It has been 40 years since Herbert W. Armstrong died. Also, there are 40 days between December 7, the date I was fired from the Worldwide Church of God in 1989, and January 16, the date Mr. Armstrong died in 1986.
The number 40 occurs often in the Bible. Have you ever wondered why? It is significant in the lives of the biblical prophets, kings and judges. It occurs repeatedly in the lives of spiritual giants. The significance of this number helps us understand why the Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness; why Moses, Elijah and even Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days; and why this number is a sign for us today.
Study the number 40 in the Bible and you see that only God could have inspired the use of this number throughout the millenniums. This number is an important sign that brings God into events to show His presence. This should be very encouraging for us—especially when you consider that 40 is emphasized in the lives of Moses, David and the end-time Elijah—Herbert W. Armstrong.
Moses
God urges us in Malachi 4:4 to remember “the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb.” That is a crucial prophecy for us today. It is in the context of an end-time Elijah (verses 5-6). Moses was on Horeb, also called Sinai, for 40 days and nights fasting (Exodus 34:28). (You can also see in 1 Kings 19:8 that the Prophet Elijah traveled “forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God” without food or water. Matthew 4:2 shows that Jesus Christ also fasted 40 days and nights.) Fasting brings us close to God, and the fact that these men fasted 40 days is a miraculous sign that God was truly with them!
The account of Moses in the book of Acts really emphasizes this number in his life. “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel” (Acts 7:22-23). Moses spent 40 years in Egypt, then fled to the land of Midian, where he spent another 40 years. “And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush” (verse 30). This is impressive: God draws our attention again to the number 40 through a “flame of fire.”
At that bush, God spoke to Moses, saying “I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground” (verses 32-33). God was personally there, and the ground around Him became holy. This is in the context of those 40 years.
Exodus 7:7 also emphasizes 40: “And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.” When God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, he was 80 years old—two 40s.
The account in Acts 7 continues: “He [Moses] brought them [the Israelites] out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years” (verse 36). Here is another 40 years—the time Israel spent wandering through the wilderness. God showed the Israelites wonders and signs of His presence. He wanted them to see that He is involved. The number 40 signals that. It is wonderful to have wonders and signs, but those only impressed the Israelites for a short time. This history is recorded especially for us in this end time! (1 Corinthians 10:11).
“Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?” (Acts 7:42). God led them for those 40 years, but they didn’t want to obey Him.
What God did through Moses is most relevant for us today. Moses had much to say about law and what God wants from us; he laid the foundation of the law and the truth of the first five books of the Bible. Many today reject these foundational truths, claiming that the law has been done away.
Today, people don’t really know who God is and where He is working. They don’t know what the number 40 is all about. But we ought to know! God wants us to recognize His presence.
Judges
The book of Judges is part of the former prophets, which are also primarily for this end time. It gives several examples of how God punished Israel and how He delivered Israel. Again, it is linked to 40 years, showing God’s presence in the punishment—and the deliverance.
Judges 3:8 shows God’s anger with Israel, sending them into captivity for eight years to the king of Mesopotamia. When the Israelites cried to Him, He delivered them through Othniel. The account concludes, “And the land had rest forty years” (verse 11). God brought safety because, at that point, they had God’s presence. They were looking to God in a way that they hadn’t before.
Judges 5:31 has a similar example: “So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.” If you love God, you will be as the sun! God loves to see that. He wants us to shine like the sun! You will have abundant light and wonderful blessings.
That is a prophecy for today, the end time we now live in. God is really calling men in this end time as never before. It’s a wonderful thing to have God in your presence and to shine like the sun because you love God so much and you obey Him. He loves that!
Judges 8:28 says that Gideon, another judge, also brought Israel 40 years of quietness, peace, joy and happiness. He obeyed God for 40 years, and God loved what he did.
A final example, from Judges 13:1: “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.” Again God was angry with them because of their sins, and so He cursed them for 40 years! You don’t want God’s presence in that way. Remember, this is all prophecy primarily for the end time.
King David
The number 40 occurs again in the book of Kings, in association with King David. “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years …” (1 Kings 2:10-11).
God counted those years out. He had a plan to let this man be king over Israel for 40 years. That tells you that God was with David in a powerful way—again, because he obeyed God! He had his problems, like we all do, but he was a man after God’s own heart. His 40-year rule was a sign that God was with him.
1 Kings 11:42 says that David’s son, Solomon, also reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for 40 years. He did some amazing things: He built the most beautiful temple ever in the world, and there was great prosperity and happiness, as it will be worldwide in the near future. Solomon’s reign was a type of the wonderful World Tomorrow—and he ruled 40 years. God was with him, guiding him—though he did at times rebel and do some terrible things.
A Godly Education
Herbert W. Armstrong, the end-time Elijah, died 40 years ago. Today we need to ask, where is God working now? Where is God’s sign today? We really need to know about these 40s to help us see what God is doing in our life.
When John Amos and I were fired from the wcg on Dec. 7, 1989, it was just 40 days before the anniversary of Mr. Armstrong’s death on January 16. We found that significant, and I believe it showed God’s presence was with us because we were obeying God when we got fired. In fact, that is why we were fired! The wcg leaders were forsaking God and what Mr. Armstrong taught them.
The number 40 is tied to God. These 40s are not the work of man but of God! It shows that God is involved here. What could be more important than that?
We started our campus in Edmond, Oklahoma, with 40 acres—just like the Pasadena campus under Mr. Armstrong. Both campuses were associated with the number 40.
Why is God so concerned about being there at the very beginning? We considered our 40 acres to be a sign of God’s presence with His people. He wants to be with us: He is our Father; Christ is His Son. It’s all about Family! We are becoming sons! He is “bringing many sons unto glory” (Hebrews 2:10). That should be our goal and passion in life!
From both these 40 acres sprang colleges to educate people in God’s truth. Both places contained a wonderful vision about what God is about to do for the world. He is preparing people to see how to build a place like the World Tomorrow. As much as we can, we try to give insight into what the wonderful World Tomorrow will be like!
Mr. Armstrong wrote in 1978, “I have traveled into all parts of the world. In China and India millions are starving. The filth, squalor and wretchedness is simply indescribable. This same degenerate condition of degradation and suffering fills many parts of Central and South America, and of Egypt and others parts of Africa. Two thirds of the people on Earth live in such destitution. I thought of the joyous World Tomorrow that is coming, and immediately the question came to mind: How can abundant well-being be brought to these teeming, impoverished millions?
“And the answer was obvious. Correct the cause—lack of right education” (Plain Truth, September 1978).
That is the problem today: a lack of right education. There is something wrong with education in this world: We simply don’t bring God into it. Right education is everything. If God is in a college, it will revolve around the truth of God and the great future of Jesus Christ’s Second Coming to rule this Earth under the direction of His Father!
Seeing those 40s brings you into God’s view, and God’s education. God knows how to have peace; man does not. God’s education is going to bring this world into the greatest, most beautiful paradise you could imagine! The truth of God will be taught to every human being who has ever lived! As soon as Christ returns to Earth, He will begin doing that, and that is going to happen very soon!
After those 1,000 years, that education will be taken out into the whole universe to teach the truth of God about the Family of God and about many sons being brought to glory!
What a wonderful time that will be! And the education starts here on this Earth! God will give it to us if we will just obey Him and live that truth today.
Just think about all those 40s, and think about God’s presence. He does sometimes curse or correct us if we get away from Him and forsake Him; He must do that! But God is re-creating Himself in man—that is His goal. We are going to be sons of God—not adopted sons but real sons of God!
What a beautiful picture this is, and how important the number 40 is!