Many have attempted to discredit the authority and accuracy of the Bible, preferring to consider the Old and New Testament scriptures as a loose collection of fables and moral statements.

For Christians however, the Bible is the inspired Word of God. The Bible itself says: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Can anyone really prove that the Bible is the inspired Word of God? The most powerful proof is personal experience. The Bible description of Christianity is one of vibrant belief, miracles and power. The infilling of the Holy Spirit (by which we become "Christian") is a definite and tangible experience that proves the existence of God, and the reality of the Gospel message. The clear and unmistakable manifestation of the Holy Spirit is well documented (Acts Chapters 2, 10 & 19, Ephesians 1:13).

The fulfillment of Bible prophecy provides another avenue for demonstrating the accuracy and divine nature of the Bible. Many important historical events were foretold thousands of years before coming to pass. These include: the dispersion of the Jewish people and the subsequent

re-establishment of Israel ; the life and ministry of Jesus Christ; the destruction of the ancient seaport city of Tyre; Egypt's Aswan Dam; and prophecies describing our time (the "last days"). Archeology continues to confirm the accuracy of the Old Testament's history and prophecy.

Bible Numerics is a largely unknown, but fascinating area of study that also proves the divine inspiration of the Scriptures. It is concerned with intricate mathematical patterns underlying both Old and New Testament texts.

Although known to Jewish scholars for many centuries, the first to substantially document Bible Numerics for our time were Dr Milo Mahan (c. 1850), Ethelbert Bullinger (1894), Sir Ambrose Fleming (c. 1920), and (Russian-born) Ivan Panin. In 1934, Panin published a Greek text of the New Testament, from which the Numeric English New Testament translation developed. His voluminous works were examined by the Nobel Research Foundation of the USA, with regard to his claim that the Bible could not possibly have been written except by the inspiration of God Himself. In reply, the Foundation said: "So far as our investigation has proceeded, we find the evidence overwhelmingly in favour of such a statement" (Seal of God F. Payne, p.96).

SYMBOLISM IN NUMBER

The consistent occurrence of specific numbers in Scripture, having particular significance or meaning, is obvious to even the casual Bible reader.

Numbers frequently found in scripture, conveying particular symbolism include:

THREE -- Divine perfection or Godhead.

FIVE -- Grace (free Gift of God).

SIX--Man under sin

[Examples--Man was created on 6th day. Cain's descendants are listed to 6th generation. 66 generations from King David to Joseph (Mary's husband). 6 different words used for "man" in the Bible. "Man of sin" is "666".]

SEVEN -- God's Seal (often called the perfect number)

[Examples -- God sanctified (set apart) the 7th day and blessed it. The week has 7 days. The 7th day was the Old Testament Holy Day (Sabbath). Joshua ordered the people to march around Jericho 7 days with 7 priests, and 7 times on the 7th day. 7-fold sprinkling required on the Day of Atonement. King David to Mary (Jesus' mother) was 77 generations. "Seven" occurs in the Old Testament 287 times (41 x 7). 7 Churches, candlesticks and seals are spoken of in Revelation.

Seven is also significant in the natural creation. There are 7 divisions to living science. The Gestation periods of most mammals and hatching time for most birds are multiples of 7 days. The musical scale has 7 full notes. Pure light is broken into 7 colours by a prism or rainbow.]

EIGHT -- Resurrection or new beginning.

TWELVE -- Perfect Government.

THIRTEEN -- Sin, Rebellion, Satan.

SEVENTEEN- Safety, Secutity, Church.

THIRTY SEVEN -- Living Word of God.

FORTY -- Probation, Trial or Testing [Examples -- It rained 40 days and 40 nights before the flood. The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness 40 years. Moses's life was divided into 3 periods of 40 years. Moses remained on the mountain 40 days. Jesus fasted and prayed in the wilderness 40 days. David reigned over Israel 40 years. Solomon reigned in Jerusalem 40 years. Jesus was seen of the disciples for 40 days before His ascension.]

