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 | | Subject: Fun with Numbers (Part 57 of Series; Revelation 13:18 ) Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:51 pm | |
| Fun with Numbers (Part 57 of Series; Revelation 13:18 )
This should be a fun post. We will finish up with Revelation chapter 13 and have a little fun with Biblical numbers.
Revelation 13:17 says, “...so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.” The number is somehow tied to the name of the Anti-Christ. The problem is we don’t know the name of the Anti-Christ. His name has not yet been revealed to us. There have been fanciful calculations of the number 666, which leads some interpreters to suggest that the Anti-Christ is Nero Caesar. To get to Nero Caesar, 666 would have to be converted to Greek then to Hebrew, and even then, it leads to an incorrect spelling of Nero Caesar. The Bible does have codes, but none requires the translation into another language and back into its own. Other candidates that arise from fanciful gematria calculations of 666 include: Emperor Titus, Euanthas, Lateinos, or other Caesars. Some modern interpreters suggest Martin Luther, John Calvin, Adolph Hitler, Prince Charles, or some of the Popes. The phrase “Prince Charles of Wales” happens to add up to 666 in Hebrew using gematria. The name, “Prince Charles,” however, doesn’t. Some, through a misinterpretation of Daniel 11, believe that the Anti-Christ is Antiochus Epiphanes. The Anti-Christ is described in Daniel 11, from verses 36 on to the end of the chapter. Antiochus was referenced before verse 36, but not after. And his name doesn’t add up to 666. Jesus and the other writers of the New Testament would have said that Antiochus was the Anti-Christ, but instead Jesus said that the Anti-Christ has not yet been revealed. The Anti-Christ will not be revealed until the Tribulation. A key point to remember is that the Rapture occurs just before the Tribulation. So if you are around during the time when the Anti-Christ is revealed, then you would have greater things to worry about than the identity of the Anti-Christ because that would mean that you’ve missed the Rapture. As far as 666 being the name of the Anti-Christ, as I suggested in the last post, could simply refer to his company name: 666, Incorporated.
Verse 18 says, “This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.” Here we are told that the number of the beast is calculable. We are told it takes wisdom to calculate it. And we are given the number, which is 666. So 666 can be calculated? We are also told that it is man’s number. We know that God’s number is 7, which signifies completeness. His co-number is 3, which signifies the Trinity. 777 is God’s complete number. Man is less than God. We fall short of Him, so our number is 666. Man and Satan share the same number. So if we can calculate it using wisdom, let’s do just that. Humans are made up of carbon-12. Carbon-12 contains 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons. Man’s very makeup is 666. And just a side point: Please keep in mind that the false Trinity: Satan, the Anti-Christ, and the False Prophet are not a true Trinity. Only God is 3 yet one. There is one God made up of 3 distinct persons. The false Trinity consists only of 3 distinct persons and they do not make up one being.
It should be noted that Solomon may be somehow tied to the Anti-Christ in some currently unrevealed way. The number 666 occurs in the Bible only 3 times, once here in Revelation, and twice connected to Solomon. I have to interject that there is a translational error occurrence in Ezra 2:13, but compare that verse to Nehemiah 7:18. The number there in Ezra should be 667. So Solomon is the only other occurrence whose name is tied to the number of the beast in the Bible. The two verses are 1 Kings 10:14, and 2 Chronicles 9:13, which say the same thing. I’ll quote one of them here: “The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents...” This may mean something; it may not. It can be proved that the entire Bible is connected. There are many instances where seemingly insignificant occurrences in the OT has special meaning in the NT (and vice versa). Solomon is an interesting candidate to be possibly linked to the Anti-Christ. We know that he fell short of God’s calling. He actually committed apostasy. Solomon married pagan wives and worshipped pagan gods (despite him being so “wise”). That means that Solomon was into the occult. [I’m doing a write-up on that soon—how the so-called wisest man ever to live fell so low]. God tore His kingdom from Solomon and gave only one of his descendants one tribe, but only because of his father David. Interestingly, Solomon is mentioned in the New Testament, but never favorably. There is always a “but” clause when Solomon is mentioned in the New Testament. There is always a disqualifying verse that follows. Acts 7:47 says, “But it was Solomon who built the house for him [God].” The next verse devalues this one. It says, “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men...” Jesus says in Matthew 6:29, “Yet, I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these [lilies].” The next verse trumps this one. It says, “If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” Not only did the next verse trump the previous one that mentioned Solomon, but even the verse with Solomon says that he did not live up to the lilies of the field—and the poor lilies get thrown into the fire. And there is something called “The Seal of Solomon.” It is a star in a circle, similar to Satan’s star in a circle. The Reader can study further on this seal if interested, but I’ll just note that it is said to have originally been a ring that Solomon had, which gave him power to command demons and speak with animals. This is an historical account, outside of the Bible.
