Jesus was tempted by the Adversary for a period of forty days and nights.
Jesus spent forty days with His disciples after the Resurrection teaching them about the Kingdom of God.
FIFTY This is the number of JUBILEE or DELIVERANCE; suggesting entering into freedom, liberty and rest. We read in the Book Leviticus:
"And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof". LEVITICUS 25 v 10
It is therefore significant that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost came fifty days after the day of Passover.
SEVENTY This number is associated with the LIFE OF MAN and with RESTORATION. Thus we read
"The days of our years are threescore years and ten" PSALM 90 v 10.
We find in the Old Testament that some seventy descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth were engaged in renewing, restoring and repopulating after the flood.
Some seventy of the seed of Israel went down into Egypt at Joseph's request to dwell in the land of Goshen.
Moses chose seventy elders to assist him in his work of administration.
Judah was seventy years in captivity in Babylon, and as already seen in an earlier page, Seventy Prophetic Weeks were allocated to them in the land until Christ would come, and the prophecy of Daniel 9 v 24 - 27 would be fulfilled.
In the New Testament we find our Lord sending out seventy men to proclaim
the Gospel of the Kingdom and heal the sick in Luke
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY. This number has generally been associated with WARNING OF JUDGEMENT being 40 x 3 or Completeness of Trial, Testing and Probation. We read therefore concerning Noah's warning ministry prior to the flood.
"The Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years". GENESIS 6 v 3.
CONCLUSION
In this little booklet, based as it is upon our Bible School lectures, I have attempted to simply and constructively explain the Divine Time Measurements of the Bible, their fulfilment to date in history, and the significance of certain well known symbolic numbers. We have avoided the temptation to speculate, by projecting dates and times into the future but have sought rather to obey Paul's induction in Galatians 6 v 6
"Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth
in all good things".
It is my sincere desire and prayer that this booklet may be of help and instruction and stimulate its readers to further study of the Prophetic Scriptures.
Editors comment: We would like to thank Alan Campbell for the basic structure of this work, anyone who would like more of his material can receive it by sending 15 to----
Mr Alan Campbell, P.O. Box 92, Belfast, N. Ireland
While it is appreciated that maths and/or numbers is not everyones cup of tea we do need the basics to at least get an understanding of prophecy.
The newly discovered facts which form the basis for the subject matter of this book are supreme important and highly significant. They are facts which scientifically prove that the Bible could not possibly have been written by mere human beings alone, but that it is a supernatural, God inspired, given book! They are facts which enable us to see before our very eyes an actual scientific demonstration of the divine, verbal inspiration of the Bible. The discoveries of facts so important as these are indeed "Astounding New Discoveries"
The newly revealed facts are fact, which have been discovered beneath the very surface of the original Bible text. They are facts which have be mysteriously and peculiarly hidden for hundreds of years. They are facts which have been revealed by the hundreds and thousands, not merely by the two's or threes or half dozens. They are facts which are baffling and confounding atheists and agnostic - facts which no living person has been able to discredit or refute. They are facts which are causing sceptical and modernistic thinkers to accept the Bible as a supernatural, God inspired book. They are facts which, without a doubt, constitute some of the greatest discoveries of all time. Is it any wonder that the discoveries of facts such as these are called "Astounding New Discoveries?"
The foregoing statements in regard to the profound found newly discovered facts no doubt cause the majority of readers to ask numerous question.
-What are the amazing facts which have been discovered beneath the very surface of the original Bible text?
How do these facts scientifically prove that the Bible could not possibly have been written by mere human beings alone, but that it is a supernatural. God inspired book?
-Who discovered the facts?
-How and when were they discovered?
-Why were they not discovered until recently?
-How do they affect us?
These and various other questions no doubt arise in the minds of those who are somewhat curious about the amazing newly discovered facts. However, before one learns what these facts are-before an attempt is made to answer any or all of these questions, it is necessary to remind or inform the reader of-
THE GREAT BIBLE "CLAIM" CONCERNING ITSELF
There can be no doubt that the Bible "claims" to be a supernatural, God inspired, God given book. The Bible declares that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." II Timothy 3:16. The expression, "given by inspiration of God" is the translation of one Greek word "theopneustos," which means literally "God-breathed." The great Bible claim then, is that "all scripture," the entire Bible, "is God breathed."
The Bible claims that the writers of Scripture, wrote, not of their own will, but only as they were "moved" or "controlled" by the Holy Spirit of God. II Peter 1:21 declares that the Scripture came "not . . . by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." Another translation of this same passage declares that no Scripture "was ever borne by man's will; but men spake from God, being borne on by the Holy Spirit."
