Hello and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Sunday afternoon Bible study. Today we are going to look at the date of October 7, 2015, once again, and how it is the “1,600th day” since May 21, 2011. The Bible indicates that Judgment Day began on the world on May 21, 2011. That is the day the Bible locked in and confirmed as the day God ended His salvation program and we have talked about this often and we have discussed in detail how God completed His salvation program on that date. He saved the last of His elect and that enabled the Lord to shut the door of heaven, spiritually, and to stop saving people because there were no more people to become saved; all the elect had already had the Gospel applied to their souls; the blood of Christ, like the blood in the basin, was applied with the “hyssop” of the Word of God to the souls of the elect. The application of Christ’s atoning work was completed and all the lost sheep of the house of Israel had been found — each one whose name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. That was the Gospel evangelization program of God. It was His magnificent salvation plan to search and find the lost sheep of the house of Israel and by May 21, 2011 all had been found. To put it simply, this means there is now no one else to become saved. That is why God is not saving people. That is why we say (because the Bible declares it) there is no more salvation. The door to heaven is now closed. The light of the Gospel is now out and the water of the Gospel is now dried up across the face of the earth.
It is because God has triumphed and won the victory. He has done what He set out to do in saving His people. When viewed in the right light, May 21, 2011 was a day of tremendous victory for the kingdom of heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ because it was the day He completed His salvation plan by saving the last one. It is similar to the deliverance of all Israel out of Egypt because it was the day when all the spiritual Jews came out of the kingdom of Satan. Previously they had been held in captivity to sin and Satan, but now all were delivered and it was the day of the great “exodus” or great deliverance of God’s people. All came forth out of spiritual Egypt or spiritual Babylon, as God likens it to when the Old Testament speaks of these two great deliverances:
- The Israelites were delivered out of Egypt by Moses;
- The people of Judah were delivered out of Babylon by King Cyrus.
Both King Cyrus and Moses were types of Christ as they delivered the people. The people of God were spiritually delivered and set free by the great salvation of God by May 21, 2011 and all the elect were brought forth out of the dungeon of the dark kingdom of Satan.
When God delivered the people of Israel He brought them forth with a tremendous hand with mighty miracles of plagues to humble Pharaoh to the point where he let the people go, it was a great triumph. When you read this account and all God did to deliver the Israelites, we would think they would come forth rejoicing and they would walk right out of the gates of Egypt and its bondage and walk right into the glorious Promised Land. We would think that is how it would happen if it were just a “story,” as some people think it is. If the Bible was a “fairy tale” as some accuse it of being, then certainly after the 10 plagues and after Pharaoh and Egypt were brought to their knees after all the Israelites were delivered after being held in cruel bondage, the “story” would call for a happy ending. The Israelites ought to have been brought forth and after just a couple of days they would have entered into the Promised Land and “lived happily ever after.” That is how fairy tales go, but that is not how God worked out the event because God has a principal in the Bible of “trying” those that profess to be His people. He puts the “fire” to them as you would put fire to silver and gold to purify them to make sure they are true silver and gold and not dross or some other material that would burn in the fire. God worked it out in history so Israel would “murmur and complain” and then God would pronounce a judgment upon them that would allow God to test and try them for 40 years.
This is what I would like to look at today, as we look at the number “1,600,” which breaks down to “40 x 40.” In the Bible the number “40” is the number of “testing,” even though the word “testing” is not in the Bible, but God speaks of “trying” or “proving” or “tempting” and it all has the idea of “testing,” so we say that the number “40” points to testing. It is really “proving” or “trying” the substance to see if it is “gold, silver, precious stones” or “wood, hay, stubble.” It is putting it to the “fire” to prove what it is made of and that is what God does when He tests people and brings them into a “trial” to find out what is in their hearts. What is really going on in their hearts? As the saying goes, “Words are cheap.” We have a world full of professed Christians and we are well aware that man is easily deceived and can easily deceive himself or others regarding the true situation with their spiritual conditions. But God is not deceived. He “searches the hearts” and “tries the reins.” He examines His people to see if they are truly His people.
God put Israel to the test right after the point of the great deliverance. After this tremendous historical deliverance, God immediately put the entire nation of Israel to the test and this included Moses, Joshua, Caleb and Aaron, the handful of true elect that were among the Israelites. The vast majority of Israelites perished in the wilderness due to unbelief, but God put them all through the test of wandering 40 years in the wilderness.