It is very likely that the 666 mystery is something that God intends for the people living during the time of the Anti-Christ to discover the full meaning of, and God has therefore, left the pertinent details hidden until then.
Let’s conclude this with some fun with numbers. Our Creator God created numbers and He loves them. Numbers are prevalent throughout the Bible. Numbers in the Bible have distinct meanings. They are eerily consistent throughout. Let’s go through them. The number one is the number of unity. Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Ephesians 4:5-6 says, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” God was concerned when wicked men came together as one to build the Tower of Babel. It says in Genesis 11:6, “The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan will be impossible for them.” Verse 8 says, “So the LORD scattered them...”
Two naturally is the number of division. Jesus has two natures: human and divine. Christians wrestle with the flesh and our new nature. There are two testaments: the Old and New Testaments. Man is male and female. The Bible speaks of two kinds of wisdom: one from above and one from below. In the Old Testament there was Israel and the heathen. In the New Testament there is the saved and the unsaved. Heaven and Hell. Old Jerusalem and New Jerusalem. Old Earth and New Earth. Angels and demons. Sheep and wolves represent God’s people and Satan’s people respectively. Good fruit and bad fruit. Love and hate; good and evil; truth and a lie; life and death. This age and the age to come.
Also, as 2 being the number of division: when we have a court session, there is usually 2 sides: the plaintiff and the defendant. God essentially commanded that all court sessions must be established by at least 2 witnesses. God also sent 2 spies into Jericho to survey or do a reconnaissance of the land in order to strategically usurp it from the pagans, hence, Israel versus the Gentiles.
Three is the number of divine perfection. It is the first of God’s 4 perfect numbers. The others with different caveats are 7, 10, and 12. Regarding 3, the Trinity consists of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Perfection is intrinsic to His creation. There are three qualities of the universe: Time, Space, and Matter, and all 3 are required for our existence (Not God’s, however. God is outside of His creation and has no weight; He is outside of Time and space). Anatomic matter is made up of nucleus, protons, and neutrons. Time consists of distance, velocity, and seconds. Many mathematical equations of physics come in threes. Fluid is mass, density, and volume. Force is mass, rate, and force. Einstein’s equation includes energy, mass, and the speed of light. Not to mention the many examples of “threes” found throughout the Bible relating to divine perfection. Just a few examples: Jesus prayed 3 times in the Garden of Gethsemane. There were only 3 righteous patriarchs before the flood: Abel, Enoch, and Noah. Afterwards, there were 3 righteous fathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus was dead for 3 days and 3 nights before resurrecting. Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights in a special fish sent by God. Jesus’ ministry on Earth was for 3 years. Jesus often spoke and identified Himself in 3’s: He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Four is the number of creation. There are four seasons. The four seasons were created on the 4th Day of Creation. There are four directions: north, south, east, and west. The fourth commandment is the one that refers to the Earth. The fourth clause of the Lord’s Prayer is the first that mentions the Earth. The materials of the tabernacle were four, as well as the coverings and ornamentations. Physical space is 4 dimensional: length, mass, velocity, and time.
Five is the number of grace or redemption. Exodus 13:18 can be translated: “but God led the people around by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea; and the children of Israel went up in five [divisions] out of the land of Egypt.” David grabbed 5 smooth stones to take care of Goliath. Also, the Anointing Oil in Exodus 30:22-29 was composed of 5 parts. I personally think and concede that five here might be a little stretch. Maybe there is no biblical meaning for “five.”
Six is easy because it was given. We are told in the Bible that 6 is the number of man (and of the beast, hence Anti-Christ/Satan). Man was created on the 6th day. For 6 days man labors and for 1 man rests. The 6th commandment is “Thou shalt not murder.” Six words in the original Old Testament language are used for man: Adam, ish, Enosh, gehver, anthropos, and anar. Six times six actually adds up to 666 as in: 6 x 6 = 36; 36 + 35 + 34 + 33 + 32 + 31 + 30 + 29… + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 666. And carbon-12, which man is made up of, is 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons.
