There are 202 bones in the adult human body. In my studies in Science since my University days, I have continually found marvels and mysteries in the things that God has made, and they often relate to Biblical truths, as though God has written a Book of Nature and a Book of Records (the Bible), with an intertwined message.
I was intrigued to find that the bones of the human body have reference to the Body of Christ, not just His physical human body whilst on earth, but also to the mystical Body of believers. First of all, notice how the Scriptures declare emphatically, For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” John 19:36, quoting from Exodus 12:46 (the Passover Lamb), and Psalm 34:20.
But the Apostle Paul, more than anyone else, was given the truths about the Mystical Body of Christ, and therefore it comes as a delightful confirmation to find that in Ephesians, the highest truth of the Body, and in the first chapter, from verses 3 to 14, is the longest sentence in the whole Bible, and it contains 202 words in the Greek. I’m sure that is not a coincidence.
But there is more – in 2 Cor.11:24-25, Paul recounts his sufferings – “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked.”Adding all this together, (5 x 39, + 3 + 1 + 3) it comes to 202 once again.
And so the number 202 occurs twice in Paul’s writings, first with the sufferings of the Body, and secondly about the highest truths of the teaching about the Body of Christ. It reminds one of “the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow”. (1 Peter 1:11)
Just a little “hidden manna” to lighten your day!