This helps us to see that after May 21, 2011 when God saved the great multitude, He left all the elect on the earth to go through the Day of Judgment, which is simultaneously a time of severe testing. God is testing those that professed to be true believers. He is not testing the churches at this time.
The test for the churches was during the Great Tribulation period. God is testing all those that professed to be true believers and came out of the churches. One reason God is not testing the churches now is that they already failed the test by not coming out of the churches during the Great Tribulation. When they failed the test, they were bundled as tares for the burning and May 21, 2011 was the time of the spiritual burning of all those that remained in the churches and congregations and it is as though they have been burning ever since.
Those that came out of the churches did not fail that aspect of the test, but God had a different testing program for them. It is like when God destroyed the Egyptians with the plague, He did not destroy the unbelieving Israelites with the plagues, but He had reserved something else for them; the Israelites were tested after the plagues had been used to set them free and God wrought the mighty deliverance. They were then put through the fire of testing throughout the 40-year period. They were physically delivered by God, but the vast majority of them were not spiritually delivered and the testing program of 40 years demonstrated that, as it was shown over the course of that prolonged period of time that God called “the day of temptation.” God said that in Hebrews, chapter 3. Even though it was 40 years, God called it a day. Since God called it “the day of temptation,” we could look at the historical deliverance of Israel this way: they were delivered on that day in 1447BC, a day which would become the Passover. Remember they were observing the Passover feast and they were told to put blood on their doorposts and the Lord came that night and slew all the firstborn of the Egyptians, but passed over the Israelites that had blood on their doorposts. So we know that all Israel came out and were delivered, historically. Then they left Egypt and were tempted or “tried” or “proved” by God for “a day,” as the Bible indicates. It was deliverance, judgment and testing all wrapped up in one and at the end of “the day,” after 40 years, the generation that murmured due to unbelief died out and their carcasses lay in the wilderness. Then Joshua brought the Israelites into the Promised Land, pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ bringing His people into the kingdom of heaven. And it can be said it was only “a day,” so in a sense it was an immediate transport from Egypt into the Promised Land, but it was actually 40 years, a prolonged period of time.
We can see many similarities because this is exactly what God did on May 21, 2011. He freed all of spiritual Israel and He brought us forth into a time of severe testing, just like He did to Israel of old. God let it be known that it would be severe testing by opening up the information that it would last for 1,600 days, which is 40 x 40 and, yet, it is all viewed as God as a single Day of Judgment. May 21, 2011 was the day God’s people thought we would be raptured or resurrected to enter immediately into heaven. Looking at it from the perspective of an elongated day, it is a prolonged period of 1,600 days, which is 4 years, 4 months and 16 days, but still just “a day.” The Bible even looks at it as “a moment.” God has described the whole period of judgment as “a moment.” Then His people, in all likelihood, will enter into the new heaven and new earth (the Promised Land) on October 7, 2015. There are many similarities.
Let me just read the verse where we first learned about the “1,600 days.” It is in Revelation, chapter 14, in the context of Judgment Day and, therefore, in the context of when judgment first began on the world on May 21, 2011. God says in Revelation 14:20:
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
The reference to “a thousand and six hundred” is “1,600” and it breaks down to “40 x 40.” We have talked about how “1,600” fits with the “8,400” days of the Great Tribulation to form “10,000” days. We have talked about how “1,600 days” from May 21, 2011 falls on October 7, 2015, which is “the last day” of harvest and the Bible says, “The harvest is the end of the world.” It is also “the last day” of the Feast of Tabernacles and God relates the phrase “the last day” six times to the end of the world and twice to the Feast of Tabernacles.
We have gone over that, but it is also amazing that God gives us the number “1,600” in the context of Judgment Day, which breaks down to “40 x 40.” The number “40” is a very significant number in the Bible and it is a number used in relationship to deliverance and a combination of judging and testing, as God did with Israel and we are going to look at some of the verses that deal with the number “40” and let us think about this being the number that God gives us to lead us to October 7th of this year. October 7 will the 40th “40” since May 21, 2011 when Judgment Day began. Another way to look at it is that ever since May 21, 2011 we have been going through consecutive periods of “40” days. It is as if we started counting from the number “1” up to “40” and if we did that 40 times, on October 7, 2015 it would be the 40th time that a 40-day period transpired since May 21, 2011.