Seven is well-known and documented as the number of perfection. There are lots of sevens in the Bible. First of all, few realize that there really are 70 books of the Bible, not 66. The Book of Psalms is really a collection of 5 separate books. So 65 (minus Psalms as one whole) plus 5 equals 70. Almost everything in nature or how things work comes in sevens. We will return to this soon, but a quick synopsis: There are 7 days in a week. Seven continents. Seven colors in the color spectrum. Seven notes in an octave. Seven rows in a periodic table. Skin is regenerated in 7 days; and every cell in our body is scientifically purportedly replaced every 7 years. The sun is tilted 7 degrees towards the rest of the planets in our solar system (which are all aligned); which, by the way does not fit any secular scientific model or prediction. I watch a lot of nature shows and it fascinates me how many times I hear the number 7 in the descriptive commentary. The Earth has 7 primary tectonic plates...
Seven of the 10 Commandments begin with the word “not.” There are 7 parables in Matthew and 7 promises to the Churches. There are 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 vial judgments. John writes one letter to 7 churches. Paul writes to 7 churches, each with their own letter/letters. Jesus said 7 things on the cross: 1) Luke 23:34, “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’”; 2) Luke 23:43, “Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise’”; 3) Matthew 27:46: “About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’—which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”; 4) John 19:26, “When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son’”; 5) John 19:28, “Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’”; 6) John 19:30, “When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’; and 7) Luke 23:46, “Jesus called out in a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’” Continuing with the number 7, the book of Hebrews mentions 7 ‘eternals’: 1) a priest forever (1:6); 2) Eternal salvation (1:9); 3) Eternal Judgment (6:2); 4) Eternal redemption (9:12); 5) Eternal spirit (9:14); 6) Eternal inheritance (9:15); and 7) Everlasting Covenant (13:20). “Hallelujah” occurs 28 times in the Bible, or four sevens. “Milk” occurs 49 times, or 7 sevens. “Abaddon” occurs 7 times. “After the order of Melchizedek” occurs 7 times. There are over 600 obvious sevens in the Bible; and many, many more hidden occurrences.
Eight is the Number of New Beginnings. There were 8 people on Noah’s Ark. Circumcision is on the 8th day. God made 8 covenants with Abraham (who, incidentally, had 8 children). An octave, which is “8,” begins a new scale in music. The New Testament was only penned by 8 (named) men: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude. I concede that no one knows the author of the book of Hebrews. Jesus’ name in Greek adds up to 888.
Nine is the Number of Judgment. There are 9 Greek words that are derived from the root word dikay, which means judgment. The following judgment words each occurs 9 times in the New Testament: abussos (bottomless pit); asebee (ungodly); aselgeia (lasciviousness); and astrapee (lightning). There are 9 gifts of the Spirit, which include the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:8-10). There are nine Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The next statement says: “against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). Against these 9 things there is no judgment. Christ died on the 9th hour (the way Jews calculated time), which is 3 p.m. our calculation of time. There are nine people recorded in the Bible who had leprosy. There are nine people recorded in the Bible as being stoned (this includes the Apostle Paul in Acts 14:19, who survived it.) It also includes the unjust stoning of Stephen in Acts 7. Nine completes the numeric decimal system, which has 10 characters: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. When you get to 9, you start over the count adding one to the base. It is the number that has the last say, so to speak. This one is intriguing: Satan’s number is 666 = 6 + 6 + 6 (three sixes) = 18 = 1 + 8 (eighteen includes a one and an 8 ); 1 + 8 = 9. If we tried to make six hundred sixty-six by cubing each of Satan’s numbers: 6^3 + 6^3 + 6^3 = 216 + 216 + 216 = 648. That does not add up to 666 (it’s close), however, if we subtract this number from Satan’s number: 666 – 648 = 18; 18= 1+ 8 = 9. Satan, and all who follow him will one day see God’s condemnation.
Ten is the Number of Judicial Testimony. There are 10 Commandments (Exodus 20). God requires 1 tenth of your income. God sent 10 plagues to Egypt. 100 talents of silver were used to cast 100 bases for the sanctuary: that is, 10 x 10 (Exodus 38:27). There are 10 “I AM’s” spoken by Jesus in John: 1) I am the Bread of Life (6:35); 2) I am the Bread of Life which came down from Heaven (6:41); 3) I am the Living Bread (6:51); 4) I am the Light of the world (8:12); 5) I am One that bears witness of Myself (8:18); 6) I am the Door of the sheep (10:7, 9); 7) I am the Good Shepherd (10:14); 8 ) I am the Resurrection and the Life (14:6); 9) I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (11:25); and, 10) I am the True Vine (15:1, 5). Satan’s end times kingdom in the Bible (remember, he’s God’s mimicker and wannabe) is represented as 10 toes in Daniel 2, and 10 horns in Revelation 13 and 17.
