Contributed by John Tng: Published 06/13/2003
This article was first presented on John's site
www.FiveDoves.com  . I have
reproduced it below with links to relevant articles on this site. My comments are presented in gray
boxes. - R. A. McGough
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John 21 and the Bible Wheel by John Tng
Richard documented
the correspondence between the 21 chapters of John's gospel and the 21
Hebrew letters in this article:
John's Gospel and the Bible Wheel
I believe his research
is valid and I would like to show the correspondence between John 21 and Shin
- the 21st Hebrew letter. The literal meaning of Shin is tooth,
which has everything to do with food and eating.
Comment: This is same meaning Dr. Frank Seekins
uses in his analysis of Hebrew words in his hwp, where he takes Shin
as a symbol of the Devourer (Eater). For example, on page
14 he analyses the word  (Esh, Fire) as
meaning the Strong (Aleph) Devourer (Shin). This meaning will recur throughout
John's analysis below. This relates to God as a "consuming fire" (cf. GR n301)
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At the opening scene
of John 21, the disciples went fishing the whole night at the sea of Tiberias
and caught nothing. Jesus appeared to them the next morning standing by
the shore, and the first sentence that came out of the mouth of the Lord
was, "Children, have ye any meat?"
Jesus was looking for something to eat for breakfast!
Jesus' second sentence
directed the disciples to the miraculous catch of n153 fish, "Cast
the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find." The
third time the Lord spoke He was thinking of eating the fish, "Bring
of the fish which ye have now caught." When breakfast was ready,
the Lord invited the disciples to "come and dine"
-- His fourth sentence. Besides fish, they ate bread too.
"So when they had dined,"
with bits of residual food still in their mouths, Jesus proceeded
to commission Peter to "feed His lambs"! For emphasis, Jesus
said it three times to ensure Peter get the message and sink it
in his mind.
What then is the significance
of Shin (tooth) in relation to food and eating?
We need more clues.
How about clues from the Gospel of John, itself a Spoke 21 book?
(The three Spoke 21 books are:
Ecclesiastes, Gospel of John and Jude.)
I have shown that food and eating is pretty prominent in
John chapter 21. How about the entire gospel of John? Can we associate
this gospel in some ways to food and eating? Yes, we can!
Jesus said in John
6:53, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you."
First, this scripture on eating the flesh of Jesus is unique among
the gospels. John went into great length about eating His flesh and drinking
His blood in chapter six whereas in the Synoptic gospels the Lord
only spoke briefly on eating His body at the Last Supper. For example,
we read in Matthew and Mark this brief command: "Take,
eat; this is my body." In contrast, Jesus expounded on
this subject of eating His flesh and drinking His blood in John chapter
6.
Consider this fact:
The words 'eat' and 'eateth' occur 11 times and 4 times respectively
in John chapter 6 alone, making it the most prominent chapter on
eating
in the New Testament! Some of these scriptures are shown below:
"Your fathers
did eat manna
in the wilderness, and are dead." John 6:49
"This is the bread
which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat
thereof, and not die." John 6:50
"I am the
living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat
of this bread, he shall live for ever: and
the bread that I will give is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." John 6:51
"Verily, verily,
I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of man, and drink his blood,
ye have no life in you." John 6:53
"Whoso eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:54
"He that eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
dwelleth in me, and I in him." John 6:56
"This is that bread
which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat
manna, and are dead: he that eateth
of this bread shall live for ever." John
6:58
Without question, the
Gospel of John majors on the theme of eternal life. The stuff that
Jesus commanded Peter to feed His lambs with is the stuff of eternal life.
Indeed, in John chapter 6 verse 68, Peter confessed, "Lord, to whom
shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." Certainly,
Peter obeyed admirably the Lord's command in feeding His lambs as
evidenced in his own words, "As newborn babes, desire the sincere
milk
of the word, that ye may grow thereby:" 1 Peter 2:2. The Apostle
Peter fed the lambs with the sincere milk of the word.
We now have a picture
of feeding and feasting that is associated with the 21st
Hebrew letter, Shin, as can be seen from the Gospel of John, a Spoke
21 book. The feeding theme naturally becomes quite pronounced in
John 21 -- chapter 21 of a Spoke 21 book -- with Jesus repeating His command
three times to Peter -- "Feed My lambs." Furthermore, there
is an eternal dimension to this feeding and feasting, for we "shall
never hunger" and "shall never thirst". John 6:35
We also have witness
from the Book of Ecclesiastes, the 21st book of the Bible. As we know,
Ecclesiastes speaks of the vanity of earthly life and labor under
the sun. Yet, there is a surprising truth that is hidden in this seemingly
depressing book. The truth of the matter as preached by the Preacher is
this: EAT TO LIVE & LIVE TO EAT!
