The Number Three - Restoration and Resurrection

What I would like to do today is talk about the symbolism behind the number three and a restoration or a resurrection. And what I hope this will do today is, first of all, show us that there is unity in scriptures. The various scriptures that we'll turn to all have unity. It wasn't just different individuals writing at different times, uninspired, and just coming up with myths or stories between the covers of this book. This is a book that is God-breathed. This is a book that's been inspired by God, and I hope that some of the scriptures we look at today will show us the unity that exists in the very Word of God. We're going to see today that this number three represents three different situations. Here's situation number one, a physical restoration or resurrection to life. Like, for example, Jesus Christ, who said that he would be in the earth three days and three nights, and he used the analogy of Jonah being in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. Number two, a restoration or a resurrection of someone's future when they are deemed as good as dead. Maybe they're too old. Maybe an opportunity has passed. Maybe they have a death sentence on them, and they need restoration. They need to be restored. And the third way that we will see this is represented today is a restoration or a resurrection of someone from being spiritually dead to becoming a new creature or a new creation in Jesus Christ, which in itself is a spiritual resurrection, a spiritual restoration. So let's begin. If you'll turn with me to Matthew 12 and verse 38, we'll begin with the first event that most of us think of when we think of the number three and a resurrection. Most of us naturally think of some statements that Jesus Christ made regarding himself. Matthew 12, and we'll begin in verse 38. If you would kindly turn there with me.

It says, And some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. Prove to us. Do something that's wonderful and miraculous and show us that you are the Son of God. But he answered, He said to them, An evil, an adulterous generation, seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

So we see here that Jesus himself, referring back to the experience of Jonah, prophesied that he would be dead three days and three nights. Now many Bible students read this scripture, but this may be the only connection they understand regarding the number three and resurrections. And what I hope that we can see today is there's much, much more in connecting the dots than this statement of Jesus Christ. Another statement that he made, a few chapters later, Matthew 17 and verse 22. You'll go back just a few chapters. Chapter 17 and verse 22. Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and the third day he will be raised up, and they were exceedingly sorrowful. So again we see that the number three is used to refer to, in this case, the resurrection of the Messiah of Jesus Christ. Well, with that as a background, let's explore the Scriptures and see this connection made between three, the number three, or three things, and a restoration or a resurrection. Let's begin by going to Genesis chapter six. Genesis chapter six, and we'll take a look at verse five. This is the account of the flood that God put upon the earth that destroyed virtually all of humankind and other animals and birds that lived on the planet. Genesis chapter six and verse five. It says, then the Lord saw the wickedness of man, that it was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. So God was just so sad that the terrible level of evil and selfishness that existed and had happened so quickly upon the world from the creation of Adam and Eve, that it literally broke his heart, is what this Scripture says. Verse seven. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I've created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. Again, they broken my heart when I see all that they do to themselves, and all the pain and suffering that they bring on themselves as a race of people. Verse eight. But Noah found grace, that is favor, in the eyes of the Lord. And this is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Now this has nothing to do with his DNA. Noah came from a godly line. His parents were righteous, his grandparents were righteous. You go all the way back to the children of Adam and Eve, and he came from a righteous, god-fearing line of people.

So he came from a good family. It says Noah walked with God, so he personally was faithful with God and had a relationship with him. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. So we see here that God decided that he's going to destroy all life on earth, and he's going to start all over again. But God isn't going to totally destroy humanity. He is going to restore humanity. In essence, humanity could have died without God's intervention with this flood. Everything, and everyone, could have been wiped out regarding the race of man. But God is going to restore, he's going to resurrect the population of humanity by doing something that he mentions here. In essence, he'll resurrect the human race using three individuals, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Or, as we might say, two sets of three individuals, because it also requires Mrs. Shem, Mrs. Ham, and Mrs. Japheth. Some of you may be wondering what Mrs. Ham's first name was. I heard her first name was Virginia. Virginia Ham. Tough audience in this congregation today.

All right, let's pick it up here in verse 16. So the flood came upon the earth, he says, and the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look to it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. And God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh on the earth. Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Ham was the father of Canaan. Now, verse 19, these three were the sons of Noah from these the whole earth was populated. So again, the entire human race would be resurrected from extinction by the lives of Shem and Ham and Japheth. So we see here that the number three, in this case three individuals and the match set of their three wives, made a difference and are connected to the restoration, or we should say the resurrection of the human race from near extinction in being able to continue and perpetuate. Now let's look at and review a very unusual dream that was presented and given to a young man named Joseph and how he interpreted the dream. Genesis chapter 40 and verse 9. Let's go there next. Genesis chapter 40 and verse 9.