ONE HUNDRED & FIFTY THREE -Sons of God, joint heirs with Christ.

HEBREW / GREEK ALPHABETS

Ancient Hebrew (the language in which most of the Old Testament was written) involves a "ciphered" numeral system in which letters of the alphabet have numerical value and were used as numbers, either individually or in combination with other letter characters. For example, numbers 11 through nineteen are written with the letter yod (10) plus the letter for 1, 2, and so on (except 15 which is written tet (9) plus waw (6), and 16 which is written tet (9) plus zayin (7). The 20s are combinations of kaf (20) plus the letter for 1, 2, and so on. 500 is written taw (400) plus qof(100).

The New Testament was written in Hellenistic or Koine ("common") Greek. The Greek system of decimal numbering, similar to Hebrew, was based on using alphabet characters to denote numbers . With the exception of the numbers 6, 90 and 900, numbers were represented by letter characters.

As the ancient Egyptian, Roman, Hebrew and Greek numbering systems were not place-value based (that is, the value of the symbol did not depend upon the position or place of the symbol in the representation), any word phrase or passage scripted as letters, could (if intended) convey a number.

DETERMINING THE NUMERIC VALUE OF WORDS.

Gematria is the substitution of numbers for letters in the Hebrew alphabet. It was a favourite method of exegesis (critical interpretation of the Bible) used by the medieval Kabbalists (esoteric Jews) in studying difficult or seemingly ambiguous text,[ Encyclopedia Britannica (15th. Edition), Volume 1V, p. 454].

Gematria may be equally applied with New Testament Greek and Latin. Most are familiar with how the principle of letter-number substitution is applied with Roman Numerals (certain Latin letter characters). In Roman Numerals I = 1, V = 5, X = 10, L = 50, C = 100, D = 500 and M = 1,000. Any Latin word may consist of letters that also have use as numbers. The Gematria (numeric value) of a word is simply the sum of the number values of its letters (as used in the original scripts). Every Hebrew, Greek and Latin word therefore has a gematria.

JESUS AND EIGHT

A good example is the name Jesus (meaning "Saviour"),

Using a table the number value of each letter can be determined:

I = 10, n ~ 8, o = 200, o =70, u = 400 and S = 200. The gematria of the word "Jesus" is therefore 10+8+200+70+400+200 = 888. Remember, 8 is symbolic of resurrection.

In looking at other names given to Jesus, the pattern remains: Christ is 1,480 (or 185 x 8). Saviour is 1,408 (176 x 8), Lord is 800 (100 x 8). Messiah is 656 (82 x 8). Jesus referred to Himself as the "Son of Man", a term which occurs 88 times and has a gematria of 2,960(370 x 8), and as the ''Truth" which sums 64 (8 x 8).

The probability of any randomly chosen number (or gematria) being divisible by 8 is 1 in 8. The chances of two randomly selected numbers being divisible by eight would be 1 in 64 (8 x 8). Three, 1 in 512 (8 x 8 x 8). Four, 1 in 4,096 (8 x 8 x 8 x 8), and so on. If the scriptures are not divinely inspired, then it must be accepted that the gematria of the various names of Jesus are merely detained at random .Yet the probability of this consistency simply occurring by accident with the seven names above would be I in an astonishing 2097,152 (or 8 to the 7th)

OTHER EXAMPLES

Similarly consistent patterns appear in other areas. For example, the various names by which Satan is called are not suprisingly, multiples of thirteen. "Dragon occurs 13 times and its gematria is 975 (75 x 13). 'Tempter" is 1,053 (81 x 13), "Belial" 78 (6 x 13), "Murderer" 1,820 (140 x 13), and "Serpent" 780 (60 x 13). Revelation 12:9 starts, "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan". This passage has the amazing gematria of 2,197 (13 x 13 x 13).

Another amazing pattern is demonstrated in John 21:11 -- On Jesus' command, we read "Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken." The gematria of"net" is 1,224 (8 x 153). "Fishes" is also 1,224 (8 x 153).

