FRIDAY MORNING MANNA
Biblical Numerology: NUMBER FOUR – Part I
The Significance of Number Four and Forty in the Bible
Jesus Christ, mankind’s only Savior and Mediator, is a God of order. The gentle “Shepherd and Bishop of our souls” (1 Pet. 2: 25) knows and numbers His sheep who also “know His voice and follow Him” (John 10: 4, 7, 11, 27, K.J.V.)
He “makes all things beautiful in His time” (Eccl.3: 11). He is the One whom the gospel prophet prophesied: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isa. 9: 6-9.
“Name” here is the Hebrew shem which means: “A word through the idea of definite and conspicuous position; an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication, honor, authority, character.”- Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon.
David, a type of Christ (The Branch, Jer. 23: 5, 6) prayed: “Order my steps in Thy word.” Ps. 119: 133. Paul (who was “taken in vision to the third heavens, paradise itself and heard language that could not be spoken lawfully on earth,” 2 Cor. 12: 1-9) echoes this, instructing all the faithful followers of Christ: “Let all things be done decently and in order.” 1 Cor. 14: 40.
In addition to His 224 other appellations, titles, and names, alphabetically listed such as: “Adam the second,” Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, Christ Jesus our Lord, mighty Deliverer, Everlasting Father, God blessed forever, Holy One of Israel, I AM, King eternal—to “the Word of Life,” etc., “—all indicating definite and conspicuous position, and appellations, as a mark or memorial of His individuality, honor, authority, and character,” Daniel, “the beloved” (Dan. 9: 23; 10: 11, 19), refers to Jesus as Palmoni, meaning, “the Numberer of secrets” or the” Wonderful Numberer and Lord of hosts.” Dan. 8-14 (margin).
To help us better appreciate the significance of number four in the Bible, we summon the scholarly work of the late Australian evangelist, author, and Bible commentator, Louis F. Were, whose book, “The Certainty of the Third Angel’s Message” should be part of the library of all wanting to know how to interpret Bible prophecies as well as detecting its spurious yet widely-accepted counterfeit eschatology based on the Jesuit-invented doctrine of Futurism. On pages 237-239, we cite the following:
Number Four is used Throughout the Holy Scriptures as the Number for the World:–
“There are 4 kingdoms in this world—mineral, vegetable, animal, spiritual. On the fourth day of creation the material world was created. On the fifth day God began the creation of animal life. Gen.:___.
The earth has four regions—four main points of the compass—north, south, east and west.
There are four seasons of the year—spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
The fourth book of the Bible—Numbers—gives the history of Israel in the wilderness, and is a type of the Christian in the world, marching to the evergreen Canaan [of Heaven and the earth made new.
Gen. 13: 14—North, south, east, and west are interpreted in Romans 4: 13 to be the world.
1 Cor. 15: 39—There are four kinds of flesh in the world—man, beast, fish, birds.
Rev. 7: 1—Four angels, four corners, and four winds mean the whole world—therefore those who limit the sealing of the twelve tribes of Israel, brought to view in Revelation 7, are out of harmony with the use the Holy Spirit makes of the number four as the symbol number for the whole world. The troubles to come, represented by the four winds coming from the four corners of the earth, are not Palestinian troubles [as Futurism and its pre-trib prophetic interpretation claims], but world-wide disasters.
Gen. 9: 13, 14, 16; Eze. 1: 28—The “rain” bow sign which God gave to Noah, and to us—that He would never again destroy the world by water is found 4 times in the Old Testament.
Matt.13: 4—There are 4 kinds of [spiritual] soil—wayside, stony, thorny, and good—in the “field” which “is the world.” Verse 38.
Daniel’s book has 4 Gentile kings mentioned therein—Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, and Cyrus.
Daniel 2—Four world empires—and only 4 would rule the earth.
Daniel 7—Four winds, 4 beasts—only 4 universal empires will rule the earth.
Rev. 1: 1—God’s last message, which is for the whole world—and not, as Futurists affirm, merely for the literal Jews in Palestine—comes from God, Jesus Christ, His angel, to John. Four rivers emanated from Eden to water the whole earth, and there are 4 avenues through which the waters of life flow to the whole world.
Matt. 1: 3, 5, 6—Four women come into Christ’s genealogy: He is the Savior of the world.
John 14: 16, 26; 15: 26; 16: 7 — Four times, in His last discourse, Christ spoke of the coming of the Comforter, the Paraclete,—who would have charge of the world-wide work of the church [before Christ returns].
NOTE: The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Godhead Who performs the closing work of the gospel on earth as Christ’s appointed Successor, while He performs the closing work of atonement in heaven. Never dare grieve the Holy Spirit! Eph. 4: 30.
The four [synoptic] Gospels explain to the world about God’s love and Christ’s life, work, death, and resurrection. They also depict 4 sides of Christ’s life.
