There are three factors that we must understand about numbers and their use in apocalyptic literature.
Letter / number relationships
Think with me for a minute. Go back to those first ABC books in your childhood. A (1) is for Apple, B (2) is for ball, C (3) is for cat, D (4) is for dog, E (5) is for elephant. In this simple illustration an apple could represent the number one. The number one could represent an apple. The apple (or number one) could represent the letter A. There is a three-way connection.
In early language development and alphabet development
letters were used for numbers. Here was the usual process. The first nine
letters are single digit numbers (1-9). Then you begin 10, 20, 30, 40, etc. up
to 90. Then you have 100, 200, 300, etc.
Here are our alphabet and the numerical equivalents:
A B C D E F G H I J K
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20
L M N O P Q R S T U V
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 300 400
W X Y Z
500 600 700 800
The next step in the process was to find the sum of the letter values. Using the chart above notice that CAT would be the numbers, 3, 1, 200. Add those three numbers and cat = 204. Manly has a numerical equivalence of 821. Superstitious people would determine destiny, tell fortunes, and encrypt signatures on a document using these numbers. Jesus would be J=10, E=5, S=100, U=300, S=100 Thus, Jesus = 515. By the use of such code numbers they could discuss Jesus without using his name. They could say, We met at 515 and had a good discussion. Translated, this meant that the church met and learned more about Jesus.
Numbers came to represent concepts and ideas. I will give you just a brief introduction to this concept.
Number |
Definition |
1 |
Unity of the ability to stand alone. God is one Lord. |
2 |
Strength or courage. 2 are stronger than 1. The disciples of Jesus went out by 2s. |
3 |
Deity. The divine or spiritual number. The Godhead is a 3-fold in nature, God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. |
4 |
The physical world in which we live. The 4 winds and 4 corners of earth are frequently used. There are also 4 directions of the earth: north, south, east, and west. |
7 |
Perfection. A sacred number, the perfect divine number, 3, plus the perfect number of this physical world, 4, equals 7 or total perfection. |
10 |
Completeness. If a person has all 10 fingers and toes, he is humanly complete. The number 5 is used in connection with this to mean half complete or more specifically, incomplete or short of persecution. |
1000; 10 X 10 X 10 |
Ultimate completeness |
12 |
Organized religion. There were 12 tribes of Israel and 12 apostles. They represent the two laws which God gave man to follow. |
6 |
Evil. This number falls short of the perfect number 7. It carries with it the idea of impending doom or destruction. |
3 ½ |
A time of despair or confusion. This number is expressed several ways such as time, times, and half a time, 1260 days, and 42 months. |
144,000 |
The entire redeemed from the earth; all Gods people of all ages. |