All of us eat to
live for survival. The converse 'live to eat' suggests an epicurean
lifestyle. But, is that not what life in heaven all about -- the enjoyment
and celebration of life and bounty in the Presence of the Father of lights,
who gives good and perfect gifts to His children? We shall 'live to
eat' in Paradise enjoying the fruits from the Tree of Life, but we
shall also 'eat to live' in order to live forever (Gen 3:22).
The following combination
of words only occur in Ecclesiastes among the 66 books of the Bible,
thus proving its association with the Hebrew letter, Shin, which
literally means tooth.
| Combination of
words |
Scriptural reference
in Ecclesiastes |
| 'vanity' &
'sun' |
1:14, 2:11, 2:17, 2:19, 4:7, 9:9 |
| 'labour' &
'sun' |
1:3, 2:11, 2:18, 2:19, 2:20, 2:22,
5:18, 8:15, 8:17, 9:9 |
| 'vanity' &
'labour' & 'sun' |
2:11, 2:19, 9:9 |
The above table simply
establishes that Ecclesiastes is about vanity of earthly life and
labor
under the sun. The Preacher seems to advocate eat, drink and be
merry since life is meaningless and a chasing after the wind. This
attitude makes sense IF life is transient and there is no life after
death. The best philosophy under such a circumstance is to eat, drink
and be merry since there is no heaven nor hell and a person only lives
once. While this appears to be his thesis in his book,
however, he concluded at the end of the book that we should "fear God,
and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
| Comment: The distribution of the Shin KeyWord Shemesh (Sun) is greatly maximized
in Ecclessisastes as discussed in Under the Sun.
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The hidden truth in
Ecclesiastes is this: We shall eat,
drink
and be merry and enjoy the works
of our hands, our labor under the sun throughout eternity!
Eccl 5:18
Behold that which
I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat
and to drink, and to enjoy the
good
of all his labour that he taketh under the sun
all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it
is his portion.
Eccl 8:15
Then I commended mirth,
because a man hath no better thing under the sun,
than to eat, and to drink,
and to be merry: for that shall abide
with him of his labour the days of his life, which
God giveth him under the sun.
Hence, Ecclesiastes is very much a tooth book!
How about the last Spoke 21 book, the Epistle of Jude? Is it also a tooth book? Yes,
it is!
Jude speaks of the feasts of charity, the love feasts. Even more revealing, Jude speaks expressly
about eating and feeding! (I can show these love feasts refer
to the Feast of Tabernacles -- the most festive of all the feasts of the
Lord.)
Jude 12:
These are spots in
your feasts of charity, when they feast with
you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without
water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit,
twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Jude portrays a
very strong contrast between the godly and the ungodly. God's
judgment on the ungodly is that they shall not eat nor drink
in the eternal ages to come! The servants of God shall eat
and drink and have their fill throughout eternity
while the wicked shall be hungry and thirsty. The Book of
Jude does not go into so many words in describing the fate of the ungodly
in terms of food and drink. However, Isaiah 65, which corresponds
to Jude, the 65th book of the Bible, describes this scenario perfectly.
(Incidentally, Isaiah is a kind of mini Bible. Each chapter describes a
book of the Bible.)
Isa 65:13
Therefore thus saith
the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall
be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but
ye
shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye
shall be ashamed:
Isa 65:21-22
And they shall build
houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat
the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they
shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree
are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long
enjoy the work of their hands.
Comment: There is a KeyLink here between Spoke 21, Cycle 3 of the Inner Wheel
of Isaiah and Spoke 21, Cycle 1 of the Bible Wheel based on the set
(enjoy, work/labour) [Verify], which selects only Isaiah 65.22 and these three verses
from Ecclessiastes (2.24, 3.13 , 5.18). We have therefore a very strong KeyLink. Using
modnotation to write 65 = 213 (Spoke 21, Cycle 3) yields this representation of
the KeyLink:
 | KeyLink: Enjoying the Fruit of our Labours | PBible( 211 )  PIsaiah( 213 ) |
This integrates with the great theme of the
Work of God that links Ecclessiastes and John.
Yet this is but the beginnig! The theme that John has been expounding manifests in another KeyLink the
he didn't notice, which only goes to show how he was accurately following the Holy Spirit as he
studied Scripture. The KeyLink is based on the set (Feed, my, Lamb*) [Verify]. It selects exactly
two verses from the KJV:
| John 21 (vs. ) |
Isaiah 65 (vs. 25) |
|---|
| So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me
more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. |
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat
straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD. |
We have therefore another KeyLink, where we represent the Gospel of John (Book 43) as
43 = 212 (Spoke 21, Cycle 2):
| KeyLink: Feed My Lambs | | PBible( 212 ) PIsaiah( 213 ) |
The link above views the KeyLink as between Book 43 on Spoke 21, Cycle 2 of the Bible Wheel and
Isaiah 65. This is a double KeyLink, which could also be viewed as a KeyLink between Cell 21 of the Inner Cycle
of John and Cell 65 on Spoke 21, Cycle 3 of the Inner Wheel of Isaiah:
| KeyLink: Feed My Lambs | | PJohn( 211 ) PIsaiah( 213 ) |
Note that the only things that change in all these these expressions is the subsscripts. The basic functional
form Px(21y) remains invariant. This is the fundamental property of fractals, which
look the same on different levels of maginification. It is the Work of God - praise His Holy Name! Give Him
thanks for feeding us with His Living Word!
