Numbers

W.E.B Du Bois said, "When you have mastered numbers, you will in fact no longer be reading numbers, any more than you read words when reading books. You will be reading meanings."

In the scriptures we see a lot of repeated numbers. This year, I finally started paying attention, and I've learned some meanings along the way :) 

Three is usually associated with heaven. For instance, the Godhead has three members. There are three degrees of heaven. There are three degrees within the Celestial kingdom. Three is also superlative, meaning, if something is repeated three times, you better dang pay attention because it's important. Superlative is the highest degree of something. 

Four is associated with earth, creation, and nature. There are four corners of the earth, four seasons, four directions, four elements... all these amazingly powerful essences wrapped up in the nice square package of four. 

Six is just short of perfection (next paragraph). Because six isn't whole, it is considered to be evil and bad. Make the number 666 (superlative!) and it's the ultimate evil... thus Satan's number.  

Seven is considered to be perfection. Seven is complete and whole. What makes up seven? Three (heaven) and four (earth). Isn't that neat? Where three and four meet is considered completion. For example there are 7 days of the week, 7 dispensations...

Eight is a symbol for new beginnings. Eight follows after the number seven (which was complete) and thus is starting anew. Ironic that eight is the age for accountability and when we are to get baptized? 

12 is considered God's power and authority. It is also a sign of completion. For example, we have 12 months in a year, the 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles...

 

Aren't number patterns cool? There are so many more! 

Numbers are especially prominent in Revelations, and knowing the basic meanings of numbers is especially helpful. 

For example is Ch. 4...

Verse 4, it talks about 24 seats (two sets of 12) 

Verse 5 talks about seven lamps (or Spirits of God)

Verse 6 talks about four beasts

Verse 8 says that these beasts have six wings and were saying "holy, holy, holy" (superlative!)

You get the idea.

I encourage you to invest a little time in numbers. It's really helpful how they are used and what they mean. 

Don't forget to be awesome!