Number Study on 13

Spiritual Significance: God uses the number 13 in connection with the end of the world.

1988 = 13,000th year
We know from studying the timeline information God has given us that 1988 was the 13,000th year of this world's existence. We also know that the Early Rain, a period during which God was bringing the Gospel to the world through the church organization, ended in 1988. Furthermore, the Great Tribulation began in 1988. The year 1988 marked the beginning of the end of the world. We have learned that bringing this world to an end is a 8,553-day process. The Great Tribulation, a period during which God has begun His judgment process by abandoning the churches, began at sundown on May 21, 1988, and continues for 8,400 days until the Rapture on May 21, 2011. God will finish His judgment process over the last 153 days before destroying the world on October 21, 2011.

Marching around Jericho
The soldiers marched around Jericho 13 times and then the walls fell down:
"And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets." (Joshua 6:3-4)
It can be shown that the walls of Jericho falling down foreshadow the end of the Early Rain just before the Great Tribulation began. This occurred in 1988, the 13,000th year of this world's existence.

The death of Jehoiada
In Second Chronicles chapter 24 we read about Joash the king, who had Jehoiada the priest as his guide. Joash did that which was right in the eyes of God throughout Jehoiada's life:
"And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest." (2 Chronicles 24:2)
But as soon as Jehoiada died Joash fell away from following God:
"Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them. And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass." (2 Chronicles 24:17-18)
As a result, God declared that He had forsaken them:
"And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you." (2 Chronicles 24:20)
In this historic parable, the death of Jehoiada typifies the end of the Early Rain when God abandoned the church organization in 1988 because of its insistance on chasing after wrong doctrines. Jehoiada was 130 years old when died:
"But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died." (2 Chronicles 24:15)
Again, 1988 was the 13,000th year of this world's existence and was typified in this historic parable by Jehoiada's death at the age of 130.

Asa becomes diseased in his feet
In Second Chronicles chapter 14 we read that Asa was a good king who did that which was right in the eyes of God:
"And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God: For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him." (2 Chronicles 14:2-5)
But when Asa was 39 years old he became diseased in his feet and turned from God. He looked to man rather than God for help for the last two years of his life:
"And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign." (2 Chronicles 16:12-13)
This historic parable is another foreshadowing of the end of the Early Rain when the church organization becomes diseased in its feet for the remainder of its existence. Beautiful feet identify with the going forth of the true Gospel:
"And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" (Romans 10:15)
The feet being diseased identifies with the fact that the church organization is no longer bringing the true Gospel, but instead it is bringing a gospel that is a polluted and mutilated version of the true Gospel. In regards to our number study, the detail we need to make note of is the fact that Asa was 39 years old when this happened. The number 39 breaks down into 13 x 3, and the number 3 illustrates that this was God's purpose.

Josiah's death at the beginning of tribulation
Josiah was a very good king and he died at the age of 39:
"Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath." (2 Kings 22:1)
His death occurred in 609 BC and we know from studying the timeline that this year was the beginning of a 70-year tribulation that foreshadowed the Great Tribulation of our day. Josiah's death foreshadowed the end of the Early Rain in 1988, after which the Great Tribulation began. The number 39 breaks down into 13 x 3.