THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF NUMBERS
Companion Bible, appendix 10
This page taken From Daily Bible Study at Kings Chapel
Are you familiar with numbers in scripture? Did you know that they are used "not merely as in Nature, with supernatural design, but with spiritual significance." In fact, the Holy Spirit uses what you could call a "number code" in scripture which allows us to partake of that "hidden manna" and reach a deeper level of understanding of what is being said. Here are just a few examples of numbers and their meaning (See Companion Bible, appendix 10):
Number Spiritual Significance
5 Grace 6 Man 7 Spiritual Perfection 8 Resurrection, New Beginning 10 Law, Ordinal Perfection (10 Commandments) 12 Governmental Perfection (12 Tribes, 12 Apostles)
Note: There are several good works available on Biblical numerics. One such work is "Biblical Mathematics", by Ed. F. Vallowe, and another is "Number in Scripture", by E.W. Bullinger.
You will also find that whenever the number "40" is used in the scriptures it denotes a period of probation or testing. For example: It rained 40 days and 40 nights at the time of Noah's flood. Israel wandered in the wilderness 40 years. Moses was on the mountain 40 days. And Jesus was in the wilderness 40 days, and 40 nights, and "He was afterward an hungred (Mat. 4:2)". Then the Tempter came to Him and Satan's face to face temptation commenced!
The reason we have brought up the subject of Biblical numerics at this time, and in particular the significance of the number "40", is to point out the fact that it was 40 years from the planting of the Fig Tree in 1948 until the 70 year yoke of bondage was loosed from off the neck of Esau in 1988, the time when the harlot would begin to "sing". The number "70" is also significant in that it denotes universality and the restoration of Israel. It is also associated with the number of weeks of Daniel's prophecy in Daniel 9:24 "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." And so it was that 69 of those 70 weeks were fulfilled to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ leaving the 70th week to be fulfilled at a future time, at an appointed time.
Nevertheless, it is very much worth noting that the firstborn of the generation of the Baby Boomers had now been in the "wilderness" for forty years by the year 1988 and "things" began to happen! Let us look at some of them and expound upon them a little. You can use the chart below as a quick reference guide.
1988 - Babylon Rebuilt (Harlot Sings, Tyre visited - Isa. 23.)
1989 - Berlin Wall Falls - East and West "come together"
1990 - Aug. 2 - Gulf Conflict Begins (there is a "gulf" in heaven where the war starts - Rev. 12:7)
1990 - Aug. 7 - Operation "Desert Shield" - (Holdback the storm)
1990 - Oct. - Birth of WWW - "w" is "vav" in Hebrew, the sixth letter - (666)
1991 - Jan. - "Defining Hour" & "NWO" Speech by Pres. George H.W. Bush
1991 - Jan. - Desert Storm Begins
1991 - Feb. 24-28 - 100 Hour War Stops "Desert Storm"
1991 - Oct. - Iron Curtain Falls & mixes with miry clay (Dan. 2:43)
1992 - November - Spittin Image of Little Horn from Little Tyre Set Up (Elected)
Let us begin with an event that took place in September of 1988.
Note: The following sign may be as the single light in the Old North Church in the year 1775 to the multitudes sitting on their front porch steps who would have seen no significance whatsoever in that light nor even vaguely recognized it as a sign because they were not watchmen who knew what to look for. But to the watchman of our day, what transpired on that September eve in 1988 has great significance. How so? Because the watchmen have studied their Father's Word and they are familiar with the words of prophets like Daniel and Ezekiel and Isaiah and Jeremiah and John in Revelation, etc., and therefore they know full well that the enemy, known in type as the king of Babylon, the antichrist, the false messiah, the abomination of desolation, the vile person, the little horn, etc., is soon coming upon the land to take it by storm. And you know what? A few years hence from this event our great country would be engaged at war with the one conducting this military and religious event described below.
BABYLON REBUILT
Charles Dyer, author of "The Rise of Babylon", Tyndale House Publishers, 1991, documents a fascinating event that took place in 1988 on the actual site of the ancient city of Babylon. "It is a cloudless September night, and the moon casts its shining image on the banks of the gentle Euphrates River.
