All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter 7. Genesis
chapter 7. I'd like to begin by saying I'm
going to start in this particular verse, but there's going to be
numerous verses that I'm going to go to throughout this message,
and I want to carry forth a theme. I've entitled this message Forty
Days and Forty Nights. But this particular verse, Genesis
chapter 7 verse 4, is the first place that that particular period
of time is mentioned. And here's what the scripture
says, Genesis 7, verse 4. The Lord's speaking and says,
And yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth
forty days and forty nights, and every living substance that
I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. Now, that period of time that's
set forth in the scriptures is very significant. It's very instructive
concerning the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Forty days and
40 nights. Now that scripture that we just
read, that's the first mention of that period of time and it's
associated with the destruction of the world by the flood. Now God's destructive flood,
that rain that he sent was truly judgment. on all mankind except
for one man named Noah, Noah and his family. Noah was a sinner
who had found grace in the eyes of the Lord. What that means
is that Noah was looked upon by God in Christ according to
God's good purpose. Noah was a sinner like every
other person on earth. But Noah was chosen of God to
be the recipient of God's mercy only because it pleased God. Now, God was pleased to save
Moses, Noah, I'm sorry, in a very unusual way. Turn to Genesis
chapter two. Genesis chapter two. The scripture
declares that Up until this time, it had never rained on the earth. Genesis 2, 4 to 6. These are the generations of
the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day
that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. And every plant
of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of
the field before it grew, for the Lord had not caused it to
rain upon the earth. There was not a man to till the
ground. But there went up a mist from the earth and watered the
whole face of the ground. So it had never rained. It had
never seen rain. Just a mist, just like a fog,
just came up out of the earth. And Noah was instructed to build
an ark. A boat, look at Genesis chapter
six. Genesis six, verse 13, 14. And God said unto Noah, the end
of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with
violence through them. And behold, I will destroy them
with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Rooms shalt thou make in the
ark and shalt pitch it within without. with pitch. So here's
the Lord's instruction to Noah is to build an ark, a boat. And Noah obeyed God and he started
building that ark which took him about a hundred years to
build. Now I want to show you that.
Look at Genesis 5 verse 32. It said, Genesis 5.32, and Noah was 500
years old, and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now that was
500 years old, and this is going right on into chapter 6, is whenever
God's going to reveal that Noah had found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. So he's about 500 years old. Well, look at Genesis chapter
7 and verse 6. And it says, and Noah, being
obedient and building the ark. Noah was 600 years old when the
flood of waters was upon the earth, so 100 years. Can you
imagine? He built an ark for 100 years. And he suffered the humiliation
and the scorn of men while he preached the gospel of God and
the safety that was only going to be found in that boat. He's saying, now God is going
to destroy this earth. And He's going to send a flood. And I'm going to build a boat.
And this is going to be the only place. He was a preacher. He was a preacher. Let me show
you that. 2 Peter 2.5. 2 Peter 2. Verse 5. Scripture says, and spared not
the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher
of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the
ungodly. So what was Noah? He was a preacher that God had
instructed to build a boat because God was going to send a flood.
And so Noah, he preached for 100 years. And they mocked him
and laughed at him. Now, when it pleased God to place
Noah and his family and the animals within the ark, the scripture
says, and this is found in Genesis 7 verse 4, it was going to rain
for 40 days and 40 nights. That's where our passage came
from. Now, the beauty of 40 days and
40 nights is found in the significance of the meaning of the number
40. I looked this up and I found where the number 40 speaks of
testing a period of probation. Now when you say a period of
probation, what do you mean? That means it's that period where
you're going to watch someone and see if they're going to do
what's right. You know, if somebody is incarcerated
and they have a period of time, they're going to have to be in
jail or something like that and they're going to get out on probation. What does that mean? That means
that you've got a period of time that we're going to watch. And
we're going to see if you're going to do the right thing. We're
going to see if you're going to actually do what you said
you're going to do. You're going to obey the law.
You're going to show up. You're going to report in to
your probation officer. You're going to do all the rules
and regulations. That's probation. So that 40
is set forth. This is what it means in the
scriptures. It means testing, a period of
probation, trial or chastisement, but in light of Christ. Now remember when the Lord saw
the two on the road to Emmaus, and he said, in beginning with
Moses, and in all the scriptures. If we would remember that passage
of scripture, it would be such a help to us in seeing the beauty
in this. All these scriptures speak of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And they actually are setting
forth His glory, proving Him to be, by these different instances
that we find in Scriptures, who He says He is. So here, this
40 is proving, by God's revelation, the glory and the accomplishment
of God's will and purpose for His people in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. So the scripture declares that
the rain came, just like God said it would. And it fell for
40 days and 40 nights. But now while the rain was absolutely
the destruction of the wicked, that 40 days and 40 nights that's
set forth, God said this is exactly how long it's going to rain.
40 days and 40 nights. What that 40 set forth in the
meaning of 40 was it declared the proving, the testing, the
surety that being found in the ark, that ark that pictured the
Lord Jesus Christ, that He was absolutely the assurance and
the security of the sheep. Noah, his family, they represented
the sheep of God, the church, all those places. in Christ. And there, when God's judgment
fell for 40 days and 40 nights, that, according to God's Word,
was sufficient to prove, to test, that trial of probation, that's
what that word means, to show that that ark was secure. They would have stayed right
there, they were going to be sustained, and God was going
to set forth judgment on all the world, but that 40 days and
40 nights proved His strength to save. It was pitched without,
within, and it didn't leak, and it didn't sink. And then the
next time we find, you turn to Exodus 24, 18, I'll just tell
you where I'm going. We see that next time this is
mentioned, 40 days and 40 nights, is when Moses ascended upon the
mount, Mount Sinai. Exodus 24, verse 18. It says, And Moses went into
the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount. And Moses was in the mount forty
days and forty nights. Now, he's with God. And while he's there, The scripture,
this is found in Exodus 34, verse 28. Exodus 34, verse 28. The scriptures declare that while
he was there, he fasted. He fasted. Look at Exodus 34,
verse 28. It says, and he was there with
the Lord 40 days and 40 nights, and he did neither eat bread
nor drink water, He wrote upon the tables of the words of the
covenant the Ten Commandments. Now that period, again, according
to the biblical meaning of that number 40, was the declaration
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the establisher of the righteousness
of the sheep. Here's the foundational proof. Now, you say, how so? How do
you know that? Well, Moses, humanly speaking,
was actually the one who actually received the law from the hand
of God. But again, remember what the
Lord said to the two on the road to Emmaus. Beginning with Moses,
and in all the scriptures, He expounded unto them those things
concerning Himself. So when we find God dealing with
Moses, Moses is but a type and a picture, a shadow of the one
that the Lord said was actually Him. So here's Moses, who was
the one who was to receive the law from the hand of God. But that one that Moses pictured,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he was the one that truly, in heart,
willingly, obediently, took upon himself the burden on behalf
of the sheep to receive from the Father's hand that law and
therefore, not only to receive it, but to have the responsibility
and agree to the responsibility to obey it, you give it to me. You hand it to me. He's the one
who did that which fasting truly pictured. He says that Moses
went up there and fasted 40 days and 40 nights. Now here's what
that pictures. Fasting, somebody said, what
do you mean fasting? What is that? It's a denial of
ourself. A denial of ourself. That's what
it means. When you fast and you don't eat,
you have a fast, what you're doing is you're denying yourself.
You're denying yourself a sustenance that would keep you, and so fasting,
spiritually speaking, is a denying of yourself. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, as the obedient servant of Jehovah, proved it. In the days of his humiliation,
while he was on this earth, he proved his ability and willingness
and worthiness for the establishing of the righteousness of God for
the elect. When he said, when Moses took
that law in his hand, you look at that in light of Christ taking
it. And Christ said, I'll take this from you. I'll take what
you demand. And I'll keep it. This is what
it's going to take for the righteousness of my people. You give it to
me and I'll answer for them. When Moses fasted, that was a
spiritual picture of the Lord's denying of himself. I will be
made flesh. I will come into this world.
I will make myself a servant. I will be obedient. He took that
and he absolutely set forth. My meat is to do the will of
him that sent me. And so Moses, as a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ, received at the hand of God himself those
10 commandments to be our representative and our federal head for the
obedience and the establishing of righteousness. He took it.
I can't take it. I can't handle it. By the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified. Why? Because I can't.
And that's what he did. He denied himself and took it.
But not only did Moses set forth a picture of Christ, our federal
head and representative for the establishing of righteousness.
Turn to Deuteronomy 9. Let me show you what else was
set forth. Deuteronomy chapter 9. I'll read
verses 11 to 18. Deuteronomy chapter 9. Not only was the Lord pictured
in Moses as being the one who established our righteousness. But I tell you what else we need.
We need a high priest. We need a priest before God. And Moses also was a picture
of our great high priest. Let me show you this. What does
a priest do? Before I go any further, what does a priest do? approaches God in his own merit
on behalf of people. He goes before God as God's mediator,
advocate, priest, and prays unto the Father on behalf of the people
who have erred. And he beseeches God on his merit
for them. Now let me show you this. Deuteronomy
9, 11. It came to pass, verse 11, Deuteronomy
9, at the end of 40 days and 40 nights, that the Lord gave
me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. And
the Lord said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence
for thy people. Now look how he says this. You
go tell your people, which thou has brought forth out of Egypt,
have corrupted themselves. Now let me ask you this, does
this not have a sound of God's anger? You take your people that
you brought out of Egypt and they've corrupted themselves.
They're quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded
them. They made them a molten image. Furthermore, the Lord
spake unto me saying, I've seen this people. Behold, it's a stiff-necked
people. let me alone that I may destroy
them and blot out their name from under heaven. I will make
thee a nation mightier and greater than they. And Moses says, so
I turned and I came down from the mountain and the mountain
burned with fire and the two tables of the covenant were in
my two hands. And I looked and behold, you'd
sinned against the Lord, your God, and you made your molten
calf and you turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord
had commanded you. I took the two tables and cast them out
of my two hands and break them before your eyes. Now listen
to this. And I fell down before the Lord as at the first 40 days
and 40 nights. And I did neither eat bread nor
drink water because of all your sins which you sinned in doing
quickly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. What
did that 40 days and 40 nights prove? Set forth, show the probation
of, show that he would do the right thing. What did it show
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ? That he was willing and able
to approach God on the behalf of the sinning people and beseech
God's mercy and forgiveness for them. That's a picture of Christ.
Ever liveth to make intercession for us on his own merit presenting
to the Father the efficacy of His blood. What does that mean?
It got the job done. That's what it means. It got
the job done. And the Father said, when I see
the blood, like He did and looked at them right there, when I see
the blood, I'm going to pass it over you for Christ's sake. Here He is, a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest. But not only do
we need Christ to receive the honor of the law for us and establish
our righteousness that God imputes to us. We need that high priest
that ever liveth and prays for us because we're ever sinning.
You say, well I thought our sins had been cast as far as the east
from the west. The dead of them is. But the
presence of them, we still got them. If we say we have no sin,
we make God a liar. Truth is not in us. So we need
Him to make intercession always before God because all we do
is sin. How comforting to know that He
is ever pleading His worthiness on our account. 40 days and 40
nights, God proved in that ark for Noah. Christ is our security. 40 days and 40 nights, Moses
receiving that law, setting forth Christ's humility and denying
himself, I'll take that law. Forty days and forty nights,
Moses pled before God, have mercy on this people, denying himself,
asking God's mercy. That's a picture of Christ, our
grace-housed priest. We're comforted in the fact that
our sin is cast away as far as the east is from the west and
that God will remember our sins for Christ's sake. No more. And we're comforted when God
sees that blood that was shed on our account, He'll pass over
us and all that comfort is spiritually set forth by the Spirit of God
in that period of time, 40 days and 40 nights. Then next, turn
to 1 Kings chapter 19. 1 Kings chapter 19. There was a man named Elijah. And Elijah was found, 1 Kings
19, Elijah was found in the desert. He had told Ahab, you get your
450 false prophets, you bring them down to this brook, and
we're going to let God answer by fire. And God did answer by
fire, and the scripture declares that Elijah had 450 false prophets
killed, and then Jezebel, when she found out her prophets were
killed, she told Elijah, she said, I'm going to do the same
thing to you by tomorrow. And Elijah now has fled at the voice
of Jezebel. And he's now in a desert. And God's going to send his prophet
on a journey. And he's going to tell Elijah
he's going to have to prepare for this journey. Now let me
tell you what this journey sets forth here. It sets forth the
journey that every believer has in this world when we walk by
faith being regenerated by the grace and power of Almighty God. We're going to have to walk.