So Joseph is in prison for a crime he did not commit and it gets around the prison that he can interpret dreams, that God has given him a special gift of being able to interpret dreams. So the chief butler comes to Joseph and says, can you please interpret my dream? And here it is beginning in verse 9. Behold, in my dream was a vine that was before me and in the vine were three branches and it was though it butted its blossoms shot forth and its clusters brought forth grapes. Then Pharaoh's cup was in my hand and took the grapes and pressed them in the Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. And that's his dream. And Joseph said to him, so he's going to interpret it. This is the interpretation of it. The three branches are three days.

Now within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place. You see, the chief butler is waiting for execution. As a matter of fact, his cohort will be executed. They were accused of committing treason against Pharaoh. He is as good as dead, just waiting for the instruction of Pharaoh to take his life. Joseph says, he will lift up your head and restore you to your place. You will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand according to the former manner when you were his butler. But remember me when all is well with you and please show kindness to me and make mention of me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house, out of prison, for indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into this dungeon. And of course, the butler being like most people, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, I'll remember you. And then he basically forgot. It was quite a while before he remembered about Joseph. So the chief butler, as well as the chief baker, were as good as dead. They were waiting for a death sentence. They're in jail. They, again, were charged with treason. In three days this chief butler would be restored. In essence, he would be resurrected from disgrace and death.

But we see here that the number three has some very important connections with God restoring the career and the life of this chief butler. Let's now go to a couple examples from Abraham. Genesis chapter 18, if you'll turn with me there. Genesis chapter 18, beginning in verse one, and we'll see a couple of important connections with the number three and a resurrection or restoration. Genesis chapter 18 verse one. It says, Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, and he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted up his eyes, and behold three men were standing by him.

And when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground. Now sometimes we don't fully appreciate what's going on. He is sitting there looking out the tent door, and in normal situations, if somebody was coming to see you, you would, boy, are those kind of like pin dots? Wait, oh, they're getting closer. Oh, I can make them out. Now there's three of them. Oh, here they they're coming. That didn't happen. He's looking out this tent door, and boom! There are three individuals standing just outside of the tent, instantly appear. So naturally, that got his attention, didn't it? He runs out. He recognizes there's something very special about these individuals. So let's pick it up here, verse 3, and he said, My Lord, if I've now found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, and I will bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh your hearts, that you may pass by in as much as you have come to your servant. And they said, Do as you have said. So the lineage of Abraham, let's get a little context here. The lineage of Abraham is through his wife, Sarah, and it's about to die out.

Ishmael was not the son of promise. Ishmael was not the son of Sarah. God's promises were to Abraham through his wife, Sarah. At this point, they're both old. They're far beyond childbearing years. They have already outlived the average human life expectancy at that time. They are very old. I want you to notice here that there are three individuals. Verse 2, go back to that. So he lifted up his eyes and behold three men were standing by him. And of course, these are angels. One of them very well may have been the Lord, the one who later would become known as Jesus Christ himself when he walked on the earth. So let's now pick it up in verse 9. Then they said to him, where's Sarah, your wife? So he said here in the tent, and he, notice it's capitalized if you have something like the New King James Version, which implies this is God speaking. This is the Lord speaking. Said, I certainly will return to you according to the time of life and behold, Sarah, your wife shall have a son. Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age, and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. What were they? They were as good as dead. Weren't they? They're old! Past the age of the average life expectancy, far past the age of being able to bear children. Verse 12, therefore, Sarah laughed within herself, saying, after I've grown old shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also. And the Lord, notice it's capitalized, Yahweh, said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I surely bear a child since I am old? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for Yahweh? Continuing, at the appointed time, I will return to you according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid. And he said, no, but you did laugh. Then the men rose from there, and they looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on their way. And of course, the story of Sodom is Gomorrah's, another story for another time. But what I would like to emphasize here is three angels, three spiritual beings, announced to Abraham that his barren wife would bear a son. The lineage of Abraham and Sarah were as good as dead.

