Evidence of God's Design: Biblical Numbers

 

In today's world the validity of the Bible is under attack, even from Biblical scholars, such as Bart Ehrman, who has written thirty books, most of which are criticizing the authenticity of the New Testament. Christians are having trouble holding onto their faith with science seemingly contradicting the Bible. Those schooled in a certain view of the inerrancy of scripture — one that states that, if the Bible contains even one error, it is no longer the word of God — can experience a crisis of faith when they find what they perceive to be errors.

Devout Christians take a strong view of the Bible’s authority. Through faith they believe that the collection of writings included in the Bible were inspired by God and that the written word in the Bible is God's revelation of Himself to humanity.

The Apostle Peter wrote:

First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God (2 Pet 1:20-21). 

Is the Bible the Word of God?
Is there evidence of the truth of the Bible outside of our faith and some archaeological finds? Yes! I will present some known and lesser-known discoveries leading to the absolute conclusion that the Bible is the Word of God.

Beginning in chapter one of the Old Testament you can find the words "God says" over 40 times. According to The Moody Handbook of Theology, by Paul Enns, you can find the phrase "the Lord said" or "thus saith the Lord" occurring 3,800 times throughout the Bible. Thus, in hundreds of passages, the Bible proclaims clearly that this is the very Word of God. This surely confirms its authority that God can and does speak to us in many different ways. Jesus Himself quoted at least 35 times from the Old Testament from more than 20 books. This surely confirms the Old Testament authority.

The Bible consists of 66 books written by 40 different writers in three different languages over 1,500 years in 13 different countries. This collection of books is known as the “canon” of Scripture. What is extraordinary is that each writer wrote in his own language and style, in different ages and cultures, yet each was so overruled by the Holy Spirit to write in such a way that an extraordinary mathematical pattern is hidden throughout the 66 books as well as it has one consistent storyline running all the way through it. That story is about the redemption of humanity from the devastating results of the Fall, beginning with the story of creation, the birth of Israel, the promise of a coming Savior, the birth of the Savior, Jesus and his supernatural ministry, his death and resurrection, establishing God’s kingdom with the final revelation and promise of His return. The Bible forms one amazingly accurate coherent story for so many different writers when it comes to the historical record. We can also find perfect harmony in the combined message those writers convey. This fact alone supports a single and divine origin.

The highly respected scholar F. F. Bruce noted: “The Bible is not simply an anthology; there is a unity which binds the whole together.” While the Bible’s unity is a piece of remarkable evidence that proves its divine origin some may still not be convinced that it is book inspired entirely by God.

Natural and Special Revelation
We also can be supported in our faith in Scripture's truth by special revelation. According to Wikipedia, "Special revelation is a theological term... that refers to the belief that knowledge of God and of spiritual matters can be discovered through supernatural means, such as miracles or the scriptures—a disclosure of God's truth through means other than through man's reason. The distinction between special and general was first elucidated in-depth by the Catholic systematic theologian St. Thomas Aquinas..."

In theological circles, God’s revelation of Himself in the created order is called natural revelation (also known as general revelation) where God speaks not to a specific person but to the whole of humanity in general. In natural revelation, God reveals Himself as the Creator of all things.  “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1-4).

Special revelation is how God appears to have chosen to reveal Himself through Scripture, miraculous means, or via a prophet or an Apostle. And, most importantly, God reveals Himself through Jesus Christ. “Anyone who has seen me,” Jesus said, “has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Another verse pointing to the importance of God’s special revelation through His Son is found in Hebrews 1:1-2.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Throughout the Bible, we find affirmations of the authority and inspiration of these sacred writings. The Apostle Paul wrote, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16).

While general revelation (via the study of nature through science) can be powerful, is not sufficient for salvation. Due to our nature of sin and thus being partially blind to His beauty revealed through nature, it takes time, effort, and maturity to comprehend God’s revelation in nature. Thus, even though we know God (through nature), we do not naturally respond to general revelation with appropriate praise and worship of God.

I enclose what someone wrote about why we need special revelation, "If we are going to savingly know God, we need something more than general revelation. We need a greater type of revelation from God to tell us how to respond to general revelation...In other words, the knowledge of general revelation reveals only enough to condemn us. The knowledge of special revelation reveals enough to save us from that condemnation." This short video of the Whirlpool Galaxy evokes the magnificence of God through nature.