When the number “40” is reached things change in the Bible. For instance, God said to Abram in Genesis 15:13-14:
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
Historically, God is referring to the Israelites becoming slaves in Egypt and being afflicted for a 400-year period, even though they were in Egypt for a total of 430 years. The first 30 years they were not afflicted because Joseph was second in command to Pharaoh and no one would have dared to afflict the family of Joseph or an Israelite, but 30 years later things changed. Joseph’s power begins to wane and the Pharaoh that loved Joseph died and another Pharaoh took his place. The people of Egypt were envious of the Jews, so the affliction began slowly, perhaps, with some discrimination against them and then it increased until they were in bondage and captivity as slaves, suffering “cruel bondage,” so the period of affliction was “400” years. The number “400” is “10 x 40” and it is a special emphasis upon “completion.” Even the number “40” has within it “4 x 10” and the number “four” points to the furthest extent of whatever is in view and the number “10” points to completeness. The number “four” is the furthest extent of a trial or test and the completion of a trial or test when you reach 40 days. You are tried throughout the “40,” but once you reach the 40th day or 40th year or 400th year, the testing or proving comes to a conclusion – it is completed. The 400 years of affliction came to the point of deliverance and God raised up a deliverer. It says in Acts 7:22-25:
And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
Remember, God had said to Abram that it would be “400 years” and Moses was a learned man and he would have known that timeline. God keeps track of time in the Bible through calendar reference patriarchs and those patriarchs were in Moses’ own family. Aaron was part of that time bridge that spanned the period of Israel’s stay in Egypt and Moses was very familiar with the promise to Abraham and exactly how long Israel had been in Egypt. So Moses was looking at that promise of 400 years and when Moses was a full 40 years old (the number of testing) Israel had been in Egypt for 390 years. It was fast approaching 400 years and Moses knows the promise given to Abram of 400 years and you can see how much impact the statement that the Israelites would be afflicted 400 years and come out with great substance would have had on Moses and the Jews. They would have been aware of what God had told their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And here was Moses in a position of power and authority and he would have looked around at his brethren and they were slaves and they were “under the whip” and, yet, Moses was in Pharaoh’s court and he was a prince of Egypt. He had to be the deliverer. Who else could deliver the Jews? It had to be him.
You know, this teaches us something about how God’s people think and how God works things out with timelines and with the people of God looking toward that timeline and drawing conclusions. Here, God is letting us “see” Moses’ mind at work; he was definitely thinking, “We are coming up on the 400 years and it will take some time to deliver these people, so I better start doing what I can do and making movement in the direction of delivering my people.” I do not know if Moses, at this point, was the most humble or meek man because God had not yet humbled him, as He would do in the wilderness of Midian, but Moses was thinking Biblically and reasonably. He would be the deliver because it had to be him and, yet, it did not work out in the manner he thought. At that time he was “off” in the timetable a little bit. Was he wrong to look at God’s Word to Abraham? No, he was not, but he was thinking it would be “400” years total since Israel came into Egypt and he missed the key word, which was “afflicted” and he did not think of the fact that during the first few decades under Joseph in Egypt the Israelites were not being afflicted.
So God was even trying Moses when Moses was 40 as to what Moses’ reaction would be if he thought he was the deliverer. And what would his reaction be when he learned he was wrong about it and it would cost him his high position within Pharaoh’s family and court and he would have to flee from Egypt? During this period of 40 years in Moses’ life there was the test and during the next 40 years God would test him even more. Then it goes on to say in Acts 7:27-30:
But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons. And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
The 40 years mentioned in verse 30 is talking about Moses’ second 40 years in Midian and Moses is now 80 years old. He was 40 years in Egypt and he had been incorrect in where to begin the “400” year period and, therefore, when it would conclude. He was off by about 30 years and, yet, God continued to test him for the next 40 years. Do you see how God does this with Israel’s history? They would be afflicted 400 years and when Moses was 40 he thought he was the deliverer, but the time was not right and he had to flee Egypt and he was in the wilderness 40 more years. And then God comes to him, again, a second time. By this time, Moses has been humbled and he does not see himself as a deliverer. Before he had thought, “I am the man because I am in a high position in Pharaoh’s court.” But that is no longer true. He is just a shepherd in the wilderness and now he is humble as God appears to him at the burning bush and, yet, it was God’s plan for Moses to go back and deliver his people Israel. It is now the 400th year of affliction – it is “10 x 40” and this agrees with the completion of Moses’ second period of 40 years, so it has come to the point that Israel’s testing in Egypt has come to a close. When the 400 years expires, they will be delivered and come out with great substance.
