A friend of mine is reading the bible from start to finish. A few days ago he smiled and told me, “I’m in the book of Numbers.” I responded, “You’re reading the book of Numbers and you’re smiling?!”
Two books of the bible that scream boredom in my personal collection are Leviticus and Numbers. Let me be honest. That’s the section of my bible where the pages tend to to stick together. To sit and read through those books of repetitive laws, “do’s and don’ts”, and “begats” are not my cup of tea.
Yet I know that they have their purpose. They are there for reasons other than to bore us to death. And since they are there and we are told to not add or take away any part of God’s word, I can conclude that those passages must be as important as any other.
For example, I’ve been looking into Matthew, chapter one. The chapter is full of “begats” from start to finish. Boring, right? It would be if we simply read through it, just to say we did. But if we consider that this chapter is written for a good reason and that God has a message for us in it; if we look deeper, we might just find it.
First, the number 42 is said to represent the coming of the Antichrist. Scriptures to back this up are:
The gentiles will trample the holy city during 42 month. (Revelation 11:1-2)
The 42 months where it was given to the Beast to act and to blaspheme. (Revelation 13:5)
The famine of the time of Elijah lasts 42 month. (Luke 4:25)
The little children mocked of the prophet Elisha. This one curses them and the fierce animals come out of the forest killing 42 of them. (2 Kings 2:24)
We see in Matthew 1 that there are 42 generations from Abraham to Christ. Jesus is the 42nd generation. Verse 17 says “Thus there were 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the exile to Babylon, and 14 from the exile to Christ.”
Now, you might think it odd that Jesus is the 42nd generation since the number 42 means the coming of the antichrist.
Let’s search that out a bit by reading Galatians 4:1-7. Paul is talking about heirs, sons, inheritance, and how Christ can be formed in us.
The 42nd generation that this text is talking about not only was Christ himself, but also us, the body of Christ. And to that extent, the 42nd generation will come about when Christ is formed in us completely, and we are fully perfected as the body of Christ.
Colossians 1:18 says he (Jesus) is the head of the body.
THEREFORE, we conclude that since Jesus is the head of the body and since he is the 42nd generation, we, the body, being connected to the head is also the 42 generation. The formula looks like this: Christ=42nd Generation=Us.
Now Hear This!
The Israelites refused to enter the Promised Land! So because of their disobedience God saw to it that everyone in that generation, other than Joshua and Caleb, died in the wilderness.
The 42nd generation is the generation that accepts their inheritance. The generation that accepts their son-ship as “joint heirs” to bring redemption to broken lives, light to dark places, and life to dead things! All of the power, all of the authority, all of the inheritance of the Kingdom of God is ours through Christ and his sacrifice and defeat of sin and evil. That is the essence of the 42nd Generation.
I stated above that the number 42 speaks of the coming of the antichrist and that you might think it odd that Jesus is the 42nd generation. But, if we look at Revelation 12 we see a woman laboring to bring forth a man child. This is speaking of the bride of Christ, laboring for the Christ life to be born in them. We also see the “great red dragon”, the antichrist, ready to devour that life as soon as it is delivered. We see both the antichrist and the One True Jesus Christ coming forth.
More Great News!
Verse 5 says, “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”
The woman does in deed bring forth the man-child. God prevails. The antichrist is defeated and eventually thrown into the Lake of Fire.
I don’t know about you, but I want to be on the front lines of this battle. Notice I didn’t say “I want a front row seat.” Like Paul who travailed and labored, I will not sit on the side lines. I am going to labor, and I am going to preach it, and I am going to live it until Christ is found in me. And then I’ll get the prize. I want to be part of the 42nd generation– the generation that inherits the Promised Land!