However great natural revelation is, when the study of nature through science is elevated to the same level as special revelation (the miraculous and the revelation of Christ through Scripture) the Bible, particularly Genesis, has to be reinterpreted to fit new scientific revelations, not the other way around. Where general revelation deals with the knowledge of God and generic morality, special revelation, Scripture, and our Lord give specifics in areas where science has no correlation. If only those with a modern science background could rightly interpret the Bible leaving science to lead our understanding of Scripture, every time science changed their conclusions from one generation to the next, we would have to change our understanding of Scripture to match it. That would be untenable for the Bible's spiritual message and God's Word, which science has no authority over.

To summarize, a healthy view of the authority of the Bible must begin with a clear understanding of and appreciation for the way in which God has chosen to communicate his message.

Numerics in the Bible
Decades ago I was captivated by the patterns of numbers used in the Bible, especially the use of the number seven playing a significant role. Jesus said, “The very hairs of your head are numbered” (Matthew 10:30). So obviously,  Bible numbers should be carefully considered. Many of the numbers in the Bible have a deeper spiritual significance than at first meets the eye.  

One is only divisible by itself. One as a cardinal number symbolizes Unity and represents the absolute singleness and unity of God. (Gal. 3:20) One is independent of all other numbers and yet is contained in all other numbers.  (John 17:21) One as an ordinal number represents completeness.

Two represents the union of two parties such as Christ and the church, the Old and New Testaments and man and woman. They are companions to each other but separate with uniqueness. Two thereby represents division and separation (Gen. 1:2). In duality the one may teach concerning the other by way of contrast or difference.

Three represents the Godhead and the triune nature of God and a pattern God set for man within rituals. It is the number of divine perfection. It can also represent that which is solid, real, and something in its completeness. 

Four represents universal truth found in God's creative work through the universe. For example, there are four corners of the earth (Rev. 7:1); four cardinal directions (N, S, E, W); four elements (earth, fire, water, air) and the four winds (Matt. 24:31).

Five represents the necessity for teaching due to man's weaknesses and thus, the number of power and the divine grace of God. For example, five books of law (Genesis – Deuteronomy) and the five brothers in Luke 16 who would not believe Moses and the prophets.

Six represents something incomplete, and is the number of man (Rev. 13:18) as well as the number (666 written with Greek symbols for 600 and 60 and 6) of Satan. Six times Jesus was accused of being demon-possessed and six times Jesus was asked to give a sign to prove Himself.

Eight is the number of salvation, resurrection, and new birth/regeneration and is represented in Christ's birth, death, and resurrection.

The Number Seven in the Bible
Many years ago I wrote a chapter in one of my books speaking of the creative power in matter connected with the number seven. Since then, I have learned so much more about what the number seven means and its use in Scripture that I felt strongly impelled to write again about this supernatural phenomena and significance that is barely noticed by most Christians. The frequent use of the number seven is the most obvious number used with hundreds of references to it in Scripture.

In the Old Testament, we are given many commands and lessons connected with the number seven that show us the holiness of this number. The basis of the seven-day-week followed God's command for the seventh day of rest; God said that anyone who killed Cain would have vengeance taken on him "sevenfold" (Gen 4:15); Enoch, was the 7th from Adam (Jude 1:14) who was taken to heaven without dying; God commanded Noah that he take seven of each "clean" animal on the Ark (Gen 7:2); God's covenant with Abraham had seven blessings (Gen 12:2-3) and there is a sevenfold blessing given to Israel through Moses (Exodus 6:6-8); there were seven major attributes mentioned about the Messiah (Isaiah 11:2), signaling the complete fulfillment in Christ; Joshua and the Israelites marched around Jericho seven days when it was finished for good (Joshua 6:3-4); it took seven years for Solomon to build God's Temple (1 Kin 6:37-38); Elisha told Naaman that if he washed in the Jordan river seven times, he would be healed of leprosy (2 Kin 5:9-14); and Proverbs mentions seven things that are an abomination to God (Prov 6:16-19).

Within the New Testament we see the number seven used within the context of a complete work of God in something and which He always finishes.  For example, Jesus healed seven times on the Sabbath; there are seven “I AM” statements in the book of John indicating He is the completion or fulfillment of the great “I AM” in the Old Testament; Jesus said we are to forgive up to 70 times 7 times (Mt 18:22); there are seven letters to seven churches in the Book of Revelation dictated by Jesus to John,  which are comprehensiveness in terms of their scope and application; and there are also seven signs or miracles recorded in the Gospel of John, specific seven out of many, to give us a complete picture of the perfection of Christ's ministry so we could believe that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of God.

