The following series is my attempt to explain what I believe provides the key to understanding the symbolic use of numbers in the Bible, both in prophecy and in Proverbs. As this series is my first attempt to outline my thoughts and reasoning on the subject, it may be a bit winding, but hopefully will become more polished with time and help others develop a deeper understanding of the complexity and self-sufficiency of the Scriptures.
My proposition is this: The number of the day of Creation in Genesis corresponds with the symbolic meaning of that number.
The basic verse to support this idea comes from Revelations 13:18, where it tells us the number of the beast is the number of a man – 666. The number 6 corresponds with the day of man’s creation – day 6. This series is a look at each day, what that number means in relation to the day, then whether it corresponds with the rest of what we see in Scripture.
Please note, there is no black-and-white Scripture for the following, but I am endeavoring my best to keep all my reasoning and proof within the bounds of Scripture.
We start off with the number 1 and day 1. The text is as follows:
Genesis 1:3-5 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
The significance of day one is the creation of light. There is something peculiar about this light. There is no sun, moon, or stars. What then is this light? For that answer, we turn to John 1, where John declares that the Word was in the beginning before ALL things and that Word was LIGHT.
What we see on day 1, is NOT a creation, but rather, a revelation. It’s the revealing of God in expression – his Word. It is God himself, making Himself recognizable, whereas before He was in the darkness brooding over the face of the waters, now a light appears. What was before an undiscernible chaos of the unknown past shrouded in mystery, now a light is turned on as the Creator prepares to bring order to the planet.
The idea that what was on Day 1 was the Logos fits perfectly with what Paul says in Colossians 1:15 when he calls Christ ‘the firstborn of every creature’. It also fits beautifully with Christ when he declares in Revelations 1:8, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, Alpha being the first letter of the Greek alphabet.
To summarize what we have covered so far: On day one we see God command light to appear. That light is God himself in expression: the Word. Thus He is the firstborn of all creatures. Nothing is made without Him, and He is literally Alpha, or as Genesis 1:1 so succinctly states: In the beginning, chiefly, firstly, GOD.
There is one final verse that I wish to consider in relation to day one and the number one. That verse is Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.
It lies at the heart of the greatest commandment, and one is right at the center of it: ONE God.
Contrary to what some people would have you think, I do not believe the Bible presents 7 or 3 as God’s number (we will see what those numbers represent when we get to them). God’s number is ONE. He’s the chief, the greatest, the first, before all, above all, and literally, the first.
During my study, I was reading in the Encyclopedia Britannica (no, I have not done further study here but it appears to bear merit, please take with a pinch of salt) that 1 was regarded as a sacred/perfect number for it moved from 0, that being nothing, to something. It was nonexistence into existence. 1 is also the number of which all other numbers are made up of. These comments are simply food for thought, but hence I believe bear out what I believe the Bible makes a great deal about: the significance of the number 1 is in its relation to God. There is only one God and He comes first.
Now we come to the end. I believe that if you look through Scripture, you will find that the number 1 is firmly related to God. If there is any number that we can call God’s number, it’s the number one. It lies at the heart of the greatest commandment. There is only one God, and while He has many names, there is coming a day when that will be all finished and there will be but one name: Jesus
Zec 14:9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Phi 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Note: All references are from KJV
Not-so-random thoughts:
– One is also linked to revelation or focus. See Matthew 6:22 where Jesus speaks of the body being full of light if the eye is single.
– If one is linked to revelation, perhaps one of the greatest studies one could devote themselves to is that of the Oneness of God, described by Paul as the mystery of Godliness (1Ti3:16), the mystery of God and (better read as ‘even’) of the Father and of Christ (Col 2:2), the mystery of Christ (Col 4:3), and John states as the mystery of God (Rev 10:7)
– Unity is often referenced by sources in relation to one’s meaning in the Bible. One should be careful not to read this backwards into other places for one. One’s predominant use is as the idea of being first, primary, chief – not unity. When people run the idea backwards, you get obscene ideas such as ‘ONE Lord’ in Deuteronomy referring to a unified godhead of the Trinity, something the Jewish people must have missed for thousands of years. That is a dishonest reading of the text and incorrect.
Talking Bible 