re-think No.43
BIBLE NUMBERS ARE MIGHTY
When God says ALL scripture is profitable, He includes details like ‘numbers’. So no longer are we going to gloss over numbers, ages, timings, quantities etc., but wait upon the Lord for His input. In the following, we share some of His input to us:-
COUNT NUMBERS FOR NUMBERS COUNT
How many times have you simply skipped over any mention of numbers, years, timings that are in the scriptures? God instigated counting for He started in Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning . . .” Now there is a sequence involved and there is a first which has to be followed by a second etc. God has said clearly to us that all scripture is profitable to us . . . well, it will be increasingly profitable once we believe that the ‘all’ really does included all verses and aspects of what God has spoken.
Prov 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter. Deut 29:29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law? Each reader, we trust, already has a great love and respect for the scriptures. We know that with the 1189 chapters in the Word, it is God’s intention to unveil Himself to His creation. The purpose of studying this subject is to increase our confidence in what God says and also to see beyond the ‘black ink’ to what God is desiring to reveal to our hearts. 2 Tim 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: As we study the format of the Word, we anticipate that each one will stand back in awe, as we see God’s hand upon His compilation of our Bible through which we shall see Jesus Christ Who is our life. In this hour when there are many voices, visions and revelations all desiring acceptance, it is good to have a basic foundation so that we can be sure the building fits it. If we have a superstructure that does not fit the foundations, it obviously needs help! One part of our foundation is the understanding of what each NUMBER means in scripture; these can unlock revelations as well as confirm what we have already received . . . especially concerning the dealings of God in our lives as He brings forth His plan for the ages.
Daniel was ‘in the Spirit’ and heard ‘that certain Saint’ who had answers, speak forth from that divine knowledge. Daniel 8:13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? In the margin of some Bibles against verse 13 above, it amplifies the meaning of ‘that certain saint’ which is rather unique. The Hebrew word PALMONI means THE WONDERFUL NUMBERER or THE NUMBERER OF SECRETS. It is evident that God puts much emphasis on numbers and counting. . . since Genesis 1:1 where it all starts as far as TIME is concerned. For a ‘beginning’ has to have counting! God desires each one of us to understand His ways and purposes with numbers and counting which will unveil His secrets to us. His counting abilities are simply amazing and far beyond our full grasp. For example, just try counting the number of hairs on your head ! (Luke 12:7) . . . or count the number of the stars ! (Psalm 147:4).
GOD’S CHOICE OF LANGUAGES FOR RECORDING HIS WORD
In compiling the Word, God chose two major languages — Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament. These two languages are the only two which are completely numerical languages. There are other languages that are partly numerical in their structure. What is meant by ‘numerical’ is this; we are familiar with certain Roman letters having numerical meanings . . . I = 1, V = 5, X = 10, L = 50 and so on. This particular example shows just a few letters being used as numbers. The Hebrew and Greek alphabets use ALL their letters as representing numbers. Originally there were no separate numbers to go along with their letters, so they had to use letters when defining numbers. e.g. ‘666’ in the Greek consists of three letters: the first letter was CHI which (as will see) = 600; the next letter used was XI which is 60 and lastly a SIGMA for the number 6 . . . totalling 666. The three letter ‘word’ cannot be pronounced. More about that particular number later.
THE HEBREW ALPHABET
These letters can be found as the headings of each stanza of Psalm 119. (Each of the 8 verses of each respective stanza, begins with the letter of its heading).
Aleph = 1. Beth = 2. Gimel = 3. Daleth = 4. He = 5. Vau = 6. Zain = 7. Cheth = 8. Teth = 9. Jod = 10. Caph = 20. Lamed = 30. Mem = 40. Nun = 50. Samech = 60. Ain =70. Pe = 80. Tzaddi = 90. Koph =100. Resh = 200. Schin = 300. Tau = 400. Caph* = 500. Mem* = 600. Nun* = 700. Pe* = 800. Tzaddi* = 900. *same pronounciation as earlier but different appearance. The 22 basic letters with the 5 ‘specials’.