We can observe the importance of the number seven in nature as well. Be it music, physics or chemistry they are all based on the perfection of God’s work through the number seven. For example, all music that is created is based on seven basic notes of music. When you pass white light through a prism, you have seven colors. There are seven oceans and seven continents on our earth. In geochemistry, there is the seven crystal system. In chemistry, there are seven levels of periodicity. Seven is the neutral ph zone in solutions between acidity and alkalinity. Seven is the atomic number of nitrogen, the major gas of the earth’s atmosphere and a constituent element of all living tissues.

The following few examples are some of the more obvious sevens from the Bible.

There are several seven symbols in the Book of Revelation:

Seven Churches Chapter: 1 Verse: 4
Seven Golden Candlesticks Chapter: 1 Verse: 12
Seven Stars Chapter: 1 Verse: 16
Seven Spirits of God Chapter: 3 Verse: 1
Seven Lamps of fire Chapter: 4 Verse: 5
Seven Horns Chapter: 5 Verse: 6
Seven Eyes Chapter: 5 Verse: 6
Seven Seals Chapter: 5 Verse: 1
Seven Angels Chapter: 8 Verse: 2
Seven Trumpets Chapter: 8 Verse: 2
Seven Thunders Chapter: 10 Verse: 3
Seven Thousand people Chapter: 11 Verse: 13
Seven Heads of Dragon Chapter: 12 Verse: 3
Seven Diadems Chapter: 12 Verse: 3
Seven Crowns Chapter: 12 Verse: 3
Seven Heads of the Beast Chapter: 13 Verse: 1
Seven Plagues Chapter: 15 Verse: 6
Seven Golden Vials Chapter: 15 Verse: 7
Seven Mountains Chapter: 17 Verse: 9
Seven Kings Chapter: 17 Verse: 10

There are also seven beatitudes in the Book of Revelation.

  • Rev 1.3 – Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
  • Rev 14.13 – Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write. ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”
  • Rev 16.15 – “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”
  • Rev 19.9 – Then he said to me, “Write. ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
  • Rev 20.6 – Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
  • Rev 22.7 – “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
  • Rev 22.14 – Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.

There are seven deadly sins:

  • Lust – “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).
  • Gluttony – “for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags” (Proverbs 23:21).
  • Greed - “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Ephesians 4:19).
  • Laziness – “The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway” (Proverbs 15:19).
  • Wrath – “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1).
  • Envy – “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (1 Peter 2:1-2).
  • Pride - “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

Along with seven deadly sins there are seven virtues: humility, chastity, kindness, patience, temperance, diligence and charity.

John’s Gospel is an amazing composition constructed with intricate detail more gloriously worded than in the other Gospels. He opens with “the Word was God” and concludes with “My Lord and my God.” Everything in between is to prove the divinity of Jesus and provoke faith in Him. In this Gospel John describes seven miracles Jesus performed which he calls signs.

The Seven Miracles or Signs of Jesus in Mark:

  • changing water into wine,
  • healing the official’s son,
  • healing the cripple at Bethesda,
  • walking on water,
  • multiplying loaves,
  • healing the blind man, and
  • raising Lazarus from the dead.

The seven words of Christ on the cross:

  • "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34)
  • “I Thirst” (John 19:28)
  • “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthania” “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”(Matthew 27:46)
  • “He saith unto His mother: ‘Woman, behold thy son!” “Then saith He to the disciple: “Behold thy mother!" (John 19:26-27)
  • “Verily I say unto thee: today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43)
  • “Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit” (Luke 23:46)
  • “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

One reason we might not notice more about the number seven's hidden message revealed in the Bible is that we are not all mathematicians. Yet doing a simple word count for the number of times the word "seven" and "seventy" is written in the Bible reveals it is used over 500 times. In the book of Revelations alone it is used 55 times. While the number one and two are used more frequently throughout Scripture they are generally more frequently used in everyday language and the number one in addition, is used as a pronoun.

