2014 is the year of demarcation and double measure. Fourteen equals two times seven, so if we start from the premise that the number seven represents perfection, fourteen, as a multiple of seven, implies a double measure of spiritual perfection. The number seven, according to the meaning of numbers in the Bible, speaks to us of perfection, of fullness, of something that is completed in God.
Seven derives its root from the Hebrew word shabá, which means fullness, satiety in the sense of being full and satisfied. In the spiritual sense its meaning goes beyond an arithmetical fullness, to unveil conclusion, a prophetic divine fullness.
On the seventh day God finished the creation, and on the seventh day He also rested from all the work that He had done (Gen. 2:2). The Word speaks to us of the seven Spirits of God and also of seven churches (Revelation 1:4), among many other symbolic things related to perfection and purification. In that sense, fourteen, whose sum is two times seven, reveals to us this same symbolism but in a double portion. Thus, 14 is not only a double perfection, but is always double. We conclude, then, that seven is the number of perfection and fourteen, as its multiple, implies a double measure of spiritual perfection.
The number fourteen is a numeral that marks, points out, announces, emphasizes and demarcates the holy intentions and purposes of God. If we look at the life of Jacob in Laban’s house, we will notice that the fourteen years he worked for his two daughters (Rachel & Leah) constituted a double measure of perfection. God took him to Laban to “deal with him” (Genesis 31:41), and in His sovereignty, God used that double labor, that double service, that double weariness and that double dowry in that double dealing to perfect Jacob. In the same way, we see that Solomon extended the feast of the dedication of the temple seven more days, that is, fourteen days, into a double celebration, with a double solemnity. Note the writer’s emphasis: “… seven days and seven more days, fourteen days in all” (1 Kings 8:65), because he intended to point out, mark, connote and magnify the event that Solomon was celebrating for God. Therefore, fourteen is marking, pointing out, connoting, emphasizing and revealing a time and an event.
The word demarcate is defined as the act or the result of pointing out or marking the limits of a piece of land or territory. Fourteen is a number that points out and marks the boundaries between times, and it is related to the “kairos” and holy purposes. Therefore, fourteen represents the hands of God’s prophetic clock.
The narrator of the genealogy of Jesus divides each generation into three groups of 14 generations, making a demarcation of that time into three groups, although he is silent about the reason he expressed it that way (Matthew 1:1-17). Therefore, if from Abraham to David there are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations, their sum gives us 42 generations (six times seven or three times fourteen). Therefore, it is evident that the number fourteen is making a demarcation between these times, for seven, although it expresses perfection, does not communicate what God wanted to say through this division.
If Matthew 1:17 reveals anything, it is that the events that occurred every fourteen generations mark and demarcate the main times in God’s eternal plan. The divisions of fourteen (2X7) that mark the most relevant events, multiplied by three (14X3), are 42 generations. From the time of Abraham, when God made the promise (“… all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your seed” -Gen. 28:14), until the word was fulfilled in Christ, because Jesus is the seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:14), 42 generations passed, three periods of 14 generations. We can say, then, that Christ fulfills the 42 (6X7), for if 6 represents the number of man and Jesus is the Son of man (Matthew 18:11); and 7 represents Jesus as the Son of God, we understand then that God perfected man in Christ Jesus. In Christ begins the time when God makes man perfect. Christ is the 42! The Son of man (6) and the Son of God (7). Jesus, the seven, perfects the 6, so that Christ, as the perfect man, makes us perfect men in Him.
Now, starting from this premise or prophetic interpretation, we can sense the possibility that from the birth of Jesus until His coming there will be 14 generations. Therefore, if we add 14 generations to the 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus, it would be 56, which would represent 8 generations multiplied by 7. And if eight is the number that announces a restart and seven perfection, we can say then that the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is the restart of eternal perfection in Jesus. We conclude, then, that the number fourteen would demarcate the beginning of eternal perfection for redeemed man. Hallelujah!