THE GREEK ALPHABET
Alpha = 1. Beta = 2. Gamma = 3. Delta = 4. Epsilon = 5. Stigma** = 6. Zeta = 7. Eta = 8. Theta = 9. Iota = 10. Kappa = 20. Lambda = 30. Mu = 40. Nu = 50. Xi = 60. Omicron = 70. Pi = 80. Koppa** = 90. Rho = 100. Sigma = 200. Tau = 300. Upsilon = 400. Phi = 500. Chi = 600. Psi = 700. Omega = 800. Sampsi** = 900. ** These 3 letters are ‘finials’ used in rare word compilations. The 22 basic letters with the 3 ‘specials’.
This now takes us to the next step; each letter of each word of the scriptures can therefore be identified with its respective number. By adding up these values, we can ascertain the total value for any word, or a phrase or a paragraph. The Greek word used for counting or ‘word measuring’ is GEMATRIA. We shall be referring to this word quite often as we move along. This understanding has been revealed to many of God’s saints over the last 100 years or so, who have done some magnificent researches on the subject.
GOD’S SEAL IS ON HIS WORD
The ‘Wonderful Numberer’ showed forth His great care by making the total for every paragraph in the Bible have its total value that was exactly divisible by 7. A true ‘seal’ on His word. A modern computer was used to try and copy God’s supernatural pattern in just writing a single paragraph: it failed miserably! It was estimated that the chance of succeeding was one in many billions ! In the King James Version (KJV) you will see a ‘paragraph sign’ - ¶ - which indicates the beginning of a new paragraph in the original language. Chapters breaks also coincide with the a new paragraph as the original script was without verse numbers and chapters.
In addition to the paragraph totals having God’s seal, the actual wording and structure of the original text goes even deeper. Let us take a brief look at . . .
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. This one verse has SEVEN Hebrew words; these 7 words 4 x 7 letters; the 3 nouns GOD, HEAVEN and EARTH have a gematria of 37 x 3 x 7; the verb CREATED has a value of 29 x 7; first and last letters of all seven words total 199 x 7; first and last letter of the sentence equals 71 x 7; first and last letters of the five middle words have a gematria of 128 x 7 . . . and so on it goes . . . more and more overwhelming. We cannot help but express our deep gratitude to the Lord for allowing us to have such a reliable and valuable word. Add this item in as well . . . the word ‘Moses’ occurs 847 times in the Bible which is 121x7.
Going now to the New Testament Greek in Matthew 1:1-17 — which is the first paragraph — we see the genealogy of Christ divided into three groups of 14 which is 2 x 7; the number of Greek words in the original are 7 x 7; of these 49 words, 4 x 7 begin with a vowel. The remaining 3 x 7 words begin with a consonant. Seven words end with a vowel and the remainder with a consonant. The total number of letters used is 38 x 7. This is still only touching the surface of such a supernatural pattern which proves that only our God could have written it all. Some versions of the Bible have audacity to relegate verses 9-20 of Mark 16 to the bottom of the page as a ‘footnote’, inferring that it should not be recognized as ‘inspired’. Checking this out against the pattern of 7’s — the seal of God, we see a different picture. The first paragraph of this section is verses 9-11 and amazingly there are 5 x 7 Greek words in it. The next paragraph of verses 12-18 has 15 x 7 Greek words. The last paragraph of verses 19 & 20 have in it 5 x 7 words. The total vocabulary used is in all these verses is 14 x 7 which are produced with 79 x 7 letters of which 42 x 7 are vowels and 37 x 7 are consonants. The words spoken by Christ are 6 x 7. Again we have stopped short of sharing all the further attributes of God’s seal on these verses.
E. BULLINGER and IVAN PANIN
Dr. E.W.Bullinger was a direct descendant of the Bullinger of the Swiss Reformation. He lived from 1837 - 1913 and was a mighty spiritual man as well deep into the Word of God. He discovered numerical patterns in scripture and creation which led him to believe that His God had purposely placed it there for a reason. His insight to creation and the numerical patterns in God’s Word are especially precious.