Thousands of guests and dignitaries walk by torch light to Babylon’s Procession Street and enter the city from the north. Instructed to line the streets along the massive walls, the guests obediently follow orders.
When the audience is in place, the dark-eyed man in charge nods, and the procession begins. Rows and rows of soldiers parade in, dressed in Babylonian tunics and carrying swords, spears and shields. Interspersed among the ranks of soldiers are groups of musicians playing harps, horns and drums. Clusters of children carry palm branches, and runners bear bowls of incense.
Then come soldiers and still more soldiers in a seemingly endless line of men and weapons. After the procession, the guests attend a ceremony paying tribute to Ishtar, the mother goddess of Babylon." The director of that event, the International Babylon Festival, was none other than Saddam Hussein.
He was celebrating the revival of the city from ancient times. By 1990, over sixty million bricks inscribed with Hussein’s name were on top of the very bricks that Nebuchadnezzar had laid.
There has been much more said in these few paragraphs for those who have eyes to see than space allows us to review in detail. However, let us notice in particular the display of arms (to honor a god of forces, Dan. 11:38) along with the religious ceremony paying tribute to the pagan goddess Ishtar. Satan's way of course is that if you want something, be it material substance such as black gold (oil) or be it to control a people, then just go take the oil or the people by force or intimidate the masses by showing them what a wonderfully powerful man you are! The power of the arm may sting the minds of the weak in faith, but it does not place fear in the minds of true men or women of God who "do not fear them which can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul (Mat. 10:28)". You see, the "wise" KNOW who has ALL POWER in both heaven and earth and they serve Him, trusting in the King of kings and Lord of lords. Remember the little shepherd boy who faced an awesome and very powerful, well armed, foe named Goliath?
1 Samuel 17:45
Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
You know the rest of the story which has thrilled the hearts and minds of many children and adults alike all down through the ages. Yet this account was "written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come" to give us an ensample, a vivid picture in our minds, to show us how that neither Satan's forces nor man's weaponry can stand against those who trust in the Lord their God, those Christian soldiers who put on and wear the Gospel Armor of Ephesians chapter 6. Then too we have the examples of Daniel and his companions Shadrach, Meshach and Abedneggo where we "see" that neither imprisonment, nor words (the king's meat), nor the sword, nor a fiery furnace, nor the teeth of lions can break the bonds of the love God's servants have for Him . Those young lads all faced death, i.e. were all delivered up to "death", but death did not prevail, did it? They had the victory and so do we!
It is interesting to note how Saddam's guests in the article above "all obediently followed orders" and how musicians were interspersed among the ranks of soldiers carrying "harps, horns, and drums"! If that doesn't remind you of Daniel chapter 3, then get with the program, because it certainly should!
Daniel 3:7
Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
The king of Babylon of Revelation, i.e. antichrist when he comes to this earth at the sound of the 6th trump, shall also cause people to march to his tune and obediently worship his image. Of course his image will not be a physical statue like the type in Daniel we are shown to represent antichrist, but rather he shall cause them to cow tow and worship him as Jesus Christ, which is his "image" he shall set forth. In other words, it is written that the son of perdition is coming (before we gather back to Christ) to sit in the temple of God claiming that he is God, the Messiah returned, Jesus Christ himself (2 Thes. 2)! However, this "worker of miracles" will actually be the false Christ, the instead-of-Jesus, the spurious Messiah, Satan himself posing as Christ. You see, he sets himself up (like Nebuchadnezzar set up a statue [image] of himself) as Jesus Christ for all the world to bow down and worship. Got it?
Note: An image is a perception, like the phony "public image" liberals put forth to cause others to believe that they are kind and compassionate and concerned for their fellow man, who are really intellectual subordinates in their minds. You see, these self serving little gods and goddesses actually believe that they know best from their own warped reasoning what is right and wrong (good and evil) and how people should live their lives. The problem is their "fruit" comes from the same "tree" that was in the midst of the garden way back when! To wit, they despise and scoff at the "religious right" or any Christian who holds that God's Word determines the standards of right and wrong.