By the way, there is another 400 years to note. (You know, the history of Israel is just full of numbers like “40” or “400.”) The period of Moses’ actual deliverance was in 1447BC. Remember the Jews said to Moses, “Who made thee a ruler and a judge?” Look at Acts 7:35:
This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
In the Bible a judge is the same as a “deliverer.” Ehud delivered Israel and Gideon delivered Israel and they were both judges. Moses delivered Israel and he was a judge and the period of the judges really began in 1447BC when Moses delivered Israel out of Egypt. The period of the judges would go until the time of the first king of Israel, who was King Saul. Saul became king in 1047BC, exactly 400 years later; that is, 400 years from the time that God used Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt and there was a long period of judges after they entered into the land of Canaan in 1407BC and that would have been 360 years, which is the typical time period we think of for the judges, but we have to add the 40 years when Moses was their deliverer, so there was actually a period of 400 years in which they had judges. Throughout that 400 years of the judges, God tested Israel. He would allow an enemy nation to arise and afflict Israel and then He would raise up a “deliverer” and it is actually a pattern that God established with Israel in Egypt. They were afflicted and then delivered after 400 years.
Also, when Saul became king, how long did he reign? He reigned for 40 years. Then King David became king in 1007BC and how long did he reign? He reigned 40 years. King Solomon also reigned 40 years but part of his reign with a co-regency with David, but Solomon did reign 40 years. Before Saul and leading up to the completion of the 400 years of judges, Eli was the last judge for 40 years.
Again, and again, God uses the number “40” and it is an intricate part of Israel’s history. For instance, from the birth of Jacob and Esau in 2,007BC until the birth of Christ in 7BC was 2,000 years, which is “40 x 50” or “5 x 10 x 40,” and, again, the number “40” is in view. From King David’s ascension to the throne in 1,007BC to the birth of Christ in 7BC was 1,000 years, which is “25 x 40.” We see that number “40” used repeatedly.
As we look at time paths, when you find increments of periods of 1,000s of years, you will always see the number “40.” For example, 11,000 years from creation to Christ, is “40 x 275” and the number “275” breaks down to “5 x 5 x 11,” so it works out to “40 x 5 x 5 x 11.”
Or, we can look at the period from creation to the end of the world, which began in 1988 when the Great Tribulation started and judgment began at the house of God. It was the final phase of the end of the world and the number “13,000” years breaks down to “40 x 325” and “325” breaks down to “5 x 5 x 13.” So, from creation in 11,013BC until we reach the end of the world, it is a period of “40 x 5 x 5 x 13” years. Again, the number “40” itself can be broken down to point to “furthest extent” or “completeness” and we finally reach the end point or the furthest extent of time. All throughout human history and the world’s existence, God has been testing, trying and proving mankind. When we get to 1988 and the Great Tribulation, judgment began on the house of God during that period of 23 years or exactly 8,400 days. The number “8,400” can be broken down to “40 x 210” and “210” can be broken down to “5 x 42” and “42” is a number that also relates to Great Tribulation and during the Great Tribulation God was testing His people as He opened up the Scriptures to reveal truths that had been concealed ever since they were recorded in the Bible. Now the test was for those that profess to be true believers: “Will you obey God and hearken to Him or will you hearken to the churches and the things they say?”
The “8,400” days plus the prolonged period of judgment of “1,600” days totals “10,000” days and the number “10,000” is “40 x 250” and the number “250” is “5 x 5 x 10.” So we often see with these 1,000-year breakdowns that it is “5 x 5” and the number “5” points to Christ’s atoning work being completed, in this case or it can point to the unsaved having to pay for their own sins and when God pours out His wrath and finishes the judgment upon them their atoning work for their sins will be completed through their annihilation. The “10,000” days has the number “40” built within it.
The “1,600” days especially is significant because it is the last stage of the 10,000 days and there are no more periods of time to come. This is it and it is the greatest test and the most severe period of trial that God has ever set in motion — it is the final test of His people to see who is “gold, silver, precious stones” or “wood, hay, stubble.” Therefore, “1,600” is “40 x 40” and it is an extremely strong emphasis on what God’s program has been at this time. The number reveals that to us and ever since we entered into this period of time the people of God have felt it. We knew it right away. There was just something very “trying” right from the beginning on May 22, 2011. The world was laughing and the world was mocking and the churches were joining hand-in-hand with the world to mock and laugh at the people of God that had trusted the Word of God, the Bible. It seemed as though the world and the churches had been correct and God’s people were wrong, as though the people of God had no insight into the Bible but the apostate church under the judgment of God had the true knowledge concerning plan of times and seasons: “No man knows the day or hour.”
