Today’s guest post is from my friend, Missionary, Author, Bible Scholar and all around nice guy, Kyle Sutton.
My findings are based on this prior established fact: In his book, Biblical Mathematics, Edward Vallowe only offers one proof for the number 26 as being representative of the Gospel, but that’s ok because once we know the number we can look for it at various times concerning the gospel of Christ. I have since discovered 2-3 other places in the Bible that confirm his standard. My first follow up on Vallowe’s biblical standard was about a month ago while writing an article for the International Board of Jewish Missions‘ December EN Magazine. It is as follows:
In the fullness of time Mary was found to be with child (Matthew 1:18). I decided to look up “with child” in my recently acquired Pure Bible Search Software and look what came up! The phrase “with child” appears exactly 26 times in the entire Bible. When Mary was found to be with child this became the beginning of the good news (i.e., the gospel) of man’s ultimate salvation! This is why two of the four gospels begin by recounting the miraculous gospel story with the story of a virgin being with child.
Moving on…
Then last week here’s what else I found on the subject. The word gospel appears 101x in the NT. Related tenses and uses of a word can also be included in a search if necessary, so… I looked up the the word gospels (sake) and it appears 3x in the NT. This brings the total number of appearances of the gospel to a total of 104x altogether, and 104 is divisible by 26! This teaches us that there is a definite correlation even though you have to search for the root number by division. It’s all the same in God’s Math book. * This is no accident! * You won’t find this in any other translation of the Bible except the King James Bible.
Now here’s the kicker! Are you smiling yet? Well, get your grin ready. Tell it to be on standby. Today I was in the orthopedic shoe store with John, this 75 year old man that helps me get out most of our church tracts and the Jewish ones, too. As we were standing at the check out counter I noticed a foot-skeleton display thingy—with all the bones-of-the-foot attached by stretchy strings. I picked it up and was playing with it, seeing how it moved. I immediately recounted the verse:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!—Isaiah 52:7
Isaiah is clearly speaking of the gospel of Messiah coming to earth and announcing our salvation. The Bible pairs up the gospel with feet because the message [of the gospel of Christ] must be carried by some messenger. Well I just couldn’t help but ask the man how many bones were in the foot. I was just being hopeful. Well, hopeful paid off for sure! He came back quickly, “Twenty-Six!” I then quietly counted them myself; twice to be sure, because the very tips of the four smaller toes all have two very tiny bones on them, and the big toe was missing the tiny tip bone. That’s why I rang my wife Jamie and asked her to Google and verify the number for me. It’s true, 26 bones in the foot.
Do you think God likes numbers? First-hand discovery of what God has woven into the Bible is half the fun. Anyway I like to share and spread the excitement. If this type of stuff isn’t your cup of tea then I understand. But the Bible is anything but boring. You just have to decide how you want to look at it. God has got something in the Book for everyone. Stay tuned for part 2 as I share the next token of the gospel (#26) in the Bible.
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