Forty and it's deeper meaning

 

http://www.thereligionteacher.com/videos/lent/number-40/

 

I had often wondered about the frequency of the number 40 in the Bible.  Jesus spent 40 days after his Resurrection before he Ascended to Heaven.  There are the 40 years in the desert by the Israelites, the 40 days of rain with Noah and the ark, the 40 days of lent that represent the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert.  Here are the main quotes in the Bible that I could find that mentions the number 40.

⁴ For in seven days I will send rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” Gen. 7:4

 

³⁵ And the people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land; they ate the manna, till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. Exodus 16:35

⁹ When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water.  Deuteronomy 9:9  ²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. ²⁶ And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. Numbers 13:24-26

³³ And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. ³⁴ According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.”  Numbers 14:33-34


And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. Judges 13:1
[the birth of Samson]

¹⁵ but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. ¹⁶ For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening. 1Samuel 17:15-17


¹¹ The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.  1Kings 2:11


⁴² The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.  1Kings 14:42


⁷ The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” ⁸ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. ⁹ At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”   1 Kings 19:7-9


Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he cried, “Yet forty days, and Nin′eveh shall be overthrown!” Jonah 3:3-5


Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. Matthew 4:1-2

To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God.  Acts 1:2-4

I have also heard that after Jesus' death he spent a total of 40 hours in sealed in the tomb, although I have no documented proof of this one.

In the Volumes Jesus explains the significance behind the number 40 and reveals that it has occurred even more than I had realized.


My daughter, the number forty is symbolic and significant in my life down here. When I was born, for forty days I wanted to remain in the grotto of Bethlehem - symbol of my Divine Will which, while being present in the midst of creatures, was as though hidden and outside of the city of their souls. And I, in order to repair for the forty centuries of human will, wanted to remain outside of the city for forty days, in a miserable hut, crying, moaning and praying, to call back my Divine Will into the city of souls, so as to give It Its dominion. And after forty days I went out to present Myself to the temple, and reveal Myself to the holy old Simeon. He was the first city I was calling to the knowledge of my Kingdom; and his joy was so great, that he closed his eyes to the earth to open them to eternity. Forty days I spent in the desert, and then, immediately, I did my public life, to give them the remedies and the means in order to reach the Kingdom of my Will. For forty days I wanted to remain on earth after my Resurrection, to confirm the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat and Its forty centuries of Kingdom which It was to possess. So, in everything I did down here, the first act was the restoration of the Kingdom; all other things entered into the secondary order, but the first link of connection between Me and creatures was the Kingdom of my Will. Therefore, when it is about my Will, I hold nothing back, neither light, nor sacrifices, nor manifestations, nor happiness – they are seas that I release from Myself so as to make It known, to make It reign, and to make It loved.”

Vol. 22, Sept. 8, 1927


The number 40, symbol of the time mankind had lived without the manifest presence of the Divine Will, 40 centuries or 4,000 years.  The Jews at that time could trace their lineage back to Adam and the time that spanned was ~4,000 years (,Time Line From Adam to Yeshua.)  The Divine Will is always present but after the fall of man it was not given it's due place, recognized and honored.  In the beginning of his life as a babe Jesus first atones for the Divine Will being dethroned from his seat in mankind.  At the preamble of his ministry he spends 40 days in the desert in order to obtain all the remedies needed for mankind to be able to reach the Kingdom of the Divine Will again.  And finally for the third time after his resurrection he again spends 40 days on the Earth confirming his Kingdom and how long of a time it will exist on the Earth before the end of time.  Reparation, Preparation, Confirmation.  Luisa as well fell under the number of 40.  Jesus explains how it is significant in all preparatory acts.

