Introduction
The veiling of the glory of our Creator defines the very principle of God manifestation, the doctrinal foundation of the Christadelphian faith. Our Heavenly Father does not reveal Himself directly, but radiates Himself through His son, angels, features of creation, prophets, priests, kings, faithful believers, rituals, laws (religious and natural) and even pagan kings and armies. He should not be approached casually or disrespectfully. Despite this intentional filtering of divine glory and divine principles, we know that the understanding and appreciation of our Creator is the primary motivational feature of creation. Regardless of the intentional, distancing layers in His revelations, our God offers a reward to us, based initially upon faith, knowledge and then a behavioral response to that knowledge. Eventually, knowledge of the Creator will not be an elective option… “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:9). Enlightenment will be forced on a truth despising global society.
“Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The Lord (Yahweh)” (Jer 16:21).
While we still enjoy the ‘voluntary’ freedom to lovingly pursue the knowledge of our Heavenly Father, we can respect His communication policies by realizing there is no end to the height, depth and breadth of the complex symmetry between His written word and His spoken word. The spoken word of God is creation, which we can examine all around us. The Creator ‘spoke’ and incredibly complex, interdependent features of creation obediently developed into full maturity over each of six evenings and mornings. Only the arrogant minds of those who worship gods in their own image and likeness would dare to presume that the spoken word of God (creation) would not perfectly mirror the written word of God (Bible), communicating the exact same principles, promises and prophecies. Underestimating our Creator is as common as breathing in our global generation, especially among the vast hordes who actually claim to worship a creator of one capacity or another. In our voluntary, loving pursuit of the divine intention for filling the earth with the knowledge of our Heavenly Father, we first must recognize that what we seek is intentionally hidden, as well as the fact that there will be no end to the depth of that knowledge. It won’t be easy or obvious, but the value to be realized is unimaginable.
The Gospel’s Exclusive Avenue for Progressive Enlightenment
Empowering our capacity to witness the veiled glory of God’s spoken and written word is our understanding and acceptance of the basic truths of the gospel. Ignorance of the true nature of our Creator, the true nature of man, the nature of redemption and the outworking of the divine plan, is an impenetrable blackness that only reflects back the artificial light generated by the self-worshipping presumptions of men’s hearts. We are properly armed against the relentless seductions of the human heart. We have the sharp, two-edged sword of truth to painfully circumcise our hearts… rejecting the shallow comfort of wallowing in the heart generated delusions of society. We can see genuine light. The more we love and seek that particular light, the stronger it becomes.
Ground Zero for Our Ascent into the Light
Let’s apply this understanding to a simple but interesting observation about the name of our Messiah. We are probably already aware of the unique number of the name of Jesus.
Just as the man of sin is numerically identified by triple sixes (Rev. 13:18), so the man of righteousness is numerically identified by triple eights. The six letters of the Greek name of Jesus add up to 888. Iota=10, eta=8, sigma=200, omicron=70, upsilon=400 and sigma=200… totaling 888. This is a simple observation, easily verified by referencing a Greek alpha-numeric chart. This is simply a ground zero observation.
It would take very little mental effort to see how the number eight is consistently associated with specific features of the Messiah’s appointed role. His kingship is identified by inheriting the throne of his ancestor, David, who was the eighth son of Jesse (1Sam 16:10-11). We can see his sacrificial status projected from the divine law that an animal sacrifice was acceptable at the bronze altar as of the eighth day of its life (Exod 22:30). Christ’s victory over sin is demonstrated by the token of the Abrahamic covenant of faith: circumcision. The crown of flesh was cut off on the eighth day (Gen 17:12). Christ’s victory over the curse of sin and death is projected through the completion of the cleansing procedures for those who had been healed from leprosy or a bodily issue or had touched the dead. Completing each of the seven day cleansing procedures, they were therefore ‘clean’ as of the eighth day. In the same sense, it is the eighth millennium since creation when the Creator will be all and in all (1Cor 15:28), enjoying total harmony with all of His creation and suffering no contradictions to His principles. There will be a rest from sin during the seventh divine day in the Millennium Kingdom but sin and the flesh will be completely cut off (circumcised) at the eighth ‘day’. The priesthood of Jesus is hinted through the priestly ordination at Sinai requiring an eight day procedure (Lev 8:33 thru 9:1). Jesus was the eight components of the heaven and earth covenant in Genesis 15, with six halved earth-bound animals with their 12 legged foundation and two whole fowl of heaven. The savior status of Jesus is exhibited by the eight people saved in the gopher wood ark of Noah.