Dr. Ivan Panin, a converted Russian Nihilist, later a Harvard scholar, professor and mathematician . . .he once tutored Albert Einstein . . . learned Greek and Hebrew in four years. He then added Aramaic to his skills. He, quite separately from Bullinger, discovered the mathematical construction of scripture as seen in the two languages used . . . Hebrew and Greek.
These two men of God spent many years recording their works and we have access to their findings today and are sincerely blessed by the insight that they have shown us. The ‘seal of sevens’ on all scripture of our Bible was mind-boggling . . . Panin and his assistant were converted through their discovery. Panin died in 1942 after spending the remainder of his life in the Word unveiling its mighty treasures.
EACH NUMBER CARRIES A ‘SPIRITUAL MEANING’
God’s seal is upon His numbering and counting. One needs to get into the habit of counting items and observing times and dates. Many modern translations of the Bible are unaware of this phenomenon and change God’s way of measuring into modern man’s way. They changed God’s ‘cubits’ into feet & inches or even metres! By the way God intended the word ‘Amen’ to be at the end of each book of the New Testament except Acts and James. . . KJV complies fully with God’s intention.
To clarify this we use the example of Noah’s Ark: Genesis 6:15. The sizes are given as 300c x 50c x 30c high. (the “c’s” = cubits). The ‘Noah Construction Company’ followed the dimensions accurately. It is equally essential for us, to do likewise when we see numbers mentioned in many forms. The insight through the number associated with Noah’s Ark is this — the ark speaks of COMPLETE DELIVERANCE (300) by the HOLY SPIRIT (50) for those desiring MATURITY (30) . . .this work of God covers three decks of our SPIRIT, MIND and BODY.
REVEALED INSIGHT
There are many facets in the numerical compilation of scripture and each one is in itself, amazing. We will look at the major ones as we learn the meaning of numbers in the scriptures.
i) By the ACTUAL NUMBER USED which anyone can look up in a concordance . . . this will mostly cover dimensions.
ii) By the GEMATRIA (word evaluating) of words and phrases.
iii) By breaking down the total value of a word or phrase . . . using factorization which also releases some wonderful insights and a further endorsing of the initial numerical pattern.
iv) By a COMMON DENOMINATOR of where a number is used throughout the Word. We have already mentioned the paragraph totals throughout the Bible proving that it has been supernaturally put together. God was watching over the 46 scholars who were commanded by King James to compile and translate the Bible into English back in 1604 onwards (printed in 1611). These men of God knew nothing of this numerical pattern, yet God so wonderfully led them to include the books that they did. Everything that came out of God and that He wanted included, was included: happenings that were spread over some 1500 years and through some 36 writers . . . God watched over it. Marvelous and Great is the Lord, our God.
NOTE: It is important that one does not flippantly apply the meaning of the numbers outside of scripture, but keep within the leading of the Holy Spirit.
ACTUAL NUMBERS USED AND COUNTED NUMBERS
Here is an outstanding account of God’s accuracy in Genesis 5:21-29a.
(21) And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
(22) And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
(23) And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
(24) And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
(25) And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:
(26) And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:
(27) And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
(28) And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:
(29) And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.?
Observe . . . Methusaleh, his name means ‘it will happen when he is dead’. Verse 27 declares that he died when he was 969 years old.
When Enoch was 65, Methuselah was born . . . 0
When Lamech was born . . . 0, Methuselah was 187
When Noah was born . . .0, Lamech was 182 . . . and Methuselah was 182 + 187 = 369.
Now in Genesis 7:11, we find that the FLOOD CAME when Noah was 600 years old, which would make Methuselah 369 + 600 = 969 . . . and he died and ‘IT’ , the flood, happened!!!
The 65th. day of the Hebrew year was the Day of Pentecost. Enoch’s history is a shadow of our own personal Pentecost when we experience the first evidence of God’s ‘many-membered man’ who is to live out a full day of the Lord. Enoch did not see death . . . he lived after he had Methuselah 300 years giving a total of 365 years. He experienced complete deliverance (300 - see later) and ‘finished his course’ of 365 .and experienced resurrection-life.