According to Bible scholars, the number seven denotes completeness or perfection. The number seven in the Bible is understood to be God's number, God’s signature, and it is God’s will. It represents spiritual perfection and is the number of the Holy Spirit. Seven times, or sevenfold, means often, abundantly, completely. And seventy times seven is a still higher superlative. (Matt. 18:22) God created mankind and beasts on the sixth day and so six is a number that represents mankind and also represents created things. Since six is symbolic or representative of mankind and seven is symbolic of God’s complete and perfect work, just as six falls short of seven by one number, so man will always fall short of God’s standard (Rom 3:23).  

Some suggest that since God could have created everything in one day yet in Genesis gave us the pattern of six creation days, with the seventh day His day of rest, that this is the pattern He gave mankind to follow. In fact, we are commanded in Exodus 34:21  “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.” God rested on the seventh day, not because He was tired. He rather ceased work. In part, it could be for us to have an example to follow.  We are commanded to work six days and to rest on the seventh for a purpose. God gave us a pattern or an example of which we are to follow and the command to do so.

My view on it is that in heaven we know our connection to God. According to most near-death testimonies with what they felt in heaven, predominantly the feelings are love and peace and a great sense of connection to the All. Atheists come back to life convinced of the existence of God and Christians that come back usually do so against their will. Rather, they implore God, the light, angels or whomever they are in contact with "please let me stay", "this is home", "I don't want to leave the light" comments. The light, peace and love are so magnificent and "in your face" you absolutely know of your connection to that light, God and His love and see that connection as the only true reality. Earth is seen as a schoolroom and only temporary to their existence.

Here on earth we have another viewpoint that is specific to mankind. We can see and feel ourselves as separate from God because there is a veil between heaven and earth where we are allowed to feel and believe whatever we want. We can choose to give or withhold love, hurt others and even see ourselves as the center of the universe. Through Scripture we learn that we can do our own business for six days but on the seventh is the time we focus on reconnecting to God. For six days we can immerse ourselves in worldly pursuits but on the seventh we tune into the Spirit. With just a minimum of one day out of seven reconnecting to God's light, love, peace, and reality we can keep connected to God no matter how hard we work the other six days. Connecting every day is ideal, even every moment with everything you do. Yet the minimum separation we can have without harm to our soul and spirit is six days of work, hopefully focused on positive growth and achievement, with the seventh the day of rest and renewal in God.

A Mathematician Discovers the Bible Numerics Pattern
Dr. Ivan Panin, (1855-1942) a mathematician and a multi-lingual scholar, was studying the meaning and certain use of words in the Greek New Testament one day when he surprisingly discovered a highly complicated mathematical pattern within the Bible. The Hebrew and Greek languages do not have separate symbols for numbers like in English. Instead, the letters of the alphabet are also used to indicate numbers, hence, numeric values have been assigned to all letters.

When Dr. Panin started to study the Word of God, his knowledge of Hebrew and Greek enabled him to read the Bible in its original languages. As he delved further he uncovered the mathematical design underlying both the Greek text of the New Testament and the Hebrew text of the Old Testament.  Sequences and patterns began to emerge that were beyond chance. He later called these patterns "Bible Numerics". From that point on Panin left behind his worldly pursuits and even turned down an offer of Presidency at a college to dedicate the rest of his life, over 50 years, to exploring the numerical and heptadic (sevenfold) structure of the Scriptures, and generating over 43,000 pages of detailed hand-penned pages of analysis notes.

Now, Panin was an agnostic (some say an atheist) who had a PhD from Harvard, and was a renowned Literary Critic who toured the country lecturing for top dollar. He not only was a brilliant mathematician but also a brilliant scholar. When he uncovered the mathematical structure of the Bible he was immediately converted to Christ. So well known was he as an agnostic that when he converted to Christ several newspapers carried banner headlines announcing his conversion! 

Many Bible enthusiasts are aware of and use Strong's Concordance, compiled and published by James Strong in 1890. Panin found out that this concordance was not accurate and had to create his own. For example, in an article published by The Herald of Gospel Liberty in 1909, written by Dr. J.J. Summerbell, he said that Panin showed him an example of why he to create his own concordance. "Thus in counting the word Moses in the Concordance, he found it 79 times, and it did not harmonize with the principle. Already convinced of the system of Numerics as divine, he at once doubted the concordance, the most accurate up to that time. He read the New Testament through to find the missing occurrence in Hebrews, the principle requiring the number 80, which duly dovetailed with the rest."1

In order for Dr. Panin to create these proper tools he first created a thousand-page concordance listing every one of the 137,903 occurrences of the New Testament Koine Greek words. Next, he created another 2,000-page concordance listing all of the various forms of the Greek words. It took him six years of tedious and time-consuming labor just to create those two "tools".