Here is what happened when the servants of God were delivered up to the king of Babylon, a type of the antichrist in the last days.
Daniel 3:16
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
They did not carefully consider nor premeditate what they said to the king of Babylon, did they? Neither shall God's elect in these last days premeditate on what they shall say when they are delivered up to death, i.e. spiritual death, the king of Babylon of the last days who is antichrist. Mark 13:11 "But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost."
[17] If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
[18] But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
These servants of God were perfectly willing to die in the flesh before they would bow to "antichrist". To that end, their last statement did not go over too well with the king of Babylon, to say the least. He got real hot with rage and then tried to consume them with the big old fiery furnace he had cookin' in those days, which he stoked 7 times hotter than it was wont to be heated to burn the servants of God. He failed so miserably that his "fire" wasn't even able to singe a hair on their heads! Remember from the chart above that "7" in Biblical numerics is spiritual perfection or completeness. This lets us know that the "fiery furnace" of the last days will be a "spiritual fire" indeed! Some of God's elect are going to be delivered up and put on the hot seat big time! That is why Paul instructs us to put on the Gospel Armor... to stand against the fiery darts of the Wicked One. Ephes. 6:16-17 "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. [17] And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."
By the way, do you read anywhere in the Book of Daniel, the picture book and ensample guide of the great tribulation of antichrist, the king of Babylon of the final generation, where the Rapturemobile came down and swooped away God's servants from having to face the music so to speak? That's right! Daniel, whose name means "God is Judge", is a wondrous book full of ensamples and knowledge and encouragement for the sons and daughters, the brothers and sisters, who will face the soon coming king of Babylon in this final generation! We not only KNOW we have the victory, we have even SEEN ensamples of how we have the victory! So why in the world would we even think of running or escaping from his presence?
Come to think of it, the Rapturemobile did not come for little David either, though his brothers who called themselves soldiers in the army of Israel, the army of God, cowered in fear before Goliath, and would have gladly have bought a ticket out of there, "up, up and away", rather than face the intimidating Beast! Do you claim to be a Christian soldier? Do you have the faith and trust like that little shepherd boy? Then be prepared to step up to the plate because your brothers and sisters are running real scared!
"Oh but you forget that Lot and his family were spared from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, right? So those servants of God were taken out of harms way, were they not? Wasn't that a type?" Lot and his family were spared from the Wrath of God, NOT the tribulation of antichrist! God is not angry with His children who love and serve Him and they will not experience His wrath when He returns at the sound of the 7th Trump and destroys Babylon the Great!
One more point before we move to our next subject. It is commonly taught that Jesus "shortened" the days of the reign of antichrist for the elect's sake, so that they too would not be destroyed or deceived. That is simply not the case. Although Satan is really, really good at deceiving people, it is written that God's very elect, those 7,000 [a spiritual number] servants God has reserved of whom Paul speaks about in Romans chapter 11, have not and will not bow a knee to Baal, anymore than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedneggo would think of bowing down to Nebuchadnezzar's image. You see, God's elect did not bow down to the old Dragon in the first earth age, during all those eons of time, and they surely will NOT bow down to him in this earth age. To wit, Daniel and his companions! In fact, Paul explains in chapter eight of the great Book of Romans that there is NOTHING, including death or the threat of death, and NO ONE, including Satan and his whole band of intellectual wisdom-challenged demonic angels, that can spiritually bow the knee of God's elect and separate them from the love of God. Here it is:
Romans 8:35
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Shall the great tribulation separate us from the love of God? Nebuchadnezzar the king himself could not bend of knees of our forefathers!
[36] As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
[37] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
Jesus Christ has ALL POWER in both heaven and earth and you know what? He has given us His POWER, His Word, to tread on serpents and scorpions and OVER ALL the power of the enemy (Satan)! Nothing by any means can hurt us spiritually! He can not even singe one hair on your head. Remember the picture! Since Christ referred to the Book of Daniel when speaking of the abomination of desolation in the last days, I'm quite sure He was thinking of Daniel's companions when He said in Luke 21:18 "But there shall not an hair of your head perish." The king of Babylon just cannot intimidate us, and therefore we do not scare of his fiery darts and his fiery furnace and we do not seek to run off in some rapture to save our flesh bodies, which is all the rapture theory promises anyway. No, we are here to face the dragon and kick his butt from here to eternity! Here are the words of Jesus Christ:
Luke 10:19
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Let us continue with Paul's statement concerning God's elect, those whom God did foreknow, those whom He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren, those whom He did predestinate, and called, those whom He justified and also glorified (Romans 8:29-30).
