Being an Engineer by training, numbers have always been interesting to me. Numbers clearly have meaning in the Bible, so I researched what the numbers meant and have put my notes here for a reference:
1 “Unity”
One clearly represents unity, primacy, the first, the best,
the only, it has no divisors, no factors, no components, it is universal, whole
and complete. One usually represents God, His sovereign rule, His omnipotence,
His supremacy, His unique character. One excludes all differences for there is
no second with which it can either harmonize or conflict.
2 “Union
or Division”
Two is unity plus another, thus we have a difference or a
contrast between the one and the other, or disunity. However, two can also work together for good.
Night and Day, Light and Darkness
Right and Wrong (Good and Bad), for or against, saved or
unsaved, heaven or hell.
Cain and Able; Jacob and Esau; Israel
and Judah
Dual nature of Jesus (Man and God)
Bipartite Substance (spiritual and physical or body and soul)
Genders are 2, marriage of 2.
“Two are better than one; because they have a
good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift
up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he fall; for he hath not
another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have
heat: but how can one be warm alone?” Ecclesiastes 4:9-11
2 kinds of sin – original and specific
2 kinds of revelation – general and specific
“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his
eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” Romans 1:20
2 great commandments – love God and love your neighbor
2 testaments/covenants of the Bible
2 kinds of God's will - hidden and revealed
2 kinds of revelation - general and specific
law and gospel,
God's alien and proper work
2 kinds of righteousness - vertical and horizontal
2 kings of justification - objective and subjective
2 kinds of sanctification - wide and narrow
3 “Godly/Divine
Perfection or Completeness”
Number of Godly completeness, or divine or spiritual
perfection or completeness.
Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Tripartite Nature of Man
Jesus had a 3 year ministry
Jesus rose on the third day
The three divisions of time - past, present and future.
Three parts of the tabernacle/temple
The sum of all human capacity (and sin) is threefold - thought, word and deed.
Temptation from 3 sources: internal, world, and the devil.
4 “Worldly/Creation
Perfection or Completeness”
Number of worldly perfection, or the entirety of
creation. Four is three plus one, and it
denotes therefore that which follows the revelation of the three in one God,
namely His creative works. God is known by the things which he created.
4 directions (N,E,S,W) or corners of the earth.
4 seasons
We read in Genesis 1:10 that the river that flowed out of
the Garden of Eden divided into four rivers. “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden;
and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.”
5 “Grace”
Five is four plus one, we have seen that there are three
persons in the Godhead, four represents their created work. The creation was
made subject to corruption, so he next thing, of five, is Grace.
Five kinds of animals were sacrificed under the Old
Covenant: goats, sheep, cattle, pigeons, and doves
Jesus bled from 5 wounds on the altar of the Cross.
Daniel proclaimed the Fifth Kingdom to be an Everlasting
Kingdom
God sealed his unconditional promises to Abram by the
covenant of circumcision and by changing his name to Abraham. In the Hebrew
this involved adding one letter to Abram’s name. The fifth letter of the Hebrew
alphabet. Sarai, Abram's wife also had her name changed to Sarah by the
addition of the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Thus God is showing that His covenant with Abraham was through grace and by grace only.
6 “Weakness of Man”
Six is clearly stamped in the bible as the number of man. It
was on the sixth day of creation that God created people. Six could be seen as being
four - the creation or mankind's world, plus two - division or mankind's
separation from God. Alternatively six could be five - the grace of God, plus
one leading to the grace of God being made of no effect by mankind's addition
to it. Finally six might also be viewed as seven - spiritual perfection minus
one, i.e. mankind's coming short of spiritual perfection. Therefore, three sixes is the imperfect or
anti-trinity.
7 “Spiritual
Perfection or Completeness”
In the Hebrew, seven is from a root word meaning to be
complete or full. God rests on the 7th
day and gave his seal of approval.
Sabbath. Old testament forgives
debts every 7 years.
Spiritual completeness 3 + worldly completeness 4 = 7.
In Matthew 18:22 Simon Peter asks Jesus how many times he
must forgive a brother who has sinned against him. Peter asks "As
many as seven times?" Jesus' response is "I say to you, not
seven times but seventy-seven times," indicating not a literal 77 times
but that Peter's forgiveness is to be given without limit-an abundance of
forgiveness using the "perfect" number 7 which represents both
covenant and spiritual perfection.
There are multiple sevens in the Book of Revelation
including.
seven Spirits of God [ Revelation 4:5].
seven Seals [ Revelation 5:1].
seven Angels with Seven Chalices [Revelation 15:5-7].
8 “New Births, New
Beginning”
Eight is seven plus one, and is hence the start of a new
order, the beginning of a new era. Eight thus represents regeneration and
resurrection. When the flood washed the earth clean, in a type of baptism,
eight people were saved in the ark.
Circumcision on the 8th day symbolizing new man, or belonging
to the covenant. Jesus rose on the first
day of the week.
With this in mind it is interesting to note that the Bible
records eight individual resurrections other than the Lord Jesus and the
saints.
(1) Elija: widow’s son 1 Kings 17:17-24
(2) Elisha: child 2 Kings 4:31-37
(3) :Elisha 2 Kings 13:20-21
(4) Jesus: only son of a widow Luke 7:11-18
(5) Jesus: Jairus’s servant Luke 8:40-42, 49-56
(6) Jesus: Lazarus John 11:39-44
(7) Peter: Tabitha Acts 9:36-43
(8) Paul: Eutychus Acts 20:7-12
Jesus is the 8th covenant
(1) Covenant with Adam [Genesis 1:28-30; 2:15-17; Hosea
6:7].
