Evidence of
Design:
Beloved
Numerologist
by
Chuck Missler
Table
of Contents
The
numerical structure of the Bible has been studied closely, being the subject of
numerous volumes in the past.1 But none are more
provocative than the works of Dr. Ivan Panin.2
Ivan
Panin was born in Russia on December 12, 1855. Having participated in plots
against the Czar at an early age, he was exiled and, after spending some years
studying in Germany, he came to the United States and entered Harvard
University. After graduation in 1882, he converted from agnosticism to
Christianity.
In
1890 he discovered some of the phenomenal mathematical designs underlying both
the Greek text of the New Testament and the Hebrew text of the Old Testament.
He
was to devote over 50 years of his life painstakingly exploring the numerical
structure of the Scriptures, generating over 43,000 detailed, hand-penned pages
of analysis (and exhausting his health in the process). He went on to be with
the Lord in his 87th year, on October 30, 1942.
The
recurrence of the number seven - or an exact multiple of seven - is found
throughout the Bible and is widely recognized. The Sabbath on the seventh day;
the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine in Egypt; the seven
priests and seven trumpets marching around Jericho; the Sabbath Year of the land
are well-known examples.
Also,
Solomon's building the Temple for seven years, Naaman's washing in the river
seven times, and the seven churches, seven lamp stands, seven seals, seven
trumpets, seven bowls, seven stars, and so on in the Book of Revelation, all
show the consistent use of the number seven.
But
there turns out to be much more below the surface. Ivan Panin noted the amazing numerical properties of the
Biblical texts – both the Greek of the New Testament and the Hebrew of the Old
Testament. These are not only
intriguing to discover, they also demonstrate an intricacy of design that
testifies to a supernatural origin!
One
of the simplest – and most provocative – aspects of the Biblical text is the
vocabulary used. The number of vocabulary words in a passage is normally
different from the total number of words in a passage.
Some words are repeated. It
is easy, for example, to use a vocabulary of 500 words to write an essay of
4,000 words.
The
first 17 verses of the Gospel of Matthew are a logical unit, or section, which
deals with a single principal subject: the genealogy of Christ. It contains 72
Greek vocabulary words in these initial 17 verses. (The verse divisions are
man's allocations for convenience, added in the 13th century.)
The
number of words that are nouns is exactly 56, or 7 x 8.
The
Greek word "the" occurs most frequently in the passage: exactly 56
times, or 7 x 8. Also, the number of different forms in which the article
"the" occurs is exactly 7.
There
are two main sections in the passage: verse 1-11, and 12-17. In the first main
section, the number of Greek vocabulary words used is 49, or 7 x 7.
Why
not 48, or 50?
Of
these 49 words, the number of those beginning with a vowel is 28, or 7 x 4. The
number of words beginning with a consonant is 21, or 7 x 3.
The
total numbers of letters in these 49 words is 266, or 7 x 38 - exactly! The
number of vowels among these 266 letters is 140, or 7 x 20. The number of
consonants is 126, or 7 x 18 - exactly.
Of
the 49 words, the number of words that occur more than once is 35, or 7 x 5. The
number of words occurring only once is 14, or 7 x 2. The number of words that
occur in only one form is exactly 42, or 7 x 6. The number of words appearing in
more than one form is also 7.
The
number of the 49 Greek vocabulary words that are nouns is 42, or 7 x 6. The
number of words that are not nouns is 7. Of the nouns, 35 are proper names, or
exactly 7 x 5. These 35 names are used 63 times, or 7 x 9. The number of male
names is exactly 28, or 7 x 4. These male names occur 56 times or 7 x 8. The
number which are not male names is 7.
Three
women are mentioned - Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. The number of Greek letters in
these three names is 14, 7 x 2.
The
number of compound nouns is 7. The number of Greek letters in these 7 nouns is
49, or 7 x 7.
Only
one city is named in this passage, Babylon, which in Greek contains exactly 7
letters.
And
on it goes. To get an indication of just how unique these properties are, try
the example in the inset.
There
are even more features in the numerical structure of the words themselves. As
you may know, both Hebrew and Greek use the letters of the alphabet for
numerical values. Therefore, any specific word – in either Hebrew or Greek –
has a numerical value of its own by adding up the values of the letters in that
particular word. The study of the numerical values of words is called gemetria.
The
72 vocabulary words add up to a gemetrical value of 42,364, or 7 x 6,052.
Exactly. If one Greek letter were changed, this would not happen.
The
72 words appear in 90 forms - some appear in more than one form. The numeric
value of the 90 forms is 54,075, or 7 x 7,725. Exactly.
We
will defer other examples of gemetrical properties of the Biblical text for
subsequent articles, but it becomes immediately obvious that hidden below the
surface are aspects of design that cannot be accidental or just coincidence.
Remember, the rabbis say that "coincidence" is not a kosher word!
There
are words in the passage just described that occur nowhere else in the New
Testament. They occur 42 times (7 x 6) and have 126 letters (7 x 18). How was
this organized?
Even
if Matthew contrived this characteristic into his Gospel, how could he have
known that these specific words - whose sole characteristic is that they are
found nowhere else in the New Testament - were not going to be used by the other
writers? Unless we assume the absurd hypothesis that he had an agreement with
them, he must have had the rest of the New Testament before him when he wrote
his book. The Gospel of Matthew, then, must have been written last.
It
so happens, however, that the Gospel of Mark exhibits the same phenomenon. It
can be demonstrated that it would have had to be written "last." The
same phenomenon is found in Luke. And in John, James, Peter, Jude and Paul. Each
would have had to write after the other in order to contrive the vocabulary
frequencies! You can demonstrate that each of the New Testament books had to
have been "written last."
There
is no human explanation for this incredible and precise structure. It has all
been supernaturally designed. We simply gasp, sit back, and behold the skilful
handiwork of the God who keeps His promises.
And
we are indebted to the painstaking examinations and lifetime commitment of Dr.
Ivan Panin for uncovering these amazing insights.
Notes:
1.
McCormack, R., "The Heptadic Structure of Scripture,"
Marshall Brothers Ltd., London, 1923; E.W. Bullinger, Numbers of the Scriptures;
F.W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (7 vols.); Browne, Ordo Saeculoreium, et al.
2.
Ivan Panin (various works), "Bible Numerics," P.O. Box
206, Waubaushene, Ontario, L0K 2C0.