The Bible was written by forty different authors- Mentioning 146 times, the number 40 generally symbolizes a period of -testing, trial or *probation. During Moses' life he lived forty years in Egypt and forty years in the desert before GOD-selected- him to lead his people -out- of slavery. Moses was also on Mount Sinai for 40 days/nights, on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1 - 28), receiving God's laws. He also sent spies, for forty days, to investigate the land God promised the Israelites as an inheritance (Numbers 13:25, 14:34). The prophet Jonah powerfully warned ancient Nineveh, for forty days, that its -destruction- would come because of its many sins. The prophet Ezekiel laid on His right side for 40 days to symbolize Judah's sins (Ezekiel 4:6). Elijah went 40 days without food or water at Mount Horeb. Jesus was tempted by the devil not just three times, but many times during the 40 days and nights he fasted just before his #ministry began. He also #appeared to his disciples and others for 40 days after his resurrection from the dead. The number forty can also represent a generation of man. Because of their sins after leaving Egypt, God swore that the generation of Israelites who left Egyptian -bondage- would not enter their inheritance in Canaan (Deuteronomy 1). The children of Israel were punished by -wandering the wilderness- for 40 years before a new generation was allowed to possess the promised land. Jesus, just days before his crucifixion, #prophesied the -total destruction- of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:1 - 2, Mark 13:1 - 2). Forty years after his *crucifixion in 30 A.D., the mighty Roman Empire destroyed the city and burned its beloved *temple to the ground. The book of Exodus, with its 40 chapters and 1,213 verses, is the seventh longest book. The first three human kings over the children of Israel, Saul, David and Solomon, each ruled for forty years (1050 to 930 B.C.). Abraham tried to bargain with God to not -destroy Sodom and Gomorrah- if forty righteous people were found (Genesis 18:29). God -flooded- the earth by having it rain for forty days and nights (Genesis 7:12). The gestation of human -life- is 40 weeks in the #womb.
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“Then I looked, and behold, a #lamb standing on Mount #Zion, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.” Rev-14.1 It is the same for we who are spiritual residents of the kingdom of heaven – the heavenly Jerusalem-#dwelling place of christ #messiah. (Rev14:1) Zion is where Yahweh, the God of Israel, dwells (Isaiah 8:18; Psalm 74:2), the place where he is king (Isaiah 24:23) and where he has installed his king, David (Psalm 2:6). In the Bible, the Land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem are both referred to as Zion. The name refers to both a hill in Jerusalem and to the city itself — also used to mean "holy place" or "kingdom of heaven." After Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC, the Israelites could not forget Zion (Psalm 137), and, in the prophecy after the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, Zion is the scene of Yahweh’s -messianic- salvation. It is to Zion that the exiles will be restored (Jeremiah 3:14), and there they will find Yahweh (Jeremiah 31). After the crucifixion, the 2nd temple *falls to destruction from the pagan romans. This is when the same *context of OT scriptures in Judaism and christianity diverge interpretation. The collections of scriptures in the Hebrew cannons were -displaced- of chronological -order- of context and storyline. Because of the destruction of the temple- This Hebrew canon, though somewhat fluid up to the early 2nd century BC, was finally -fixed- by a council of rabbis at Jabneh (Jamnia), now in Israel, c. AD 100. The Oral Torah, transmitted orally, explains the Written Torah- untill written after 70AD. Though scripture is all of the above- because of the reordering and transmission it is only being *seen as being about people, god and land, which in its -entirety- and -order- depicts the unifying picture of *humanity, salvation and *redemption. The Prophets in the Protestant canon include Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel from the Hebrew Latter Prophets. The Minor Prophets (The Twelve) are treated as 12 separate books; thus the Protestant canon has 17 prophetic books. Here- Zion #symbolizes a longing by wandering or lost people for *returning to their safe *homeland -with- God.
Starting as a small group of Jewish people in Judea, -The “word”- spread quickly throughout the Roman Empire. Despite early persecution of Christians, it later became the state religion. In the Middle Ages it spread into Northern Europe and Russia. During the Age of Exploration, Christianity expanded throughout the world; it is currently the largest religion of the world. Most of the first Christians were ethnically Jewish or Jewish proselytes. An early difficulty came from Within judiasm. There was the question if they had to "become Jewish" before becoming Christian. The decision of St. Peter, was that they DID NOT, and the matter was further addressed with the “Council of Jerusalem.” The doctrines of the apostles brought the Early Church into conflict with some Jewish religious authorities, and this eventually led to the martyrdom of SS, Stephen and James the Great, and “expulsion from the synagogues.” Therefore, there has always been a remenant of native jewish believers throught history.
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