Numbers in Scripture
Bible Study Time 12-31-06
As we know the tribulation period will last longer than ten days, but in this verse, “ten days” represents the fullness or completeness of the tribulation of those days. The beast that John saw in the book of the Revelation had seven heads and ten horns, and the ten horns had ten crowns. The ten horns with ten crowns symbolize the complete power that the antichrist will have during the last days of the tribulation period.
Six is the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day. The number of the beast during the tribulation period will be 666. We’re going to see in a minute that the number of perfection is seven, and so we see that man can try and try and try to reach perfection, but all he ends up with is more six’s. Through man’s own human effort, he can never add up to seven.
The man whose number is 666 is of course the antichrist, and he will pretend that he is God. Paul told the Thessalonians:
II Thessalonians 2:3-4 (NKJ)
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for (the Day of the Lord) will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Man’s only hope for salvation is to recognize that his best efforts fall short of God’s perfection. If we call upon the name of the Lord, He will give us His perfection. Romans, Chapter 10, says that:
Romans 10:10 (NKJ)
10 . . . with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
As we have already mentioned, seven is the number of perfection. It is three plus four, which speaks of God’s glory on earth. Someday, God’s perfect will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
We have seven days in a week, and there are seven notes in a musical scale. Joshua marched around Jericho seven times on the last day before the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. The Lord Jesus told the seven parables of the kingdom in Matthew, Chapter 13.
The Jewish menorah has seven lamps on one stand. The one stand speaks of God, and the one lamp in the middle that comes directly out of the stand represents Jesus Christ. There are three lamps on either side of the lamp in the middle, and these six lamps represent the people who come to God through Jesus Christ. Together this lampstand is the light of the world, and it is fed by the oil of the Holy Spirit.
Seven times ten is seventy, and we know that Jesus sent out the seventy witnesses to go out 2 by 2 and preach the gospel of the kingdom. Daniel said that it would be seventy weeks from Israel’s return to Jerusalem until the setting up of the earthly kingdom. Of course, these weeks are weeks of years with each week being 7 years. So we have seventy sevens in Daniel’s prophesy.
The ninetieth Psalm says that the days of a man are three score years and ten. Three times twenty is 60 plus ten is 70 years. Anything beyond 70 years certainly is a gift from the Lord.
Half of seven is three and a half, and when you divide or interrupt perfection, you end up with division and violence. Elijah prayed and prevented the rain from falling for three and a half years. The antichrist will make a seven-year covenant with Israel, but he will break that covenant in the midst of the seven years. The first three and a half years will be relatively peaceful, while the last three and a half years will be the great tribulation period.
The number twelve in the Bible represents God’s government. It is three times four, and it represents God’s divine government on the earth. It points to the time when Jesus Christ will assume the throne of David and reign over the earth. Matthew 19:27 says:
Matthew 19:27-28 (NKJ)
27 Then Peter answered and said to (the Lord), "See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?"
28 So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Therefore, in this passage alone we have the twelve apostles sitting on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now, because tomorrow will be the very first day of a new year, I’ve saved the number eight for our closing comments. The reason for that is that the number eight stands for new beginnings. Peter said that only eight souls were saved when God sent the flood to destroy the earth in Noah’s day. Those eight souls were chosen by God for a new beginning.
Under the Jewish law, the boys were to be circumcised when they were eight days old. Circumcision was a symbol of a new beginning in which the things of the flesh are left behind and the things of God are brought in to rule and reign in one’s life. By faith, believers today are spiritually circumcised by their identification with the circumcision of Christ. Paul told the Colossians:
Colossians 2:11-13 (NKJ)
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
Because of our identification with the spiritual circumcision of Christ, we have become new creations in Christ, the old things of the flesh have passed away while the Spirit of God has come to direct our thoughts and our actions.
In music, the eighth note of an octave is the same note as the first note of that octave, and that same eighth note serves as the first note of a next octave. Similarly, if we look at Sunday as the eighth day of the week as well as the first day of the week, we see that Christ was raised from the dead on the eighth day, and we as believers meet on the eighth day of the week. Christ was raised on the day of new beginnings, and it is fitting for us to worship on the day of new beginnings.