Romans 8:38
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
[39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It ain't gonna happen, pal! God's elect shall not be separated from the truth of God's Holy Word by the threats and or wiles of the king of Babylon or his locust army. Well then, what about Christ's words in Matthew 24 concerning the reason He shortened the reign of the abominable one? This is very important to the foundation of our study so let us read and understand:
Matthew 24:21
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
The great tribulation of antichrist is SPIRITUAL tribulation of the third kind, to the third degree, on the third level, i.e. such as there has never been in this flesh age! Daniel says concerning that time of trouble (tribulation) that it will be, "such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time (Dan. 12:1)". Even now, when you think about the host of multi-media input from the vast array of printed matter, TV and movies, computers, radios, etc., etc., that people are subjected to in this modern technological society, these statements make perfect sense. There has never been a time like this nor has there ever been the capability to cast a worldwide web of mass deception such as exists today. And in case you are unawares, the spirit of iniquity is hard at work in the hands of the children of disobedience through the use these high-tech tools under the direction of the prince and power of the air. Nevertheless, you "ain't seen nothin' yet". Be prepared to face the supernatural when Satan and his angels are cast out of heaven to this earth in Rev. 12:7-9.
It's a good thing God has "called out" His elect (we just read they are called in Romans 8) and has allowed them extra time to teach His Word to this generation and to "seal" the minds of those 144,000 in Rev. 7 and all others "who will" before He allows antichrist to come to this earth as the false messiah. Why? Because otherwise there would be no one saved out of the great tribulation! You see, if you do not know ahead of time, i.e. been warned by the watchman, that the false messiah comes first, you WILL be spiritually slaughtered, i.e. you WILL believe the cherub (Ezk. 28:16) who comes claiming to be Jesus Christ IS Jesus Christ! In other words, no one will able to convince you otherwise unless you have been foretold!
[22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
God's elect have a work to do in these last days, and that work is to bring forth His truth. As it is written, the sons and daughters, both His servants and His handmaidens, shall "see" and understand the "visions" of the prophets and shall prophesy, which is to teach the words of the prophets, all of God's Word, to their brothers and sisters in these last days. The next verse documents that the shortening of the days and the subject of the great tribulation has to do with WHO you BELIEVE to be Jesus Christ!
[23] Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
AGAIN, there is one coming who shall claim that he is Jesus Christ, before the true Messiah returns and he will perform great signs and wonders and deceive the majority of Christians. That mass deception is called the great apostasy, the great falling away, in 2 Thes. 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [i.e. the day we gather back to Christ, see vs. 1] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; [4] Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." In other words, the false image that he sets up is that he is God, but God's elect know he is NOT God and they will NOT bow to him.
[24] For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
"False Christs" is singular in the Greek and refers to the false Christ in verse 23. The word is "pseudochristos" which means "spurious messiah". Your Companion Bible will also document for you that the phrase "insomuch that, if it were possible" is a "condition that leaves no doubt as to it being impossible." So God's elect will not be deceived by Satan and his angels who will come posing as ministers of Christ, but unless God's elect do the work which they are "called" to do, there would no other flesh be saved.
[25] Behold, I have told you before.
Now you know ahead of time. So take heed!
Mark 13:23
But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
In our next study we shall "see another thing", even a desert storm begin to blow from the east, from the land of Babylon where there lies is a great "gulf" into which the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers flow and where a "war" shall take place!
This page taken From Daily Bible Study at Kings Chapel
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Copyright 2001 The King's Chapel, Hershey, PA 17033
Also see
Number in Scripture:
By E.W. Bullinger / Good Number Study Link.
THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF NUMBERS
Companion Bible, appendix 10