Question:
"What is the significance of numbers in biblical prophecy?"
Answer: The
belief that certain “secret” meanings are revealed by numbers that are used in
scripture is called gematria or
Biblical numerology. Originally, gematria
was an Assyro-Babylonian-Greek system of codes and numerology that was
adopted by Jewish rabbis and further enhanced “in the belief that words or
phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other or bear
some relation to [numbers as they] may apply to nature, a person's age, the
calendar year, or the like.”[i]
Some scholars of religion identify two forms of gematria: the
"revealed" form, which is prevalent in many hermeneutic methods found
throughout Rabbinic literature, and the "mystical" form, a largely
Kabbalistic (a Jewish sect) practice. That’s the technical aspect. In practice,
however, the system is primarily arbitrary guess work based on numerical
patterns found (they believe) throughout scripture.
That is not to say that numbers have no spiritual value in
understanding certain scriptures; however, generally these are obvious or
explained in scripture itself. As for instance when Peter writes:
But do not forget this one thing,
dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand
years are like a day. (2 Peter 3:8)
Other examples, although not specifically explains as in 2
Peter, are the verses found in the following 2 references:
In the year that King Uzziah died I
saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train1 of his
robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings:
with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he
flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:1-3)
And, in Revelation 4:8 which reads:
And the four living creatures, each
of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and
night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who
was and is and is to come!”
Obviously, at least to me, the thrice repeated holies in
reference to the Lord of host in Isaiah must be describing the 3 persons in the
Godhead—that is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which are of the
same holy essence. That is to say, that God is in 3 persons, not that 3 persons
are in God. Interestingly, John the Revelator is in sync with Hebrew 13: 8
which declares that
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
So, although not specifically stated it does seem that both Isaiah and John had
a very deep insight in to the nature of God and His Son and the Holy Spirit
which took the early Church Fathers until the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) to
define.
The numbers 7 and 40 are considered to be the most commonly
repeated numbers in the Bible. The number 7 it is believed is the number for completion
or perfection (Genesis 7:2-4; Revelation 1:20), and as such It is often thought
of as “God’s number” since He alone is perfect and complete (Revelation 4:5;
5:1, 5-6). Likewise, the number 3 is also thought of as in the same value as 7
because it supposedly represent The Trinity , which consists of Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, as was mentioned.
Those that see significance
in numbers have a peculiar way to determine what a number means; which is primarily,
by association. 3 for instance represent the Trinity. The number 40 as the
“number of probation or trial” because the Israelites wandered for 40 years
(Deuteronomy 8:2-5); further Moses was on the mount for 40 days (Exodus 24:18);
Jonah was told to tell the Ninevites they had 40 days to repent (Jonah 3:4);
Jesus was tempted for 40 days (Matthew 4:2); and there were 40 days between
Jesus’ resurrection and ascension (Acts 1:3). Of course, the process is almost
endless, depending on how big the interpreter’s imagination is.
Another example
is the number 6 which for instance stands for man since man was created on the
6th day; and further, man is to labor 6 days only and rest on the 7th.
Perhaps, the most well know number is the number 666 which is the number
of the Antichrist in Revelation chapter 13—which incidentally most probably
refers to the emperor Nero, I believe, since I am well convinced that the early
Church had a pretty good notion to whom the numbers 666 pointed.
Most often, however, a number in scripture is just a simple
number. Further, it is not consistent with God to hide mysteriously behind
numbers and force us to search for secret meanings, hidden messages, and/or other
codes in the Bible. We are also reminded that:
All Scripture is God-breathed and
is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness… (2
Timothy 3:16 NIV).
So, in my opinion, it seems hardly necessary to get our
theology all tangled up in guess work over numbers in the Bible.
Take care!
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