Author: Dr Jito Vanualailai

Before Jesus was betrayed and killed, He prayed for His disciples and for those who would believe in Him through His disciples (underlined text by the author):

²⁰ “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²² And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: ²³ I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. (John 17:20 – 23, NKJV).

It is clear from verse 22 that it is the glory from the Father that will unite all the believers of Jesus Christ.

What is the glory that the Father gives the Son, who, in turn, gives to the believers to unite them?  

Now, the Greek for “glory” used in verse 22 is δόξαν (doxan) , whose definition and usage, according  to Strong’s Concordance 1391,  follow those of δόξα (doxa):

1. Definition: opinion (always good in NT), praise, honor, glory
2. Usage: honor, renown; glory, an especially divine quality, the unspoken manifestation of God, splendor.

According to the HELPS Word Studies for Greek, δόξα (doxa) literally means “what evokes good opinion, i.e. that something has inherent, intrinsic worth“

Several commentators thus came up with the following answers to the question:

As Christ, according to his human nature, is termed the Son of God, he may be understood as saying: “I have communicated to all those who believe, or shall believe in me, the glorious privilege of becoming sons of God; that, being all adopted children of the same Father, they may abide in peace, love, and unity.” For this reason it is said, Hebrews 2:11, Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren. (Clarke’s Commentary)

And the glory which thou gavest me— With respect to my human nature, namely, to be a habitation of thyself by the Spirit; I have given them — Have bestowed on them the honour and happiness of having a measure of the same Spirit dwelling in them, enriching them with various gifts and graces, stamping them with thine image, and communicating unto them thy divine nature, 2 Peter 1:4. (Benson Commentary)

And the glory ... – The honor which thou hast conferred on me by admitting me to union with thee, the same honor I have conferred on them by admitting them to like union with me. (Barnes’ Commentary)

What is a means by which we can be one in Jesus Christ and therefore in the Father?

In verse 22, the last two words are “We are one”   (ημεις εν εσμεν). The total gematria of these three Greek words is 618.

But this numeral produces the set {6,1,8}, which is a permutation {1,6,8}; and the number 168 is the identifier of the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Luke (see Table 3.8 of the book, e-copy):

In the book, we showed that:

The Lord’s Prayer is the foremost proclamation of our faith in the fulfillment of the will of His Father in His Son, Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION:

1. Since the Lord’s Prayer is our proclamation of faith in Jesus Christ, that is, our Creed,  it is a means by which we are one in  Jesus Christ and therefore in the Father;
2. The Lord’s Prayer unites all Christians.

It is interesting to note the following:

1. The gematria of δόξαν (doxan) in John 17:22 is 135, a numeral with the set {1, 3, 5}, a permutation of which is {1, 5, 3}, which produces the number 153.
2. The gematria of Hebrew for (sons of Elohim)  בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים   (bni e-aleim), sourced from Genesis 6.4, is 153.

Matthew 6:33 gives us a powerful passage, for it tells us what to do in order to receive all what we need in this earthly life:

³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

How do we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness?

The context of this statement is given in Matthew 6:25-34:

Do Not Worry

²⁵ Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? ²⁶ Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? ²⁷ Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? ²⁸ And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

²⁹ And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? ³¹ Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ³² (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

³⁴ Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

The Expanded Bible version expounds on God’s righteousness as what God wants us to do:

³³ ·Seek first [Be concerned above all else with] God’s kingdom and ·what God wants [ his righteousness]. Then all ·your other needs will be met as well [these things will be given to you].

The value of “His Righteousness”- what God wants – is 2352, and 2352 = 168 x 14, where 168 is the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Luke.

And when we analyze the component, “the Kingdom of God”, we get the value 358+309+770+484=1921. It has 4 divisors, namely, {1, 17, 113, 1921}. The sum of divisors is 2052. Hence, the Arithmetic Mean of 1921 is 2052/4=513, the digits of which produce a permutation {1,5,3}. Thus, we get back the Lord’s Prayer prayer times.

Conclusion: The Lord’s Prayer is a means to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

In Matthew 11:28 – 30, we read:

²⁸ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

These passages aptly describe the high standard of humanity and care of Jesus Christ. And for those who believe in Him, it is just a matter of taking on His yoke to lighten any heavy burden we may have in our lives and in our daily struggle with sin.

The pertinent question is then:    After we have accepted Him in our life, how do we take His yoke upon us?

In Isaiah 9.6, we read (NIV):

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The Hebrew version of Isaiah 9.6 yields the numerical value of 876 corresponding to “Prince of Peace.”

Using the Method of the Prime developed in our book (e-version), we see that the 876th prime number is 6803, which turns out to be the numerical equivalent of only two verses in the Bible: incredibly, Mark 10:47 and Luke 23:30.

⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  (Mark 10:47, NIV)

³⁰ Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ (Luke 23:30)

The first verse shows who the Prince of Peace is, and the event linked to the second verse shows why he is “prince” or “chief” of peace.

In Mark 10:47, the person acknowledging Jesus was a blind man, as we can gather from the neighboring verses:

⁴⁶ Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸ Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” ⁵⁰ Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

⁵¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

⁵² “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Even the blind could “see” that the Prince of Peace of Isaiah 9.6 was “Jesus, the Son of David!”

Luke 23:30 is referring to the most important event in Jesus life, namely, His crucifixion. With Jesus’ death and resurrection, our fears in death are removed and replaced with the gift of internal life, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 6:23:

²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace because He alone is able to offer assurance of eternal life.

In Exodus 7:3-4, we read (KJV):

³ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart? Yes, He did.

However, verse 4 alludes to the fact that it is not in a manner understood by some, namely, that God violated free will and He was therefore unjust in punishing Pharaoh and Egypt.  Indeed, verse 3 means entirely the opposite of this faulty understanding.

Reading the entire chapter 7 and chapter 8, we realize that it was Pharaoh himself who hardened his heart. God knew Pharaoh would harden his heart. God would allow this to happen, just as He allows those who wants only to do evil continue their sinful ways (Romans 1: 24 – 32). God’s pronouncement in verse 3 “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” does not negate at all, or contradict, God’s intention to allow Pharaoh to continue with his wish; but rather it actually magnifies God’s intention, as we can conclude from Exodus 7:14, which does not make sense if God had actually hardened Pharaoh’s heart:

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.

Biblical Mathematics unequivocally supports this view point. To determine God’s true intention when he proclaimed  “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” in Exodus 7:3, we look at the proclamation’s numerical equivalence. It is 1261.

But the value 1261 refers to only two other verses in the Bible; Numbers 10:23 and Job 34:16. Of these, Job 34:16 (underlined below),  stunningly, in context, refers the true nature of God. He does no evil and does no wrong (Job 34:10) and does not pervert justice (Job 34:12).  He is not unjust!  Moreover, Job 34 reveals the true intention of God, namely, He will not destroy for its own sake (Job 34: 14-15) but He will “repay everyone for what they have done; He brings on them what their conduct deserves” (Job 34: 11), implying He will not interfere with free will: