daily bread

The number 10 in the Bible | February 25

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February 25
“Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of Life” (Rev. 2:10).
We have now to say a word more about our earthly vocation. We have seen that each board was 10 cubits long.

The number 10 in the Bible is the number of maturity—spiritual maturity and responsibility attained through testing and trial. Spiritual maturity does not come by head-knowledge. You may have much true knowledge, but it is only after hardships, trials and tribulations that you become spiritually mature, and your life here on earth is your training ground.

Now those wooden boards, the were 10 cubits high and 1 ½ cubits wide, each had two sockets underneath, sockets of silver for their support. God could have used gold for the sockets but He chose to use silver. Why? Because silver is, as we saw, a symbol of redemption in the Bible.

It is a symbol of the price our Lord Jesus paid to redeem us to Himself.
The number two in the Bible is a symbol of unity in fellowship (Matt. 18:19). Each board had to rest upon two sockets; otherwise it would not be steady. The two tenons resting on the sockets of silver tell us that we have all been bought by the same redemption price, and are all equally precious to the Lord.

Twelve foundations | February 21

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February 21
“And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles
of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:14).
Here we have a vision of the wall of the Holy City, which have twelve foundations, on which
the names of the twelve Apostles are written. These precious stones speak of the strong
Apostolic foundation on which we are built (Eph. 2:19-22). Now the Apostles were only
ordinary men, they were men of like passions as we are, yet they were made strong by God.
We know what kind of a man Simon Peter was, yet, in spite of his failure; he became God’s
precious stone.
How did Simon Peter become a precious stone? That name ‘Peter’ means just an ordinary
rough stone, but the same rough stone became in the end a very precious, shinning
foundation stone. “The first foundation was Jasper (Rev. 21:19). Peter, the rough stone is
now linked to a shining, bright, beautiful, precious Jasper stone. How did he become like that?
Precious stones have to go through extreme heat under the ground to become so brilliant.
God asks us to believe in His perfect will and to allow the trials He may send to work His will
in us. That is how He can make of us shining stones. If we allow the light and truth of God to
work in us, we shall become like precious stones drawn close to the heart of God, to enjoy
His full love and affection.

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