Forty years and more of exile; virtue and strength of a prolonged sacrifice. Gathering of the materials, to then order them. Happiness of Jesus in blessing His little prisoner daughter. Kisses in the Divine Will. Decision from priests to prepare the writings for printing. Surprising graces that Jesus will give to priests

          My life is carried out before my Jesus in the Sacrament, and - oh! how many thoughts crowd my mind. I was thinking to myself: ‘After forty years, and months, that I had not seen the Tabernacle, that I had not been given to be before His adorable sacramental presence – forty years, not only of prison, but of exile – finally, and after so long an exile, I have come back as though to my fatherland, though a prisoner, but no longer exiled, near my Jesus in the Sacrament; and not once a day, as I used to do before Jesus made me a prisoner, but always – always. My poor heart, if I have it at all in my chest, feels consumed at so much love of Jesus.’ But while I was thinking of this and other things, my Highest Good, Jesus, moving in my interior, told me:

          “My daughter, do you think that my keeping you imprisoned for forty years and more has been by chance, without a great design of mine? No! no! The number forty has always been significant and preparatory to great works. For forty years the Jews walked in the desert without being able to reach the promised land, their fatherland; but after forty years of sacrifices they had the good of taking possession of it. But, how many miracles, how many graces, to the point of nourishing them with the celestial manna during that time. A prolonged sacrifice has the virtue and strength to obtain great things from God. I Myself, during my life down here, wanted to remain in the desert for forty days, away from all, even from my Mama, to then go out in public to announce the Gospel which was to form the life of my Church – that is, the Kingdom of Redemption. For forty days I wanted to remain as risen, to confirm my Resurrection and to place the seal upon all the goods of Redemption. So I wanted for you, my daughter: in order to manifest the Kingdom of my Divine Will, I wanted forty years of sacrifices. But, how many graces have I not given you! How many manifestations! I can say that in this great length of time I placed in you all the capital of the Kingdom of my Will, and everything that is necessary in order to make creatures comprehend it. So, your long imprisonment has been the continual weapon, always in the act of fighting with your very Creator, to have you manifest my Kingdom.
          Now, you must know that everything I have manifested to your soul, the graces I have given you, the many truths you have written on my Divine Will, your pains, and everything you have done, has been nothing but a gathering of the materials in order to build; and now it is necessary to order them and to get everything settled. And just as I did not leave you alone in gathering the necessary things which must serve my Kingdom, but I have been always with you, so will I not leave you alone in putting them in order and in showing the great building which I have been preparing together with you for many years. Therefore, our sacrifice and work is not finished. We must go forward until the work is accomplished.”
Vol. 25, Oct 10, 1928

The Pain of the Ascension

I'd often wondered why the Ascension was always celebrated as a feast with so much joy on the part of the Church.  I mean, I understand that it is a victory and the crowning act of the Redemption with the promise for all of us, but it and the Assumption, have always left me feeling sorrowful.  Again I found the confirmation of what I was feeling in the Volumes and that I wasn't alone in this sorrow.

The pain of the Apostles when they saw Jesus ascend into Heaven. The good which this pain produced. Lesson to Luisa about the pain of the privation of Jesus.

 

I was thinking of when my sweet Jesus went back to Heaven in His glorious Ascension, and therefore of the sorrow of the Apostles in remaining without such a great good; and my sweet Jesus, moving in my interior, told me: 

           “My daughter, the greatest sorrow for all of the Apostles, in their entire lives, was to remain without their Master. As they saw Me ascend to Heaven, their hearts were consumed with the pain of my privation; and much more was this pain sharp and penetrating, since it was not a human pain, something material that they were losing – but a divine pain: it was a God that they were losing. And even though I had my Humanity, as It resurrected, It was spiritualized and glorified, therefore all the pain was in their souls; and penetrating their whole beings, it caused them to feel all consumed with grief, to the point of forming in them the most harrowing and painful martyrdom. But all this was necessary for them. It can be said that until that moment, they were nothing but tender babies in virtues and in the knowledge of divine things, and of my very person. I could say that I was in their midst but they did not really know Me, nor love Me. But when they saw Me ascend into Heaven, the pain of losing Me tore the veil, and they recognized Me with such certainty as the true Son of God, that the intense sorrow of no longer seeing Me in their midst gave birth to firmness in good and strength to suffer anything for love of the One whom they had lost. It gave birth to the light of divine science; it removed from them the swaddling clothes of their infancy, and it formed them as intrepid men - no longer fearful, but courageous. The pain transformed them and formed in them the true character of Apostles. What they could not obtain with my presence, they obtained with the pain of my privation.