And, yet, God revealed more information and let us know what He had been doing and now it all fits together as we look toward the 1,600th day, the 40th “40.” We are looking to that day in which the test is finished. It is the day that is also the 10,000th day of overall judgment, a day of completion, and “the last day” of the Feast of Tabernacles. We are looking forward with expectation, just as Israel looked forward to ending their sojourn in the wilderness after “40” years. Let us go to Numbers, chapter 13, because I just want to point out a few more examples of the use of the number “40.” It says in Numbers 13:23-25:
And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
They had been in Egypt for 400 years and God delivered them through Moses who had gone through two periods of “40” years himself. Now they have come out of Egypt into the wilderness to the point of searching out the Promised Land and they searched it out for “40” days. Again, it is the number “40” in view. Then it says in Numbers, chapter 14 that there were twelve spies that searched the land and only Joshua and Caleb gave a good report, but the rest of them gave an evil report. They are fearful and they do not remember that God had destroyed the mightiest nation in the world when God destroyed the Egyptian army. The Egyptians could have walked across the land of Canaan as nothing with their great army, but God had destroyed the more powerful nation, Egypt, but these Israelite men are critical and they complain that they cannot conquer this land. They are not even thinking about God and His mighty power, so it is no wonder that God is angry with them, as we read in Numbers 14:27-34:
How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith JEHOVAH, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerningwhich I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
It is the number “40” over and over. They searched out the land for “40” days. God judged them “forty days, each day for a year,” and they are going to wander the wilderness for 40 years.
By the way, do you know how old Caleb (one of the spies that searched the land for 40 days) was at the time? Caleb was 40 years old. You can read that in Joshua 14, verse 7. He was 40 years old and that means that at the end of the next 40 years he would be 80 years old, just as Moses experienced two periods of 40 years.
Again, and again, and again, the number “40” is seen in relationship to Israel coming out of Egypt and going through the wilderness and during that wilderness sojourn Moses would go up into the mount, would he not? How long was Moses in the mount? He went up for 40 days. But, first let us look at what it says in Deuteronomy 9:7:
Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst JEHOVAH thy God to wrath in the wilderness…
You see, that 40 years was the wrath and judgment of God. You hear people say, “Well, ‘40’ is the number of “testing,” so what does it have to do with Judgment Day?” But, here, God was provoked to wrath and the wrath of God worked itself out over 40 years.
Or, we could look at when God was provoked to wrath in the days of Noah as He saw that the hearts of men were only evil continually. What did God do? He brought the flood and it says in Genesis 7:4:
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
The flood began on the seventeenth day of the second month of Noah’s calendar and the rain continued for 40 days and 40 nights. It was a picture of the wrath of God as the waters began to rise higher and higher, drowning the unsaved people of the world and they perished outside of the ark.
Likewise, exactly 7,000 years later was the beginning of Judgment Day on May 21, 2011. By the way, the number “7,000” can be broken down to “40 x 175” and the number “175” is “5 x 5 x 7.” So 7,000 years from the flood to May 21, 2011 is “40 x 5 x 5 x 7” and the atonement and perfection are in view, as well as testing. Then God shut the door of heaven on May 21, 2011, just as He shut the door of the ark 7,000 years earlier and, historically, it began to rain, spiritually, on May 21, 2011 – it did not physically rain, but God’s wrath began to be poured out, in all likelihood, for “40 x 40.”
Now the “forty days and forty nights” does mention the number “40” twice, but it is a completely different thing than 40 x 40, but it does carry the idea that the number “40” is wrath or punishment, as well as testing. God is punishing and testing. He did it with Israel. He did it to the people of the world in Noah’s day. And He is doing so in our time, as He punishes the unsaved people of the world and, simultaneously, tests those that profess to be His people.
Going back to Deuteronomy, chapter 9, where God was provoked to wrath in the wilderness, it says in Deuteronomy 9:10:
And JEHOVAH delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was writtenaccording to all the words, which JEHOVAH spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that JEHOVAH gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.
Moses came down from the mount at the end of 40 days and 40 nights and it brought judgment on the people of Israel, once again. Then Moses would go up into the mount a second time for 40 days and 40 nights.
In so many ways, God keeps emphasizing the number “40” throughout this period. Finally, the 40 years expired and the people of Israel were brought to the river Jordan, the brink of the Promised Land. At the end of the 40 years, it is time to cross over into the Promised Land.
There is a lot more information I wanted to get to, but we are going to have to close this study. Maybe we will do a second study on this subject, but at this point we will close.