Completeness

I'll be honest I am wanting to be cautious about sharing my thoughts on seeing and observing the number 3 showing up in my life. I am a firm believer that the Lord speaks to us in multiple ways and that He uses multiple ways in showing us His plans. And I don't want people to just start assuming that repeated things in their lives are from God, or even that God is speaking to us. Sometimes, when things are repeated, it's simply just a coincidence. I believe we need to turn to the Lord for discernment and understanding when we see repeated things.

I can remember I was working through my post-abortion Bible study and covering the topic of what Jesus's death and sacrifice meant. And in that study, the number 3 kept showing up. As I was going through this study I sat there starting to remember all the times the number 3 had been showing up in my life in the past year and a half. I only mention the past year and a half of my life in this because that's when my abortion happened and the Lord really began to work in my life. Or maybe I should state it as that was when I really began to seek after the Lord.

In the Hebrew language, the number 3 is shelosh, which means harmony, new life, and completeness. The use of the number 3 shows up 467 times within the Bible, that's quite a few times. There are a lot of different significant uses of the number 3 in the Bible, but I just want to touch on a few of them.

The first is the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is the perfect example of completeness. God is complete without us whereas we are incomplete without God. As stated in,"What is the significance of the number 3 in the Bible?" article, "every aspect of eternity rests on God's shoulders alone because he is complete without us." The Holy Trinity is the perfect example of what is perfect and whole. "Sin will not undo the plans God has made and Satan is not as powerful as Jesus. The Lord is not relying on us to be perfect in our moral lives in order for him to determine the proper time to send his Son back." What a wonderful reminder that God's plans and good works do not depend on us to be perfect because if it did, we'd be waiting for eternity.

The next significance is the repetition of statements three times. When something is repeatedly said we understand what to have been said as important. In Luke 22:39-44, Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. While in the Garden Jesus prays to His father, "Father, if it can be done, take away what must happen to me. Even so, not what I want, but what you want." In Matthew 26:36-44, we read that Jesus prays this prayer 3 times. Jesus knew full well what was awaiting Him and as we read these verses we see Jesus agonizing in the Garden, we see Him as God wanting to do the will of the Father in heaven, and as a man battling the weakness of His flesh.

My friends do not miss the importance of this. Jesus was fully God and fully man and that meant He was perfectly Holy and imperfectly made weak. He understood what it meant to struggle. We see in His prayer to His father, He didn't want to go through with surrendering on the cross, and yet in His holiness, He chose the will of the father. That is why we must look to Christ as our perfect example. He embodies what it means to struggle in worldly things and yet is still humble to do the will of He who sent Him.

Another example of repetition of threes is when Peter denied Jesus 3 times. In Luke 22:34, Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Him three times before the rooster crows. Luke 22: 59-67, shows that account of Peter denying Christ three times and his realization of what he'd done because Peter had remarked that he'd never betray Him. The repetition of the denial would ensure that Peter would remember what Jesus had said. This story is a great reminder of hope for Christians who sometimes deny Him or hide our light. Just as Jesus knew Peter would deny Him, so Jesus knows we'll do the same. Here's the thing, Jesus still chose to go to the cross. In John 21:15-17, Jesus appears to His disciples and seeks out Peter to bring him redemption from his denial. Three times Jesus asked, "Do you love me?" and then said, "Feed my sheep." The significance of this is important because just as Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus was allowing Peter to find redemption and leave his guilt behind in being able to say, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." What a beautiful reminder that even after our shortcomings Christ still brings us redemption.

The last significance I want to point out is the three days Christ was in the grave. In John 2:18-22, Jesus refers to His death, the temple being destroyed and raised up again in three days. In the Old Testament times and before Christ's death, the temple was the Holy place in which the Israelites went to offer sacrifices for their sins and the meeting place for God and His people. What Jesus was talking about here in John 2:19, was that the physical temple, the building itself was no longer needed. With Christ's sacrifice, he would become the meeting place between God and His people and no other sacrifice would ever be needed.

In the Jewish culture, three days past the time of death meant that they were truly dead. With Jonah, he spends 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a whale. To survive that long in the belly of a whale it was a sure sign that Jonah only survived because God willed it to be. Lazarus was dead and in the tomb for four days before Jesus came to him. There would be quite the stench after three days and thus, with Christ, there is no room for confusion about how much time had passed; and the significance of Jesus' sacrifice being made complete in three days.

Another thing significance I want to point out is that Christ's ministry was 3 years long. I can't help but keep thinking of the word completeness, and what it means. While here on earth, we will never see the bigger picture no matter how much we might wish or try to see it. In heaven. I think we'll have that ability to fully understand and yet at that point, I don't think we'll really care. What happened on earth will be irrelevant because we'll be in the presence of God, and nothing compares to Him. That is why Jesus tells us not to build up treasures on earth because we can't take any of that with us (Matthew 6:19). What the world offers us only lasts for a while but what the Lord offers lasts for eternity. Which will you choose??

I can't say for certain what the number three means for my life but here's what I do know. That the Lord will bring completion into my life. As Philippians 1:6 says, "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ." My friends, I hope you're beginning to understand that it is only in Christ we are made complete. We can all experience that completeness, wholeness, and new life that shelosh offers us. I suppose in some sense, the number three brings me hope in knowing that the Lord will bring completion into my life. Maybe it will quite literally take me three years for things to develop or perhaps the Lord bringing this observation into my life was a reminder that only in Him will I find the completion I am searching for.