Tulips have a number

Kaatje

My soul waits for the Lord, and in His Word I hope
Rev. Henk Poot - April 9, 2018

After a few chilly and gray weeks, spring has finally arrived. The daffodils are in full bloom and the tulips are above the ground.

Yesterday evening I watched an English garden program. There was an episode dedicated to the gardens of the Okapi Palace in Istanbul. Millions of tulips were in bloom in a sea of colors. I learned that the tulip has always been a beloved flower in the world of Islam, not only because of its beauty, but also because the one flower on the high stem is a symbol of the unity of God and because its numerical value corresponds to the name of Allah.

A long time ago, after a church service somewhere in Brabant, someone pointed out the importance of numbers in the Bible. I don't even know who it was anymore. He said that the letters in the language of the Bible all represent a number, and that at a time when people didn't know the numbers of today, it was obvious. Not only in Hebrew, but also in Greek and Latin. And so yesterday I learned that it is also true in Arabic. Words are also numbers. In the Bible and especially in the book of Psalms, much use is made of this. The psalms are poetry, but unlike in our language there is no rhyme. The style is in the numbers.

First acquaintance

But first the example that my unknown teacher gave me. My first introduction. He said that if the patriarch Abram pitched his tent after his arrival in the Land of God, it says that he does so in the midst of Bethel and Ai and that he is calling the name of God there for the first time. In itself a statement that you can ignore, until you hear the numerical value of the place. Bethel has the value 443 (2-10-400-1-30) and Ai 85 (5-70-10). That means that Abram is in the space between the two numbers: 358 and that is the number of the Messiah (40-300-10-8). In the middle between Ai and Bethel also means that the patriarch has 179 on the left and 179 on the right. And that appears to be the numerical value of "the garden of Eden". Those who know the history of Abram know that the Lord did not just bring him to a land, that he would end up on the navel of the earth. That the history of us humans had started there and would someday be completed there. That there too the Messiah would one day lay down his life for the salvation of the world.

"That the history of us humans had started there and would someday be completed there."

If you arrive today as a visitor to the Holy Land and you come from the north, from Shechem and Shilo, you will be reminded of the dream that Jacob had there. Just outside the Jewish village of Bethel is a bronze ladder set up in the field. But it is also here that you can observe the contours of Jerusalem for the first time with the Temple Mount. There Abram would undergo his highest trial together with his son, the only one he loved, Isaac. In the Jewish layout of the Bible, this section (Gen.22) is called "the binding”, the Akeda. The numerical value of that is - remarkably - also 179. And it is here that the Angel of the Lord addresses Abram and Isaac and the words of Abram were fulfilled: "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son." And so the numerical value of the words in Abram's history sheds a special light on the way he goes.

And, oh yes, the number of the tulip bearing the name of Allah is 66.

Translated from Dutch: https://christenenvoorisrael.nl/2018/04/tulpen-hebben-een-getal/
 
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