I wish every reader love, peace and joy in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I gave a brief gap after a series of continuous articles during the holy week about the sufferings and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus. In this article, I would like to write about how the number 5 signifies grace. The first place we see number 5 is in the fifth day on which God created the form of life. We read as "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life" Genesis 1:20. Although God has created seeds of plants, they were not came into existence until God sent the rain and we could read that in Gen 2:5,6. So, the very first form of life in Earth is created on the fifth day and one more notable point is the were not destroyed along with land animals and humans during great floods as they live in waters.
The number 5 is often associated with sacrifice and because God accepts the sacrifice and makes covenants with the people who offer sacrifices. The first instance of this is when Abraham wanted to know how he would inherit this nation, God instructs very specifically to bring 5 different types of animals for sacrifice. We see that in Genesis 15:9, "Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon". We see there are five types of animals and so the number 5 represents grace. Why three years old heifer, she-goat and ram. That represents Jesus would be crucified after 3 years of His Baptism and successful completion of ministry. Even we could read, while Abraham was called to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah, they reached the spot on the third day. Gen 22:4. The three here also indicates that on the third day (after 2 days which marks two thousand years), post 2000 years Jesus will redeem back the mankind.
Next, there are five main types of sacrifices, or offerings given in Leviticus. The burnt offering (Leviticus 1; 6:8–13; 8:18-21; 16:24), the grain offering (Leviticus 2; 6:14–23), the peace offering (Leviticus 3; 7:11–34), the sin offering (Leviticus 4; 5:1–13; 6:24–30; 8:14–17; 16:3–22), and the trespass offering (Leviticus 5:14–19; 6:1–7; 7:1–6). This can be directly attributed to five holy wounds of Jesus Christ on cross (2 hands + 2 legs + 1 rib). These 5 wounds directly points to the prophecy of Isaiah 53, specifically the verse 5 says "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." The verse 5 again represents that grace is given to us through the wounds and there are 5 holy wounds and hence 5 represents the grace. God cannot pardon our sins just like that without any sacrifice and that's why He ordained the above offerings in Leviticus. Because, God is righteous and He is a blood avenger (Gen 9:5), a blood has to be shed for and without bled shedding there is no remission of sins as it is written that the life is in blood. Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22. So, at the end of great floods, we see Noah providing a sacrifice for the entire life that was wiped off on earth and God had accepted it as a sin offering and made covenant with Noah that He won't destroy life on earth for man's sake through water. Gen 8:21, 9:11. So, we see a sacrifice is required for grace to be provided and Jesus Christ is our perfect sacrifice on cross and He is God Himself so we get abundance of grace and mercy. John 1:17.
What is grace? As I have already explained in my earlier chapters, Grace is the unmerited favor. If you are reading this article, it means you have the unmerited favor of God (Grace). Grace is something which we don't deserve where as if we deserve it, it cannot be called as grace. Mercy means cancelling our righteous judgement and punishment for our sins and transgressions. But, grace is something more, apart from cancelling the punishments, it is extending the blessings of God to us which we are unworthy to receive. If we have God's grace, then we would succeed in everything we do. We will receive favor in men's eyes as well and whatever we do will flourish. I will list out few ways of receiving God's grace at the end of this article.
Now, we will see a list of places in scriptures where we find the number 5.
1. The first five books of law, Genesis to Deuteronomy are called Pentateuch which form the portion of Torah, that the Jews still use the Holy Word of God. All these five books were written by Moses.
2. The five types of offerings that we saw in Leviticus.
3. The five pebble stones that David took before he faced Goliath. 1 Samuel 17:40
4. The five divisions of Psalms. Psalm 1 - 41, 42 - 72, 73 - 89, 90 - 106 and 107 - 150.
5. The five names of the Son of God in Isaiah 9:6. Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
6. The five types of ministries also called as ministries of grace specified in Ephesians 4:13 - Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers.
7. The five types of crowns in New testament.
- Incorruptible crown - I Cor 9:25
- Crown of Rejoicing or Joy - I Thessalonians 2:19, Phil 4:1
- Crown of Righteousness - II Timothy 4:8
- Crown of unchanging glory - I Peter 5:4
- Crown of Life - James 1:12, Rev 2:10
Now, let's see some ways of receiving grace. The Word of God says "By his abundance, we receive grace upon grace" in John 1:16. So, the default way to receive grace is to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior but we see specific ways. In old testament, God was gracious to selective people as written in Exodus 33:19 "and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." But, after Jesus paying the perfect sacrifice for us, it is written in Titus that God is gracious on all humanity. "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men" Titus 2:11. So, those whoever accepts Lord Jesus Christ gets grace by default but to get more and more grace, we have the following 5 specific ways in my opinion.
