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Spiritual Significance of Numbers – The Number Fourteen = Spiritual Progress and Spiritual Progression

[Study Aired February 20, 2026]

If the negative application of the number 13… 6+7, reveals the rebellion of our carnal mind (Gen 14:4), and on the other hand its positive application reveals the beginning of our deliverance from that rebellious mind (Gen 37:1, Gen 41:46), fourteen tells us what comes next. What follows is the beginning of our deliverance from the power of “the law of sin and death” that we have not attained but we are now definitely in the process of attaining:

Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Php 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect [G5046: telios] , be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

That verse 13 is the spiritual significance of the number 14.

#14 in the Old Testament

There is great spiritual significance in the lives of the wives of the patriarchs. The fact that Sarah and Rachel were barren for many years signifies how our carnal-minded old man flourishes and matures long before our new man is even born or makes his appearance in our lives.

In the case of Jacob’s two wives ,we see this same principle at work. Here is the first time we see the number ‘fourteen’ mentioned in scripture:

Gen 31:41 Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

Jacob worked for his father-in-law, Laban. Living on the eastern side of the Euphrates river, Laban signifies Babylon in scripture. For 14 years Jacob worked for Laban to pay for Laban’s two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Like each of us who once attended church services, Jacob was deceived into marrying Leah. Laban had told Jacob that he could have the only wife he loved. That was Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel. In the words of Christ, Laban had “compassed sea and land” to get Jacob to marry his oldest  daughter.

Mat 23:15  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell [G1067: ‘Geenna’, signifying the lake of fire] than yourselves.

Jacob was furious when he discovered that he had not been given the wife he had been promised. In that sense Leah signifies the churches of Babylon who deceive us into believing they are the true bride of the Lamb. Leah, the unloved wife is given to us for our good works… attending services regularly, tithing faithfully, going on missionary journeys, supporting the building fund… etc. etc. However, we receive her while still in deception. The second wife is the truly loved wife. She is given in advance of expected labor which must and does follow. That is the message of these New Testament verses:

Eph 2:8  For by [chastening] grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves [not because we have earned our salvation]: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. [Rachel was given to Jacob before he had worked the second seven years. Rachel was given, “Not of works…”]

Spiritual progress has now just begun to take root, and we just now beginning to see how Laban, who signifies our Babylonian experience, has been taking advantage of us for many years. As always it takes even more years, six more years, before we are granted to begin to “come out of her.” This is what Jacob told Laban to Laban’s face:

Gen 31:41  Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

This ‘spiritual progress’ is the significance of this number 14, which brings us to the second time this number appears in scripture:

Gen 46:22 These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.

Here is what brings us to begin to experience true spiritual progress in our lives. It is signified by “the sons of Rachel” who signify the Lord’s elect as contrasted with his ten brothers who sold him into Egyptian slavery:

Gen 37:9  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10  And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

As all those who peddle the gospel and spread the lies of Babylon will do to us, Joseph’s bothers did indeed “bow themselves to the earth before him”, then he revealed himself  to them before sending them back to bring Israel down to him:

Gen 45:24 So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way. [Do not blame each other for what God has done]
Gen 45:25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father,
Gen 45:26 And told him, saying, Joseph [is] yet alive, and he [is] governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not.
Gen 45:27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
Gen 45:28 And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.

Like Pharaoh, who signifies God the Father handing rulership over to His Son Christ in Genesis (Gen 41:41), and then this same figure, a Pharaoh “who knew not Joseph” signifies the adversary in the very next book of the Bible (Exo 1:8), Jacob himself signifies the Lord’s anointed when contrasted with his twin brother Esau (Mal 1:3, Rom 9:13), then he signifies the Lord’s rejected anointed when he bows down to his own son, Joseph :

Gen 37:9  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10  And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

This is where we are informed that it is “the sons of Rachel” who begin to have a spiritual experience, as signified by Rachel’s fourteen children:

Gen 46:19 The sons of Rachel Jacob’s wife; Joseph, and Benjamin.
Gen 46:20 And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.
Gen 46:21 And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.
Gen 46:22 These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.

