S____ wrote:

Greetings of peace to you, Mike,
Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed meeting you and everyone at the Marshall conference.  Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it over there to NC, but do hope to make the following one, Lord willing.
I really got a lot from Marshall especially in your encouragement to dig into the different types and shadows of scripture.  In all the “downtime” God has blessed me with in these past several months, I’ve really been able to get into the Old Testament and just this morning really felt blessed to come across something in Jeremiah I wanted to run by you (I’m not sure if this has been rattling around in my subconscious from something I might have already read or heard somewhere.)  Anyways, I saw that you posted Multiple of Numbers on the Audio just a few hours after I saw this in Jeremiah and couldn’t help but think, “WOW!”
In one of Jeremiah’s happier times from 31:26 to 32:27, he wakes up in a joyous state with God revealing to him in verse 27, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.”   The most notable theme that jumped out at me in this section of scripture was the combination of judgment (9) and redemption involving the (17) shekels of silver required to purchase the field which I thought might equal out to the “153” fish in Joh 21:11 that are dragged to shore and put on the fire that Jesus has already provided.  Jer. 32:27 has the word of the Lord coming to Jeremiah:  “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh:  is there anything too hard for me?”
All the signs and symbols that appeared in the two passages of Jeremiah and John were absolutely staggering to me, but I found most interesting that Jer. 32:1 shows after (9) complete years of the King of Judah (… in the tenth year of Zedekiah…) coinciding in the midst of after (17) complete years of the King of Babylon (… which was the eighteenth year…)
If you can give me any feedback on this, I’d be more than glad to receive your input.
Thanks, Mike

Hi S____,
It was a great pleasure to meet you in Marshall, and I am sorry you won’t be with us in Salisbury. At any rate I know it is the Lord who is running the affairs of this world so if you cannot come, it is His working. But you will be missed.
Here is the verse you reference concerning the Num 9 and 10:

Jer 32:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
As was demonstrated in the audio and in the study notes, the number nine is the number of judgment. Christ uses a multiple of this number to refer to the scribes and the Pharisees:
Luk 15:1  Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
Luk 15:2  And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
Luk 15:3  And he spake this parable unto them, saying,
Luk 15:4  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
Luk 15:5  And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Luk 15:6  And when he cometh home, he calleth together [ his] friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
Luk 15:7  I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance

“Just persons, which need no repentance” is a reference to “the well who need no physician.” There are no ‘ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance” and there are no descendants of Adam who are not in spiritual need of a spiritual physician. Every patriarch whose life was over nine hundred years of age before the flood, was but a testimony of the impending judgment coming upon the world.
Paul tells us that circumcision represents the judging and “putting off of the flesh.” So when did Abraham symbolically, judge his own flesh?

Gen 17:24  And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

It is the nine ungrateful lepers and Joseph’s nine murderous brothers upon whom God’s impending judgments will be poured out:

Luk 17:17  And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

I had never noticed that the fall of Jerusalem came after Zedekiah had reigned nine full years. And the fact that Nebuchadnezzar had reigned 18 years also is more than mere coincidence that Jerusalem is judged at this particular time. Thanks for pointing this out to me.
I am not making the connection you seem to be seeing between the 17 shekels of silver and the 153 fish. Silver is always connected with redemption, and I see where that figures into God telling Jeremiah…:

Jer 32:8  So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that [ is] in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
Jer 32:14  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.
Jer 32:15  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.

When will this be done?:

Eze 16:55  When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

It was suggested that the message in the number 153 is not the number of the fish so much as the Num 1, 5, and 3. One is, of course unity, two is witness and three is the process of maturing and coming to completion, through the fire Christ has kindled on the shore.
It is evident from the scriptures that God’s Word ministers to different people in different ways at different times. What is not different is the message which is ministered. It is always the message of “forsaking ungodliness and worldly lusts and living godly lives in this present age.”

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

I look forward to hearing more of how God’s Word is ministering to you and hope to see you soon.
Mike >