Physically impossible! They're old! Can't bear children. Probably a miracle that they're still alive, but the promise was, through these three spiritual beings showing up and giving them this good news, this information, is that they would be restored. The family line would be resurrected from sure death by a miracle from God. Let's take a look at another example from Abraham, Genesis chapter 22. If you'll turn just a few chapters back with me now. Chapter 22 and verse 1.

Many of us are familiar with this very beautiful story because there's a parallel here between God testing Abraham, asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac, and what God the Father would do millennia later in being willing to sacrifice his only beloved son. Genesis chapter 22 and verse 1. Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to Abraham, and he said, here I am. He said, now take your son, your only son Isaac, only son, because he was the only son of promise that God had promised, not Abraham's attempt to fulfill God's promise as his own way, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning. He saddled his donkey. He took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Now verse 4. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and he saw the place from afar off, and Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. So what's going on here? Well, from the moment that God gave him that instruction, his son's as good as dead. God is not a jokester. He said, Abraham, this is what I want you to do. I want you to go ahead and head to Mount Moriah, and I want you to sacrifice your son. Within the heart of Abraham, he absolutely knew that this was something he would have to do. And from that point on, until they got to the particular part of the journey where he could look up and see the mount, it says here, was three days. So let's take a look at verse 6.

So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and took his fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, my father, and he said, here I am, and he said, look, the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

And with incredible faith, Abraham says in verse 8 here, my son God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. Now there's a parallel here. First, Abraham says, I don't know how God's going to do it, but God's going to work this out. Even if I slay you and you're resurrected, it's going to turn out okay, because you're the son of promise.

And the parallel of that is that someday God the Father would have to provide himself the lamb of God as an offering for all of humanity so that our sins could be forgiven. Continuing, the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told them, and Abraham built an altar and placed the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him in the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and he took the knife to slay his son.

But the angel of the Lord called him from heaven, said Abraham, Abraham, and he said, here I am. And he said, do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.

So again, from the very moment that God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son of promise, Isaac was as good as dead, especially in Abraham's heart because he heard what God told him to do. Verse five shows that because of Abraham's faith, he did expect Isaac to be resurrected if the sacrifice was to occur, for Isaac to come back to the young men who were waiting.

Again, the time span from God's original command until they reached the mountain, according to Scripture, was the third day. There are a lot of other analogies regarding the sacrifice of Jesus Christ here, and we don't have time for that today. There is a sermon on the UCG site called How Abraham Learned About the Sacrifices of Christ, if you'd like to hear a lot of very rich metaphors about all the meaning of the events here and how they relate to the Passover.

Again, it's called How Abraham Learned About the Sacrifices of Christ. It was given on March 11, 2011. Now, the author of the book of Hebrews understood exactly what I'm saying here about Isaac being as good as dead. Here's what the author of Hebrews wrote in chapter 11 verse 17, quote, By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promise offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, in Isaac your seed shall be called, concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

In a figurative sense, he was dead from the moment that God told Abraham, I want you to go to Mount Moriah, and I want you to sacrifice him. Now, let's see how God intervened in Moses' life using the symbolism of number three. Exodus chapter 1 and verse 22. If you'll turn there with me, Exodus chapter 1 and verse 22. We're all very familiar with the story, how the Israelites grew in number, and the leadership of Egypt panicked.

They were becoming an upcoming minority, and they were afraid because their children, there were so many children, their families were so large that they would overwhelm the native Egyptians. So Pharaoh decided to have all of the newborn male children of the Hebrews drowned and murdered. So let's read about that verse 22 of chapter 1. So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, Every son who was born to you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive. And a man at the house of Levi went and took a wife of the daughter of Levi, so the woman conceived and bore a son.

And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months. Now, this infant's as good as dead.

Pharaoh has made that command. Every newborn child of the Hebrews should die. And she hides that child for three months because he's as good as dead, according to Pharaoh's command. Verse 3, But when she could no longer hide him, she took an arc of bull rushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, and put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the riverbank. And his sister stood afar off to know what would be done to him. So his little sister, I guess his older sister is keeping an eye on him, seeing what's going to happen. Verse 5, And the daughter of Pharaoh came out to bathe in the river, and her maidens walked along the riverside. And when she saw that the arc among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child. And behold, the baby wept, and she had compassion on him and said, this is one of the Hebrews' children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go! So the maiden went and called the child's mother. So again, to recap, Pharaoh had commanded all of the Israelite newborn males to be killed. Like happened to other Hebrew male children, Moses should have been killed. He was as good as dead. If he'd have been discovered before that three-month period of time, if an Egyptian soldier had come into the tent and discovered him, he would have had to die. But his mother hid him for three months, and then he was restored by being delivered or discovered by Pharaoh's daughter. Moses' mother even got to nurse him. Perhaps she even got paid for nursing him. But once again, we see this number three connected with the restoration of something that's as good as dead or resurrection.