In the Greek language, the name of Jesus has a numerical value of 888. Iota is 10, Epsilon 8, Sigma 200, Omicron 70, Upsilon 400, and Sigma 200. The total is 888. It’s not like the man of sin whose number is 666. He will pretend to be like God, but Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we have the opportunity to receive everlasting life, an unending new beginning.
Sometimes people make New Year’s resolutions but all too often, those resolutions fall by the way side, only to be picked up again the next year, but in Jesus Christ, we find a never-ending new beginning. If you want to turn your life around and give yourself a new beginning that will never end, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and He will deliver you once and for all.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning, and I pray that you will enjoy all of the blessings of the Lord during the coming year.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Church links:
Bible Study Time 12-31-06
One doesn’t have to spend much time in the scriptures to find out that God loves numbers. He even named one of the books of the Bible Numbers, and the mathematical precision that we see in the universe demonstrates God’s wonderful ability to glorify His name through numbers. Really, there are no laws of nature. There are only the laws that God has created and even nature obeys those laws.
As human beings, we have the opportunity to observe and explore the mathematical precision of the universe, but some people have a greater appreciation for numbers than others do. In fact, I heard the other day that there are only three kinds of people in the world, those who can count and those who can’t. It took me a minute to figure that one out, but I finally got it.
Anyway, one of the many proofs that the Bible is truly the word of God is found in the fact that it was written over a period of several hundred years by many different men and yet the symbolic meaning of the various numbers remains the same throughout the Bible. This morning we’re going to be looking at the meaning of these numbers.
The number one is the number of unity, and it speaks primarily to the unity of God. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses said:
Deuteronomy 6:4 (NKJ)
4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
In Zechariah, Chapter 14, Zechariah speaks of the future eternal kingdom and says:
Zechariah 14:9 (NKJ)
9 . . . the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be--" The LORD is one," and His name one.
Paul emphasizes the unity of God in Ephesians, Chapter 4, saying:
Ephesians 4:1-6 (NKJ)
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
God has called us to walk in the unity or the oneness of God.
The number two is the number of witness. In the Old Covenant legal system, a thing had to be established by at least two witnesses. In parliamentary proceedings even today, we require a second before a motion from the floor is considered.
Jesus Christ is the second person of the trinity, and in the book of the Revelation, John calls the Lord Jesus the Faithful and True Witness. In John, Chapter 8, Jesus said:
John 8:17-18 (NKJ)
17 "It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.
18 "I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."
When the Lord sent out the 12 apostles, He sent them out two by two, and when He appointed 70 others to bear witness, He sent them out two by two.
During the tribulation period, God will raise up two witnesses. In Revelation 11, the Lord says:
Revelations 11:3-4 (NKJ)
3 " . . . I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.
The number three is the divine number because it represents the triune nature of God. Our God is one God, but He is three persons in one God. Isaiah said that when he saw the Lord, high and lifted up, the seraphim cried out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. In this, we see evidence of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that in the kingdom, the Apostles will go out and baptize the nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The number three is significant in the order of the universe. The triangle is the simplest complete structure. It is the simplest compound unity.
Time is divided into past, present and future, and in fact, Jesus Christ is the one who is, who was, and who is to come.
Space is divided into height, width, and depth. Only in the spiritual realm do we see a fourth dimension as the Apostle Paul prayed that believers would be able to comprehend the width, length, depth, and height of the love of Christ, which, obviously, surpasses human knowledge.
Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, and this was a great sign of the fact that the Lord Jesus would be in the grave for three days and three nights.
Four is the number of the earth. The Bible refers to the earth has having four corners, and this refers to the four points of the compass, north, south, east and west. The earth has four seasons in a year. The book of the Revelation tells about God’s ultimate plan for the earth, and in the very first verse, John says:
Revelations 7:1 (NKJ)
1 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth . . .
Four times ten is forty, and forty stands for judgment upon the earth. It rained for forty days and forty nights in Noah’s day. Moses was up on Mt. Sinai for forty days and forty nights. Jonah said that Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days. The Lord Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights while He was in the wilderness, and then He was tempted by the devil.
Five speaks of completeness. We have five fingers and five toes. We have five senses, sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch.