After that, other books containing the vocabulary words of the Greek New Testament were also compiled, in which each word was listed along with 16 columns of numeric data related to that word. Four columns containing the order number, place value, numeric value, etc. precede each word. Behind each word are 12 columns containing the number of occurrences, number of forms, syllables, letters, writers, books, etc. This vocabulary compilation required another two years to complete.

The result of this labor of love was a complete "Numeric Greek New Testament" and a "Numeric English New Testament", both of which are commendable and scholarly pieces of work. The outstanding observation is that these concise texts were established completely by means of the numeric designs Dr. Panin used, which designs completely and literally permeate the whole of Scripture.

The staggering amount of work and references he created can barely be touched upon in this article with the few examples I reference but if someone's interest is piqued I have footnoted more links on my reference page.

Prime numbers are those that can only be divided by themselves and by the number one, and have long been considered special to mathematicians and non-mathematicians alike. Seven is considered by some to be the most ‘prime’ number within the first 10 numbers as you cannot multiply it within the group, making it a kind of optimal-prime. Seven is the most prolific of the mathematical series which binds scripture together. 

Some noteworthy examples of mathematical structure Dr. Panin found begin in the very first verse of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen 1:1). Dr. Panin found in the original Hebrew over 30 different combinations of seven.

  • This verse has seven Hebrew words having a total of 28 letters, a division of 4 x 7. You won't find the seventh Hebrew word because there is no English translation (represented in the red letters to the left). John Nuyten, an expert in Greek and Hebrew, explains this verse in his video2 and what that missing word represents. The letters are made up of the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, hinting of Jesus and connected with Rev. 22:13 "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
  • The numeric value of the three Hebrew nouns “God”, “heaven” and “earth” totals 777 (111x7), obtained by adding together the numerical value of each of the letters in these nouns. Any number in triplicate expresses complete, ultimate or total meaning.
  • The only verb in the verse “created” has a numeric value of 203 (29 x 7).
  • The first three words contain the subject, with exactly 14 (2x7) letters; while the other four remaining contain the object and also have exactly 14 letters.
  • The fourth, fifth and sixth words have seven letters each.
  • The Hebrew words for the two objects (heaven and earth) each have exactly seven letters.
  • The last letters of the first and last words are valued at 490 (70 x 7).
  • The value of the first, the two middle and the last letters in the sentence is 133 (19x7).
  • The value of the first and last letter of the first and last word in this verse is 497 (71x7).
  • The total numeric value of the first and last letter of every word in the verse is 1,393 (199x7).
  • The value of the first and last letter of each word in-between is 896 (128x7).
  • The total number of Hebrew letters in these seven words is 28 (4x7)

The odds of these combinations happening by chance are staggeringly slim. Other mathematicians have not been able to duplicate this phenomenon using the English language and assigning numbers to each letter.

Using Bible Numerics to Uncover or Correct Errors
There are thousands of source manuscripts of the Greek New Testament with thousands of variations. Most of the variations are slight mistakes in spelling or a word left out here or there. A few questionable passages are solved by Bible numerics. gods signature. They prove the texts are supernatural. Examples of textural problems solved by Panin's work with numbers.

An example is Matt. 17:21 with the reason why the disciples could not drive out a certain demon: "but this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." This verse is Dr. Panin could not find the Bible numerical of seven with the conclusion that it was an addition and not inspired by the Holy Spirit. in the process of copying the manuscripts, it is believed someone at a much later date copied the verse from the Gospel of Mark and added it to the Matthew account as it is missing from some of the earlier manuscripts. Here is the Mark account.

And He said to them, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.” Mark 9:29 

Another example is John 8:1-11. The story of the woman caught in adultery has been at the center of much controversy over the years. The "He who is without sin let he be the first to throw a stone" appears only in late manuscripts placing doubt on it authenticity. Dr. Panin's work proves that it is inspired. It should be part of God's word.

In Isaiah 9:3 the American Revised Version has the translation of the verse "Thou hast multiplied the nations; thou hast increased their joy." The Authorized or King James Version follows other manuscripts and translates the verse "Thou has multiplied the nations, and not increased their joy." In the Hebrew manuscript copies, this is the difference of only one letter. The Hebrew text of this passage used by the Revised Version shows an elaborate design of numeric features. The Hebrew translation shows no design. The answer is their joy is increased.