Let's now take a look at an example here of Elijah, 1 Kings, chapter 17 and verse 20. Turn there with me. 1 Kings, chapter 17 and verse 20.

This is the prophet Elijah. He was staying at a widow's home. She was very serving to him, very kind to him. It was during a severe famine in Sidon. Let's see what Elijah does. And he cried out to the Lord and said, Oh, Lord, my God, have you also brought tragedy on this widow with whom I lodge by killing her son? Pretty strong words, but Elijah obviously is upset here. And God can take it. God has very broad shoulders. God doesn't have the distorted ego that human beings have.

And from Elijah's position, this woman was kind to him. This woman had shared food with him. This woman gave him shelter and lodging. And of all people, why this woman's son would die, he was struggling with that. Verse 21. And here's what he did to the corpse of that young boy. And he stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to the Lord and said, Oh, Lord, my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back to him. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah and the soul of the child came back to him and he revived. You see, the number three here is connected with a resurrection, with a restoration of this little boy's life. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, See, your son lives. What an incredible miracle. Once again, connecting the number three to restoration or a resurrection. This is a direct example of it representing a literal, physical resurrection from the dead. Now let's spend a few moments talking about Jonah. We're familiar with this. He made a mistake of running from God. He was fleeing. God gave him a mission. He was fleeing on a ship to Tarshish, which we know today is modern Spain. So he was heading in the exact opposite direction he should have been heading towards, trying to ignore God's calling to him as a prophet. And because of that, he was on a ship and a great raging storm hit the vessel. The vessel was tossed to and fro. Everyone was about to die. They figured out, because Jonah told them that he was the problem, and they threw him overboard on the ship to spare their lives. So let's pick it up here in Jonah chapter one and verse 10. If you haven't turned to the book of Jonah yet, chapter one and verse 10.

It says, the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, why have you done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. When they said to him, what shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us? For the sea was growing more and more tempetuous. And he said to them, pick me up and throw me into the sea, then the sea will become calm for you.

And I know that this great tempest is because of me. Saying, the sin is on me. It's my fault. This is happening because I was disobedient to God's command. And now not only am I suffering the consequences, but you're suffering the consequences. It's not wise to run away from God. There's a good moral lesson here for all of us. Jonah not only endangered his own life, but also the lives of others by his disobedience. Now, verse 16, and the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.

Verse 17, now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. We're familiar with this account, of course, because Jesus referred to this event as the exact length of time that he would be in the tomb of the earth.

He also gives a prayer, and we'll take a look at part of his prayer here, that would also fulfill the words and some of the thoughts and words of Jesus Christ. Jonah chapter 2, then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the fish's belly. Now, he's as good as dead. Think of his options. He's been thrown into the sea, and he's been swallowed by a large fish.

That's probably not a good thing, because first of all, how am I going to get out of this fish? And number two, if I do get out of this fish, I'm stranded here in this huge sea. I can't swim forever. I might be able to do the doggy paddle for 15 minutes, but I'm going to drown. So either way, I'm either dead or dead. That's not very good options.

Verse 2, and he said, I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and he answered me out of the belly of Sheol, or symbolically the grave here, I cried, and you heard my voice, for you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me. All your billows and your waves passed over me.

Then I said, I've been cast out of your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple. He says, I'm not going to give up. I'm still alive. I'm still breathing out and breathing in. It's kind of smelly in here. That seaweed being shoved into my mouth doesn't taste very good, but I'm still breathing in and out, and I'm going to ask God, I'm going to repent, and I'm going to ask God to have mercy on me.

The water surround me, even to my soul, the deep closed around me weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the mountains. If you've ever gone far enough into the sea, you realize that the sea isn't flat.

