Now as I teach Scripture I always like to point out whenever possible how intricately this whole Book was put together. Man could have never dreamed it up, and here is another one of those little instances where Paul now unloads on us with eight distinctive statements. Now when you put that in the numerology of Scripture, remember `seven' is always God's number of completion, and when you follow that with an eighth, it is then always a new beginning or something that goes beyond the finish. Now I know that when the Apostle Paul was penning the Book of Romans, and he came here to verse 4, he didn't sit there and meditate for hours on end saying, "Now how can I find seven things, and then come up with an eighth." He didn't do that. He just penned as the Holy Spirit was giving him utterance, and now we can look at it and say, "Isn't it miraculous?" Here he comes up with another one of those situations that has been with us all the way through Scripture, seven things, but also an eighth one.


Do you remember when we were studying the eight signs back in the Book of John? All eight signs were miracles. Well, seven of those signs took place before Christ's death, burial, and Resurrection, which completed all that had to be done, but in the last chapter of that Book we come up with the eighth sign and miracle, and it was that sign of new beginnings. So you see this all through Scripture.