Before looking at the significance of the number 25 we at first need to look at two factors that comprise it - 17 and 8.
Gods' glorious nature is uniquely seen through His Holiness and Love, as represented by the Law and the Spirit, which are two sides of the same coin. And His Spirit of love and mercy is both empowering, through Grace to fulfill the law, and through Revelation, as in the Spirit of prophecy that calls us all home. As 2 Peter 1:21 says:
“for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” And then as 1 Cor 14:3 says “But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.”
All of Scripture can be understood this way, with the 2 covenants Old and New representing both the Law and the Spirit. We uniquely see all this coming together in Matthew 17 when Moses representing the Law and Elijah representing the Prophets come together with Jesus, who is the embodiment of the Law and the Spirit, and is briefly seen at this time in all of His glory, shining like the Sun. This reminds us also of verses like Malachi 4:2 that states:
"... But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings".
This is a promise of the healing of believers lives that will come when Jesus Returns and significantly, this account occurs in chapter 17, noting that 17 represents the day that Jesus was resurrected (Nisan 17th) after being crucified on Passover (14th Nisan) and then spending 3 days and nights in the heart of the earth, as described in Matthew 12:40:
"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
As such, the number 17 marks a new beginning for those who receive the Salvation. In a consistent usage that relates to a new beginning, it is important to see that 17 is also the date that the Flood of Noah began, as detailed in Gen 7:10-11:
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened..."
Given that Salvation is ultimately only found in Jesus, whose name in Hebrew is Yeshua, which actually means "Jehovah saves" and whose personal number in Gematria is 8, we can see that together the two numbers 17 and 8 form a new number 17+8 =25 with a new meaning. As will be seen, it is a special number in the Bible that is ultimately related to the promises of God.
25 and God's Promises
Notably, Abram / Abraham became the Father of our Faith and through him Christ became the fulfilment of all of God's promises to us
"16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but jas of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect."
and
"6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed."
And importantly the number 25 is emphasized with every key event in Abraham's life occuring at an age that is a multiple of 25 as follows, noting that it starts with God calling him and giving him many promises, including that all nations would be blessed through him:
- Abraham was 75 or 25 x3 when God called him and gave him all of the promises
- Abraham was 100 or 25 x 4 when he was given the promised son Isaac 25 years later
- Abraham lived another 75 years or 25 x 3 after his son was born.
- Abraham walked with God for a total of 100 years or 25 x 4, from the age of 75 to 175.
- Abraham completed his journey at the age of 175 or 175 x7 and then went to be with the Lord.
Nothing with God is by chance and so importantly because 25 is a number that reveals the grace and empowerment of the Holy Spirit and the promises of God, it is noteworthy that the number 25 can be seen in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, as literally being the number of thrones that are in heaven in John's vision. In Chpt 4 this is seen as being the throne that God is seated on, along with the thrones that the 24 elders are on - 25 thrones in total.
Again the 24 elders represent the law and the Spirit with 12 tribes of Israel, who kept the law through the sacrificial system, and the 12 apostles, who once filled with the Holy Spirit took the Gospel of Grace to the world revealing how Jesus, as the 'Seed of the Woman' (prophesied in the garden as the one who would crush Satan's Head) was the Messiah, the Christ, the fulfilment of all biblical prophecy given to man - And the 12 (Tribes) + 12 (Apostles) + 1 (God) = 25
So, 25 is an important number that relates to the promises of God to His people (through Abraham down to Jesus). It is ultimately the promise for all who overcome to rule and reign with Christ, as it says in Revelation 2: 26-27:
"26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron..."
Also, as Jesus says in John 6:37
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
So here Jesus is promising to save all who His Father gives Him. This is essentially a fulfilment of promises that were foreshadowed in Genesis 25:5 - where Abraham gave all that he had to his son Isaac. This narrative was a Type of 'God the Father' giving everything to His Son, the Word or Logos made Flesh. As such, it is a parallel passage in Chapter 25 of Genesis that is connected with the meaning of 25 elsewhere in scripture, all of which ultimately relate to the promises of God to His people, both Jew and Gentile.
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