Twelve is the number of Governmental Perfection. There were 12 tribes of Israel; 12 Apostles; 24 Elders (two twelves) who represent the Church; 12 foundations in the New Jerusalem, in addition to 12 gates, 12 pearls, and 12 angels. The measurements of New Jerusalem are 12,000 furlongs or stadia, while the wall will be 144 (12 x 12) cubits.
Twenty-four could stand on its own apart from twelve as representing the number for Priesthood. Aside from the 24 Elders, in Numbers 7:88, twenty-four oxen were (along with 60 male goats and 60 male lambs) used for the sacrifice of the fellowship offering in the dedication of the Tabernacle. Regarding the Levites, in 1 Chronicles 23:4, David says, “Of these [38,000], twenty-four thousand are to supervise the work of the temple of the LORD and six thousand are to be officials and judges.” Here, “24” regards the temple, whereas “6” worked as government officials. I guess the following fits in this “priesthood” section: in Numbers 25:9, God puts to death 24,000 Israelites who were caught worshipping Baal, the false deity. For false priesthood, “24” were put to death. Along the same lines as this, 2 Samuel 21:20-21 says, “In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge [Philistine] man with 6 fingers on each hand and 6 toes on each foot—24 in all. When he taunted Israel, Jonathan, son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him.” For taunting the true priesthood of God, this deformed fellow is slain.
Forty is the Number of Probation or Trial. The flood of Noah was for 40 days and 40 nights. The Israelites wandered for 40 years (Deuteronomy 8:2-5). Moses was on the mount for 40 days and 40 nights (Exodus 24:18). He fasted those 40 days and 40 nights without food or water (Exodus 34:28), and there, he was given the 10 Commandments. Jonah proclaimed Nineveh will be overthrown in 40 days (Jonah 3:4). Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, just before being tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:2).
153 is a unique number in the Bible. After Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples caught 153 fish (John 21:11). The Greek word for fish is ‘ixthus’, which has a numerical equivalent of 1224 (which is 8 x 153). Throughout the 4 Gospels, Jesus blessed a total of 153 people (excluding examples similar to when 5,000 men and women were fed by the loaves and fish). Mathematically, the number 153 is unique. It is the only number in existence that when you cube the individual digits and add their sums, it comes to 153 as in the following: 1^3 = 1; 5^3 = 125; 3^3 = 27 now adding them: 1 + 125 + 27 = 153.
There are few coincidences in the Bible. If something appears to be a coincidence, often after taking a closer look, one discovers with certainty that there is a Divine hand and Intelligence behind these so-called coincidences. Let’s dig a little deeper into the number codes of the Bible...
A few prerequisites to note is that the Old Testament was written in mostly Hebrew, with a little Aramaic (esp. in Daniel). The New Testament was written in Greek. Regarding both, they were originally written on scrolls, called manuscripts. There were no lowercases—everything was uppercase. There were no spaces between words. There was no punctuation marks. Punctuation marks are all inferred in our translations by the translators. At the end of a line, if the word is incomplete, it is continued on the next line so that it is all written in a perfect block form. Hebrew has 22 letters, all consonants; its vowels are inferred.
The word Torah (the first 5 books of the Pentateuch, written by Moses) in Hebrew consists of four letters: t-o-r-h. Torh is a transliteration. In the book of Genesis in the original Hebrew manuscript, if you start with the first “T” in the book of Genesis, and count 49 letters, the next one is our equivalent “o”. If you count 49 letters from that, you get an “r”. Count 49 letters from that, you get an “h”. So “Torah” is spelled out in 49 equal distant letters at the beginning of Genesis. One may brush that off as mere coincidence. I’d agree, except, the same thing occurs in the book of Exodus. If you start at the first “T” in the book of Exodus, and count 49 letters from there, you will land on our equivalent “o”. Count 49 letters from that, and you get an “r”. Count 49 letters from that and you get our equivalent “h”, spelling “Torah” again in Hebrew. This scheme does not work on the book of Leviticus, but if we go to the book of Numbers, it works if we spell Torah backwards. If you start with the first “h”, count 49 letters up, you will land on a “r”; count 49 letters up from that, you will land on an “o”; and, count 49 letters up from that, and you will land on a “t”. The same thing occurs in the Book of Deuteronomy, spelling Torah backwards at 49 intervals. In the book of Deuteronomy, if you start at the first occurring “h”, and count 49 letters up, you will land on a “r”; count 49 letters up from that, you will land on a “o”; and, count 49 letters up from that and you will land on a “t”. Let’s go back to the book of Leviticus and use the number “7”. If you start with the first “Y”, and count 7 letters up from that, you will land on an “H”; count 7 letters up from that, and you land on a “W”; count 7 letters up from that, and you land on another “H”. This is the Hebrew spelling of Yahweh. So since Genesis and Exodus point forward, and Numbers and Deuteronomy point backwards, that means that the Torah points to Yahweh, the name of God. We can also say that the Torah points to the Law (i.e. Leviticus) of Moses. Coincidence? No way. It’s too precise. Such codes are called equal-distance letter codes. There are many of these in the Bible and many are as staggering as or more so than this.
