Bible Prophecy Codes and
Numbers
========
April 4-10, 2008
What are my thoughts on "The
Bible Wheel",
and on Gematria?
See forum
for discussion on this subject with founder of Bible Wheel and others.
Please
post your comments for or against on the forum!
Update
An
Awesome Discovery,
but I still have some reservations
In the following discussion, please let
the reader note that criticism of the study of Gematria on the Bible Wheel
site does not mean that the Bible Wheel itself is wrong. They are too separate
studies on the Bible Wheel site. There is overlap no doubt, but the one does
not need the other for validation.
Even
though I believe the Bible
Wheel to be a truly awesome God-sent discovery, nevertheless,
I believe at times that this site is stretching things in the desire to make sense of it all and to fit things
into an increasingly complex scheme. The blurring particularly occurs in the
use of Gematria. But I do believe in the
basic idea of the symmetry of the bible as see in the Bible Wheel. (See
below for why I believe that the Bible Wheel itself is evidence of God's
handiwork when not taken to extremes.) (I do believe that Gematria has
certain validity, but that it is a very
limited method to prove anything.
I myself talk about an example of Gematria discovered in the Mene
Tekel Peres Bible Code.)
I think that caution is warranted when using the material on the Bible Wheel
website because it seems that some people are mechanically
linking verses together
that do not belong together. This may not be the error of the Bible Wheel
site itself, but rather of those who are "running with the
message". I have experienced the same problem with those who attempt to
find bible codes, often coming up with absolute gibberish, but who think
that they are showing me something wonderful! Especially appalling is when
they try to find out about themselves
in the bible codes. Perhaps Richard of the Bible Wheel site is having to
deal with the same sort of discouraging buffoonery.
At
this point in my study of Richard's site, I am unconvinced
that certain books of the bible or words can be tied
together just because they share the same numeric value (Gematria), or have the same letter attached to them on the
"spokes" of the Bible Wheel. But I am willing to be corrected and
indeed have changed my original far-too-hasty first-article posted here. And
for that hastiness I ask forgiveness of whoever I offended, especially
Richard.
When I wrote it I was trying to deal with forum issues as quickly as I
could, but did not show regard for the work of my brother Richard as I
should have. I just lumped him in with the loony sites that people
constantly point me too. After awhile you begin to judge sites by appearance
for want of time. This is wrong. I sinned. Please forgive me!
But
this does not mean that I agree with much of the Gematria on Richard's site.
Nor am I convinced that every single spoke somehow is keyed together. But,
as I said, I am willing to be convinced. However, I am not one very easily
convinced! But, if you read on, the Holy Spirit has been convincing me about
some things!
==============================
For more on Bible numbers on our own site see www.1260-1290-days-bible-prophecy.org/
Why is the fact that the
Book of Lamentations,
being at the center of the seven-fold division of the Canon, is very
significant?
Update April 6, 2008
The following was added a couple of days after the above and gives two
examples of why I believe that the Bible Wheel is a true revelation in its basic
form, although taken too far. See forum
for discussion on this subject.
It
is interesting that
the very middle of the bible wheel, that is, the middle of the seven
sections of the Canon, is the book of Lamentations (the 25th book of the bible, but
middle of the seven sections). I thought to investigate the middle of
the wheel because I
figured that the middle of the seven-fold division of the Canon should be significant if
the symmetry of the Canon was intentional.
(The middle of seven is usually significant in bible
numbers.) This middle section of the seven-fold division is the
fourth section called "the Major Prophets" (composed of 5
books), and
the Major Prophets has Lamentations as its middle book. Jeremiah wrote
Lamentations.
When I realized that it was
Lamentations at the middle of the seven-fold division I immediately remembered that the verse at
the middle of the book of Lamentations was distinctive, with the arrangement
of the whole book composed in such a way so as to deliberately draw
attention to this middle letter ("Aleph") and word ("I
am"). (I do not know of any other book in the bible where the
author arranges the book so as to center out the middle
letter/word/verse.)
The
book of Lamentations has 5 chapters, and chapter 3:1, the middle, is where it suddenly becomes
very personal in that all the suffering of
Jerusalem is personified in Jeremiah, who is really a type of Jesus.
Chapter 3:1 reads, "I am the man who has seen
affliction by the rod of his wrath!"
