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!
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?
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.
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!
More on the Seven-fold Division of the Bible
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 ManCould 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
=============
