Design in the New Testament

Session 13 – God’s Grand Design Seminar

Jewish rabbis are aware of numeric patterns in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. Numeric patterns are also evident in the Greek text of the New Testament. This is evidence of God's supernatural hand of design in the original Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible.

Download accompanying notes:

Blessed in Hebrew The LORD of hosts Greek alphabet lower case letters Colossians 2:9 Acts 4:10-12

After viewing, your next session is: Session 14 – “37 and 73” »

Transcript of “Design in the New Testament” (Session 13)

There are 37 times in the Old Testament where the Hebrew word that we translate as “I AM” appears in connection with the LORD. They are hints of the Messiah.

We also saw that there are 37 times in the New Testament where Jesus says, effectively, “I AM (He)”, in fulfillment of the Old Testament promise.

37 times in the Old Testament. 37 times in the New Testament. That is not an accident. The Holy Spirit has placed a watermark of God in the Scriptures.

Here is another example. There are exactly 37 times where the Old Testament speaks of those who are “blessed” because they “take refuge in Him” and “are forgiven”, “whose strength is in Him”, etc.

The Hebrew word is “ashrei” (blessed). We find it notably in Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked ...” etc

“Blessed is the man” . .. “ashrei ha’ish”. This Hebrew word “ashrei” occurs exactly 37 times in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament.

Here is another example ... the phrase “The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel” ... in Hebrew, “Adonai tseva’ot Elohei Yisrael” ... occurs exactly 37 times in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. (Go to our website where this video session is embedded and you can download a pdf, “The LORD of hosts” for the Scripture references).

Could anyone possibly think that the many Old Testament writers and many New Testament writers scribbled away randomly and these patterns of 37 “simply happened”? No. They were "moved by the Holy Spirit", just as the Bible tells us (2 Peter 1: 21).

In Session 11 we covered the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet. Here they are again, this time with the lower case letters (see downloadable pdf for Greek alphabet lower case letters). The lower case letters were not in use at the time of the New Testament. They are are a relatively modern idea.

Note: There is a “final form” for SIGMA. In lower case letters, when that letter occurs at the end of a word, the shape changes. In the modern era, because of the absence of a letter of numeric value 6, this final form of SIGMA has been given the value 6. But that was not the case at the time of the New Testament, and whenever we calculate the value of words and phrases in the New Testament, SIGMA always has a value of 200.

Now, let us examine a significant verse in the New Testament Greek. Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 says: “For in Him (that is ‘in Jesus’), all the fullness of the Deity (many English translations say ‘all the fullness of the Godhead’) dwells in bodily form”.

In other words, Jesus was and is fully God. When He was on earth, He was showing us everything that God is. We could say He was showing us the love of God, the grace of God, humility, and much, much more ... characteristics of God.

Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 is not some obscure verse. It is significant. It tells us important things about God and about Jesus.

Here it is in Greek: “Oti en avto katiki pan to pleroma tis Theotitos somatikos”

“Oti en avto” ... for in Him

“katiki pan to pleroma” ... dwells all the fullness

“tis Theotitos” ... of the Deity

“somatikos” ... in bodily form

Here is the numeric value of each word: OTI 380 ... EN 55 ... AVTO 1501 ... KATIKI 436 ... PAN 131 ... TO 370 ... PLEROMA 1059 ... TIS 508 ... THEOTITOS 962 ... SOMATIKOS 2371.

Before we go any further, let me remind you quickly of what we learned in Session 10 on Hebrew numerics. The first verse of the Bible – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”(Genesis 1:1). In Hebrew, “Bereshit bara Elohim et ha’shamayim ve’et ha’aretz”. Total value of this verse, all the words, is 2701 which is 37 times 73 ... two key prime numbers with three and seven prominent. Remember those numbers – 37 and 73.

Back to Colossians chapter 2 verse 9. “For in Him (in Jesus) dwells all the fullness of Deity”. Total value is 5402, which is 2 x 37 x 73. This matches what we saw in Genesis 1:1. Do you think this is an accident? Or do you now, like me, think that the Holy Spirit has placed a ‘seal of God’ on the first verse of the Bible and now, knowing as we do, that Jesus is the Creator, we see in this significant New Testament verse a double stamp so to speak, of Jesus.

If we look at the entire verse, and we add up the total value of all the letters, we come to a total value of 7773. Seven seven seven three. Interesting number.

Count the individual letters ... there are exactly 49 letters, which is 7 x 7.

What about this word, “Theotitos” (the Deity or Godhead)? This is the only time this Greek word appears in the New Testament. A key word. Total value is 962 which is 37 x 26. 37 is significant. 26 is the numeric value of the Hebrew word that represents the name of the LORD (YUD HEH VAV HEH). We have been seeing that in previous sessions. It is not an accident that this key New Testament word for the Godhead has a numeric value that equals 37 x 26.

The last two words, “Theotitos somatikos” ... “the Deity in bodily form” equals 962 plus 2371, which is 3333. Three three three three.

(For the verse in Greek and the numeric patterns, see downloadable pdf, "Colossians 2:9")

Finally for this session there is one further pdf which you can download from our website .. . Acts 4:10-12. The Apostle Peter speaking to the people of Israel, “Let it be known to you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12) On the pdf you have the Greek words for this passage.

The phrase, “the stone rejected by you the builders”, has exactly 37 letters.

The middle verse, verse 11, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone.” In the Greek that is 73 letters.

And there are 73 words in the original Greek.

37. 73. Accidental? I don't think so.

Jesus ... the only name by which we must be saved. There is no other name.