MINUS FIVE – GRACE REJECTED –

     Numbers are not only positive, but there are also negative numbers. For instance, since the grace of God is symbolically seen in the number five, how does sinful man use God’s grace in a negative way? First, man removes himself from the knowledge and understanding of God’s grace by wearing a helmet of brass upon his head, thus refusing to even allow the knowledge of God’s grace from entering into his thoughts, the gospel of grace rejected.

● And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Ephesians 6:17)
● For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (Titus 2:11)
● Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace [that should come] unto you: (1st Peter 1:10)

   Next, we have armed with a coat of mail, . . . unrepentant man aggressively drapes himself in his own form of grace, his own gospel of grace. But the weight of man’s imagination of acquiring grace is a heavy burden and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. Instead of the single digit of the number 5, man adds and adds and adds some more to his burden of his own imaginative salvation. And of course, we see the word shekels because money somehow always comes into play in man’s concept of grace and salvation. That is negative grace, the negative number five.

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    There are scores upon scores of examples of the negative number five throughout Scripture that I cannot keep up with them all. The following is taken from an article posted in our website titled The Genesis Epic. CLICK HERE to read the complete article. 

5. But now our soul [is] dried away: [there is] nothing at all, beside this manna, [before] our eyes. (Numbers 11:6) This rebellious people did not recognize the significance that their survival depended on God’s daily provision. The children of Israel complained about the manna; they despised the Lord for giving them manna. The fifth (Grace) mention of manna discloses man (the number six) as rebellious, conflicted, and rejecting the grace of God. (Through this fifth number we have the negative number of five. CLICK HERE for more about negative numbers.) Man has always been a discontented creature. The nature of man is inherently AGAINST His Creator God.
   As God was rejected by Israel during their wanderings after Egypt, AND also during their national preeminence throughout the age of the kings, and during their return to Jerusalem, so also Christ was rejected at His birth, during His ministry on earth and during His four court room appearances. Christ is rejected now even as He sits on the throne in the heavens. He will be rejected as King over the earth when He descends to sit on His throne in Jerusalem, consider this battle in Revelation Chapter 19. After His thousand-year reign, He will again face physical rejection by the nations of the world. Although the nations will lack nothing under the LORD’s righteous reign, man and nations cannot stand to have their Creator God rule in righteousness over them. Consider the first rejection of God by Adam and Eve in the garden of plenty when they lacked nothing.

   Through the symbolism of manna when the children of God despised the manna remember that there was a mixed multitude of people intermingled among the children of God who in their hearts and minds never left Egypt behind. And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? (Numbers 11:4) We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: (Numbers 11:5) But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. (Numbers 11:6) Mankind cannot be content with the goodness of God. As Lucifer was not content to be placed in the highest honored position as the covering cherub, man also has been instilled with the spirit of Satan, the spirit of discontent.
   This fifth mention in Numbers 11:6 shows that both the mixed multitude and the children of Israel rejected God’s grace and goodness. This ties Christ Jesus with the despised manna. Isaiah Chapter 53:3 and sets man’s dried soul before the world for all to see: He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

● Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. (Isaiah 49:7)
● He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. (John 1:10)
He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (John 1:11)

   This 11th Chapter of the book of Numbers discloses disorder, joylessness, and disgruntled people moaning over their loss of fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely (the only reason that is was FREE was because they caught the fish themselves) they forgot that they had been slaves and so they moaned over . . . cucumbers . . . melons . . . leeks . . . onions . . . and garlick.

(Mini Side Note: number eleven is associated with imperfection, and/or chaos, disorder, inner conflict, anarchy, discontent, and some form of disorganization. Genesis 36:40-43; Jeremiah 34:2; Judges 16:5; Judges 17:2. ◆ End of Mini Side Note). 

   I suggest that you read ALL of Chapter 11 of the book of Numbers, the fourth (4th) book of the Bible. (I repeat . . . four is the number of man, earth dwellers), Although the 11th Chapter of Numbers is rich with spiritual themes and lessons, nevertheless, let us continue on to the sixth mention of manna.

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