anew three days after He was killed. An old 'ship', made for this tough old voyage on Earth, was wrecked, but then replaced with a new and similar 'ship' - the resurrected Christ. The Church...the people that composed the followers of Jesus after His crucifixion ....is a sort of ship, as well, taking the Christians to their day of judgement, as Paul was being taken towards his judgement before Caesar by a ship of 'Egyptian' origin. Again, Jesus was of 'Egyptian' origin for a few years of His early life.
Christian Church buildings are historically made of wood, the vast majority of them, at least, and the Ark of the Covenant was made of wood, this Alexandrian ship was made of wood, the Holy Temple of God was lined with wood, with 'cedar' paneling. Noah's ark was made of wood, of 'gopher wood'! We don't know which wood 'gopher wood' was, but we know about gophers: they can go under the ground and stay for long periods, then come back up alive! Jesus was 3 days 'underground', yet rose alive. Who saves those who are 'dead' in their sins? Jesus. Who saved Paul and his shipmates, these 276 souls? The 'Alexandrian vessal'. But, of course the ancient Israelites came out of 'EGYPT' their own selves, and that 'vessal' (Pharoah's Egypt) was left pretty well crushed when the Israelites left. It involved 'death' and 'first borns'. As for the Israelites, they were soon given the vessal of 'the Law', and the Ark of the Covenant was also built and carried around with them. The Ark of the Covenant was a vessal for God's holiness on Earth, during the Old Testament period.
After the Alexandrian vessal crashed on the shores of Malta (Melita) the survivors made it to shore by swimming or on pieces of wreckage from the vessal. They clung to the 'Egyptian' thing which they had relied upon, and its 'body', though broken, gave them something to cling to. They made it to shore. Everyone lived. No one drowned.
The natives of the island came down to meet them and were kind. A fire was built to warm everyone. Paul, grabbing brush wood for the fire, was bit on the hand by a poisonous snake, but he shook it off into the fire. The natives saw this, and said he must be an evil man because when he was saved from the sea, this deadly poisonous snake then bit him. But, as they watched, Paul showed no ill affects. So, then they said that Paul must be a god, and they were impressed with him. Paul is like a true Christian is supposed to be, according to Jesus.....like a verified follower of Jesus. Again, it is said of them in New Testament scripture that they can be bitten by poisonous serpents and not die!
The way they warmed themselves around the fire reminds me of how Peter and others were warming themselves around a fire while Jesus was interrogated. Just a thought. And in that case, the one who was very soon to carry wood (as Paul carried wood) was Jesus; he was soon to carry a cross. And the result of what Jesus did with that cross? Those poisoned by sin (just as Paul was poisoned by real snake venom) did not die (just as Paul did not die). They could be forgiven through Jesus. Similar to how Paul did not die from the poison snake, because of what Jesus had done within him. He was immune to the accidentally received poison of the snake.
After while, Paul got to know the governor of the island....even prayed for and healed a relative of his through the power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Paul also rebuked a court official who spoke ill towards Christianity, and caused the man to be in the dark, blinded for a time.
After 3 months on the island a second Alexandrian vessal was found...a new Alexandrian vessal that could take them onward to Rome, the rest of the way 'til Paul's judgement. But, its prow had two heads - in memory of false gods Castor and Pollux. Pollux means 'very sweet'. Castor means 'shining' some sites say, 'beaver' other sites say. Sweetness and light!! Beavers...don't they chew up wood like a gopher? Gopher wood....wasn't that what the Ark of Noah was made out of? Are these Alexandrian ships starting to sound like 'types' of Christ? The church carries people the rest of the way to judgement, and there is an Eastern and a Western Christian church....is that like 'two heads'? Christ was captured on the Mt. of Olives, and taken BOUND to his malicious inquisators. That ended in the destruction of His body on the cross. Was one of these two Alexandrian ships 'bound'? Let's go back and look at the first Alexandrian ship, the one that endured the storm, the one that took them to Malta (Melita) but then was destroyed: Book of Acts chap 27....
16 As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were lhardly able to make the lifeboat secure, 17 so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Because they were afraid they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor[b] and let the ship be driven along. 18 We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. 19 On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.
End Quote (Did you notice that this is Chapter 27? There are 27 books in the New Testament. It is the testament which can save you if you cling to its teachings!
Again, this scriptural passage above refers to the ship that ends up structurally broken to peices off the coast of Malta, but everyone who stayed with the ship was saved! Jesus, as well, lost none of those given to him! As Jesus said in John 17:
12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[c] that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
End Quote
Did you noticed that they lowered the sea anchor, and the ship had to drag it? Jesus had to drag something too....he had to drag His cross to the Place of the Skull. Did you see that they stripped off the ships tackle and threw it overboard? Jesus's trappings, His clothing, was also stripped off of Him.