Rev. 1: 4; 3: 1; 4: 5; 5: 5— Four times the 7 Spirits of God are mentioned in Revelation.
NOTE: “Seven Spirits”- “Concerning the significance of the number ‘seven’ in the Revelation see on verse 11. Elsewhere in the book these seven Spirits are portrayed as seven lamps of fire (ch. 4: 5) and the seven eyes of the Lamb (ch. 5: 6). The association here of the ‘seven Spirits with the Father and Christ, as equally the source of the Christian’s grace and peace, implies that they represent the Holy Spirit. The designation ‘seven’ is probably a symbolic expression of His perfection, and may also imply the variety of the gifts by which He works through man (n see 1 Cor. 12: 4-11; cf. Rev. 3: 1).” – Foot note on Rev. 1: 4, E.G.W. Exhaustive Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, p. 471.
Rev. 5: 11, 12 – When the heavenly angels give ascription of praise to the Deity, it is sevenfold—power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing.
Revelation 5: 13—But when the earthly beings give an ascription of praise to the Deity, it four-fold—blessing, honor, glory, and power.
Rev. 5: 8-10 – The “four and twenty elders’ were redeemed from the earth.
Rev. 2 and 3 – In each of the messages to the churches, the Word says,—“he that hath and ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches,” but in 4 of them the promise of the reward comes before this injunction to “hear.” In the other 3 the injunction comes before the promise of reward, see Rev. 2: 7. For the 4 in the reverse, see Rev. 2: 26-29; 3: 5, 6; 3: 12, 13, 21, 22. A close study of the churches will reveal that 4 of them—the last 4—are presented as yielding to the world. While Philadelphia [the brief Philadelphian stage just prior to close of the 2300-day prophecy in 1844] does not appear to be blamed yet she has only “a little power.” In the messages to the last 4 churches, the second coming of Christ is brought to view. Rev. 2: 25; 3: 3, 11, 20.
Often in the Apocalypse [Revelation] the number 4 is conspicuous in such prophecies as the 4 horsemen of Revelation 6; the 4 trumpets and the 3 woe trumpets, etc.
In the Lord’s prayer, there are 7 factors—three pertaining to God, and four concerning man on earth.
- Hallowed by Thy name. 1. Our daily bread.
- Thy kingdom come. 2. Forgive us our trespasses.
- Thy will be done. 3. Lead us not into temptation.
4. But, deliver us from evil.
Then follow another 3 things belonging to God—Kingdom, Power, Glory.
The bottomless pit is mentioned 7 times in Revelation 3—3 times in reference to the Arabian desert—Rev. 9: 1, 2, 11—and 4 times in reference to the arsenal of Satan—the world—Rev. 11: 7; 17: 8; 20: 1, 3. From the numeric measure we can see that the bottomless pit is this earth.
NOTE: the “bottomless pit” refers to this world, “but not to the world that we can see and know with our senses; it refers to the invisible world that surrounds us; the world of demons, the abode of Satan.”
Rev. 20: 2 – When Satan is chained to this earth [in the abussos, desolate condition resulting from the seven last plagues], called here the bottomless pit, he is given a four-fold description—dragon, serpent, devil, Satan.
Mark 13: 35 – When Christ spoke of the unknown hour of His second advent to the earth, he gave four times—even [evening], midnight, cock-crowing, morning.
Acts 1: 8 – When Christ commanded the church to take the Gospel to the world, He used four places—Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.
Rev. 19: 1, 3, 4, 6—In their triumph over the world, the redeemed say “Alleluia” for times.
Rev. 19: 1 – The redeemed use a four-fold ascription of praise to God—Salvation, Glory, Honor, and Power unto the Lord our God.
Rev. 20: 8 – Gog and Magog come from the four quarters of the earth. This in itself shows that the invasion of the land of Israel (Eze. 38, 39) by God’s army (which is supposed, by some to refer to Russia) cannot possibly be restricted to Palestine [as Futurism teaches]. Only a worldwide application will meet the requirement of the numeric system which operates throughout Scripture.
The fourth clause in the Lord’s prayer is the one which mentions the “earth.”
The fourth Commandment, by the numeric system of the Bible, is definitely a command which is for the whole world—not merely for the Jews of Palestine, as some have taught.
Gen. 10: 5, 20, 31 – In the account of peopling the earth, a four-fold description is given—different terms may be employed on each occasion, but only 4 are used at a time.
Rev. 5: 9; 7: 9; 10: 11; 11: 9; 14: 6; 17: 15—The Revelation uses the same four-fold description as given in Genesis. Nothing but a world-wide application of the things in the Apocalypse pertaining to Israel will fit the numeric standards of Scripture.”— The Certainty of the Third Angel’s Message, pp. 237-239.
(Continued next week)