(8) Jesus the Priest-King of the New Covenant
9 “Divine completeness from the Father”
Three threes = 3+3+3 = 3*3
Nine fruit of the spirit
“Endings”
Nine is not yet the full or complete, number ten, but it
does mark the ending. It is the last of the single digits, in our decimal
numbering system. Thus it can represent the conclusion or ending of a matter.
It was in the ninth year of the prophet Hosea that the king
of Assyria destroyed the capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and
carried the people away into exile [2 Kings 17:6].
It was in the ninth year of King Zedekiah's reign that
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon conquered the Southern Kingdom of Judah,
destroying the city of Jerusalem and the Temple [2 Kings 25:1].
It was the ninth hour, Jewish time (3PM) when Jesus gave up
His life on the cross for the sins of the world [Matthew 27:46].
10 “Orderly
Perfection or Completeness”
Completeness of order.
The number ten is the start of a whole new order of numbers and the
culmination of the numbers that come before it.
Counting basis, 10 fingers, 10 toes.
10 commandments.
10 righteous would be enough to save Sodom
and Gomorrah.
Noah was the 10th generation before the covenant.
11 "Disorder or Judgement"
One more than orderly completeness and one less than perfect completeness.
10+1 or 12-1
12 “Governmental
Perfection or Completeness”
Spiritual completeness 3 x worldly completeness 4 = 12
12 tribes of Israel (Old Testament fullness of God's people)
12 disciples (New Testament fullness of God's people)
The city of God
in Revelation Chapter 21, symbolic of the church and also called the bride of
Christ.
“10And he carried me away in the spirit to a
great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem,
descending out of heaven from God, 11Having the glory of God: and
her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear
as crystal; 12And had a wall great and high, and had twelve
gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which
are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13On
the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south
three gates; and on the west three gates. 14And the wall
of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve
apostles of the Lamb. 15And he that talked with me had a golden reed
to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16And
the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he
measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length
and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17And he measured
the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the
measure of a man, that is, of the angel.”
Revelation 21:10-17
13 “Apostasy or Rebellion”
12+1 adding to perfect government is rebellion
“Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the
thirteenth year they rebelled.” Genesis 14:4.
40 “Trial and testing”
40 years was
the age of Isaac when he married Rebekah [Gen 25:20].
40 years of
Moses in Midian before his return to Egypt [Ex 7:7;
Acts 7:30].
40 years from
the Exodus until Moses' death [Dt 1:3;
34:7].
40 days Moses
was on the Mountain to receive the Law of the Sinai Covenant [Ex 24:18].
40 days the
children of Israel
were tested while Moses was on the mountain [Ex 32:1].
40 days Moses
was on the Mountain after the golden calf. [Ex 34:28].
40 days after
his birth, according to the Sinai Covenant, a male child of Israel was
dedicated to God at the Sanctuary [Lev 12:1-4].
40 days the
Israelite spies reconnoitered the land
of Canaan [Num 13:25].
40 years was
Caleb's age when Moses sent him to reconnoiter Canaan
[Josh 14:7].
40 years that
Israel spent in the
wilderness before they camped by the Jordan River
[Num 14:33;
Dt 1:1-3;
8:2].
40 years from
the giving of the Law at Sinai to the conquest of the Promised land [Josh 5:6].
40 years of
war between Israel
and the Philistines.
40 days Jonah
was in the Assyrian city of Nineveh
[Jonah 3:4].
40 days
Ezekiel lay on his right side to symbolize the 40 years of Judah's
transgressions [Ez 4:6].
40 days Jesus
fasted in the wilderness before His trial of temptation by Satan [Mt 4:2;
Mk 1:13;
Lk 4:2].
40 days Jesus
taught His disciples after the Resurrection. On the 40th day He ascended
to the Father [Acts 1:3].
40 years from
the Resurrection to the destruction of the Temple
in Jerusalem in
70 AD.
1,000 "A very large completeness number, all of a lot"
10*10*10 = 10^3 = 1000
A Very Long Time
God keeps his covenant for a thousand generations (forever) Deuteronomy 7:9, 1 Chronicles 16:15, Psalm 105:8,
Better is one day in God's courts than a thousand elsewhere, Psalm 84:10
"For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night." -Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8 shows God is eternal
The Millennium in Revelation 20
A lot of money, but the full amount for things
Genesis 20:16, 1 Samuel 25:2, 2 Samuel 18:12, 2 Kings 15:19, 2 Chronicles 1:6, Song of Solomon 8:11, Isaiah 7:23
A Large Distance, but the correct measurement for things
Numbers 35:4, Nehemiah 3:13, Ezekiel 47:3-5
A Large Amount of People, but the right amount, or Everyone that needs to be included
The Israelite Army had 1,000 from each tribe (=12,000), Numbers 31:5-6
Also, Deuteronomy 32:30, Joshua 23:10, Judges 15:16, Judges 20:10, 1 Samuel 13:2, 1 Samuel 18:13, 2 Samuel 19:17, Psalm 91:7, Isaiah 30:17, Daniel 5:1, Daniel 7:10, Amos 5:3,
144,000 "The entire church triumphant from every age"
The symbolic number who will be saved in Revelation 7 and 14, which incorporates all of the completeness number for both the old and the new covenant.
12x1000 from the Old Testament/before Christ x 12x1000 from after Christ
(3x4x10^3)*(3x4x10^3)
