2026 — A pivotal year.

Just watching all the fireworks, laser light displays, and musical festivals around the world, creates an atmosphere that 2026 is indeed a year that will bring ….?

 In the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, the following emerges: The number 26 speaks of the beginning of humankind, Genesis 1:26 : “Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." In Exodus 26:1, the number 26 is the number which expresses the way in which God wanted to be worshipped. God instructed Moses to build a tabernacle. “Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skilfully worked into them.”

In contrast, the prohibition against idol worship is captured in Leviticus 26:1, “You shall not make idols for yourselves, or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up as figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the LORD your God". In the wilderness of Sinai, God instructed Moses to do a census of all the males of the 12 tribes of Israel, over 20 years old who were able to go to war. The tribe from whom Jesus would be born is recorded in Numbers 1:26, “Of the people of Judah, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war.”   

Israel however, recorded in Numbers 26, who did not obey the Lord, was struck by God with a plague. After the plague the Lord instructed Moses to do another census.  “Take a census of the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and, by their fathers’ houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war.” Numbers 26:1-2.

And Deuteronomy 26:1-2 describes the place where God wanted to worship, “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it,  you shall take some of the first fruits of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place the Lord your God will choose to make His name to dwell there…”

From the creation of man, through the wilderness into the promised land, the number 26 is on display. Why would this number be so central in the history of man?

Arithmetically, the number 26 is 13 plus 13. It is also the sum of 20 plus 6 and it is also the sum of 23 plus 3. The number 3 represents the cycle of life — birth-life-death; time — past-present-future and it is also found in the strongest structure — the triangle. Twenty-three has the distinction of being the only integer less than a 100 that cannot be expressed as the sum of fewer than 9 cubes of positive integers. These nine cubes are: 23 = 1³ + 1³ + 1³ +1³ +1³ +1³ +1³ + 2³ + 2³. The only other number that has the same quality, is 239, which can prima facie be read as 23 and 9, nine being the last single digit whole number. All this point to uniqueness of the number 23. Together, this combination, 3 and 23, expresses the totality of human life ,3, which finds a strong structure, only in one unique number, 23.

Biblically, the number 3 speaks of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and His relationship to Israel. Through the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the nation of Israel was established through whom the Messiah would be born. The number 23 directly correlates with Jesus. The numerical value of the two Hebrew letters את, which are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, is the name Jesus called Himself., the Aleph and the Tav.  The number 3 in the history of Israel, reflects their generations but also reflects all the generations who are saved by the Person in Whom everything holds together, Jesus, “And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together…,” which was a mystery Paul said, that was hidden for ages, Colossians 1:26.

The second combination, 20 and 6, expresses the length of a man’s life. The number 20 in Psalm 90 is expressed as “score”. The Bible refers to a man’s life as 3 score and 10 or 4 score if he is very strong. The number 6 is the number of man as is stated in Revelation 13:18. Here, using the superlative as 666.

The 3^rd combination, 13 + 13, is significant. The number 13 in ancient mythology was believed to be the number of the Greek god Zeus who was regarded as the most powerful god. The number also indicates the cycles of the year. There are approximately 13 cycles of the moon every year; the four seasons have 13 weeks each and the reverse number of 13, 31, is the number of days in 7 months of the year. The number 13 therefore combines worship to time.

Biblically, although Jesus can be seen in all the numbers, the number 13 is the number that expresses His earthly ministry. Jesus had 12 disciples and He was the 13^th man.  The reverse number of 13, 31, is the standard value of the word El אל, which means God. The apostle John makes it clear that Jesus is God Who would baptize with the Holy Spirit, John 1:26. Jesus will return to rule and reign as the King of the Universe and will be worship by all. His first coming and second coming can then be seen as 13 plus 13, 26.

From the combinations above, it was demonstrated that the number 26 is significant from the first book of the Bible to the last. It ties creation, worship, salvation and time together. Everyone’s name, who believes in the Son of God, is recorded in the Book of Life, a census if you will, Revelation 13:8.  However, there is an even more significant reason why this number is singled out.

Exodus records the burning bush experience of Moses. In Exodus 3:15, God revealed His name to Moses, LORD “This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” The word LORD is written with four Hebrew letters יְהוָ֣ה Yahweh. The numerical value of this word is 10 + 5 + 6 + 5, 26. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that no one should perish but have eternal life. This life is in His Son, Who is the Word, דבר dabar, in Hebrew. And the Hebrew word dabar has an ordinal value of 26. The number 26 therefore speaks of the only true God, and His Son, the Redeemer of the world, Who should be worshipped.

Whatever 2026 might bring, this is the year of the LORD.