The last example I will present is on Mark 16:9-20 found in late manuscripts but missing from the two oldest and most respected manuscripts from the 4th century. The problem is In the second century, Justin Martyr and Tatian knew about other endings. Irenaeus, in A.D. 150 to 200, appears to also be aware of this ending because he quotes verse 19 from it. Thus, these early church fathers knew of the added verses, but Eusebius said in the 4th century that the Greek manuscripts did not include these endings in the originals.

Today, the verses are included in several of the translations with a footnote explaining that these were not in the earliest manuscripts. This is the text at question presented by Dr. Panin:

The Resurrection testimony of Christ and His commission to the disciples:

Now when He was risen early on the first of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. She went and reported to them that had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they heard that He was alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved.

Jesus Appears to Two Disciples
And after these things He was manifested in another form to two of them walking, as they were proceeding into the country.  And they went away and reported to the rest: neither believed they them.

The Great Commission
And afterward He was manifested to the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; and He rebuked their belief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them that had seen Him risen from the dead. And He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever has believed and is baptized will be saved; but who has disbelieved will be condemned.  And these signs will follow them that have believed: in My name will they cast out demons, speak in tongues; and in their hands they will take up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord working with them, and confirmed the words by the signs that followed.

Dr. Panin created a booklet explaining the many patterns of seven from the Greek text in these verses in question and the way they are calculated. Here are some of his findings.

  • 175 words total (7 x 25)
  • Words of Jesus total: 42 (7 x 6) and used 56 times (7 x 8)
  • Vocabulary words: 98 (7 x 7 x 2)
  • Those words appear in different forms a total of 133 (7 x 19)
  • Word forms occurring only once in the verses: 112 (7 x 8 x 2)
  • Total number of letters in 98 vocabulary words: 553 (7 x 79)
  • The number of vowel letters in the 553 vocabulary letters: 294 (3 x 7 x 7 x 2)
  • The number of vocabulary letters: 259 (7 x 37)
  • The number of words in 98 vocabulary words found elsewhere in Mark: 84 which is 3 x 7 x 2 x 2
  • The number of words in the 98 vocabulary words found only here in Mark: 14 which is 7 x 2

The obvious conclusion from these patterns is that these words were a part of the earliest texts before the 4th century and are inspired words from the Holy Spirit.

One of the main problems today with Bible publishing is deciding which manuscript to use. It is logical to use only ancient manuscripts, which hopefully are closest to the original with fewer chances of human mistakes. Publishing Bibles using a copy of a copy of a copy, etc. makes no sense. From Dr. Panin's extensive work using the ancient manuscripts proves them to be much more numeric. If numerics is accurate it has given us a method by which we can find out which manuscript is right and where some texts may be wrong.

In comparing the Bibles up through the early 1900s, Dr. Panin rated the American Revised Version in English, now called the American Standard Version to be the most accurate.

The evidence that some Bible verse structures incorporating numerics can only be designed by the Holy Spirit is profound. The examples given above contain mathematical designs beyond the ability of man to duplicate. I conclude with this final tidbit on Jesus. We know the number of the beast 666. Yet do you know the number of Jesus using Greek is 888? The name of Jesus in Greek is spelled I H S O U S  The values of each letter are: iota, 10; eta, 8; sigma, 200; omicron, 70; upsilon, 400; sigma, 200. The sum of 10 + 8 + 200 + 70 + 400 + 200 is 888.

"The 888 is the number of eternity and perfection. It symbolizes victory over evil and eternal life. In the Hebrew language the word "to love" (ahab; Strong Nr. 157; Ex 20:6) has the numerical value 8, so the 888 means "to love, to love and to love again." This is very understandable, because Jesus was love in person. There was no human being in the history of humanity who had as much love as Jesus."

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1I went through Strong's Concordance and then Panin's and found that Strong's today notes 80 occurrences. So in a revised edition of Strong's this error must have been corrected.

2The video link by John Nuyten describes Genesis 1:1 and Bible numerics. John Nuyten also has a website called The Living Word with many videos explaining how the Greek and Hebrew words are configured using Dr. Panin's Bible numerics. The videos are extremely well done and his knowledge and pronunciation of both languages are impeccable.

A chart of the Hebrew and Greek Alphabet and their Numerical Values.