Some eschatologists believe that the Ark of the Covenant is figurative of Jesus, and that Noah's Ark is figurative of Jesus. It seems that Jesus as protector and savior can be represented by wooden things at times in the scripture. It has been said of the Holy Temple of Yahweh, in ancient Jerusalem, that it also was constructed in such a way as to allude to Jesus. Do these Egyptian ships in the Book of Acts represent Jesus, or the Church, or both?
Concerning that ship...the one that would eventually crash in Malta, does this following fact mean anything?: All of the grain on the ship was thrown overboard to make it lighter (Acts 27:38), and grain often represents men, or souls. But, the gospel is likened to seeds, and water is used to symbolize many peoples and nations in some places (the Book of Revelation,) so the casting out of the seeds could relate to the Bible also.
So, if there is an analogy here, it may involve those who stay true to Jesus being saved, but those (the grains) that bail out before the end being lost. Many fell away from Jesus just before his ministry ended, because He spoke of partaking of His flesh. Maybe those many who fell away from trusting Him are like the grains thrown overboard, and those who ate and strengthened themselves are like those who believed Jesus when He told them that they should eat His body. Many found that teaching Jesus gave about eating His 'flesh' to be a hard teaching, and deserted Him, yes, but others believed and followed His teaching.
But these interpretations also may be wrong. Maybe the seeds thrown overboard from the first Alexandrian ship just before it was wrecked are like the words of Jesus, the 'seeds of the Gospel', which the church sends out to the nations until the end. Maybe those seeds represent the giving up of the words of the Old Testament just before that vessel was replaced. Maybe they are like when Jesus sent out his disciples in pairs to teach before He even was crucified! Still, all of that is only speculation, and most likely not all of it could be correct.
But....since 23 has an association with the Sabbath (Genesis 2:3....the first time that a 2 and a 3 appear together in scripture) maybe there is something about the Sabbath that relates to 276 and to being saved on a 'ship' that is broken up, but from which not one passenger loses their life? That's reaching, but none the less, the Bible sometimes gives hints about things, so it does not hurt to keep your eyes open for them. How about this chapter and verse?: Acts, Chapter 27, verse 6:
"There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board." End Quote.
Jesus is our 'Hope' and the one in whom we take our 'Rest'. The Sabbath is also for us to take rest in And we are told to place our thoughts on the things of God on the Sabbath. This 'Alexandrian ship' referred to just now, from Acts 27:6 is the very one that wrecked on the shore of Malta. It is the one that was 'bound'. It is the one that took Paul and all the others to safety, but was itself broken to pieces. Yet they were saved by those pieces....those pieces were what they rested upon as they kicked and paddled to shore.
In the New Testament Jesus holds the 'last supper' for his followers, and He breaks up the bread and says it is His body, and that His Apostles should eat it. And later, those same Apostles were given life (just as bread gives the hungry life) by the sacrifice of Jesus for their sins....by Jesus' broken body, broken on the cross for atonement of the sins of man....the sins of all those who will cling to 'His broken body' (this atoning sacrifice made by the Son of God) to get to the shores of salvation.
Is there any place in all of scripture where we were specifically told to quit honoring the Sabbath (Saturday) and to shift to honoring Sunday? Because there sure are a lot of places in scripture where we are told of the importance of keeping the Saturday Sabbath, and Jesus said only that the Sabbath was for man, not man for the Sabbath. So, did that statement qualify as abolishing the honoring of the Sabbath day in the way established so long ago - at the beginning of time - by the Holy Father himself? It's a very serious question, isn't it? You can meet and go to church on Sunday, yet still honor the previous day, Saturday, as the Sabbath. It can be a day of rest and reflection upon the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, on the events of mankind's spiritual history as a creature of God. Maybe that is the good way. Myself, I am a sinner. I talk too much and sin too much. But I do know Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And I believe that the Sabbath...Saturday... was made Holy by the Father, as it says in Genesis. And in many ways, Jesus seems to relate to the Sabbath. So I keep it in mind even though the Covenant of Moses has been replaced by the merciful covenant offered by and through Jesus. I think the notion that the Sabbath is no longer special is probably a wicked notion. But that does not say that Sunday cannot be a great day for worshiping our Maker, and the Son He sent to save us. I am merely saying that Sunday was never declared a Holy day. But the Bible says clearly that the 7th day was. And I have read that the 7 day week ending on the Sabbath is pretty universally agreed upon in the world among the various cultures. True, the Sabbath has been renamed, even with the names of false God's such as Saturn, which is also a wickedness it would seem. But, that day...Sabbath, Saturday, etc., seems to be pretty universally agreed upon as the 7th day of the 7 day week. So, if it was made Holy in scripture, and there is no evidence that it was ever made non-Holy at a later time by the God that made it Holy, then it is the Holy day. By what firmly supportable logic could we decide elsewise?
But let everyone ask the Holy Spirit about these things, right? Yet, let us take the Holy Spirit's answer to heart when we get one!