Ten being a multiple of five also speaks of completeness. God gave the Ten Commandments, which reveal man’s complete responsibility to God. God sent ten plagues upon Egypt before Israel’s exodus. When John wrote the Church at Smyrna, he said:
Revelations 2:10 (NKJ)
10 "Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
As human beings, we have the opportunity to observe and explore the mathematical precision of the universe, but some people have a greater appreciation for numbers than others do. In fact, I heard the other day that there are only three kinds of people in the world, those who can count and those who can’t. It took me a minute to figure that one out, but I finally got it.
Anyway, one of the many proofs that the Bible is truly the word of God is found in the fact that it was written over a period of several hundred years by many different men and yet the symbolic meaning of the various numbers remains the same throughout the Bible. This morning we’re going to be looking at the meaning of these numbers.
The number one is the number of unity, and it speaks primarily to the unity of God. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses said:
Deuteronomy 6:4 (NKJ)
4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
In Zechariah, Chapter 14, Zechariah speaks of the future eternal kingdom and says:
Zechariah 14:9 (NKJ)
9 . . . the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be--" The LORD is one," and His name one.
Paul emphasizes the unity of God in Ephesians, Chapter 4, saying:
Ephesians 4:1-6 (NKJ)
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
God has called us to walk in the unity or the oneness of God.
The number two is the number of witness. In the Old Covenant legal system, a thing had to be established by at least two witnesses. In parliamentary proceedings even today, we require a second before a motion from the floor is considered.
Jesus Christ is the second person of the trinity, and in the book of the Revelation, John calls the Lord Jesus the Faithful and True Witness. In John, Chapter 8, Jesus said:
John 8:17-18 (NKJ)
17 "It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.
18 "I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."
When the Lord sent out the 12 apostles, He sent them out two by two, and when He appointed 70 others to bear witness, He sent them out two by two.
During the tribulation period, God will raise up two witnesses. In Revelation 11, the Lord says:
Revelations 11:3-4 (NKJ)
3 " . . . I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.
The number three is the divine number because it represents the triune nature of God. Our God is one God, but He is three persons in one God. Isaiah said that when he saw the Lord, high and lifted up, the seraphim cried out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. In this, we see evidence of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that in the kingdom, the Apostles will go out and baptize the nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The number three is significant in the order of the universe. The triangle is the simplest complete structure. It is the simplest compound unity.
Time is divided into past, present and future, and in fact, Jesus Christ is the one who is, who was, and who is to come.
Space is divided into height, width, and depth. Only in the spiritual realm do we see a fourth dimension as the Apostle Paul prayed that believers would be able to comprehend the width, length, depth, and height of the love of Christ, which, obviously, surpasses human knowledge.
Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, and this was a great sign of the fact that the Lord Jesus would be in the grave for three days and three nights.
Four is the number of the earth. The Bible refers to the earth has having four corners, and this refers to the four points of the compass, north, south, east and west. The earth has four seasons in a year. The book of the Revelation tells about God’s ultimate plan for the earth, and in the very first verse, John says:
Revelations 7:1 (NKJ)
1 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth . . .
Four times ten is forty, and forty stands for judgment upon the earth. It rained for forty days and forty nights in Noah’s day. Moses was up on Mt. Sinai for forty days and forty nights. Jonah said that Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days. The Lord Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights while He was in the wilderness, and then He was tempted by the devil.
Five speaks of completeness. We have five fingers and five toes. We have five senses, sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch.
Ten being a multiple of five also speaks of completeness. God gave the Ten Commandments, which reveal man’s complete responsibility to God. God sent ten plagues upon Egypt before Israel’s exodus. When John wrote the Church at Smyrna, he said:
Revelations 2:10 (NKJ)
10 "Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
As we know the tribulation period will last longer than ten days, but in this verse, “ten days” represents the fullness or completeness of the tribulation of those days. The beast that John saw in the book of the Revelation had seven heads and ten horns, and the ten horns had ten crowns. The ten horns with ten crowns symbolize the complete power that the antichrist will have during the last days of the tribulation period.
Six is the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day. The number of the beast during the tribulation period will be 666. We’re going to see in a minute that the number of perfection is seven, and so we see that man can try and try and try to reach perfection, but all he ends up with is more six’s. Through man’s own human effort, he can never add up to seven.