The Greek and Hebrew languages lend themselves to gematria. Gematria is the study of the numerical values of the alphabet. The Greek and Hebrew letters have meanings, unlike our letters. English letters by themselves have no meaning. Letters in English only have meaning when paired up with other letters. The letter “q” means nothing. The letters of the Hebrew have meaning, and both Hebrew and Greek have numerical values for each letter. Words, consequently, have numerical values. The name of God in Hebrew, “El” has a gematrial value of 31. Thirty-one squared is 961. Interestingly, there are many things in the Bible that add up to 961. The gematrial value of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac adds up to 961. Note, Abram, Sarai, and Isaac do not add up to 961. After God changed their names, only then does it add up to 961. Also interesting, is that 961 is a unique number. The reverse of 31 is 13, and it’s square is 169. This is the only number, where if you reverse the number, you reverse the square: 31; 13 and 961; 169. The name of Jesus (lesous (transliterated), or Yeshua or Yehoshua (earlier variant), also Joshua in English) in the Greek adds up to 888.
Very provocative is the following: The New Testament was originally written in the Greek language. In Matthew chapter 1, we have a boring genealogy that turns out to not be so boring at all. It is the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus’ legal genealogy through Joseph (as Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father, but rather, His legal father). Please marvel at the precision. God’s number, of course, is Seven. How can God show that He wrote the Bible? Everything about Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew consists of sevens: the number of words in the entire genealogy is evenly divisible by 7: that is, when divided by 7, the remainder is zero. The number letters in the genealogy is evenly divisible by 7. The number of vowels is evenly divisible by 7. The number of consonants is evenly divisible by 7. The number of words that occur more than once in the genealogy is evenly divisible by 7. The number of words that occur in more than one form is evenly divisible by 7. The number of words that occur in only one form is evenly divisible by 7. The number of nouns in the passage is evenly divisible by 7. There are 7 words that are not nouns. The number of names in the passage is evenly divisible by 7. There are 7 other kinds of nouns that are not names. The number of male names is divisible by 7. And, finally, the number of generations is evenly divisible by 7. If that’s not proof enough that God wrote the text, then I will have to ask the Reader to read this paragraph again. Or, try to make such a genealogy or any type of comprehensible writing for one’s self—see if it’s possible. This isn’t possible to recreate statistically speaking.
Also peculiar, is that there are 42 words that occur only in the Book of Matthew and in no other book of the New Testament. Oh, and 42 is divisible by seven. That is not special in itself, but in the Book of Mark, there are 42 words that occur only in Mark, and in no other book in the New Testament. This same number 42 is true for the Book of Luke, the Book of John, and the writings of James, Peter, Paul, and Jude—all have 42 unique words that are only found in their respective books that do not occur in any of the others.
This was not intended to be an exhaustive study of numbers. This is only intended to pique the Reader’s interest to study more into these things. There are many, many more amazing numerical facts as these that I did not share with you that exist throughout the Bible.
I’ll conclude with this...and the Reader can do his or her own fact check for what I am about to say. Most manuscripts of the Book of Revelation say that the number of the Beast is 666. We have known for a time that one manuscript, the Ephraemi (penned around the 5th century A.D), says that the number of the Beast is 616. That was brushed off by many scholars and translators because the rest of them say that the number of the Beast is 666. But there was a recent discovery, which is Papyrus 115 and happens to be the earliest copy of the Book of Revelation that we have in existence—it says that the number of the Beast is 616. It is very significant that the earliest copy of the Book of Revelation that we have has the number 616. But then again, this tidbit of information has no bearing on how one gets saved nor does it change any important Christian tenet or doctrine so it is only interesting food for thought. It might be one reason why so many during the time of Revelation will accept the Number of the Beast so readily. Most non-Christians have learned that the Mark of the Beast is 666. So during the Tribulation, if given 616, it might not occur to them that they are really accepting the Mark, but if given 666, then it would likely raise obvious red flags as to what they are receiving. That’s just my sanctified imagination as I speculate the implications of what this might mean. I don’t know, of course. I guess this would be significant to the Christian convert at that time because they need to know and understand clearly to not accept the mark. But it doesn’t affect us Christians today—the Rapture is the next for us.
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