We're going to have to walk by faith. We're going to have to
walk trusting God. And the scripture says in 1 Kings
19 verse 5, It says, As he lay and slept under a juniper tree,
behold, then an angel touched him, said unto him, Arise and
eat. Verse 6 says, He looked, and
behold, there was a cake, bacon on the coals, a cruise of water
at his head. He did eat and drink, laid back
down. That's a picture of man, a vessel
of God's mercy, but yet a picture of one unconverted. But look
what happens in verse 7. It says, And the angel, Now here's
what happens when God comes in power. He says, the angel of
the Lord came again second time and touched him and said, arise
and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. And verse
eight says, he arose and did eat and drink and went in the
strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights unto Horeb, the
mount of God. Now that journey, here's an amazing
thing. Elijah, if you look in verse
3 of chapter 19, it says, and when he saw that, he arose and
went for his life and came to Beersheba. Okay? And then in verse 8, it says
that he was to eat that cake, bread, drink that cruise of water,
He was going to go for 40 days and 40 nights unto Horeb, the
Mount of God. Now, I looked this up. I'm not
that smart. I looked it up, and according
to my calculations, from Beersheba to Horeb is about 4 or 5 days. 4 or 5 days walk. I mean, you
could walk it. But now, God's purpose was that
the prophet was going to travel for 40 days and 40 nights. What
he was doing was he was going to prove by him being there 40
days, God was going to make him go 40 days and 40 nights to prove
a point. God was going to glorify the
Lord Jesus Christ in that period of time. Elijah was going to
have to go 40 days and 40 nights without eating. and he was going
to have to go in the strength of that bread and that water
that he was going to drink. That's what he said right here.
He told him, he says in verse 7, he said, the angel said, you
will rise and eat because the journey is too great for thee.
That 40 days and 40 nights represents truly our journey in this world. We're sojourners and we're pilgrims
in this world. But what would take him four
to five days, God said, no, you're gonna go, it's gonna take you
40 days and 40 nights, and you're not gonna eat anything else except
that cake and drink that water right there. For 40 days and
40 nights, Christ was proven in that phrase, 40 days and 40
nights, to be sufficient. for our entire journey in our
life. How long are we going to be in
this world? 40 days and 40 nights. That's how long we're going to
be there. Well, I thought we were going to be here, say, an
average of 70 years, something like this. 40 days and 40 nights
is a picture, is a number that represents the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ to be the sustainer, the shepherd, the strength. of
His people. We're all revealed to be pilgrims
in this world. We're going to be here as long
as God sustains us. But as long as God sustains us,
He's going to sustain us. We're going to be here. So Christ,
who is truly the bread of heaven and the water of life, it is
Him of whom we eat. It's him of who we drink, because
all we are is weak vessels of clay. That's what the Lord said
to Elijah. He said, the journey is too great for thee. And he
said, you eat that cake, you drink that cruise of water, and
in the strength of that meat, 40 days and 40 nights, you're
going to be kept. You'll make it. So that entire
walk of faith in this life, Christ is proven and shown to be in
that period of time, 40 days, 40 nights, to be the keeper,
the upholder. I am the good shepherd. I know
my sheep. I'll never leave them. I'll never
forsake them. He's the tested, proven, tried
savior who keeps us from falling by his own power through faith. And then lastly, After all the
pictures and types of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament,
the Lord Himself physically came into this world to live for those
that had been given Him by the Father and to die for those that
had been given Him by the Father. He had come into this world to
save His people from their sins. Now how is He going to save His
people from their sins? I'll tell you the first thing
he's going to have to do, he's going to have to live for them
and establish righteousness before God. Again, as their federal
head, he's going to have to live and obey God, establish what
God says is righteousness, not what I say. What I say is righteousness,
God says is filthy rags. But what God says is righteousness. He's going to have to live for
it, then He's going to have to die for them to pay the penalty
of the law. I've got to have my debt actually
paid for. God's just. And He's not going
to clear the guilty. Almighty God is actually going
to deal with sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
going to have to go to the cross. and he's going to have to lay
down his life. But before, he's actually going
to be nailed. This right here, the event that
took place in his... Turn over to Matthew 4. Matthew
chapter 4. Well, I'll tell you what, just before,
look at Matthew 3. In verse 16, and Jesus, when
he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and, lo, the
heavens were opened unto him. He saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove, lighting upon him, and, lo, a voice from heaven
saying, This is my beloved Son, whom I am well pleased. In chapter
4, verse 1, it says, Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into
the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Now, let me ask
you this. holding your place right there,
turn over to 2 Corinthians 5.21. 2 Corinthians 5.21. 2 Corinthians 5.21 is the setting
forth of who died for us, what he did, and what he made
us in himself. The Scripture says in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 21, For He, that is the Father, hath made Him to
be sin for us. Now I want you to look at these
next four words. Who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He knew no sin. Now back in Matthew, We see the
account of when the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted of the devil. Immediately after his baptism,
he was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted,
that's what verse 1 says, of the devil. Now here, verse 2
says, he fasted 40 days and 40 nights. and he was hungry. What he did for 40 days and 40
nights. Why 40 days and 40 nights? Because
Almighty God has set forth that that is the time that is sufficient
to prove Christ's worthiness to be tempted of the devil, to
resist him. See, the scripture says he was
tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. God made him to be sin who knew
no sin. He knew no sin. How did Satan
tempt him? Well, first of all, he tempted
him. He said, you're hungry. Why don't you take those stones
right there, turn them into bread. There's the lust of the flesh.