It is we, signified by the “fourteen…. Sons of Rachel”, who will maintain a constant sacrifice of 14 lambs every day at the feast of tabernacles: (We plan to do a series of studies on the spiritual significance of the holy days which God gave to Israel. It will be very revealing).

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 [rebellion of the flesh], two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish:

Notice what is offered on the last day:

Num 29:32 And on the seventh day seven bullocks [complete submission], two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:

Looks what happens on the eighth day, that “last great day of the feast”, the day which signifies both new beginnings when “the eighth is of the seven.”

Num 29:35 On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly: ye shall do no servile work therein:
Num 29:36 But ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: one bullock [God is all in all], one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish [Seven lambs on the eighth day signifies the progression is now complete]:

The diminishing bullocks signify that mankind has progressed from obedience to the rebellion which follows the thousand-year reign, signified by the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles. The rebellion is expedient and gives God the “occasion” He is seeking to destroy all flesh and to bring about the completed unity with God which is signified by our sacrifice of the lambs on the eighth day “the last great day of the feast.”

Lev 23:36  Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD:  on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.

Only those who have died first in this present age and have “filled up in [their bodies] that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ” will be given to make this proclamation with our Lord:

Joh 7:37  In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water [to give to all mankind making “God… all in all”, (1Co 15:28)].
Joh 7:39  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive [the Lord’s ‘very elect’, (Mat 24:24)]: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Fourteen In The New Testament

There are three sets if fourteen generations from Abraham to Christ, demonstrating our progression (3) toward the beginning of our spiritual progress (14).

Mat 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

Three (spiritually maturing) fourteens (spiritual progressions) bring us to the beginning of  our New Man. Three ‘fourteens’ brings us to Christ.

“Fourteen years” are mentioned in the context of learning to rejoice in our sufferings for Christ and ‘taking pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake.’

2Co 12:1 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
2Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
2Co 12:3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
2Co 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
2Co 12:5 Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
2Co 12:6 For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but [now] I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me [to be], or [that] he heareth of me.
2Co 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
2Co 12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Paul’s had not needed to go up to Jerusalem for fourteen years until the question about whether Gentiles must be physically circumcised came to a head:

Gal 2:1 Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

“Fourteen years after” what?

Gal 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called [me] by his grace,
Gal 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Gal 1:17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
Gal 1:18 Then after three years [of preaching in Damascus] I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
Gal 1:19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.
Gal 1:20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.

Let’s go back to Genesis to see how the story of Joseph and his brothers parallels our New Testament experience. Joseph’s rule began in his fourteenth year in Egypt. The Pharaoh made Joseph the ruler of Egypt because the Lord had given Joseph to know what He was doing. The Lord had revealed to Joseph there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Two periods of seven years encompass fourteen years. Thirteen years earlier the Lord had shown Joseph that his brothers and his mother and father would bow themselves down to the earth before him. Because the Lord had given Joseph to know these things, his brothers hated him.

The Jews hated Christ and His apostles for the exact same reason. Even the apostles struggled to accept Paul as an apostle. There are many Christians today who think Paul is less of an apostle than those who knew Christ after the flesh. Peter, Paul and Barnabas had all been made to know by the events at the house of Cornelius the Gentile Roman Centurion, that God had placed no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles. However, even the Lord’s apostles struggled for many years to accept such a revolutionary doctrine (Acts 15, Acts 21). Joseph was given from God to know that there would be seven years of great plenty followed by seven years of drought and famine.

We just naturally think of seven years of famine as a very negative time of starvation and suffering. Indeed it is a negative experience for our flesh, but this physical famine signifies the “famine of the Word” which drives Joseph’s brothers to come and bow themselves to the ground before him. I will include Genesis 37:2-3 to establish Joseph’s age at the time he was sold by His ten brothers into Egyptian slavery:

Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
Gen 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

Israel then sends Joseph to check on his brothers and his father’s flocks. His brothers see him coming in his ‘coat of many colors’, and they conspired to strip him of his coat of many colors and murder him. Instead of murdering him. Judah talks his brothers into selling Joseph as a slave into Egypt.