The 187th. year of Methuselah’s life also holds special significance: the 187th. day of the Hebrew Religious year is ‘the Day of Atonement’ of the Feast of Tabernacles. Methuselah brought forth the father of Noah who, according to Luke 17, is our pattern in these last days. This parable promotes Methuselah as the timetable and plan of God, Lamech, a small picture of the forerunner Jesus and Noah — types of God’s ‘many-membered man’ for whom the plan was made. Note that both Lamech and Jesus were born in the Feast of Tabernacles. As the Day of Atonement comes to fulfilment at the beginning of the 7th. Day, we are to come fully into the awareness of God’s will. In this way we shall experience the New Heavens and the new earth as Noah did.
The dimensions of Moses’ Tabernacle in the Wilderness are very important as the Tabernacle contains all the teachings of the New Covenant. Bear in mind, the Old Testament CONTAINS the New Testament and the New Covenant EXPLAINS the Old Covenant. Every item in the Tabernacle was accurately designed by God and remember, He uses cubits etc. As the dimensions of the Outer Court are 100c x 50c, it gives us an area of 5000 sq.c. In Mark 6:40, Jesus has 5000 men sit down in rows of 100 and rows of 50. . . showing that the people were the Tabernacle and that when in it, He would feed them.
COUNTING: The counting of lists given in the Word is commendable. Such items as lists of goods, people involved, years old, how long they reigned . . . all these clarify what the Lord would have us know. Take the number ‘9’ for example . . . along with its meaning of ‘unchangeableness, we count the fruit of the Spirit in Galations 5:22-23 and we find that there are 9: then there are 9 Gifts of the Spirit in I Cor. 12 and 9 ministries of the Spirit later in the same chapter. In Genesis 1, “God said” - 9 times. All these gems and many more show specific areas where God is ‘unchangeable’ and thus solidly established.
We must include a brief mention of Elijah’s 8 miracles . . . and then note that Elisha received a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. It is not surprising that Elisha ended up doing 16 miracles. It is almost an unlimited number of cases in scripture that will open up to us as we learn to count. Enter into the secrets of the Wonderful Numberer as we get the habit of counting . . . of course, the meanings of each number will needs be learned. There is a counterfeit to this truth and it will appear similar. Keep the insight applied to the numbers and counting in scripture and you will see the name of Jesus Christ magnified.
THE VALUE OF INDIVIDUAL WORDS
Every word in scripture has its own numerical total because each letter equates with a number. Let us look at the word ‘JESUS’. In English is it simply ‘Jesus’, but in the Greek it is IESOUS. Applying the gematria, we get I = 10, E = 8, S = 200, O = 70, U = 400, S = 200 totalling 888. Three 8’s interpret to RESURRECTION-LIFE or ‘new beginning’ (8) being Divinely complete (3). We see that the secret unveiled here is that JESUS IS THE COMPLETE NEW BEGINNING FOR US. ‘888’ also breaks down into these smaller numbers . . . 37 X 3 X 8 which reveals something more: THE WORD OF GOD (37) IS DIVINELY COMPLETE (3) TO BRING FORTH RESURRECTION LIFE (8).
The word ‘CHRIST’ . . . like this in English, but is CHRISTOS in the Greek and its total gematria is 1480. This breaks down to . . . 37 X 5 X 8 which means that Christ is THE WORD OF GOD (37) THAT COMES TO US BY THE GRACE (5) TO GIVE US A NEW BEGINNING (8). In actual fact the gematria for all the titles for Jesus are an EXACT multiple of 8 except one.
When Jesus hung on the cross, the name written over Him said, “Jesus of Nazareth” . . . the exact translation of the Greek is, ‘JESUS THE NAZARINE’ which has a total gematria of 2169. This has the amazing content of being 13 X 13 X 13 showing, that when Jesus was on the cross, He took COMPLETE (3) SIN AND REBELLION (13) on Himself for us. Refer John 19:19 and !! Corinthians 5:21).