I'm hungry. I'm hungry. And I'm going to
satisfy myself. I'm going to get me something
to eat. Why don't you turn those? The
scripture says that the Lord rebuked him. Thou shalt not live
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. He tempted him with the lust of the flesh. Took
him up on high mountains and said, look at all these glorious
kingdoms. Look at all that. Look at all
that. Wow. You bow down and worship
me, I'll give you all of that. Well, it wasn't Satan's to give
anyway. The earth is the Lord's. and the fullness thereof. I'll
give you every bit of this. There's that absolute pride of
life. I'm sorry, the lust of the eyes.
He took him up on a high pinnacle
to a temple and he said, won't you jump down there? You know
the scripture says that he's going to give his angels charge
over you. They're not going to let you dash your foot against
a stone. And he said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. There's
the pride of life. He said, I don't have to prove
anything to you. He was tempted in all points like as we are. yet without sin. So for 40 days
and 40 nights, He fasted, setting forth His absolute dedication
and submission unto the Father to sustain Him. Here was the
faithful servant of Jehovah. And for 40 days and 40 nights,
as our representative and Savior and substitute who would go to
the cross, if He failed right here, We have no hope. We have no hope. If He is not
without sin, if He knew sin in any way personally, we have no
hope. Oh, He walked by faith. He, as the man, Christ Jesus,
totally man, depended upon His Father as we must depend upon
our Father. And for 40 days and 40 nights,
He deprived Himself of all physical sustenance, depended on nothing
else but God for His strength. That's what I need. I need one
that depended on God. I need a man who is God that
will answer and depend on God and establish obedience and then
give it to me. Wrap me in it. Oh, in every way
that Satan tried to tempt the Lord to sin, God upheld him and
the Lord was proven and tested and sent forth to be the one
who is faithful, faithful and without sin. He was proven by
his obedience to be the one who without sin was the surety and
the righteousness of God's elect. He alone was victorious over
the devil. And he did that not for himself,
but for us, for his people. He didn't do it as a private
person. He did it as the federal head of his church. And the Father
says, that's my beloved son. I'm well pleased with him. Oh, what glory is set forth by
even the numbers. in the Scriptures. 40, that number
that speaks of that testing, that probation, that trial of
Almighty God upon our Savior, who lived and died, was buried
and rose from the dead, and listen to this, then after His resurrection,
showed Himself, Acts 1-3, just turn over, I want you to read
it, I'm winding this up. Acts 1-3, Acts 1, 3. I'm gonna read verses
1, 2, 3. The former treatise have I made,
O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until
the day in which he was taken up. After that, he, through the
Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had
chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive. After his passion,
after his crucifixion, after he put away our guilt and sin,
by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days, and
speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Why do
you think the Spirit of God would put in there the exact number? How long He was here? Until He
was raised? He did that to set forth without
any dispute. There's no excuse to refute the
truth that He is alive. He's alive. People might say,
oh, well, you know what? He was crucified, but you don't
have any proof that He was raised from the dead. God said for 40
days, you're going to be seeing a man. For 40 days, God said
that is sufficient to set forth the truth that He has been raised
from the dead, and now He ever liveth to make intercession for
His people. What hope do we have? Our Savior,
our High Priest, our Husband, Our master, our substitute, our
redeemer is alive. He's alive, and we're alive in
him, and he's coming back to get us. Oh, the preciousness. Every time we read that phrase
right there, 40 days and 40 nights, remember, it sets forth the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has stood for us, has answered
for us, has established our righteousness, has proven Himself faithful to
be the worthy substitute, no sin, and our Savior, who loved
us and gave Himself for us, soon will receive us unto Himself,
that where He is there we may be also. May the Lord bless these
words to our heart for Christ's sake.