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Let us recap. Each
Spoke 21 book seems to have something to do with eating. John tells
us in order to live forever, we must feast upon the source of eternal
life -- the Lord Jesus. We must also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
so that "out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John
7:38) We must abide in Him continually by partaking of the communion of
the bread and cup, eating His body and drinking His blood.
In Ecclesiastes, the
Preacher observes the futility of life and its endless cycles. Due to the
transience of life and its meaninglessness, he appears to espouse an epicurean
philosophy to life -- eat, drink and be merry.(Ecc
8:15) Taken out of context, one may draw the wrong conclusion that the
Preacher promotes the epicurean lifestyle. Not so. Whatever we do, he reminds
us that God will judge us and we must fear Him and perform our duty. What
he is really saying is that since all flesh is as grass, do not get caught
up in the rat race and all the futile pursuits under the sun, but
enjoy
God and the works of our hands, smell the roses along the way,
eat, drink and be merry (in a moderate way of course!) and still perform
the duty required of us with the fear of the Lord in us, all the days
of our life.
What a marvelous picture
of Paradise! There is holy work (no longer labour under the sun)
to be performed, yet, there will be plenty of enjoyment, eating,
drinking
and celebrating, in an enviroment thoroughly permeated with the
divine light of God and the Lamb -- the Sun of Righteousness and
the True Light of the world. [Note: 'Sun' is also a key theme
of Shin since the word 'sun' is Shemesh in Hebrew
-- comprising of three Hebrew letters, Shin Mem Shin.]
In Jude, we read that
there will be "exceeding joy" in His presence. There will be no
more "spots in your feasts of charity" in that day. Isaiah
65, which describes Jude, paints a more detailed picture of what the New
Heaven and New Earth will be like. God's servants will get to eat
and drink while "the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable,
and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all
liars" (Re
21:8), will be hungry
and thirsty.
It is also not surprising
that Isaiah 65 is strongly linked with Ecclesiastes since Ecclesiastes
is the first Spoke 21 book while Isaiah 65 describes the third Spoke 21
book, Jude. We read in Isaiah 65:22, "mine elect shall long
enjoy the work of their hands" while in Ecc 3:13, "And also
that every man should eat and drink,
and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is
the gift of God."
Another similar scripture
from Ecclesiastes is Ecc 5:18, "Behold that which I have seen: it is
good and comely for one to eat and to drink,
and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh
under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for
it is his portion."
Another undeniable
connection is the phrase "vexation of spirit". This phrase
appears 10 times in Scripture: 9 times in Ecclesiastes and once in Isaiah
65 verse 14, "Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye
shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit."
Comment: This is the fourth KeyLink associated with John's
artilce. I have known about this link for a long time but have not had time to
document it. It is based on the set (vexation, spirit) [Verify], which selects
(as John mentioned) NINE verses from Ecclessiastes and one from Isaiah 65. We have
another strong KeyLink between Spoke 21 of the Inner Wheel of Isaiah and Spoke 21 of the
bwheel:
| KeyLink: Vexation of Spirit | | PBible( 211 ) PIsaiah( 213 ) |
Truly, there is no end to the wonders of God's Word!
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The Bible Wheel phenomenon
is real and it's one way of looking at the Bible.
John
| Comment: When I responded to John on his site (cf.
Re: John 21 & the Bible Wheel he added these comments to the bottom of note:
Thanks for kind words, Richard. Your discovery of the Bible Wheel really opens up a
doorway into the vast treasury of God's wisdom in His Word. One can meditate endlessly on
the wonders and beauty contained therein.
The prophet Isaiah says, "there is no searching of his understanding." (Isa 40:28) The
Psalmist says, "I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is
exceeding broad." (Ps 119:96) It boggles the mind to think that given eternity, we
will still not be able to exhaust the infinite wisdom of God as contained in His Word.
Thanks for including my article on your site.
John
P.S. Your observation of Isa 65:25 escaped me!
This is the great joy of collaborating with brothers and sisters in the Lord in the exploration and declaration
of the endless wonders of His Holy Word. It is my prayer that many more people will share their insights here
on this site. Don't be shy! Please write with any insights the Lord may give you.
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John 21 and the Bible Wheel