Jesus called his disciples to be "fishers of men". The gematria of "Sons of God" in the Hebrew is 153, and in the Greek is 3,213 (3 x 7 x 153). "Joint Heirs" sums 1,071 (7 x 153), and the total gematria of the 12 disciples named in Mark 3: 16-19 is 9.639 (9 x 7 x 153).

THE NUMBER 666

Revelation 13:18 says: "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number· of the beast for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six". Interestingly, the English translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible (the authorised Bible of the Roman Catholic Church) carries the footnote:'"The numeral letters of his name shall make up this number". In the Greek language "Lateinos" meaning "Latin man" has a gematria of 666. [literally "Stigma, Stigma. Stigma" -- as the number six was represented by a special character, stigma, in the original Greek text]. "Vicar of the Son of God" (Latin, Vicarivs Filii Dei), just one title taken by the Pope, similarly has a (latin) gematria of 666. Other papal titles confirm this pattern.

PATTERNS IN PASSAGES

Amazingly consistent patterns of numbers have been demonstrated by Panin and others to be evident throughout the Bible (both Old and New Testaments).

Matthew 1:18-25, a complete passage in itself (relating to the birth of Christ), displays the following pattern [Note: the division of scripture into chapters and verses was not in the original texts, but added later to aid reading and referencing]: The number of Greek words is exactly 161 (23 x 7) with a total gematria of 93,394 (13,342 x 7), occurring in 105 (15 x 7) forms with 35 (5 x 7) verbs; the number of different words used is exactly 77 (11 x 7) with a gematria of 51,247 (7,321 x 7); there are 7 proper names with a total of 42 (6 x 7) letters; of the six Greek words found nowhere else in Matthew, their gematria is exactly 5,005 (715 x 7) from a total of 56 letters (8 x 7); the word "Emmanuel", used nowhere else in the New Testament, has a gematria of 644 (92 x 7); the number of forms used exclusively by Matthew in this passage is 14 (2 x 7) with a gematria of 8,715 (1,245 x 7); in speaking to Joseph, the angel uses 28 (4 x 7) of the 77 vocabulary words; the numeric value of all the angel's words is 21,042 (3,006 x 7), in 35 (5 x 7) forms, of 168 (24 x 7) letters, with a gematria of 19,397 (2,771 x 7).

Similarly complex mathematical patterns have been demonstrated to exist in other New Testament books. In fact, Bible Numerics has been used to prove the validity of Mark 16:19-20. This passage, in which Jesus mentions the signs that will follow "believers" (including speaking in tongues) is often rejected by so-called Bible "authorities". Yet, it too contains amazing features of seven.

Genesis 1:1 says: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". Careful study of this (Hebrew) verse also reveals God's amazing seal of SEVEN: The verse consists of exactly 7 Hebrew words, totally 28 (4 x 7) letters; there are three nouns ("God","heaven" and "earth") with a total gematria of 777 (111 x 7); the only verb. "created" has a numeric value of 203 (29 x 7); the Hebrew words for the two objects ("heaven" and "earth") each has 7 letters; the numeric value of the first and last letters of the whole 7 words is 1,393 (199 x 7); the value of the first and last letters of the verse is 497 (71 x 7); The first three words (containing the subject) have exactly 14 (2 x 7) letters, with the other four (containing the objects) also containing 14.

EVIDENCE DEMANDS A DECISION

The Bible says: "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter" (Proverbs 25:2).

Bible Numerics is not numerology nor an attempt at divination through numbers. It is a demonstrated phenomenon that demands careful thought by even the most cynical of Bible critics.

Could these amazing numeric patterns, intricately woven through the very fabric of the original texts of the scriptures [and penned by around forty authors over more than fifteen hundred years] have occurred by chance? Was there an incredible conspiracy by the various writers (few of whom ever met one another)? Or, as the Bible itself says, were the Scriptures given by divine inspiration? You choose.

If the Bible truly is the inspired Word of God (as the irrefutable weight of evidence from Bible Numerics, Prophecy and personal experience shows), how can we not appreciate its promises and heed its commandments?

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