1. The first and foremost way to get grace is having the character of humility. Bible clearly says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble ones. James 4:6 says "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." This verse is repeated by Peter as well in I Peter 5:5. Jesus also said in the parable of people identifying prominent places in the marriage feast as "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Luke 14:11 and we know the parable of prayers of pharisee and publican and who has been made righteous at the end. Jesus repeats this verse here too. Luke 18:14. Few more verses from old testament. Psalm 138 verse 6 says Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off. Proverbs 3:34, 15:33 and 18:12 speaks about the importance of humility and humbleness.
If there is one particular sin, God vehemently opposes, it is the character of pride. Because, the first sin in universe could be the proudness of lucifer, that made him fallen as satan. That's why God attacks the proud and he cuts all the proud tongues. So, we should be very careful not to be proud. The world teaches us to be proud in our achievements and every worldly stuff wants its own to be exalted among others. But, the word of God teaches opposite to exalt God in every thing and humble ourselves. The best example of a proud person who had fallen from his position was Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. At the same time we see the humble saints of the Bible who had been lifted up by God.
By the way, God even blesses those who don't accept His son Jesus Christ and those who may be part of other religions but if they are humble enough, it will bring them worldly blessings. I could quote many personalities in the world arena who are humble and exalted. But, we as the Christians, if we are humble to God at all the times of our lives, He will exalteth us to the height that we could never have imagined. Because, His word is true.
2. The second way to receive grace is to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom but it also brings grace to us. One of my favorite verses says, "But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;" Psalm 103:17, Here we can consider the mercy as grace as the difference in both is minor as explained earlier.
3. The third way to receive grace is to love God and follow His commandments. Exodus 20:6 says "And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." If we truly and sincerely love God, we will spend time in reading the scriptures, prayers and worship. If we do that, we will abide with Holy Spirit and we will automatically follow His commandments and we will get more and more grace.
4. The fourth way to receive grace is to praise Him. 2 Cor 4:15 clearly says "that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God." So, with thanksgiving, praise and worship, we will get abundance of grace.
5. The fifth way of receiving grace is to give testimony for Jesus Christ and His resurrection. We have to says our Jesus is a living God. If we do that, we will get perfect grace. The scripture reference is Acts 4:33, "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all."
Finally, I want to close this with some of my general observations. It is interesting to notice that the word GRACE itself contains 5 letters. The Roman letter representation of 5 is V. The letter 'V' is significant as it stands for Victory. When we raise our hands in worship, the two hands and head forms this letter V and it further means if we have grace we will be victors and overcomers and enable us to receive the crowns while our Lord returns. Having abundant grace never promises that we will have problem free life or trouble free life, but if we have grace we will overcome every problem that comes on our way and will stand above all. Best example, David overcoming Goliath and impossible scenario in world's perspective. But, David was anointed and is full of grace, he got that courage to defeat and kill Goliath.
I wish and proclaim fullness of grace to you. May the Lord's name be glorified. All honor, glory and praise to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now and forever. Amen.
The number 5 is often associated with sacrifice and because God accepts the sacrifice and makes covenants with the people who offer sacrifices. The first instance of this is when Abraham wanted to know how he would inherit this nation, God instructs very specifically to bring 5 different types of animals for sacrifice. We see that in Genesis 15:9, "Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon". We see there are five types of animals and so the number 5 represents grace. Why three years old heifer, she-goat and ram. That represents Jesus would be crucified after 3 years of His Baptism and successful completion of ministry. Even we could read, while Abraham was called to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah, they reached the spot on the third day. Gen 22:4. The three here also indicates that on the third day (after 2 days which marks two thousand years), post 2000 years Jesus will redeem back the mankind.
Next, there are five main types of sacrifices, or offerings given in Leviticus. The burnt offering (Leviticus 1; 6:8–13; 8:18-21; 16:24), the grain offering (Leviticus 2; 6:14–23), the peace offering (Leviticus 3; 7:11–34), the sin offering (Leviticus 4; 5:1–13; 6:24–30; 8:14–17; 16:3–22), and the trespass offering (Leviticus 5:14–19; 6:1–7; 7:1–6). This can be directly attributed to five holy wounds of Jesus Christ on cross (2 hands + 2 legs + 1 rib). These 5 wounds directly points to the prophecy of Isaiah 53, specifically the verse 5 says "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." The verse 5 again represents that grace is given to us through the wounds and there are 5 holy wounds and hence 5 represents the grace. God cannot pardon our sins just like that without any sacrifice and that's why He ordained the above offerings in Leviticus. Because, God is righteous and He is a blood avenger (Gen 9:5), a blood has to be shed for and without bled shedding there is no remission of sins as it is written that the life is in blood. Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22. So, at the end of great floods, we see Noah providing a sacrifice for the entire life that was wiped off on earth and God had accepted it as a sin offering and made covenant with Noah that He won't destroy life on earth for man's sake through water. Gen 8:21, 9:11. So, we see a sacrifice is required for grace to be provided and Jesus Christ is our perfect sacrifice on cross and He is God Himself so we get abundance of grace and mercy. John 1:17.