The
following is a quote from BibleEncyclopedia.net that explains the arrangement
and content of the book of Lamentations: http://bibleencyclopedia.net/index.php/Book_Of_Lamentations
"The
book consists of five separate poems. In Lam. 1 the prophet dwells on
the manifold miseries oppressed by which the city sits as a solitary
widow weeping sorely. In Lam. 2 these miseries are described in
connection with the national sins that had caused them. Lam. 3 speaks of
hope for the people of God. The chastisement would only be for their
good; a better day would dawn for them. Lam. 4 laments the ruin and
desolation that had come upon the city and temple, but traces it only to
the people's sins. Lam. 5 is a prayer that Zion's reproach may be taken
away in the repentance and recovery of the people.
The
first four poems (chapters) are acrostics, like some of the Psalms (Ps.
25, 34, 37, 119), i.e., each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew
alphabet taken in order. The first, second, and fourth have each
twenty-two verses, the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The
third has sixty-six verses, in which each three successive verses begin
with the same letter. The fifth is not acrostic."
The book of Lamentation is like a mini bible wheel. It is made up of 5
sections, with the first four chapters being alphabetical acrostics.
It is strange that the 5th section (chapter) is different from the
other chapters in that the other chapters are acrostics but the fifth
is not. However, this is the pattern of the arrangement of the Pentateuch,
(the first 5 book of the bible), and of the historical narratives of
the New Testament where the book of Acts is different from the Gospels
just as Deuteronomy is unique to its previous four books. But this may
only be coincidental as far as the 4 + 1 = 5 arrangement, because it
is not the fifth and last book of the Major Prophets that is unique,
but it is the middle one, that is, the book of Laminations. However,
the arrangement of the book of Lamentations is clearly drawing
attention to the middle of its five chapters just like Lamentations is
the middle of the five books of the Major Prophets. This middle
section is arranged differently from the rest, having 66 verses in
which each successive verse begins with the same letter.
(22 x 3 Hebrew lines long, with first line of each forming the
successive acrostic),
plus
(22 x 3
Hebrew lines long, with first line of each forming the successive
acrostic)
plus
(66 x 1 lines
long, all 66 are part of the acrostic, three verses/lines at a time),
plus
(22 x
2 Hebrew lines long, with first line of each forming the
successive acrostic),
plus
(22 x 1 lines
long, not an acrostic, yet having 22 lines as if it were meant to be
one, but is not),
equals
264 Hebrew lines of text with
Lam. 3:1 at the middle as the 133rd line, beginning with
"Aleph" (Alpha). "Ani ha-geber", "I AM the
Man!"
The
total of the 264 lines obviously reflects the fact that this makes 22
x 12 lines of Hebrew text, one for
each of the 12 tribes of Israel, since the scattering of Israel is the
theme of the book.
Thus we have the five sections of Jeremiah located in the middle of the
five major
prophets, which is in the middle of the seven sections of the Canon of
the bible, with the Canon being laid out in 22 x 3 books (66), (just
like the middle section of Lamentations, which also has 22 x 3 {66}
verses). I cannot see how this can be a coincidence, but rather strong
evidence of God's great sovereignty in overseeing the arrangement of
our bible. Moreover, the very middle letter of the seven-fold
divisions of the Canon is "Aleph" (Alpha), which is the
start of the middle 22-letter aphetic acrostic in Lamentations.
So I have no doubt in the basic premise of the bible
wheel. It is just when all the gematria is added to try to tie in
individual spokes that I have a problem. It then becomes far too
subjective.
Moreover,
although there are 12 segments each 22 lines long in Lamentations. However, there are
only six actual acrostics, as seen in the English verses of the bible in Lamentations
where the bible follows this natural division of the text. As said,
Lamentations is written in such a way that one expects chapter 5 to be an
acrostic like the other chapters, especially because it is also 22
lines/verses long. To me this suggests the creation pattern. Six
days of work, with the seventh day a day of rest, thus, no work and no
acrostic!
It is obvious
to me that Jeremiah the prophet, who wrote Lamentations, arranged
his book this way on purpose. But how could Jeremiah have known
that the final shape of the bible would use the same seven-fold
structure that he uses? (The seven-fold division of bible: {5+12+5}+{5+12+5}+{22}
books.)
Just
like the Canon, Lamentations is also based upon 5
section, 12
lines, with the basic divisions of
22 (letters)?
And the middle section is 22
x 3
lines long just like the bible wheel is 22 x 3 books long when laid out like
a scroll. And the central letter is "Aleph" (Alpha) and "I
AM" which reminds us of the book of Revelation where Jesus says,
"I am Alpha..." This is why I said that the book of Lamentations is a
mini-bible wheel at the center of the Canonical Bible Wheel.