The end of Joseph’s 13^th year in slavery is also the beginning of his delivery from his servitude, and that happens in Joseph’s 14^th year in Egypt. It is at the beginning of this fourteenth year when the Lord gives Joseph to know in advance what He is doing with Egypt at this time. It is “an answer of peace” to Egypt, which for the purposes of this story becomes a type of God’s rulership over ‘the kingdoms of this world:’

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Gen 41:16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, [It is] not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.
Gen 41:17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:
Gen 41:18 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
Gen 41:19 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness:
Gen 41:20 And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine:
Gen 41:21 And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they [were] still ill favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke.
Gen 41:22 And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:
Gen 41:23 And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, [and] blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:
Gen 41:24 And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told [this] unto the magicians; but [there was] none that could declare [it] to me.
Gen 41:25 And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh [is] one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he [is] about to do.
Gen 41:26 The seven good kine [are] seven years; and the seven good ears [are] seven years: the dream [is] one.
Gen 41:27 And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them [are] seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.
Gen 41:28 This [is] the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God [is] about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh [Amos 3:7]
Gen 41:29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:
Gen 41:30 And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;
Gen 41:31 And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it [ shall be] very grievous.
Gen 41:32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; [it is] because the thing [is] established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
Gen 41:33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:34 Let Pharaoh do [this], and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years.
Gen 41:35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.
Gen 41:36 And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine.
Gen 41:37 And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.
Gen 41:38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find [such a one] as this [is], a man in whom the Spirit of God [is]?
Gen 41:39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, [there is] none so discreet and wise as thou [art]:
Gen 41:40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
Gen 41:41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
Gen 41:43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him [ruler] over all the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I [am] Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over [all] the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

What does this fourteen-year period signify as it relates to us?

Gen 41:48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same [city].
Gen 41:49 And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.

What does ‘corn’ signify, and what does this mean for us?

Mat 13:18  Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

In this parable ‘corn’, the same as ‘seed’, signifies “the Word of the kingdom.” Joseph “gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much…”

Gen 41:53 And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended.
Gen 41:54 And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
Gen 41:55 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians [Egypt here signifies those who are in Christ in this present age], Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do [Luk 6:46… ‘Do the things that I say’].
Gen 41:56 And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

What is the spiritual significance of all of these things which begin in our 14th year?

Mat 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Mat 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five [were] foolish.
Mat 25:3 They that [were] foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: [Had not put up grain for  the famine]
Mat 25:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Mat 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Mat 25:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Mat 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
Mat 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
Mat 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
Mat 25:11 Afterward [At the great white throne] came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
Mat 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Mat 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Here is what “I know ye not” means.

Gen 42:5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: [after the door to the wedding feast is closed, (Mat 25:10-13)] for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
Gen 42:6 And Joseph [ was] the governor over the land, [and] he [it was] that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him [with] their faces to the earth.
Gen 42:7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
Gen 42:8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. [Not knowing Christ is the same as Christ saying… “I know you not”]
Gen 42:9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; [“I know you not”, Mat 25:12] to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.

Joseph was a prophet. All the prophets prophesied of coming judgments upon the Lord’s own people, and they were hated for this foreknowledge in every generation. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and all the rest of the prophets were  hated and rejected by those to whom they were sent, just as Joseph’s brothers “hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.”

Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

It is the same today. Those who know God and know what He says will happen are “hated of all men.”

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

It is only through “much tribulation that we must enter the kingdom of God.”

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

The Lord incentivizes us with these and many other such promises:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

2Ti 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

2Jn 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

Our fourteen years of spiritual progression Is, Has Been and Will Be being lived out in our lives. If we are ‘wise’ we will have plenty of grain stored up for the famine. We will have plenty of oil, and we will be ready for the bridegroom’s coming, and we will be careful “that we receive a full reward.”