Now let us look at the prophetic application of this message for this time. The year 2014 reveals the double measure of perfection, and in a time of perfection, the church must be perfected. This year that is beginning is the year of demarcation, the time to close, but in order to open again. Not to close for the sake of closing, but to close because I have “concluded” the work that was entrusted to me and I “begin” a new work. God will not close what is not finished, because no work of God is left incomplete. In a time of perfection, we must be perfected. God has assigned a time for each thing, because He does not move at random, for His ways are always perfect, and His times are aligned in such a way that His kronos always coincides with His kairos.
God will entrust to the faithful who have kept His Word, and have administered with reverent fear the grace assigned to them, the closely guarded secrets, and He will place in their hands the hidden treasures that our God has reserved for this time. To these He will give the hidden manna to eat, and He will assign to them the closely guarded treasures for these days.
To the watchmen of the dawn who have not fallen asleep on the wall of Zion, God will give a new trumpet, so that they may announce the new times with a voice of command and the sound of God. He will also make them heralds, to carry the edicts of the King. And the sound of their trumpets will be anointed to awaken those who sleep in spiritual lethargy, and they will cause those who sleep to wake up in the twinkling of an eye. They will also awaken the believer asleep in the lethargy of religious routine and indifference to the proclamation of the gospel, and, like the Samaritan woman, they will lead the caravans of those who will seek Jesus. And the prophets who have been faithful and have blown their trumpets with fidelity and a certain sound will be honored, and God will give them new messages, with new revelations.
Since fourteen is the number of the double measure of perfection, this year 2014 will be not only a double measure of perfection, but a double measure in all things. The Spirit declares that there will be a double measure of perfection and that He will demand that when we worship, we worship with an upright heart; when we serve, He will demand a surrendered and self-denying heart; in the proclamation of the gospel He will demand that we do it with a heart committed to the message; in teaching He will demand a heart attached to the faithful word, just as it was taught; in koinonia, or fellowship, a sincere and loyal heart in harmony with the message: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4); in stewardship He will demand a heart of integrity that administers with love and faithfulness the goods of its Lord; and in the priesthood, the Lord will demand a heart that fears Him greatly and is set apart from evil. From this year onward He will fulfill in His priests what He said through Moses: “By those who come near Me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified” (Lev. 10:3).
Finally, there are three things the Spirit of prophecy emphasizes and announces will be accomplished in this year of the double measure of perfection: 1. What is in part will come to an end, because what is in part is for children, whereas what is complete is for the perfect and mature. Everything that is partial will come to an end when love begins to reign as the perfect bond. Therefore, God will take us from what is “in part” to what is perfect; 2. God will make known the demarcation of God’s times (Gk. Kronos) and seasons (Gk. Kairos). In other words, although the ancients were told, “It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7 ), now the church will know the time, the duration of a period (kronos) and its character (kairos), what will happen; we will know the “when” and the “what” of the demarcated things that God has kept hidden, but which will now be revealed to us in the time of maturity. 3. In the double measure, God will fulfill the Word in Revelation 22:10-11: a double portion of sanctification and a double portion of purification is poured out on the church. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church.
Church of Christ, we are in the time of perfection, which brings us purification, fullness in all things. We are entering a time in which the fruit of the Spirit will necessarily surpass the gift, because the gifts of the Spirit are a means, but the fruit of the Spirit is the end. Beloved, let us take the most excellent way, the path where what is in part, what is childish, comes to an end, and the fruit replaces the gift, so that what is perfect, what remains, what is perennial, may be established, and that is love. Therefore, the church that is identified with the Spirit, and that is in harmony with the double measure and the restart of eternal perfection, will say: Yes, come, Lord Jesus!
Notes taken from the prophetic message given at the church El Amanecer de la Esperanza by Pastor Juan Radhamés Fernández on December 31, 2013, to begin the year 2014: Year of Demarcation and Double Measure. To obtain the complete message, visit our “Sermons” section under the name Prophetic Message – 2014 or go to http://vimeo.com/elamanecer
