The 2023 Enigma
“What hath God wrought!” — Numbers 23:23, KJV
There’s a pseudo-mystery called the “23 enigma.” Maybe you’ve heard of it. Some people believe there’s a pattern of things numbering 23, some good, some bad, down through history. It’s “essentially,” writes Patrick J. Kiger, “a belief that the number has some sort of magical or mystical significance and/or power, because of all the instances in which it occurs.”
Kiger lists things like the fact that we have 23 pairs of chromosomes, and that there were 23 grand masters of the Knights Templar over their history. In the vein of the macabre, “If you add up the four digits of 1967, the year that Nirvana co-founder Kurt Cobain was born, they come to 23—which is also the sum of the four digits for 1994, the year in which he died.”
Hey . . . my condo number is 23! Not sure how I should feel about that.
The outlook
Well, actually I don’t care. What does concern me is the steady overshadowing of our freedoms by already obese governments. A crash diet-and-exercise regimen should’ve been their New Year’s resolution, but instead they resolved to “build back better,” “reset” the global order—and march us closer to abject servitude.
The past three years have made that stunningly clear. So stunningly that I’m stunned at how stunned one would have to be not to perceive it.
For those who study God’s word, we know that the timing of Jesus Christ’s return will be a mystery until it happens. This doesn’t mean, however, that we should be “in the dark about these things” so as to “be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief.” (1 Thessalonians 5:4) Shouldn’t we “know how to interpret the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3)? Shouldn’t we “know how late it is,” that “time is running out,” and that “our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11)?
And since we’re living in “evil days” (Ephesians 5:16), we need more and more to be “familiar with [Satan’s] evil schemes.” (2 Corinthians 2:11)
Increasingly on the minds of many believers is this ominous question: Are we living in the End-times? Certainly there are indicators of that possibility: the mentality of globalism, the rise of humanism and Marxism—which I’m convinced will be the ideology of the Antichrist1—and the breakdown of traditional Judeo-Christian values in the West, including the descent of Bible-believing churches into “progressive Christianity” (neo-Marxism dressed up to look and sound “Christian”).
A key factor in this scenario is the unprecedented fact that never before in human history have we seen a rise in simultaneous global opposition to Christians, like we’re seeing now. The entire Eastern hemisphere was, broadly speaking, anti-Gospel already, and to a lesser extent Mexico, and Central and South America. But that mentality is now also quickly manifesting in North America and Western Europe.
Understand: I’m not assuming we’re in the End-times, or that severe persecution is right around the corner. But it’s very much within the realm of possibility, and such things weigh on my mind. What it boils down to is that the last three years incline me to expect that the trajectory for ’23 is worse instead of better.
The uplook
Ah, but that’s just me being a fallen human being. My natural outlook is to wonder what government is going to do in ’23; what society is going to do—or even what I’m going to do.
But, infinitely more important and determinative . . . what is God going to do in 2023? Who knows, maybe it’ll be something along the lines of Numbers 23:23, which in its King James rendering, Kiger tells us, “happens to be the first message sent in code on the telegraph by Samuel Morse back in 1843.” A modern version puts it: “What great things God has done!”
The context is a series of prophecies about what God intended to do for His covenant-people Israel. That involves specific plans for a specific group—but the principle remains the same for all believers: God intends our (ultimate) good2 and our usefulness.
And 2023 isn’t going to stop that from happening. In fact, there’s no reason to suppose some of that divine work couldn’t happen this very year.
Only one thing could get in the way: if we stop believing it.3
Yet as wrong as it would be to discount God’s promises, it would be just as wrong to dismiss His warnings. Could it be the End-times? Sure. Heck, it’s more probable now than it’s ever been before. But it can be prepared for. Same as if it’s “just” a temporal persecution on the horizon.
Indeed, such things must be prepared for. One of my fervent hopes for 2023 is that pastors throughout the Western world—the majority who aren’t already doing the following—will take their congregations on a deep dive into worldview-building. This includes discipling them in “reading” cultural and political trends.4
The real pattern
I cited Ephesians 5:16 earlier, but just partially. Paul’s full statement is: “Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.” That’s from the New Living Translation, but a more literal rendering of the first phrase is “making the most of the time.” In other words, Paul isn’t merely saying that there are multiple “opportunities” in this life, and that we should take advantage of each one as it comes. No, he’s calling this entire life one big fat opportunity.5
Therefore we should live out 2023—and every year after (if there are any!)—“with a deeper sense of purpose, meaning and significance than ever before,” and “make . . . our li[ves] count,” as Tim Tebow has aptly said.
Returning to Kiger’s look at the “23 enigma,”
Research indicates that people commonly interpret coincidences as signals to look for hidden causes, according to Dr. Bernard Beitman, a psychiatrist who is founder of the field of Coincidence Studies[.]
There’s some truth to the observation that people often see patterns where there aren’t any; that they apply a superstitious mentality to what they see or experience. But God’s people shouldn’t think that way; instead, we should perceive a much larger, grander pattern:
. . . God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. [Romans 8:28]
And so, “[i]nstead of living another year in [a] spiritual desert, the Lord invites us to trust in him and walk in his ways—the way of blessing.”6 The way of blessing involves a divine pattern, not one based on a random number, and not one that we can always perceive. In fact, we usually can’t. Nevertheless, it’s there; it’s real. And one day it will be plain for all the world to see.
God’s plan is like a beautiful tapestry. And the tragedy of being human is that we only get to see it from the back. With all the ragged threads and the muddy colors. And we only get a hint at the true beauty that would be revealed if we could see the whole pattern on the other side . . . as God does.7
†
Note the themes of humanism and entitlement in the Devil’s temptation of Eve, and the humanism of the End-time ruler as profiled by Daniel and Paul.
I assure you: I’m “preaching” as much to myself as to you! Also: I’m not suggesting that our own lack of faith could “stop” God from fulfilling His plans. What I am saying is that we could miss out on participating in that fulfillment.
I would include full-bore teaching on Biblical principles of government. After all, Satan has his own political ideology—amply demonstrated in the Tower of Babel—and any government will more or less reflect Satan’s ideology or God’s.
The Greek word behind “opportunity,” or “the time,” is kairŏs, which isn’t just straight time, but more precisely carries the idea of “season.” The days of this life are “evil,” in the sense that we live in a fallen world influenced continuously by Satan. But for those who depend on Him, God’s grace turns those “evil days” into a “season” of continuous opportunity for service in His kingdom.
Michael McKinley, “Trust in the Lord in the New Year,” Focus on the Family, 3 Jan. 2023 (accessed Jan. 13).
Daredevil, Season 3, Episode 13: “A New Napkin“ (accessed 13 Jan. 2023).