What is grace? As I have already explained in my earlier chapters, Grace is the unmerited favor. If you are reading this article, it means you have the unmerited favor of God (Grace). Grace is something which we don't deserve where as if we deserve it, it cannot be called as grace. Mercy means cancelling our righteous judgement and punishment for our sins and transgressions. But, grace is something more, apart from cancelling the punishments, it is extending the blessings of God to us which we are unworthy to receive. If we have God's grace, then we would succeed in everything we do. We will receive favor in men's eyes as well and whatever we do will flourish. I will list out few ways of receiving God's grace at the end of this article.
Now, we will see a list of places in scriptures where we find the number 5.
1. The first five books of law, Genesis to Deuteronomy are called Pentateuch which form the portion of Torah, that the Jews still use the Holy Word of God. All these five books were written by Moses.
2. The five types of offerings that we saw in Leviticus.
3. The five pebble stones that David took before he faced Goliath. 1 Samuel 17:40
4. The five divisions of Psalms. Psalm 1 - 41, 42 - 72, 73 - 89, 90 - 106 and 107 - 150.
5. The five names of the Son of God in Isaiah 9:6. Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
6. The five types of ministries also called as ministries of grace specified in Ephesians 4:13 - Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers.
7. The five types of crowns in New testament.
- Incorruptible crown - I Cor 9:25
- Crown of Rejoicing or Joy - I Thessalonians 2:19, Phil 4:1
- Crown of Righteousness - II Timothy 4:8
- Crown of unchanging glory - I Peter 5:4
- Crown of Life - James 1:12, Rev 2:10
Now, let's see some ways of receiving grace. The Word of God says "By his abundance, we receive grace upon grace" in John 1:16. So, the default way to receive grace is to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior but we see specific ways. In old testament, God was gracious to selective people as written in Exodus 33:19 "and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." But, after Jesus paying the perfect sacrifice for us, it is written in Titus that God is gracious on all humanity. "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men" Titus 2:11. So, those whoever accepts Lord Jesus Christ gets grace by default but to get more and more grace, we have the following 5 specific ways in my opinion.
1. The first and foremost way to get grace is having the character of humility. Bible clearly says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble ones. James 4:6 says "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." This verse is repeated by Peter as well in I Peter 5:5. Jesus also said in the parable of people identifying prominent places in the marriage feast as "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Luke 14:11 and we know the parable of prayers of pharisee and publican and who has been made righteous at the end. Jesus repeats this verse here too. Luke 18:14. Few more verses from old testament. Psalm 138 verse 6 says Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off. Proverbs 3:34, 15:33 and 18:12 speaks about the importance of humility and humbleness.
If there is one particular sin, God vehemently opposes, it is the character of pride. Because, the first sin in universe could be the proudness of lucifer, that made him fallen as satan. That's why God attacks the proud and he cuts all the proud tongues. So, we should be very careful not to be proud. The world teaches us to be proud in our achievements and every worldly stuff wants its own to be exalted among others. But, the word of God teaches opposite to exalt God in every thing and humble ourselves. The best example of a proud person who had fallen from his position was Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. At the same time we see the humble saints of the Bible who had been lifted up by God.
By the way, God even blesses those who don't accept His son Jesus Christ and those who may be part of other religions but if they are humble enough, it will bring them worldly blessings. I could quote many personalities in the world arena who are humble and exalted. But, we as the Christians, if we are humble to God at all the times of our lives, He will exalteth us to the height that we could never have imagined. Because, His word is true.
2. The second way to receive grace is to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom but it also brings grace to us. One of my favorite verses says, "But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;" Psalm 103:17, Here we can consider the mercy as grace as the difference in both is minor as explained earlier.
3. The third way to receive grace is to love God and follow His commandments. Exodus 20:6 says "And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." If we truly and sincerely love God, we will spend time in reading the scriptures, prayers and worship. If we do that, we will abide with Holy Spirit and we will automatically follow His commandments and we will get more and more grace.
4. The fourth way to receive grace is to praise Him. 2 Cor 4:15 clearly says "that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God." So, with thanksgiving, praise and worship, we will get abundance of grace.
5. The fifth way of receiving grace is to give testimony for Jesus Christ and His resurrection. We have to says our Jesus is a living God. If we do that, we will get perfect grace. The scripture reference is Acts 4:33, "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all."
Finally, I want to close this with some of my general observations. It is interesting to notice that the word GRACE itself contains 5 letters. The Roman letter representation of 5 is V. The letter 'V' is significant as it stands for Victory. When we raise our hands in worship, the two hands and head forms this letter V and it further means if we have grace we will be victors and overcomers and enable us to receive the crowns while our Lord returns. Having abundant grace never promises that we will have problem free life or trouble free life, but if we have grace we will overcome every problem that comes on our way and will stand above all. Best example, David overcoming Goliath and impossible scenario in world's perspective. But, David was anointed and is full of grace, he got that courage to defeat and kill Goliath.
I wish and proclaim fullness of grace to you. May the Lord's name be glorified. All honor, glory and praise to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now and forever. Amen.
