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Thursday, July 5, 2012

New Beginnings, According to God's Math

Recently I was reading an article on numbers in the bible. I found it very interesting and I thought you might find it fascinating also.  God does nothing by accident nor has he created an accident. You and I are NOT accidents no matter what we think about ourselves or what others tell us.  God has a purpose in all that He does and creates. But what about why He created mathematics?


God's mathematics is amazing.  Take the number 8 for example. Often the number 8 stands for new beginnings which seems to be the case in the first place we find the number 8.  It is with reference to Noah--there were 8 people on the ark and of course they were the seed stock of the new population.  Another 8 reference
to new beginnings is found in Leviticus 8 when the first high priest was consecrated. Afterwards he was commanded to stay in the tabernacle for seven days and then go out on the 8th day to begin his priestly duties. The next time we see evidence of  8 being symbolic of a new beginnings is when Samuel anointed Jesse's 8th son and that was David.

 Some say that the number 8 not only stands for new beginnings but also can symbolize divinity.  When the name Jesus is assigned Greek numerical values, the total is 888.  Considering that "Jesus" in Hebrew means salvation (new birth), we see both divinity and new beginning.  It's interesting to me that the Transfiguration was 8 days after speaking to the disciples about the coming kingdom (Luke 9), and that God spoke to Abraham on 8 occasions, It was also 8 days after the resurrection that Jesus allowed Thomas to touch Him and this was probably about Thomas taking on new faith and starting a new empowered life.


Then we come to Romans Chapter 5:1-11. We find 8 new conditions that come to the believer as a result of the new birth. (Interesting to read)  2 Peter 1:4-8 also describes 8 promises to those who have become partakers of God's grace.  Two more instances that are interesting are found in John 2 where the word "born" is used 8 times in the first 8 verses and finally in John 4 where the word "water" is used 8 times in verses 7-15.

Other 8's include the fact that the Israelites were encamped in 8 specific groups around the taberancle while they were out in the wilderness. There are 8 instances where people were raised from the dead mentioned in God's word. The feast of tabernacles is 8 days long. Elijah  performed 8 miracles, (and after Elisha prayed for a double portion, he performed 16 miracles). There are 8 references to the Old Testament in Revelation chapter 1. There were 8 writers of the New Testament, and Jewish boys were commanded to be circumcised on the 8th day. I am sure that if an in-depth number study was done, the biblical number eight would become even more intriguing.

We all know that 666 is the number for man and that one day the Anti Christ will demand that number to be placed on our foreheads,
and we as believers are to reject it.  God's math is fascinating, but only one number is really important, the number 3.  Just think about that!!

 I received this information from an article written by Les Feldick Ministries, "Through the Bible".  He is a dear brother and a faithful bible teacher.

1 comment:

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