We fast forty days in Lent- 6 weeks excluding Sundays plus four days beginning with Ash Wednesday. What is the significance of the number 40? The number 40 is mentioned 146 times in the Scriptures. Here are a few notable ones.
- Rain fell for “forty days and forty nights” during the Flood, which destroyed the world
- Spies were sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan
- The Hebrew people wandered in the desert and were not permitted to enter the Promised Land for 40 years.
- Goliath challenged the Israelites twice a day for forty days before David defeated him
- Moses spent three consecutive periods of “forty days and forty nights” on Mount Sinai
- The prophet Elijah had to walk 40 days and 40 nights before arriving to mount Horeb
- Moses, Elijah and Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days each
- After Moses killed the Egyptian, he spent 40 years in the desert being tested
- Before Samson’s deliverance, Israel served the Philistines for 40 years
- Ezekiel laid on his right side for 40 days to “bear the iniquity” of Judea’s sins
- 40 lashes is one of the punishments meted out by the Sanhedrin
- Numbers 14:33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. 35 I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.”
- Forty days was the period from the resurrection of Jesus to the ascension of Jesus
- According to Stephen, Moses’ life is divided into three 40-year segments
- We spend about 40 weeks in the womb
- 40 years after Jesus death Jerusalem was judged and destroyed
What are we to make of the number forty? Many times in the NT we read: “But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures….”
The syntax of that oft repeated phrase sounds like Jesus did what he did in order to satisfy the OT Scripture. In other words he knew the Scripture said such and such and so he did something in order to align himself and his actions with that Scripture. But this makes Jesus a responder, subservient to the Scripture when in reality the Scriptures are reflecting what Jesus would do.
The children were tested 40 years in the wilderness because Jesus would fast and be tempted 40 days in the desert. A 40 year generation was killed off in the wilderness because Jesus would spend 40 days with his disciples between his resurrection and ascension restoring a new generation which would be the true people of God.
The effects and penalty of the Human’s sin was:
- Spiritual blindness
- Enslavement to appetites and passions
- Assailment by the spiritual forces of wickedness, and death
The most significant symbols of this penalty upon humankind are reflected in:
- The destruction of humanity and the world by the 40 day flood
- The destruction of an entire generation of God’s chosen people in the wilderness without entering into the promise land.
The symbols of the medicine which would reverse this penalty thru testing of faith and obedience is reflected in:
- The 40 day fasts of Moses and Elijah
- The 40 day lying down of Ezekiel in which he bore the sins of God’s people
- The forty year reign of Soloman and others, (as in would Israel trust an earthly king or their heavenly king to rule them)
- The 40 day taunt of Goliath.
- The 40 lashes of punishment
- The 40 years between the death of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem
The ultimate healing and overpowering of the powers of darkness were accomplished in:
- Jesus 40 fast in the desert
- The 40 days Jesus spent with his disciples before He ascended to heaven pouring out on them the knowledge of the Kingdom of God and preparing them to be princes in that Kingdom
40 days of testing, hardship and finally death would be transformed into 40 days of glory and illumination.
A generation, a people, a life, a humanity destroyed in 40. Now a new people and humanity restored to life in 40.
40 days of Holy Lent is a preparation for the catechumen who would pass thru the waters of baptism just as the Israelites passed thru the Red Sea after 400 years of captivity, so too the catechumen passes thru these forty days to be born again.
And because we are not yet perfected nor have we finished our race we all go thru this 40 days with the catechumen and with Christ overcoming our passions and defeating the powers of darkness by our penitence until we come to the Resurrection of Easter/Pentecost. And this we shall continue to do that we might finish our race well.