It's mountainous. It's just covered with water, but you have mountains. You have a varied terrain in the waters of the sea, just like you do on earth. I went down to the moorings of the mountains. The earth with its bars closed behind me forever. You have brought up my life from the pit. Oh, Lord, my God, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. My prayer went up to you in your holy temple. Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving, and I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto the dry land.

And at this point, Jonah was just happy that he wasn't thrust out the other end of the fish.

Jonah knew that he was as good as dead when he was swallowed by that great fish. There's no way to escape the fish's gut. Even if he could, he'd be drowned into the sea. Yet three days and three nights after he was swallowed, he was spit out, again connecting the number three with a resurrection or a restoration. In this case, as I said, he was absolutely as good as dead.

Let's take a look at the story of Esther. Esther chapter 4 and verse 6.

See an example of how number three relates to the story of Esther and the salvation of the Jews.

This time is dwelling in Persia. Esther chapter 4 and verse 6. It says here, beginning in chapter 4 verse 6, so Hathak, who was Esther's Persian servant, went out to Mordecai in the city square where he was in front of the king's gate. And she sent her servant was an intermediary between her and discussions that she would have with Mordecai because they didn't know she was Jewish. They didn't want anyone to make the connection that she was of a Jewish background. She had been made queen. Verse 7, and Mordecai told him, this is her servant, all that had happened to Mordecai, how his life had been threatened and gallows were being built for him to be hung on and how everything was turning very precarious. It says, in the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasury to destroy the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the written decree for there, that is all the Jewish people's destruction, which was given at Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and that he might command her to go to the king that makes supplication for him and plead before him to her people.

So a little background here. A law had been passed that on a certain day, the 13th day of the 12th month to be exact, in the Persian calendar, the Jewish residents living in Persia by law were allowed to be hunted and killed like animals. And there was a bonus being paid by Haman for this to be done. And the Jews who suffered this, after they were killed, the murderer would be allowed to acquire all their possessions, their homes, their jewelry, anything invaluable. The killer was allowed to take by law all of those possessions. They were a vulnerable minority and a very large nation of hateful enemies. From the time of this decree, the Jewish people in Persia were as good as dead. It was a law! The Persian king's signet ring was on it. So let it be written, so let it be done. Now Esther was in a dilemma. She could, uninvited, go to the king and intervene on behalf of her people, but she knew, according to Persian law, that unless you were summoned, you did not go to the king. If you went to the king, unsummoned, he might very well put you to death, because that was considered a violation of protocol. That was not considered appropriate behavior to put it upon yourself to just go to the king and say something without the king literally calling for you. Let's pick it up now here in verse 13. And Mordecai told them to answer to Esther. There's a message from Mordecai through her servants to Esther. Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. Look, you may not admit it, and I know you're Jewish, you know you're Jewish. Don't think because the king doesn't know you're Jewish that you or your family are going to escape this terror. Verse 14, for if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Very thought-provoking. He says, you know what, Esther? Every event in every episode of your life may have led up to this point in human history that God brought you right here, right now, to save his people. Kind of reminds me of something Winston Churchill said on the eve of being appointed prime minister when England was in the Second World War. He said in the eve of being prime minister that, I felt that every experience in my life was but a mere preparation for what I had to do right now. That everything in his life was for a purpose, and that's a biblical concept. Our experiences in life, good and bad, positive and negative, have brought us to where we are today, and it's not by accident. Verse 15, then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, Go and gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise, and so I will go to the king, which is against the law, and if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther commanded him. So again, the Jewish people were as good as dead. It was the law of the Persians, so let it be written, so let it be done.

Chapter 5, verse 1. Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house facing the entrance of the house. And so it was when the king saw queen Esther standing in the court that she found favor in his sight. Who worked within the king to give her favor in his sight? She said earlier, it's been weeks and weeks and weeks since he summoned me, since he's called me. Who knows from her mind? He had already been through a previous queen. Maybe he was a member of the queen of the month club, and he'd grown tired of her, and she was taking a big risk to go and see the king without being summoned. She understood that he may have lost interest in her. That's what she believed. And it said she found favor in his sight. And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter, which was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. And the king said to her, What do you wish, queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you up to half of the kingdom. And we'll stop the story right there. The point is that the Jewish people, who were as good as dead, were restored on the third day.

The fast of three days and nights restored the good fortunes of the Jewish people, and they were symbolically resurrected from a sure, absolute extinction, which was in law, and which had been demanded by the king. One final example from the Old Testament here. Hosea chapter 6 and verse 1, turn there with me a very beautiful prophecy about God restoring the covenant with ancient Israel, who to this day is still separated, scattered around this world in captivity. The covenant broken, the people broken, taken away from their homeland, the overwhelming majority of them, yet to this day. And here are the encouraging words from the prophet Hosea about the restoration of the Jewish people in the kingdom of God. Chapter 6 and verse 1, come, let us return to the Lord, for he has torn, but he will heal us. He has stricken, but he will bind us up. After two days, he will revive us. On the third day, he will raise like a resurrection. He will raise us up, that we may live in his sight. Let us know. Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established in the morning. He will come to us like rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth. So here, Yahweh tells his prophet, the Lord tells his prophet, a time will come when his covenant people will acknowledge their sins and they will seek redemption and restoration. And as a people in punishment and captivity, they will be restored. Again, raise us up, verse 2, and the relationship will be restored with God in the kingdom of God. Well, now let's take a look at just one more example. I only have time to cover one more example from the New Testament, but I think it's important for us to do that. So let's go to Acts chapter 9 and verse 1 and take a look at just one more scripture as we conclude this sermon today. The story of Saul, who is persecuting the church of God.

In this case, we're going to see a restoration of someone who is spiritually blind or spiritually dead to a new life, the being resurrected to becoming a new creation, a new creature in Christ.

Acts chapter 9 and verse 1, then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus so that if he found any who were of the way, that is living God's way of life, whether they were men or women, that he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. So they were going to be arrested and taken to Jerusalem where some of them could literally be stoned for blasphemy, for living God's way of life. Verse 3, and as he journeyed, he came near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, Who are you, Lord? And then the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Think of the shock that he must have when he heard that voice, the great persecutor of the believers of Jesus, Jesus himself talking to him.

It is hard for you to kick against the goats. He says you're just hurting yourself. A goat is like a sharpened rod or a stick with a point on the end of it. And if you try to kick that point, if you're an animal and you get a little stubborn, you try to kick that point, it doesn't feel very good. You go, ouch! And that's the analogy that Jesus is saying here. Living this way of life, persecuting me, is like you kicking a sharp object. You're only hurting yourself. You're only causing self-inflicted pain in your life, Saul. So he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do you want me to do? And the Lord said to him, arise and go to the city, and you will be told what you must do. And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. So he's blind. What happens next when they lead him to Damascus? Verse 9. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a certain disciple in Damascus called Ananias, and to him the Lord said in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Here I am, Lord. The Lord said to him, arise and go to a street called Strait, and inquire at the house of Judas for the one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. And in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight. And naturally, as any of us would be, Ananias is skeptical of this. He says, He answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. He's a persecutor. He's not a friend of the Church of God, Lord. Verse 14. And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine. I have big things planned for this man to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias went his way and entered the house. Again, this was after three days without sight, neither eating nor drinking. He went into the house and laying his hands on me. He said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, as you came, has sent me so that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales. And you received his sight at once, and he arose and was baptized. So in this case, after three days and three nights of blindness and fasting, after that occurred, Saul went from being spiritually blind, spiritually dead, persecuting Jesus Christ in the Church of Christ, from that to having a relationship with God. So again, there's a very powerful connection between the number three and a restoration of a man who was a persecutor, a murderer, a sinner, spiritually dead, spiritually and physically blind to one whom God could work with, the very one himself who would later write in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 15 how beautiful it was to become a new creation, a new creation of God's. Today we have explored the new creation of the number three and its symbolic significance in scriptures. Again, I'd like to remind us of that wonderful richness and the fullness of that number three that we didn't have time to touch upon today. But what I hope you take away from this message is, first of all, how the number three connects so well throughout scriptures with the idea of a restoration or a resurrection. The second thing I hope you take away from this sermon is that there is unity in scriptures. There's no coincidence. It's no accident that the number three is connected with the scriptures that we talked about today from many different authors, from two different testaments, that there is a spiritual connection with that. The word of God is God-breathed. It's inspired by God. It's his scripture.

And God's promises are sure, including the promise that we'll all be celebrating today and a little later on today. The wonderful promise that is reminded to us and highlighted by that number three, the promise of the resurrection from the dead. Have a wonderful Sabbath day.