The Bible claims that the words which the prophets wrote were not their own words but that they were the very words of God Himself. The Person speaking was God, not man. God was speaking merely "by" or "through" man. "God . . . spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets." Hebrews 1:1. "He (the Lord God) spake by the mouth of His holy prophets." Luke 1:70. "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word (not the writer's own word) was in my tongue." II Samuel 23:1, 2. "Behold I (God) have put my words in thy mouth." Jeremiah 1:9. "Thou shalt speak my words (God's words) unto them." Ezekiel 2:7. A death penalty was pronounced upon the prophet who should add any of his own words to God's words. God declared, "the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, . . . even that prophet shall die." Deuteronomy 18:20.
God said to Moses, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it." Deuteronomy 4:2. Thus the Bible clearly distinguishes itself from the word of men. It claims that its words are the very words of God. Himself and that men were merely the instruments or mouthpieces "by" or "through" which God "breathed" His Word. The prophets merely recorded the words they received from God. They did not always understand the full significance of what they wrote, for they "diligently" "searched" their own writings so that they might understand more perfectly. I Peter 1:10.12.
The Apostle Paul declares, "the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord" not, his own commandments. I Corinthians 14:37. "We speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." I Corinthians 2:13. "Ye heard of us . . . not the word of men, but . . . the word of God." I Thessalonians 2:13. The phrase, "Word of God" occurs frequently and is always especially significant, Statements such as "Thus saith the Lord," "God said," and similar expressions, occur more than 2,500 times in the entire Bible. The Scripture is to be received "not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God." Thus, the Bible makes startling claims for itself-it actually claims to be a supernatural, God breathed, God given book-the very Word of God Himself. This is the unmistakable language of the Bible. Numerous other Biblical statements could he given in support of this claim. However, those already presented are sufficient for the present purpose.
There can be no doubt about what the Bible "claims" concerning itself. However, many have
raised the question-"Is that claim actually true?" Is the Bible actually the very Word of God?"
The facts which have been recently discovered beneath the very surface of the original Bible text now scientifically prove and demonstrate before our very eyes that the Bible claim is true-that the Bible actually is a supernatural, God inspired book!
Various questions concerning the newly discovered facts were mentioned in a preceding paragraph. The first of these questions can now be discussed and answered.
What are the amazing facts which have been discovered beneath the very surface of the original Bible text? What are these facts which scientifically prove that the Bible could not possibly have been written by mere human beings alone, but that it is a supernatural, God inspired, God given book?
It has been stated that the facts have been mysteriously hidden beneath the very surface of the original Bible text. In order to understand what these facts are, it will be necessary to know-
THE MEANING OF THE TERM "ORIGINAL BIBLE TEXT'
Most persons are acquainted with the fact that the Bible contains two main divisions - the Old Testament, and the New Testament. Strange as it may seem, these two main divisions of the Bible were originally written in different languages. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew while the New Testament was written in Greek. By the term "original Bible text" is meant the Hebrew and Greek text of the Bible -the words of the writers in the original languages, not their words translated into some other language. The facts, then, have been discovered beneath the surface of the Hebrew Old Testament text and the Greek New Testament text of the Bible.
Before the reader can understand what the facts are (the facts which have been mysteriously concealed in the Hebrew and Greek Bible text) it is necessary to carefully observe-
Many of the newly discovered facts have a direct bearing on the unusual characteristic of these languages. The following comparison is made with the English in order that the peculiarity of the Hebrew and Greek might be dearly understood.
In English there are twenty-six letters in the alphabet, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, etc. In addition to these twenty six letters we use the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0. These figures are the Arabic symbols used for the purpose of expressing "numbers."
The Hebrew and Greek languages do not have a system like this. These languages have only the letters of their alphabets, but do not have additional symbols or figures such as 1,2,3,4, etc. which express numbers. Instead of using special figures, the Hebrew and Greek languages use the letters of their alphabets to express or represent numbers. Thus the letters of their alphabets serve a twofold purpose-they are used to represent or express numbers as well as to write words. Every letter of the Hebrew and Greek alphabets represents a certain "number." In other words, each letter is assigned a "numeric, value." This is the peculiar characteristic of these languages.
The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters and the Greek alphabet 24.
Below are listed ( with apologies to the Jewish readers) the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Beside each letter is its "numeric value"the "number" which it represents.
1 30
2 40
3 50
4 60
5 70
6 80
7 90
8 100
9 200
10 300
20 400
Below are listed (with apologies to the Greeks) the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet. Beside each letter is its "numeric value" the "number" which it represents.
A 1 N 50
B 2 60
3 70
4 80
E 5 P 100
Z 7 200
H 8 T 300
9 400
I 10 500
K 20 X 600
30 700
M 40 800
The Hebrew and Greek letters then, in addition to expressing sounds, also express the numbers 1,2,3, 4,5, etc-. Each letter represents a certain "number" it has a definite ' "numeric value."
For example, in Greek the number one hundred forty-four is written for these letters have the following numeric values - 100 - 40 - 4
The reader can easily understand that since each Greek and Hebrew letter has a numeric value, each word likewise has a numeric value, for each word of course is made up of one or more letters. For example, the Greek word 'I which means "Jesus" has a numeric value of 888. Why? Because the numeric values of the six Greek letters in the word 'I Jesus, when added, total 888.
I Total
10 8 200 70 400 200 888
Thus the numeric value of this Greek word 'I,- Jesus, is 888. In connection with this it is interesting to note that Satan's number or the number of the anti-Christ is 666-a strange comparison indeed. Revelation 13:18.
Every Greek and Hebrew word, then, in addition to expressing some idea, also has a numeric value which is obtained by adding the numeric values of the special letters in each particular word.
The reader can easily understand that since every word in the Hebrew and Greek has a numeric value, as shown in the above example, each sentence like wise has a definite arithmetical or numeric value, for each sentence of course is composed of a number of words. The numeric value of a sentence is obtained by adding the numeric value of each word contained therein. The following Greek sentence, ... "Exu I" is given as an example.
If this were translated word for word into English it would read, "Wept the Jesus." In the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible, it is translated "Jesus wept" John 11:35.
"Exu I" Total
785 70 888 1743
The total of the numeric values of the three words is 1743. Thus the numeric value of the sentence is 1743.
Just as each sentence has a numeric value, so each paragraph and each passage has a numeric value. In precisely the same way, each of the sixty-six books of the Bible has a numeric value.
Thus the peculiar characteristic of both the Hebrew and Greek languages is that the letters, words, sentences, paragraphs, passages, etc., have "numeric values"
Now there is one number in particular to which the reader's attention is called. It is a number which occurs in Scripture more times than any other. It is the number "seven."
From the first book of the Bible through the last book, "seven" is by far the out standing number. For example, the Sabbath was the seventh day. In Egypt there were seven years of plenty an seven years of famine. When the city of Jericho was captured, the people and seven priests who had seven trumpets marched around the city seven times. Every seventh year the land of the Israelites was not be cultivated or planted. Solomon was seven years building the temple. After its completion he held the feast for seven days. Naaman washed seven times in the river.
In the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, this number is especially outstanding. Seven churches, seven lamp stands, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials, seven stars, seven spirits, etc., are mentioned. In all, the number seven occurs in the book of Revelation more than fifty times.
It has long been known that the number seven occurs in the Bible in this particular manner more frequently than any other number. However, only recently it has been discovered that this same number also occurs in a mysterious and peculiar manner beneath the very surface of the Hebrew Old Testament text and the Greek New Testament text of the Bible.
When it is stated that the sevens occur in a peculiar manner "beneath the surface" of the original Bible text, we mean that they occur in such a way that they are not noticed or discovered by merely "reading" the surface, or words. The sevens are strangely out of the sight of ordinary Hebrew and Greek readers. They are mysteriously hidden. Thousands who have read and studied the original Hebrew and Greek text of the Bible have passed by these strange occurrences of the number seven without even noticing or knowing of their presence.
These sevens are so deeply concealed that special searching and investigation and special counting are necessary in order to find them. Thus they are said to occur "beneath the surface" or "in the structure" of the text because they are beyond the observation and view of ordinary Hebrew and Greek readers.
It has been discovered that thousands of these sevens are mysteriously hidden in the structure of the text. Some of the sevens are strangely concealed in the unusual system of numbers-in the "numeric values" of the Hebrew and Greek letters, words, sentences, paragraphs and passages of the text, while other sevens are hidden in other remarkable and peculiar ways.
These sevens beneath the surface of the origin Hebrew and Greek Bible text are the amazing new discovered facts. The astounding new discoveries are numerical discoveries-discoveries having to do with numbers. The recently revealed numerical facts or sevens, in a most extraordinary way, enable us to see before our very eyes an actual scientific demonstration of the divine verbal inspiration of the Bible.
The reader is given examples of these newly discovered numerical facts before he learns how scientifically prove that the Bible is a supernatural God breathed Book.
