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Thirteen Signifies Rebellion

First mentioned in the Old Testament:

Gen 14:4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

Sandi and I were just in one of the airports which did not have a gate thirteen. I pointed it out to her. Thirteen is popularly superstitious and considered to be a number for bad luck. We talk about “Friday the thirteenth” as an ‘unlucky day’, but what is really being told us is that thirteen is ‘unlucky’ because it signifies rebellion against God. Anyone who knows God and Christ knows that there is no such thing as ‘luck.’

Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

The word ‘all ‘ takes the concept of luck completely out of the equation.
Now look at the second mention of this number:

Gen 17:24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
Gen 17:25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
Gen 17:26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.

Ishmael is God’s very first “rejected… broken off… cut off… of your father the devil” seed of Abraham:

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [ then] are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

These are the words which typify God’s “Son of the bondwoman” children of Abraham (Gal 4:30-31)

Joh 8:38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [ even] God.
Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

How can Christ say “I know you are Abraham’s seed… [ and] if you were Abraham’s children…” in the same breath to the same people? That is always the case when Christ’s words go from dealing with the things of the flesh to dealing with the things of the spirit. They appear in many cases to be contradictory, and they cannot be followed by those whose eyes have been darkened. Here is the scripture:

Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

“Is not and yet is…?” How much more blatant a contradiction can be made in the eyes of those who cannot see the hidden things of the spirit behind every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God? And this principle extends to the “seven last plagues ” to which God’s elect are not appointed even though they, like Christ Himself must yet endure God’s seven plagues of His wrath first. Why else would these plagues be called “the seven last plagues?”

Isa 54:7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
Mat 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Are God’s elect ever the subject of His wrath as was Christ?

Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Why must this be? It must be so because “now is judgment on the house of God:”

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Did Christ suffer God’s wrath? If He did then we, too, must do so because “judgment must begin at the house of God:”

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [ it] first [ begin] at us, what shall the end [ be] of them that obey not the gospel of God?

God’s judgment always includes His wrath:

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

There are no exceptions.
Getting back to the number thirteen… it is associated with the strength of the flesh:

Num 29:13 And ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD; thirteen young bullocks, two rams, [ and] fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish:
Num 29:14 And their meat offering [ shall be of] flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals unto every bullock of the thirteen bullocks, two tenth deals to each ram of the two rams,

It is our strength which is in rebellion against God. Everything the flesh attempts to accomplish on its own ends up as rebellion against God:

Pro 14:4 Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

There are those who think that God reveals his Truth only to His more mature sons. Nothing could be farther from the Truth:

Psa 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
Mat 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

Whenever we fail to be as teachable as a young child, we are treading on dangerous ground:

Mat 21:16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

It was a babe in Christ who pointed out to me a few days ago that Christ was born in a manger where beasts eat.
Esther

Est 3:1 After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
Est 3:12 Then were the king’s scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king’s lieutenants, and to the governors that [ were] over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and [ to] every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king’s ring.
Est 9:1 Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [ is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he [ is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [ is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [ and] not in the letter; whose praise [ is] not of men, but of God.