Usually when we think of 911 we think of the tragic events that took place on September 11, 2001. Our hearts still go out to the families of those that passed that day. We also continue to honor all those that met their untimely demise while they were trying to rescue others. May God’s grace, peace, and love comfort their families during this time.
For some of us 911 is also the number we dial during an emergency. Though, having these significances in mind, I’ll like to address this number from a slightly different perspective. My emphasis is on the number, and not on the event that left an indelible mark in American history. I’m going to be discussing the numbers, 9 and 11 from the perspective of God’s purposes for our lives.
The Number 9
I’m going to be highlighting some things that the numbers, 9 and 11, represent. The information I share regarding these numbers do not in any way suggest that the numbers do not represent other things. Having said that, here are four things that the number 9 represent:
a. Birth – A woman usually carries a baby for nine months and gives birth to him or her.
b. Death – Jesus died in the 9th hour.
And about the ninth hour (three o’clock) Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?—that is, My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me [leaving Me helpless, forsaking and failing Me in My need]? And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit (Mat 27:46 & 50 AMP).
It seems like the number 9 representing death contradicts it representing birth. But this is not the case. 9, representing both death and birth is actually complementary and not contradictory. Death precedes transformation. To live in the Spirit we die to the flesh. The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). When we die we’re not totally obsolete; rather, we move into a new dimension. We are transformed. The Bible says that if anyone is in Christ, old things have “passed away” (death) and all things have become new (birth) (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV). Jesus went through death to give us the new birth.
Apparently birth and death happen simultaneously. First a child is conceived, then develops in the womb, and then is birthed into the real world while he or she simultaneously dies/separates from the womb. Once the baby is birthed into the real world, the child begins to die/age. At old age the person dies from the earth and hopefully birthed into heaven—a new dimension. At death a person leaves earth to spend eternity with or apart from God. Birth and death are two processes that we all go through to grow and be transformed into the image of Christ and fulfill our purposes.
c. Prayer Time – The Ninth hour was a customary time of prayer. This does not take away from the fact that we can pray at any time.
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour (three o’clock in the afternoon) (Acts 3:1 AMP).
d. Vision Time – Cornelius received a vision in the 9th hour. This does not mean that we can’t receive visions from God at any other time.
There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do” (Acts 10:1-6 NKJV).
In the vision Cornelius was told to send men to get Peter who would tell him what to do. Obviously, Cornelius was seeking God for something, and his request was going to be fulfilled once he got in contact with Peter. Once again, the four things that the number 9 represent are birth, death, prayer and vision.
The Number 11
Two things that stand out about the number eleven are:
a. Last minute situations.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. “He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?'” ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.” ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. The last shall be first and the first shall be last. For many are called and few are chosen (Matthew 20:1-16 NIV).
Have you ever heard of the eleventh hour? This represents something that is done in the last minute. Jesus gave the parable of a landowner who hired people to work on his vineyard for a day’s wage (a denarius). He hired some people early, some people around 9am (3rd hour), some people around noon (6th hour), some people around 3pm (9th hour) and some people around 5pm—the eleventh hour. The eleventh hour workers—the last people hired, got paid first and got paid the same as those that had been working all day.
The workers that had been working earlier were upset that they got paid the same wage as those that came in the eleventh hour. The landowner told them that they agreed to be paid a day’s wage, and they should not be upset that he chose to be good by paying those who came last the same wage he paid those who came first. Jesus gave this parable to illustrate a truth that permeates the way God works in our lives.
He said the last shall be first and the first shall be last. This statement though means different things to different people at different times. However, in the context of what Jesus was saying in this passage, Jesus was saying that those that come last will be blessed as much as those that came first. God does not bless you based on how long you serve Him, but based on if you serve Him. Whether you came in the first hour or eleventh hour, you have access to all that God has to offer you just as much as anyone else—even if others have been serving years before you showed up.
With this in mind, don’t expect any less from God because you are a new Christian. Don’t think you don’t deserve certain blessings because someone who you think is more spiritual, and serving God longer than you hasn’t experienced those blessings. You have access to God’s blessings just as much as anyone else regardless of when you became a child of God.
b. Breakthrough.
THESE ARE the words which Moses spoke to all Israel [still] on the [east] side of the Jordan [River] in the wilderness, in the Arabah [the deep valley running north and south from the eastern arm of the Red Sea to beyond the Dead Sea], over near Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It is [only] eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea [on Canaan’s border; yet Israel took forty years to get beyond it]. And in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them (Deut 1:1-3 AMP).
The children of Israel were 11 days away from Kadesh-Barnea, which was the southern border of Canaan. Canaan was the Promised Land. Therefore, the children of Israel were 11 days away from their breakthrough. In fact, the verse above reveals that Moses began to give them a recap of what got them to the point where they were about to get into the Promised Land. This took place on the first day of the 11th month of the fortieth year. In essence, it took place on the tail end or last part of the fortieth year.
911
Combining nine and eleven we can say that they represent:
1. Having a vision.
2. Praying for it to come to pass; praying for the vision to come and praying for it to pass, because you can’t just have any vision. This vision must come from God, and it usually does when we pray to Him. Cornelius was praying when a vision came to him.
3. Dying to ourselves.
4. In order to birth the vision.
5. And get our breakthrough.
6. Which usually happens at the last minute.