Biblical Numbers

Today we begin a series looking numbers in the bible. A. No, not the book of that name but the numerical value 1. The English word "one" is recorded 1,969 times in 1697 King James Bible verses. This breaks down to 1,361 occurrences in the Old Testament and 608 times it appears in the New Testament.

Mathematically, the number 1 is only divisible by itself and its meaning in the Bible centres on the unity and primacy of God being one.

This is noticeably seen Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

The number 1 also symbolises the unity between God the Father and His Son Jesus and by his singular sacrifice, has made possible the forgiveness of all our sins. We also discover in 1Timothy 2:5 that Jesus is the one Mediator and Shepherd. 

In fact, the apostle Peter tells us bluntly that it is through the one name of Jesus Christ, and him alone, that a person can receive salvation and live forever (Acts 4:10 - 12). There is no other name in all creation, in spite of the sincerity of countless billions who believe in other paths to salvation, eternal life and so on, by which mankind can connect to the true God and fulfil their destiny.

There is another way of looking at the Christian concept of Oneness and is perhaps most clearly seen in the word Atonement - at-one-ment. How can we best illustrate this?

I read about a small boy who was consistently late coming home from school. His parents warned him one day that he must be home on time that afternoon, but nevertheless he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said nothing. At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass of water. He looked at his father's full plate and then at his father, but his father remained silent. The boy was crushed.

The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy's plate and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put it in front of the boy, and smiled at his son. When that boy grew to be a man, he said, "All my life I've known what God is like by what my father did that night.”

Loving Lord, we really  want you to be the one

in whom we live and move and have our being.

We really want to hear your voice

above all of the other voices in our lives.

But we get bogged down in the daily routine.

We forget who we are.

We forget who you are.

We forget what the church is supposed to be.

So here we are, standing before you today,

with our human foibles

and our short attention spans,

asking that you would make yourself known to us,

that you would help us to recognise

the presence of the Holy,

that you would continue to challenge us,

inspire us,

and make us into the people you want us to be. Amen