Every word for SATAN is, by contrast, an exact multiple of 13. These discoveries clarify too that THE NATURE OF THE PERSON IS IN THE NAME HE CARRIES. We could also add the great lists which occur a specific number of times in scripture, but the books that we will list at the end of this lesson, will explain some of them.
VALUE OF CERTAIN PHRASES
Again there are unlimited phrases to research and all have planned enlightenments of God’s purposes. ‘THE SON OF MAN’, for example, has a gematria of 2960 which = 37 X 2 X 5 X 8 declaring, RESURRECTION LIFE or NEW BEGINNING (8) IS BORN WITNESS TO (2) THE GRACE OF GOD (5) THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD (37).
‘JESUS CHRIST’ . . . gematria = 2368 = 296 X 8. As we have mentioned, all the names for Jesus have a value ‘something’ times 8. ‘TRUTH’ = 8 X 8.
Back to Genesis 1:1, the phrase ‘In the beginning’ = 999 which = 9 X 3 X 37 which in turn reveals to us that in the beginning there was an unchangeable (9) Divine completeness (3) shown to us by the Word of God (37). Hebrews confirms that it was created when God spoke. Sufficient has been said for this lesson to either underline your present love of the Word of God or to whet your appetite to delve more into the secrets in it. We trust that whatever is your response, you will experience more of the Lord Jesus Christ and that your understanding of His desire towards you will be increased.
INDIVIDUAL NUMBERS EXPLAINED
If you desire to look briefly at each number and observe where their respective spiritual meanings come from, then I suggest that you write for booklet called ‘Count numbers for numbers count’. Always be before the Lord in a teachable attitude because He might add some more to what has been included in this lesson. He will thus unveil His mysteries.
A SUMMARY OF THE MEANING OF THE NUMBERS
1 .Unity, Union, first, oneness. 2. Witness, Double Portion, or Dividing.
3. Completeness, Divine Perfection. 4. World, Creation, Earth. 5. GRACE, God’s goodness.
6. Carnal man, flesh, natural realm and human wisdom, efforts and labour.
7. Spiritual PERFECTION (attained completeness), God’s Seal, Fullness.
8. New Birth, New Beginning, Resurrection Life. 9. Finality, Unchangableness (Holy Spirit’s fruit and gifts etc.)
10. Trial, Testing, Responsibility, God’s Law. 11. Disorder, disorganization (chaos)
12 .Divine Government (to bring perfection) 13 .Sin, Rebellion, Satan. 14. Salvation, Generations.
15. Spiritual Rest, Law fulfilled. 16. Love. 17. Victory. 18 .Bondage. 19. Faith.
20. Redemption. 21 .Degradation of sin. 22. Light. 23 .Death. 24 .Priesthood. 25. Forgiveness.
26. The Gospel of Christ. 28 .Eternal Life. 29 .Departure. 30. Maturity, Adoption, Blood of Christ.
31. Increase, offspring. 32. Covenant. 33. Promise. 34. The naming of a son.
35 .Hope. 36 .Fully man, 100% Carnality. i.e. the enemy. 37. The Word of God.
38. Slavery to the Flesh 39. Disease, infirmity, weakness. 40. Probation, time of proving.
42 .Achievement. 45 .Preservation 46. Temple devoid of the Spirit. Herod’s temple.
49. Jubilee announced. 50. Pentecost, Holy Spirit, Anointing, Jubilee Year.
60 .Pride. . . God’s vessel before judgment. 70 .God’s vessel after His judgment. Restoration.
100. Liberty, Promises obtained (Children of Promise), Deliverance.
120. The end of all flesh releasing the full anointing. 144. The Spirit-filled Life = First resurrection.
153. The Sons of God. 200. Insufficiency with what man has without God
276. (=6x46) carnal man in a temple devoid of Spirit, Babylon.
300. Complete Deliverance. 490 .Blessed Time. 600. Warfare.
666. The Beast Nature, The Beast and its mark and man’s authority over God’s creation.
888. Jesus, the fullness of Christ’s Body. 1000. The Glory of God.
(See ‘re-think’ No. 12 for in-depth look at ‘666’. . . and ‘re-think’ No. 30 for in-depth look at ‘153’).