The Doubled Four Jesus Pattern
This ark application initiates a doubled four pattern in connection with the Messiah, the man of eights. The ark had four men and four women. This doubled four pattern can also be seen in that heaven and earth covenant from Genesis 15. Those eight animal carcass components, representing Jesus, were laid out in two rows of four. Jesus was also the two sets of four surfaces upon which the finger of God wrote the Ten Commandments. These stones were called “the Covenant” just as Jesus is called the covenant (1Kgs 8:9,21; Isa 42:6). The divinely designed wilderness encampment for the Kingdom of God was formatted into two sets of four. There was an outer foursquare design formed with the political application of the twelve tribes. There was an inner foursquare design with a spiritual application seen in the three Levite divisions along with the priests. Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim represented the multitudinous Christ. There were four cherubim with four faces. Their four wings covered their four bodies. They traveled above four wheels within four wheels (Ezek 1:16). Each of the divinely designed altars was foursquare with four horns. The foursquare bronze altar received four categories of blood sacrifices (burnt, peace, sin and trespass). On the Day of Atonement the High Priest brought two handfuls of incense (composed of four equal ingredients in each of those two hands… doubled fours) into the Most Holy Place. He put this incense into the flame he brought from the altar of burnt offering, converting this dust to a cloud so that he would not die (Lev 16:12-13).
Seeing Beyond the Shadows of Christ
This Day of Atonement application is an example of how only the enlightened have the capacity to witness the glory within the veiled beauty of God’s word. This incense application offers a hint toward the reason why the name of Jesus is identified by three eights specifically. The physical transition of the aromatic incense dust, into a cloud embracing the mercy seat, is a picture of the immortalization of the ultimate High Priest, Jesus Christ. It is a change in nature from dust to cloud, from the curse of “dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return” into a cloud. Throughout Scripture clouds consistently are identified with the presence, power and glory of Yahweh. This is what the unenlightened cannot see. Those who suffer under the spirit of antichrist, denying the flesh of Christ (1John 4:3; 2John 7), cannot conceive of a Messiah that needed immortalization. That would be a progression from flesh to spirit following the three days of his death. They see the progression as exactly the opposite, from spirit to flesh at his ‘immaculate’ birth. This reverse progression is declared to be an impossibility (1Cor 15:46); but the heart generated doctrine of a god that had to reshape himself into our image and likeness, in order to save his wrecked creation, is far more emotionally preferable to the heart dominated mind. The ritual-parable of the four equal incense ingredients in the two hands of the High Priest is invisible to anyone who doesn’t realize the Messiah needed salvation for himself first. They were transformed from dust into a single cloud on the Day of Atonement, to preserve the life of the High Priest It was after this procedure that the High Priest entered the Most Holy:
- A second time with the blood of the bullock for the atonement of his entire priestly family.
- A third time with the blood of the goat for the atonement of the rest of the nation (Lev 16).
This progression of the three activities on the Day of Atonement within the Most Holy Place is a demonstration of the reason that the name of Jesus translates into triple eights. They are a ritual portrayal of the three great immortalization events in the divine plan.
Eight is a number that is Scripturally and by creation related to immortality. Interestingly, the global scientific community accepts a sideways eight as a symbol for infinity. True science will always confirm divine principles as science is the study of the features of creation (the spoken word of the Creator). It will be the eighth millennium in the divine plan when everything will be infinite, when creation will no longer be dependent on replenishment according to the curse of a life and death rotation. The Creator will be in perfect harmony with His creation in that eighth divine day, that eighth ‘time,’ following the third and last immortalization at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.
To Be Continued
In the following two commentaries we will extend this observation to see just some of the depth of the glory of the number of our Messiah’s name. We will see how microscopic but foundational features of creation perfectly mirror the principles shadowed within the six letters of his name with their cumulative total of 888. Then we will pursue our staircase reasoning into Scriptures’ shadows that can only be seen by the enlightened who have circumcised away the naturally self-worshipping perspective of the human heart.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One