This seven-fold
division of Lamentations, therefore, makes Lam. 3:2 to become the center, which is
also the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (as are verses 1-3), and like 3:1 (that
begins by saying "I AM"), the Hebrew word that begins the acrostic in 3:2
similarly means, "Me".
All
this may seem confusing unless you take the time to look at it yourself. The best thing to do is to look at the arrangement of
the Hebrew letters of the book of Lamentations in a Hebrew bible. You can
view one online. You do not
need to know Hebrew to recognize the basic arrangement of the book.
More
on the Seven-fold Division of the Bible
The
entire book of Lamentations is tailor made to the Bible Wheel, with Christ
(Alpha) at the very center word and letter of the entire Canon! "I
AM!" As in, I am
that which was, is, and shall be!
One does not have to look very hard to see the pattern of the beginning,
middle, and end, coupled
with the number seven with
the letters of the alphabet!
Moreover,
just as "He is that is, and was, and shall be," refers to the
Trinity (a Threesome),
so the middle of the five alphabetic acrostic sections of Lamentations also
happen to be in groups of three --- three lines each starting with
"Alpha" ("Aleph") straight through to "Omega"
("Tav" in Hebrew). And this middle
alphabetic acrostic in chapter 3 is also the third section/chapter counting
from the start or counting from the end of the book of Lamentations. Threes!
Coincidence
or design?
Note in the following that verse 4a refers to God
the Father, verse 4b refers to God
the Holy Spirit, and verse 5a to God
the Son, that is, the Three
in One. Then comes the declaration: "I AM Alpha" in Rev. 1:8,
and compare that to the 'Alpha' of Lam. 3:1, the
exact
middle of the seven-fold section of our Canon of Scripture (Bible Wheel),
which reads, "Aleph"
(i.e., "Alpha"), "I
AM the Man
Could
it be any more obvious?
Jesus
is the one "who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath" when
He died on the cross to bear the sins of the whole world.
Rev
1:4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from
him who is and who was and who is to come; and
from the seven Spirits that are before his throne;
Rev 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the
firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him
that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood;
Rev 1:6 and he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and
Father; to him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him,
and they that pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn
over him. Even so, Amen.
Rev 1:8 I am the
Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, who is and who was and who is
to come, the Almighty.
Rev. 1:11a What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven
churches:
The Timing of When the
Bible Wheel Was Discovered
The very morning that this person discovered the bible wheel is on a
day and year and hour (May 12th, 1995) that if I had to try to come up
with a more perfect hour for such a discovery to be made I could not
have! And this person is unaware of it because it is something the
Lord revealed to me about the bible calendar back around that time and
he makes no mention of its significance anywhere on his site as far as
I can see, other than to say that on that date he had a flash of
revelation from God that the canon was to be wound up like one scroll.
On the 360
calendar, that day was the morning of the 3rd month, the 8th day,
3440 years (430 x 8 years) after Mount Sinai in the middle of the
seven days of the covenant given to Moses on Mount Sinai at the time
of the exodus--- exactly to the hour. (This
is when the bible first began to be given to man as we know it.) See "Jubilee-exodus-chart-bible-prophecy."
The revelation of the bible wheel even occurred on the morning that it
was discovered (May 12, 1995), something that I make clear in the above
document as
significant (written year ago), that is, that the seven days that
Moses received the covenant had to have begun at the very start
(evening) of the 5th day (3rd month), which is the start of Pentecost
as per Jewish tradition, thus making 3.5 days later the morning of the
8th day, and the exact middle of the week that the covenant was made,
including the giving of the 10 commandments. The cycles of 430 years
are fundamental to the entire numeric fabric of the bible. (They were
430 years in Egypt, another 430 x 2 until the fall of Jerusalem in 586
BC, etc., etc. 430 x 3 = 1290 of Daniel 12.) See Daniel 9 about the
covenant and "to seal up vision and prophecy".
So I personally have no doubt about the validity of this discovery
about the Canon of Scripture on several levels of reasoning. But I yet
remain
unconvinced that certain books of the bible
or words can be tied
together just because they share the same numeric value (Gematria), or have the same letter attached to them on the
"spokes" of the Bible Wheel.
See forum
for discussion on this subject with founder of Bible Wheel and others.
Please
post your comments for or against on the forum!
For more on Bible numbers on our own site see
1260 days/years Bible Prophecy
=============
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