Peter Sammons continues his investigation
The number seven recurs throughout Scripture. Whilst we should avoid anything like numerology (the study of numbers and mathematics in the belief that they reveal secret and esoteric messages) we cannot avoid noticing that certain numbers are repeated throughout Scripture. Peter Sammons investigates the number three.
Three
This number seems to be always reflective of the relationship of what Christians rightly call The Holy Trinity, that wonderful if mysterious relationship of God the Father, with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Three also seems to be a reflection of completeness, though not to the same extent as the number seven. There were three righteous Patriarchs before the flood (Abel, Enoch and Noah). After the flood the great Patriarchs of Israel were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – who was later, of course, re-named Israel. It is correctly pointed out that there are 27 books in the New Testament (3*3*3). Could this be a reflection of God’s perfect (and complete) revelation of the outworking of the renewed (“new”) covenant, centred on the redemptive work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? In this redemption, there is completion; in other words there is nothing more to be added, nothing more to be said, and nothing more to be done.
We note also that Jesus prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest. He was placed on the cross at the 3rd hour of the day (9 a.m.) and died at the 9th hour (3 p.m.). There were 3 hours of darkness that covered the land while Jesus was suffering on the cross from the 6th hour to the 9th hour. Three is the number of resurrection. Christ was dead for three days and three nights, before being resurrected.
Apart from the number seven, three is the most common number in the book of Revelation. An angel cries out three woes to the people who live on earth, alerting them to more trials yet to come (Revelation 8:13 and 9:12). The murdered bodies of the Two Witnesses will not be allowed to be buried but rather will lie openly in Jerusalem for three (and a half) days before they are resurrected.
Three unclean spirits will be allowed to deceive the whole world to fight against the returning Messiah Jesus in what is called the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:13-16). The New Jerusalem, created by God and installed on the new earth, will be shaped like a square with three gates on each side (Revelation 21:13). God Himself is described, in the very beginning of the book of Revelation, as a Being “which is, and which was, and which is to come” (Revelation 1:4).
There are three clear phases (or periods) during which the biblical Moedim are effective: these are the spring feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread and First fruits) the beginning of the summer harvest (Latter First Fruits) and the three autumn festivals (Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles). God is still working out His over-arching plan today! We are witnesses of this!
The numbers three and seven interestingly coalesce in the book of Daniel. In the second chapter, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a giant statue whose head was of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and hips of brass, legs of iron, and feet of a mixture of iron and clay (Daniel 2:31-33). Daniel told him that he, Nebuchadnezzar, was the head of gold (vs 37-38) and went on to explain the significance of the other elements of the dream. Whether Daniel’s explanation went, proverbially, ‘straight to the head’ of King Nebuchadnezzar is perhaps not for us to say, but in the next chapter Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold to be worshipped.
Nebuchadnezzar called together seven kinds of officials to the dedication of the image: (1) princes, (2) governors, (3) captains, (4) judges, (5) treasurers (6) counsellors, (7) sheriffs. The penalty for refusing to worship the image was death by being cast into a burning fiery furnace.
Three Hebrew men refused to worship the image and were cast into that furnace of death, yet were brought out alive, surely an oblique picture of the resurrection, and signified by the number three; three were thrown in and three were brought out alive. The furnace had been heated seven times hotter than it had ever been before!
Here we see a complete and definitive deliverance for God’s faithful people from the power of death (Daniel 3:1-27). When those three true Israelites emerged from the furnace of death, there was not a trace of fire upon their bodies or their clothing. It is rightly observed that, when Christ brings His people out of death there will not be a trace of death left on them. They will be completely and definitively delivered from its power.
Numerology – a simple warning
Whilst these usages of numbers within the Bible are too numerous and at too many clearly strategic revelatory points for us to ignore, and are clearly there for a purpose, we must not allow fascination with them to become some spurious “theology” in its own right.
There have always been false teachers who seek to make themselves look significant (in their own eyes and in the eyes of those eager to be led) with their “hidden” or esoteric mysteries, which, surprise, surprise (!) only they know about – but which they are prepared to share with you if (a) you will follow them and (b) you will give them some money! We are told to fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). If nothing else, it is hoped that this book with its focus on the connection of the Moedim to the life, death, resurrection, mission and ministry of the Lord Jesus, has not fallen into this trap, but rather, has helped to reflect the sheer majesty of His achievements.
Peter Sammons continues his investigation next month, with the number seven. This book, The Messiah Pattern, contains a fuller exploration of patterns in the Bible: https://christian-publications-int.com/default-23.html?ID=142
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