The man whose number is 666 is of course the antichrist, and he will pretend that he is God. Paul told the Thessalonians:
II Thessalonians 2:3-4 (NKJ)
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for (the Day of the Lord) will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Man’s only hope for salvation is to recognize that his best efforts fall short of God’s perfection. If we call upon the name of the Lord, He will give us His perfection. Romans, Chapter 10, says that:
Romans 10:10 (NKJ)
10 . . . with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
As we have already mentioned, seven is the number of perfection. It is three plus four, which speaks of God’s glory on earth. Someday, God’s perfect will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
We have seven days in a week, and there are seven notes in a musical scale. Joshua marched around Jericho seven times on the last day before the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. The Lord Jesus told the seven parables of the kingdom in Matthew, Chapter 13.
The Jewish menorah has seven lamps on one stand. The one stand speaks of God, and the one lamp in the middle that comes directly out of the stand represents Jesus Christ. There are three lamps on either side of the lamp in the middle, and these six lamps represent the people who come to God through Jesus Christ. Together this lampstand is the light of the world, and it is fed by the oil of the Holy Spirit.
Seven times ten is seventy, and we know that Jesus sent out the seventy witnesses to go out 2 by 2 and preach the gospel of the kingdom. Daniel said that it would be seventy weeks from Israel’s return to Jerusalem until the setting up of the earthly kingdom. Of course, these weeks are weeks of years with each week being 7 years. So we have seventy sevens in Daniel’s prophesy.
The ninetieth Psalm says that the days of a man are three score years and ten. Three times twenty is 60 plus ten is 70 years. Anything beyond 70 years certainly is a gift from the Lord.
Half of seven is three and a half, and when you divide or interrupt perfection, you end up with division and violence. Elijah prayed and prevented the rain from falling for three and a half years. The antichrist will make a seven-year covenant with Israel, but he will break that covenant in the midst of the seven years. The first three and a half years will be relatively peaceful, while the last three and a half years will be the great tribulation period.
The number twelve in the Bible represents God’s government. It is three times four, and it represents God’s divine government on the earth. It points to the time when Jesus Christ will assume the throne of David and reign over the earth. Matthew 19:27 says:
Matthew 19:27-28 (NKJ)
27 Then Peter answered and said to (the Lord), "See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?"
28 So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Therefore, in this passage alone we have the twelve apostles sitting on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now, because tomorrow will be the very first day of a new year, I’ve saved the number eight for our closing comments. The reason for that is that the number eight stands for new beginnings. Peter said that only eight souls were saved when God sent the flood to destroy the earth in Noah’s day. Those eight souls were chosen by God for a new beginning.
Under the Jewish law, the boys were to be circumcised when they were eight days old. Circumcision was a symbol of a new beginning in which the things of the flesh are left behind and the things of God are brought in to rule and reign in one’s life. By faith, believers today are spiritually circumcised by their identification with the circumcision of Christ. Paul told the Colossians:
Colossians 2:11-13 (NKJ)
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
Because of our identification with the spiritual circumcision of Christ, we have become new creations in Christ, the old things of the flesh have passed away while the Spirit of God has come to direct our thoughts and our actions.
In music, the eighth note of an octave is the same note as the first note of that octave, and that same eighth note serves as the first note of a next octave. Similarly, if we look at Sunday as the eighth day of the week as well as the first day of the week, we see that Christ was raised from the dead on the eighth day, and we as believers meet on the eighth day of the week. Christ was raised on the day of new beginnings, and it is fitting for us to worship on the day of new beginnings.
In the Greek language, the name of Jesus has a numerical value of 888. Iota is 10, Epsilon 8, Sigma 200, Omicron 70, Upsilon 400, and Sigma 200. The total is 888. It’s not like the man of sin whose number is 666. He will pretend to be like God, but Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we have the opportunity to receive everlasting life, an unending new beginning.
Sometimes people make New Year’s resolutions but all too often, those resolutions fall by the way side, only to be picked up again the next year, but in Jesus Christ, we find a never-ending new beginning. If you want to turn your life around and give yourself a new beginning that will never end, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and He will deliver you once and for all.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning, and I pray that you will enjoy all of the blessings of the Lord during the coming year.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Church links:
