God’s Words

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary

Short Summary
The discourse explores why the Bible is believed to be God’s revelation, emphasizing its divine inspiration and unique composition guided by the Holy Spirit. It highlights the significance of biblical names, acrostics, and gematria (numerical values of Hebrew and Greek letters) as evidence of God’s authorship and the depth of scriptural truth. While these intricate details enhance faith, the speaker cautions that core doctrines and spiritual truths remain paramount over peripheral curiosities.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Discourse on Why the Bible Is God’s Revelation and Insights into God’s Words

Opening Question and Reflection
– The speaker opens by asking why believers consider the Bible as God’s revelation of Himself.
– The Bible shapes worldview, morality, ethics, future expectations, relationships, and worship.
– The speaker invites the audience to reflect and later share their thoughts.

Primary Reason for Belief in the Bible’s Divine Origin
– The Bible presents a portrait of God so beautiful, detailed, and supreme that it surpasses human capability to create.
– It is a supernatural book beyond imperfect and transitory mankind.
– Jesus’ words in John 8:32 are cited:
*“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”*
– This verse highlights truth as self-identifying and freeing from erroneous ideas.
– The divine character and plan meet these criteria of truthfulness and liberating power.
– Even with many questions remaining, ongoing learning about God and Jesus strengthens faith and confirms truth.

God’s Words: The Bible’s Composition and Inspiration
– Emphasis on “God’s words,” not merely “God’s word,” highlighting the Bible’s composition of many inspired words.
– Varied modes of inspiration:
– Direct dictation (e.g., Mosaic Law).
– Prophetic visions written in words (Daniel, John).
– Inspired poetry from godly hearts (Psalms).
– Factual historical records (genealogies, kings’ histories).
– Despite diversity, all writings are guided by the Holy Spirit, making the Scriptures unique and supernatural.

Scriptural Support on God’s Words
– John 8:45:
*“He that heareth, that is of God, heareth God’s word: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”*

The Significance of Names and Hebrew Letters
– Examination of the Hebrew letters in names like Abraham (originally Abram) and Sarah (originally Sarai).
– God inserts the letter “Hey (ה)” into their names, symbolizing God’s breath/life being given to them.
– This divine “breath” parallels the presence of two “Hays” in the divine name YHWH (Tetragrammaton), connecting God’s essence with the patriarchs.
– Name Israel (Jacob’s new name) spelled in Hebrew letters that correspond to the first letters of the patriarchs and matriarchs who formed the nation of Israel, showing deep symbolic meaning.

Acrostics in Scripture: Hidden Divine Names
– Explanation of acronyms vs. acrostics:
– Acronym: made up word from initial letters (e.g., LASER, SCUBA, POTUS).
– Acrostic: real words formed from initial or final letters of words or phrases.
– The Book of Esther contains no explicit mention of God’s name but hides the Tetragrammaton four times as acrostics, forwards and backwards, indicating divine authorship despite apparent omission.

The Tetragrammaton and Jesus on the Cross
– The Hebrew inscription over Jesus’ head on the cross includes the Tetragrammaton, symbolizing God’s presence at Jesus’ death.

Meaning of the Hebrew Word for Truth: “Emet” (Aleph, Mem, Tav)
– “Emet” means truth, spanning from the first letter (Aleph) to the last letter (Tav) of the Hebrew alphabet, symbolizing comprehensive truth.
– The middle letter “Mem” relates to Messiah, indicating Jesus as the center of all truth.
– This aligns with biblical teaching that Jesus is the center of God’s word and truth.

Symbolism of the Golden Lampstand in the Tabernacle
– The lampstand with seven branches symbolizes God’s word in seven parts:
– Old Testament: Law, Prophets, Psalms (3 parts).
– New Testament: Gospels, Acts, Epistles, Revelation (4 parts).
– Jesus (the Gospels) is the center branch.

Significance of the Letter “Aleph”
– Aleph begins many divine names: Elohim, El, El Shaddai, Adon.
– Removing “Aleph” (God) from “Emet” (truth) leaves “Met,” meaning death, symbolizing that without God there is no life.

Adam’s Name and Biblical Typology
– Adam (Aleph, Dalet, Mem) connects to Messiah and David.
– Paul calls Jesus the “last Adam,” linking Jesus to the restoration of humanity.

Ezekiel 9:4 and the Mark on Foreheads
– The Hebrew word for “mark” (Tav, Vav, Tav) is discussed.
– The letter Tav originally resembled a cross, linking the mark to the blood of the Passover (doorposts and lintels).
– This mark foreshadows Jesus’ cross and symbolizes protection and identification with God.

Use of Numbers and Gematria in Scripture
– Explanation of symbolic numbers:
– 3: emphasis (e.g., “Holy, holy, holy”).
– 7: perfection/completeness (e.g., seven lamps on lampstand, seven churches).
– 8: new life/resurrection (e.g., Jesus’ resurrection on the eighth day).
– 10: earthly completeness (e.g., Ten Commandments, ten virgins).
– Gematria: assigning numerical values to letters to find hidden meanings.
– Example: Greek spelling of “Jesus” totals 888, symbolizing triple newness of life and resurrection.
– Gematria equivalences:
– “Serpent” (nachash) and “Messiah” both equal 358.
– “Shiloh come” (a Messianic title) also totals 358.
– Connection to Great Pyramid measurements and biblical numbers like 144,000, reflecting divine design.

Caution on Peripheral Studies
– While these details are fascinating and faith-strengthening, they are not the core spiritual “meat” of scripture.
– Focus must remain on essential doctrines that build character and faith.
– The interesting details serve to show God’s providential control over the Bible’s creation and inspire deeper study.

Scriptural Affirmation of God’s Living Word
– Hebrews 4:12 (Paul):
*“For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword…”*
– The copper laver in the tabernacle, made from polished copper (women’s mirrors), symbolizes Jesus as perfect humanity reflecting God’s word.
– Looking into God’s word reveals both our imperfections and the image of Jesus as our exemplar.

Additional Encouragements
– Deuteronomy 32:46-47 stresses the importance of God’s words as life.
– Psalm 119:105:
*“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”*
– The Bible is a wonderful, boundless, and powerful tool given by God.
– Believers are encouraged to love and study God’s word with joy.

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Key Bible Verses Mentioned:

– John 8:32 — *“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”*
– John 8:45 — *“He that heareth, that is of God, heareth God’s word…”*
– Hebrews 4:12 — *“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…”*
– John 1:4 — *“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”*
– John 11:25-26 — *“I am the resurrection and the life…”*
– John 3:14 — *“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.”*
– Genesis 49:10 — *“The scepter shall not depart from Judah… until Shiloh come.”*
– Ezekiel 9:4 — *“Set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for the abominations…”*
– Job 31:35 — *“Oh, that one would hear me! Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me…”*
– Deuteronomy 32:46-47 — *“Set your heart under these words … they are your life.”*
– Psalm 119:105 — *“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”*
– Romans 11:7 — referencing God’s elect.
– Acts 17:29 — Divine nature (Theion).
– 1 Timothy 4:12 — Believers’ calling.
– Revelation 2:17 — A new name.
– Matthew 3:16 and Matthew 5:12 — Various references to divine numbers.

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Summary of Themes:

– The Bible’s divine inspiration evidenced by its supernatural depth and harmony.
– The importance of God’s words, names, and letters revealing hidden truths.
– Use of acrostics and gematria to demonstrate God’s intricate authorship.
– Symbolism in numbers enhances understanding but is secondary to core doctrinal truths.
– The Bible as God’s living word reflects and transforms believers.
– Encouragement to focus on spiritual essentials while appreciating fascinating biblical details.

Transcript

Here’s a question. Why do you believe that the Bible is God’s revelation of himself? Now think about that question for a minute. Each of you obviously believe it. The Bible shapes your view of the world.

It directs your thinking in moral and ethical matters. It molds your expectations for the future. It instructs how you build relationships and it directs who you worship. What you and I are becoming is solely directed by what we read there. So back to the question.

You had a minute. Think about your answer. Why do you believe the Bible is God’s revelation of himself? Well, if I had the time, I’d love to hear some of your thoughts. In fact, a little bit later on I am going to ask for a little audience participation.

But the answer that best satisfies me is this. We have derived from the Bible a portrait of God that is so beautiful, so rich with detail, so supreme in its description of God’s character and plans for the future, that it’s beyond imperfect and transitory man to construct. I just think that nobody in the human race could make what we have in the Bible. It is a supernatural book. Now Jesus perhaps suggested this.

What he said in John 8:32 and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Two items in this verse of importance. Ye shall know the truth. I understand Jesus to be saying that there’s something about the doctrines of the truth which are self identifying, giving us unmistakable evidence of their truthfulness. You know in mathematics you have something similar, it’s called an axiom.

It’s an obviously true thing. Jesus says the truth is like that. Furthermore, he says the truth shall make you free. Aside from the unmistakableness of the truth, there is an important consequence of finding Frees you from what? From error in the prison of erroneous ideas.

Now the divine character and divine plan meet both of these criteria abundantly. I have no doubt about the truth of the divine plan. Now that doesn’t mean that I don’t have to have any questions about it. In fact, I have a million questions about the divine plan. These questions are little details of truth.

But because we do not possess all knowledge, we’re going to continue to learn more and more about our great God Jehovah and our loving Savior Jesus, and all this does is give us more evidence that it’s the truth. Now, having established what is an essential answer to my opening question, we’re going to spend the rest of the time investigating and hear this clearly some non essential but faith strengthening and incredible details about God’s word words. Now notice I didn’t say God’s word. I said God’s words.

The Bible is made up of words, and you say Brother David. That’s painfully obvious, isn’t it? Well, here’s some points about these words. Number one, God inspired men to write down these words. They are inspired.

They come from God. Now, in some cases, God clearly dictated word for word what he wanted. Take the Mosaic Law as an example of this. In other cases, it would seem that God gave his prophets a vision which they wrote with words. Consider the visions of Daniel and the apostle John as examples of this.

In still other cases, God inspired the hearts of godly men, out of which beautiful expressions of praise in the form of poetry was a result. The Psalms are an example of this. In yet another example, we have what seems to be nothing more than dry, factual history, which seems almost uninspired. Observe the long list of genealogies and the straightforward accounts of Israel’s warring kings. Now, you may be able to characterize yet other ways in which the Bible came forth.

But the point that we want to suggest here is that no matter how the Bible came to be written, it was powerfully overruled and guided by God’s Holy Spirit. So what came to be the Holy Scriptures was different than any other exposition on the face of the earth.

All right, let’s go on here a little bit more. Here’s the scripture that I was just talking about. Our first example here. Two more scriptures here about God’s words. John 8.

45. He that heareth, that is of God, heareth God’s word. He whom God has sent speaketh forth the words of God. So let’s start looking at some words of God. Let’s start with some names.

Now, you see the name Sarah and Abraham here, and I need to move my.

Since I’m sharing, I. It still is showing me everybody that’s online and pardon me, folks, online. I don’t want to see you right now.

And I don’t seem able to see. Get it off. Well, okay, here is the Hebrew spelling of Abraham. It’s the Hebrew letter Aleph, Beth, Reshton, and hey, actually, I went. I went too far here.

Abram, start with Abraham, not Abraham. A left. Beth, Resh and Mem. That was the name that Abraham had before God changed the name. Likewise with Sarai, Sin, Resh, Yacht.

God changed the names. Seeing what he did to change the names is instructive. All right, now we get it. Notice that in both cases, he inserted a letter. In the case of Abraham, he kept all the letters that were there, but put this letter hey there.

And hey is a letter that has breath. Hey, and I want to emphasize that same way with Sarah. Now, he takes one letter out, but he puts that hay in there. It’s almost like God is breathing into Abraham and Sarah some of himself, and he is breathing a life into them.

Remember, they’re an old couple. He said, you’re going to have a child, and Sarah didn’t think so. She laughed about it. Abraham, we’re not told.

He might have been a little skeptical, too. But here, this old couple was able to procreate, giving forth the birth of Isaac. That life was breathed into them, and so the name was changed. What’s interesting about these two letters.

Hey, is that when we go to the divine name you’re familiar with, the tetragrammaton means four letters. Y, H. W, H. Notice there’s two hays in there. Again, it’s like Jehovah. God has put some of himself into the lives of Abraham and Sarah, and not only did they give birth to Isaac, but what was also born was the Abrahamic covenant, the most important covenant in scriptures in God’s plan. The name Israel.

Here’s another name. Very interesting. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, and Israel means he will rule as God, and here’s the spelling of it. Yod, Sin, Resh, Aleph, Lamed.

Now, why did God choose this name? Well, meaning he will rule as God. That is certainly important. But is there anything deeper or more detailed here about the choosing of this name? We want to focus on the letters here.

Yod, Sin, Resh, Alef, and Leonid. You know, Israel came out of a series of patriarchs. Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. That’s the seven. Here’s what’s in.

Here’s what’s interesting. It’s not seven. Six, I guess, but look at this. Yod. The first letter of the name of Israel is the first letter of the name of Jacob and Isaac.

Sin. The first letter of Sarah. Rush. The first letter of Rebecca, and Rachel.

A left. The first letter of Abraham. Lemon, the first letter of.

Is it coming up? Yeah. All right, Leah. There we go. There’s some things here that are obscured in my.

My screen. Isn’t that interesting that you have the letters, the Hebrew letters of all of the matriarchs that led to the creation of the nation of Israel. Again, a little bit of a detail here. Acrostics in the book of Esther. We shared this online on Friday, and Brother Howie said, what’s an acrostic?

Probably a question that many of you have, we’re probably more familiar with another term, an acronym. Now, the two are related, but let’s give an example of an acronym. Now, an acronym is a word that you make up using the first letter of a series of words. Now, you know a bunch of acronyms already. Let’s give one example.

Laser. Everybody knows what a laser is. You know, before the, before the acronym of laser, nobody. It wasn’t a word, didn’t appear in any direct dictionaries. It’s kind of become a real word now.

And by the way, that’s one of the basic differences between an acronym and an acrostic. An acrostic is real words that are arranged from letters, chosen letters in a series of words. It’s used in poetry a lot. Often the first letter of each of each word. In this case, laser is the first letter of each word.

Anyone remember what laser represents? Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Here’s where the word laser comes from. Now here’s another example that you probably will recognize a little bit more. Scuba.

You know what scuba, what scuba gear is? It’s where the divers go underwater and they’ve got a tank of oxygen and a breath. Well, that’s where scuba comes from. Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. All right, one more.

Potus. This is a political term. Remember what POTUS represents? President of the United States. Now, these are acronyms.

Acrostics, again, are real words, and you’ll notice that in this case here we were using the first letter of a series of words. You can also make an acronym using the last letter of a series of words. It allows you to go either way. Now, why do we see acrostics in the Book of Esther?

Well, the book of Esther is interesting in that if you go into the book of Esther, you will find no mention of God. The divine name does not appear a single time in the book of Esther. Now, this has led some in the past to say, well, we challenge that estrus should be part of the canon of Hebrew scriptures because it doesn’t mention God. Doesn’t mention, well, guess what? The name of God.

Jehovah. The Tetragrammaton appears four times in the book of Esther as an acrostic. In one case it’s the first letter backwards and forwards, and the other cases it’s the last letter backwards and forwards. Let’s take a Look. Here’s Esther120, that expression, all the wives shall give to their husbands.

That’s the expression there. Now look at the Hebrew. You see the Y, H, W, H. There it is, and by the way, that was backwards, right? It was.

The Jehovah was spelled backwards. Esther 5, 4, let the king and Haman come this day. There’s Jehovah, the tetragrammaton Forwards, Esther 5, 13. Yet this availeth me nothing. There it is, backwards.

And lastly forwards. So backwards using the first letter of the acronym and backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards using the last one. By the way, you say, brother David, where do you get this stuff from? Well, this has been something that, that Hebrew scholars have noted for many, many years, maybe centuries. This is not new, but it’s interesting because it shows that there are things in the scriptures that are, shall we say, coded that are there.

You have to look for them. Here’s another one which I found very interesting. The writing above the head of Jesus on the cross. That title Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, three different languages.

But look at the Hebrew version here. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. By the way, I didn’t mention this, but Hebrew is read from right to left, you know. So you’re starting here and moving that way, and lo and behold, there is the tetragrammaton right above Jesus head while he died on the cross.

Almost another indicator of the authorship of God, even in the death of his son.

Let’s take another word, the word for truth. Emet, Aleph, Mem, Taf. The first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is Aleph. The last letter is tough. So truth is from, as we would say, A to Z.

When you say something’s A to Z, you’re saying you’re encompassing it all, and isn’t it interesting, it sort of suggests here that truth encompasses all things. It is the entirety of what God, what represents God and what reveals God. The word of truth here. Now there’s something more interesting here.

Notice the middle letter is M. Memorial, and it’s the beginning of the word of Messiah. Again, the suggestion here is that all of Jehovah, God’s truth, every part of his plan, rests upon Messiah. Jesus is the center of truth. Jesus is the center of everything.

You may remember in the tabernacle that you have the golden lampstand, and there’s a many, many lessons in the golden lampstand. But you remember it had seven branches, all right? There was a central branch and then three on this side and three on this side. One of the symbologies is that it represents God’s word in the seven parts of God’s word.

Now, what are the seven parts. Well, the Jews, they have divided the. The Hebrew scriptures into three parts. The Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. There’s three on one side.

In the New Testament, we divided into the Gospels, the God, the. I’m sorry, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles and Revelation, and what’s the center? The center is Jesus, the Gospels, and you notice that there is four knops and blossoms there, sort of suggesting that as well.

So here’s another area where we find some harmony. Some further observations about this letter Aleph, the first letter. It’s the first letter of a series of God’s. God’s titles. Elohim, El, El Shaddai, Adon, you know, all of these begin with that.

Now we can take this another step here. How important is it? Let’s go back to that word for truth. Remember, it’s al, Mem and Tof. If you take the al out of it, what do you end up with?

You end up with the word death. Now we do add one more, one more consonant there, vav. But when you take God out of anything, what you’re left up with is death. There is no life without God. Adam.

Hebrew word for Adam is Adam. Aleph, death men. Again, notice those three letters. Let’s think about what they. We already mentioned that mem makes us think of Messiah.

And a left, the very beginning here. But there’s a fascinating progression here. The apostle Paul called Jesus the second and last Adam, and Jesus is repeatedly identified as the descendant of King David. How interesting is the association made by Adam’s name.

Aleph, Death, Men, Adam, David, Messiah.

In Ezekiel, chapter nine, you have an account of the man with the writers in corn, and many of us have our understanding, prophetic understanding of what that represents. But I’d like to focus on what the man with the writer’s inkhorn does, and in chapter nine, verse four, he’s told to set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for the abominations. That mark.

Let’s take a look at the Hebrew.

There is the word mark. It is spelt with a tough and a va and it’s pronounced tough. That’s the word for mark. Let’s look at that, that, that. Talk a little bit.

Here’s the Hebrew letter talk, the last letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. What does it make you think of? Anybody?

Did somebody say door? Yeah, door. A doorway, a gate. In fact, I’m going to put a little explanation here and see if it brings your mind to something else. Door, posts and lintel what’s significant about doorpost and lintel, anyone?

The blood of the Passover. That’s right, and when you think here, this is the mark that is supposed to be placed on the foreheads by the man with the writer’s inkhorn, we think of the blood of the doorposts and lintels that taf that mark. Now, there’s one more interesting thing here. If we look at the history of this letter a little bit more.

Now, this is what they call the block form of the Hebrew Alphabet. It’s been in use for many centuries, but it’s not the original form of the letter. Here is the original form of the letter.

Looks like a cross, doesn’t it? And in fact, in Ezekiel’s time, that would have been the form of the letter. He used a cross on the forehead. Do you see how this harmonizes beautifully with this idea of blood on the. On the doorposts and lintels?

Now we’ve got a cross, the cross of Christ.

In Job, chapter 31, verse 35, that same word, tof, is used, and it’s. It is translated desire. Let me read it. Oh, that one would hear me. Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me and that mine adversary had written a book.

Now, I don’t really care for the King James translation. Let me give you three more translations and I think you’ll see a theme emerge. Who giveth me hearing Lo, my mark. He’s taking ownership here. This is my tough.

That’s the lens. Literal translation in Rotherham. Lo my cross. Mark Rotherham was evidently aware of what the original version or format of that toff was. A cross.

And then this last one, American standard by signature. The mark of Christ. The cross. Mark of Christ. The signature of Christ is on our foreheads.

If we do not like what’s taking place in the world today, it marks us. Let’s go into another area here, which will be the area that we’ll conclude our talk with. We have a bunch to say about it. Symbolisms versus gematria. Now, some of you may or may not know what gematria is.

By the way, I found four different pronunciations. Gematria, gematria, gematria, gematria. Take your choice. Because it seemed like that all of them were recognized. Gematria, which I’m going to explain in a minute, has to do with identifying letters with numbers.

But I want to say something about numerical symbolism first. We use numbers as symbolism all the time. It recognizes an idea or concept associated with. With a number. For example, three means emphasis.

Can anybody think of A. A3 and emphasis in scripture? Yeah. Holy, holy, holy. There’s a good example. There’s many others.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Three times as emphasis. Seven represents perfection or spiritual completeness. Can you think of any sevens in the scripture?

Yell it out.

Seven stages of the church, Right? There’s one example. This. The seven lamps on the lampstand. The seven lights on the lampstand.

Many, many examples. Eight represents newness of life, resurrection, life. Anybody think of some examples of an 8?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there’s a bunch of examples. I mean, Jesus was raised on the eighth day as. As has been mentioned. The. The circumcision on the eighth day.

There’s a few other examples as well. But you see, we’re associating the meaning of this number with actual things. Ten. Anybody think of some tens? Earthly completeness.

Yep. Ten virgins. That’s right. That’s the. The complete spirit begotten church.

Ten commandments. There’s other examples. What we’re going to do with Gematria is not directly look at the symbolism of the numbers, but just recognize that certain numbers come up with certain words.

Here’s a definition. Gematria was the means by which numbers were communicated in ancient Hebrew and Greek, and I would imagine this is true of other languages as well. The invention and use of number characters we have today is relatively recent. So in ancient times, if you wanted to express a number, you had to use a letter or some combination of letters from your Alphabet.

Common example. Consider Roman numerals.

What number is this? Got your Roman numeral hat on. All right, Yelled it out. 1874. That’s right.

So you guys know gematria? That’s what gematri is, associating a number with a letter. That’s what they did at ancient times. In this case here, M represents a thousand. It’s what we get the word millennium from a thousand.

D represents 500C. 100C. The word century L, 50x10B5. This again, this was the Romans. They didn’t have separate characters for numbers, so they used letters, and that’s how they did it.

Roman numerals are seen frequently in our. In our society. Here is, and this is on the back of your handout, the Greek gematria. What numbers are represented by each of the letters there? By the way, you’ll see in.

In the case of sigma, there’s two there. In many languages, they had different forms if the letter was the last letter on a word or sometimes the first letter. But in the case of sigma, here if the S, that’s what sigma is. It’s an S. It was used in the middle of the word. You have the former symbol.

If it was at the end of the word, you have the later likewise. Here’s Hebrew again. You see some different forms of this as well. So let’s figure out how this works. Get your pens out.

And I don’t know what page this is on, but look for the page that has the Greek spelling of Jesus and get your pens out.

Now what we’re going to do, this is what Gematria is all about. You assign a number for each of the letters and then you add the numbers up and that gives you the number for that word. Okay, so here’s what it is again. You can write these down if you’d like. You figure you’re running ahead of me, that’s fine.

The iota is represented by 10. The Eta is represented by 8. Sigma by 200, Omicron by 70, Epsilon by 400, and the last sigma again, this is the last form, 200. What does it add up to?

888. Let’s go back to numerical symbolism. What does 8 represent again? Newness of life, resurrection of life, and it’s three times.

Jesus was raised to the divine nature. This is an indicator of this new life, this new resurrection life that Jesus has. The triple eights so beautifully pictures this. Let’s look at another one.

Oh, Yeah, I got two scriptures here, John 1:4. In him was life, the life was the light of man. In John 11, 25, 26, I am the resurrection and the life. The symbolism and the gematria agree beautifully. In John chapter 3, verse 14, Jesus says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.

Jesus is comparing his coming crucifixion with the lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness. He was establishing a beautiful type here. The copper serpent represented him. So there’s an equivalency here between Messiah and the serpent.

Well, let’s take a look at the gematria of serpent and Messiah again. You can compare these in the back of your, of your handout where the numbers are given. So let’s see what the gematria value of the word serpent, which is nachash, is. We have a 58. 300.

358. Now, nothing special about the number 358, except when it comes up again in the same context, Messiah, we have 40 for mem, 300 for sin, 10 for yod, 8 for chet again, 358. This is what gemaitra is all about, is seeing equivalencies. It’s seeing identical sums that represent the same thing. Cars.

Coincidence? Not likely. The correspondence between Jesus and Messiah is shown in the equivalence of the gematria values. A little bit more here though. In Genesis chapter 49, verse 10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor Lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come.

And unto him shall be the gathering of the people be Shiloh come. This is talking about the coming of Jesus. Now when we look at that Hebrew expression, Shiloh come. It’s got a gematria value. What is the gematria value?

Well, let’s add it together again. You can do this on your worksheets. There, there’s the 3D values of it and lo and behold, 358. Again, very interesting for those of you that study the Great Pyramid and I know brother Mark Allen in his association with his uncle August is very interested in the Great Pyramid as Bible students are. In general, the elevation or the, I should say the height of the Great Pyramid is 5,449.

I don’t remember if that’s cubits or feet or just what I think it’s cubits. Anyway, if you take From Isaiah chapter 19 these verses that describe the altar in Egypt and you find the gematria value of that entire verse, it comes out to 5,449. By the way, this was excerpted from a book on pyramidology by Adam Rutherford. No relationship to Judge Rutherford. Adam Rutherford was a brother from England.

I never met Adam Rutherford but I know that brother and sister Eldredge had a very close relationship with him through the years and his four volume set on pyramidology is quite interesting. So that’s where we get this from. Pyramid inches, 549. 449 pyramid inches. I said cubits, I meant inches there before 144.

And its factors are very interesting to us because we believe that the church, the little flock ultimately will be 144,000. In fact, I think it was a couple years ago in this very convention, in the little 15 minute. One more thing we talked about why we believe that that’s a literal number, but this number seems to show up in gematria values or often. Again, you can follow through on your, your worksheets there. Romans 11:7.

We’re looking at the elect. Hey E. Logan.

Here’s the letters in it. You add them all up and you get 144. Isn’t that interesting? Is that it? No.

Acts, chapter 17, verse 29. The word here for divine nature. Theion added up, you get 144. Again, interesting.

First Timothy 4:12, believers piston added up. Now you say, is it 144? Well, you know, it’s not because you got an 800 here, but what does it come out to? 1440 or 144 times 10? Now this 1440 is interesting as well because in reprint 57:13, Brother Russell suggests that believers the church are represented by the tabernacle boards.

How fascinating it is to note that the 48 boards of the tabernacle, which each has a surface of 30 square cubits, have a total surface area of 1440. Thank Brother Fry for that, for that observation.

Romans 9, 11, God’s electing. Here we go here, all the way down and bingo, we got 1440 there. Is that it? No. First Timothy 1:9, a high calling, 144 times 2.

Revelation 2:17, a new name, 144 times 3. Matthew 3:16, 144 times 4, and on and on. Let me give you a little bit more, and on and on.

Here’s a whole verse. Matthew 5:12, 144 times 93. So gematria seems to be indicative of something. What’s the point of all this information? Well, we talked originally about why do you believe the Bible is the word of God?

One of the points here is to prove that God is the author of the Bible, how carefully his overruling providence has guided the creation of the Bible, which is truly a book of supernatural origin, and number two, to let us know that we have not yet plumbed the limits of biblical knowledge. There is always something else to learn, something deeper. Now, I want to give a caution. What I’ve shared with you today is not spiritual meat.

These things are fascinating, but they take a back seat to the truly awesome truths of scripture, the clearly stated doctrines of truth. We must always take care not to become too enamored with some of the interesting but peripheral details of truth. They have a place, but they’re not central to the vital themes that build character and faith, and again, some have spent a lot of their consecrated time in these little details. By the way you say, Brother David, where’d you get all this stuff from?

Well, I’ve researched it. I didn’t work it all out myself, but I did check out most of it and it seems to check out but the essential details of truth, the true meat of God’s word, is where our focus should be. In conclusion, we’ve been talking about God’s words. We remember Paul’s assessment of God’s words in Hebrews 4:12. For the word of God is living and active and is sharper than any two edged sword, even piercing to the dividing of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow.

Quick to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and very quickly I want to make reference to the copper labor as God’s word. You remember that the copper lever in the tabernacle was made from the women’s looking glasses. They didn’t have glass back, they didn’t have mirrors. They had highly refined copper polished beautifully so that they could see their reflection.

And when a priest would go over to the copper laver, he would look in, he’d be able to see himself. This is what he’s washing. But remember that copper represents perfect humanity. I think chiefly it represents Jesus as the perfect man, and when you look into God’s word, you will see a reflection of yourself.

Sometimes you don’t like what you see because we see our imperfections. But if you look a little bit further, you see the image and likeness of Jesus, our exemplar.

Deuteronomy 32. Very quickly set your heart under the words which I testify you today. Even all the words of this law. It is your life. Psalm 119, 105.

Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Brethren, we just took a little excursion in some interesting details of truth. Again, not fundamental truth, not meat, but some beautiful details that I think suggests just how thorough God is at overruling the words that were chosen. May we rejoice in this wonderful and boundless and powerful tool that the Heavenly Father has given to us. We are Bible students and we love the word of God.

May the Lord bless this to you.

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