           Now, my daughter, a little lesson for you. Your life can be called a continuous pain of losing Me and a continuous joy of acquiring Me. But between the pain of the loss and the joy of acquiring Me, how many surprises have I not given you? How many things have I not told you? It was pain and the painful martyrdom of losing Me that prepared you and disposed you to hear the sublime lessons on my Will. In fact, how many times it seemed to you that you had lost Me, and while you were immersed in your harrowing pain, I would come back to you with one of the most beautiful lessons on my Will, and I would make the new joy of acquiring Me come back, to dispose you once again to the piercing pain of my absence? I can say that the pain of remaining without Me has given birth in you to the effects, the value, the knowledges, the foundation of my Will. It was necessary that I conduct Myself with you in this way – that is, coming to you very often, and leaving you prey to the pain of being without Me. Since I had established that I would manifest to you, in a way all special, many things about my Will, I had to leave you prey to a continuous divine pain, because my Will is Divine, and only upon a divine pain could It establish Its throne and lay Its dominion; and assuming the attitude of teacher, It communicated the knowledge of my Will, as much as it is possible for a creature. Many will marvel in hearing of the continuous visits I made to you – which I have not done with others – and of your continuous pain of my privation. Had you not seen Me so many times, you would not have known Me nor loved Me so much, because each one of my visits brings an additional knowledge of Me and a new love; and the more the soul knows Me and loves Me, the more her pain is redoubled. And I, in coming, kept provoking your pain more intensely, because I want my Will not to lack the noble cortege of pain, which constitutes the soul firm and strong, so that my Will may form my stable dwelling in her, and give her new and continuous lessons on my Will. Therefore, I repeat to you – let Me do, and trust Me.”

Vol. 16 May 29, 1924



The sorrow of the privation of Jesus for the Apostles is what truly transformed them into Apostles and gave them the graces needed for their mission to sow the Kingdom of the Redemption on the earth.  So what appears as sorrows to the creature is how God prepares the ground for his work and the deeper he plows the greater the work and harvest.

Oh! how beautiful it is to see this field of the soul all covered with many drops of light, and as they gradually grow, many suns will form. This sight is enchanting; all Heaven is enraptured at the sight of it, and they are all attentive on looking at the Celestial Farmer who cultivates this field with such great mastery, and who possesses a seed so noble as to convert it into sun. Now, my daughter, this field is mine and I do with it whatever I want. Once these suns have formed, I collect them and take them to Heaven, as the most beautiful conquest of my Will, and then I return to the work of my field. So, I put everything upside down, and the little daughter of my Will feels everything ending, everything dying within her. In the place of the suns, so refulgent with light, she sees the drops of light which I am sowing, and she thinks that everything is perishing. How you deceive yourself - this is the new harvest that must be prepared; and since I want to make it more beautiful than the previous one, and make it larger so as to be able to double my harvest, at first sight the work seems to be more difficult, and the soul suffers more. But those pains are like strokes of the hoe into the ground, which make the seed sink deeper down so as to make it germinate more safely, with greater fecundity and beauty. Don’t you see, when a field is harvested, how squalid and poor it remains? But wait until it is sown again, and you will see it more flowery than before. Therefore, let me do; and you, by living in my Will, will always be at work with Me; we will sow the little drops of light together, and we will compete to see who sows more. So, we will amuse ourselves, now in sowing, now in resting – but always together. I know, I know what your strongest concern is – that I might leave you. No, no, I do not leave you; one who lives in my Will is inseparable from Me.”

Vol. 16, Oct. 20, 1923

 

 

Now I know all of this does not change the sorrow or the dryness that we feel at the time but I find for me it does help by giving the hope that allows faith to see beyond the present pain to the promised good, plus I get the reassurance that it's part of God's plan and not necessarily my fault.