Examples Of Facts Discovered Beneath The Surface Of The First Verse In The Old Testament And The First Chapters In The New Testament
The following are examples of the newly discovered facts or "sevens" which occur in a peculiar manner beneath the surface of the Hebrew text first verse in the Old Testament-the very first verse in the Bible.
BOOK OF GENESIS, CHAPTER ONE, VERSE 1
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
The first "sevens" pointed out occur in a strange manner in the "numeric values" of various words and letters of the verse. It has already been stated and explained that each Hebrew and Greek word has a "numeric value." The Greek word "I" Jesus, was given as an example, and its numeric value was seen to be 888.
Below are the Hebrew words of the very first, verse in the Bible. The words are taken from their line position and placed in a column so that the " numeric value" of each word may be more easily shown.
Numeric
Value
913 In the beginning
203 Created
86 God
401 (An indefinite article which
is not translatable)
395 The heaven
407 And (with indefinite article)
296 The earth.
(The Hebrew reads from right to left, in-stead of left to right as we are accustomed to reading. Thus the first letter of each Hebrew word is on the right, not on the left. This does cause mental gymnastics. )
Editors comment: It should also be pointed out that in the first line or scripture that the term Heaven (singular) not Heavens is used. Millions have read into the first verse something which is not there. The Heavens or multiple heavenly bodies was created on the 4th day after recreation. Write for our free article "Origins"
to continue-
There are three important nouns in this first verse - 'God', 'heaven' and 'earth.' The numeric values of these three nouns are 86, 395, 296, respectively. When these three numeric values are added, the total value is found to be a number which divides perfectly by 7-a number which is a multiple of 7. The total numeric value of the three words, strange as it may seem, is exactly 777, which- of course is 111 7's.
Is it not strange that the numeric value of these words is a value which divides perfectly by seven - a value which is an exact multiple of seven? Notice that the numeric value of the words is not 776 or 778, but exactly 777. If the numeric value were 776 or 778 it would not divide evenly by 7.
Here the number seven occurs in a strange man, beneath the surface, beyond the view of those who merely "read" the words or surface of the Hebrew text. It is mysteriously hidden in the numeric value of the three words and is passed by unnoticed unless' it is discovered by special investigation and special counting.
Each numerical "fact" or "seven" discovered in the structure of the text is called a "feature" a "numeric feature." This, then, is feature one. It repeated below to place it in a list with other numeric features which have been discovered beneath surface of the first verse in the Old Testament.
FEATURE ONE
The numeric value of the three important Hebrew nouns, "God," "heaven," "earth," is exactly.................777 or 111 7's
FEATURE TWO
It is strange to note that the numeric value of the verb in the first verse of Genesis is also a number which divides perfectly by 7-a number which is an exact multiple of 7. The numeric value of the Hebrew verb "created"
is exactly...............203 or 29 7's
to be continued.
Alex Cain
We are being informed by readers that it appears that we are the most advanced church on earth and it also appears that The Countdown magazine is the most powerful magazine of it's type.
Perhaps that now Peter Mendelson has been "promoted" he will now go to the Country and find himself a constituency and get himself properly elected; the British public does not like things being done underhand. If Tony Blair does not get rid of Britains Diabolical National Debt he wont last long either. And Gordon Brown need to show himself a man and regain control of our interest rates. There should be NO independent banks in England, all banks should be of the people for the people and by the British people.
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Many interesting discussions are being had locally because of personal counselling, and because of the local JW influence. Questions range from are we allowed to have blood transfusions? (yes) to why is the Church of England NOT mentioned in the Bible? The subject of homosexuality continues to arise and the answer is quite simply that homosexuals do not enter the Kingdom of God. While the word homosexual does not appear in the bible the act does and the word sodomy means unnatural sexual intercourse, especially between male persons.
Simply put, homosexuals, surprise surprise cannot have offspring neither can lesbians. And God in the last 7 thousand years has been in the process of making for himself MANY offspring. Gen 19:5; Lev 18:22; 20:13,14 and 15 refers to this subject or act.
Bible Appeal
We have many readers in Africa ranging from 7 to 21 who are appealing for Bibles. These young people REALLY WANT TO KNOW ABOUT GOD.
Please NOTE that these people unlike most in the world are NOT asking for money so you do not have to put your hand in your pocket. What they want is Bibles and any educational material like "O" level books (or GCSE).
We are simply going to appeal to you to dig out your old Bibles that you don't want and send them by sea mail to:
Headquarters of African Work
Church of God
P.O. Box 65
Prestea, West Region
GHANA, West Africa
As this is a global operation we simply ask you to tell your friends about it
and then as your friends tell others ETC; Africa will have a positive response.