In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
Arguably, Genesis 1:1 is one of the most controversial verses in the Bible. Some see it, and the first 11 chapters, as ancient Hebrew creation mythology. Atheists ignore it and consider it a fairy tale. Many Bible believers deny its truth and add time to the verse that is simply not there attempting to be compatible with an atheistic evolutionary timeline. Very few see it as the inerrant, inspired Word of God. Yet, this seemingly simple verse is one of the most complex sentences in all literature.
§ It includes complex numeric patterns that can’t be duplicated.
§ There is deep prophetic insight just under the surface.
§ Even the entire Gospel of Christ is revealed in this single verse repeatedly.
These patterns are simply there, and they seem to serve as a Divine thumbprint or watermark attesting to their inspiration from the infinite mind of the Lord.
§ Some of the patterns manifest when considering that Hebrew letters also served as their numbers at the time of the writing of scripture.
- Of note, Greek letters also served as their numbers in ancient times.
§ While the patterns
begin in the first verse, they continue through the entire text of scripture in
all languages from Old to New Testament.
Prime number patterns:
Prime numbers are numbers that are only divisible by themselves and one. In essence, they are indivisible.
§ The first twelve prime numbers are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37….
· 2 stands alone as the only even prime number. 2 also represents Jesus—the second person of the Eternal Trinity. He is the Great High Priest and Mediator between God and man in that special middle position.
· 5 stands alone as well since all other numbers ending in 5 are divisible by 5. 5 also represents the grace of God and the Holy Spirit.
· The list of prime numbers is infinite, but after 5, they all end in 1, 3, 7, or 9.
· Also, one is not a prime nor composite (a divisible number) but is a unique unit.
§ Prime factorization
is the process of breaking a number down into all of the individual prime
numbers it is “made” from. Here are a
few numbers broken down to their prime factorization for example:
· 38 = 2x19
· 37 = prime
· 36 = 2x2x3x3
· 35 = 5 x 7
· 34 = 2x17
· 33 = 3x11
· 32 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2, etc.
Prime numbers are highlighted purposefully in the first verse. This is an astonishing revelation and the beginning of the complex number patterns that permeate the Bible under the surface.
How many letters are in the middle untranslatable word? 2—the first prime number. Remember, the theme of redemption revolves around this word pointing directly to Christ on the cross and that foreshadow is in that special middle place. *More on this in a future post, the Gospel in Genesis 1:1.
How many letters are there in the second and sixth words? 3—the second prime number.
How many letters are in the third and fifth words? 5—the third prime number.
Now look, how many letters are in the third and fourth words? 7—the fourth prime number. This repeats also with the fourth and fifth words as well making a “mirror”—7.
Also, how many words in total? 7
Just as the building blocks of the universe are found in the first verse, the initial building blocks of mathematics are found in the first verse also.
Take a moment to look at the first verse and its numeric values above:
What is the value of the entire sentence?
§ I’ll add left to right: 296 + 407 + 395 + 401 + 86 + 203 + 913 = 2,701
§ What is interesting about this number?
§ Remember the beginnings of a mirror image in this verse?
· Much of the Bible is written in as ancient literary device known as a chiastic structure. Other names include symmetric structures, palistrophes, or concentric structures. Whole books, chapters, verses, and phrases have this pattern that is hard to see for those who can’t read Greek or Hebrew.
· These structures are sort of mirror images.
§ Let’s look at the
prime factorization of the value of the words in Genesis 1:1.
· 2,701 = 37 x 73
· There is a numeric “chiasm” here reflected.
· When we look at these two mirrored prime numbers, there is another interesting find.
· 37 is the 12th prime number (and the reason I counted the first twelve above).
· 73 is the
21st prime number.
37 73
12 21
§ 37 73 is mirrored again in the position of the numbers in the set of primes—12 21. This Divine watermark is absolutely breathtaking when you consider all it requires.
· First, before the verse was written one would need to:
¨ Design the Hebrew alphabet with the numeric values.
¨ Design the entire system of mathematics including primes, composites, triangular numbers, etc.
¨ Make these deep patterns appear in a single sentence that makes sense and is the beginning of a system that would run through 66 individual books.
· No human could do this. It is the thumbprint of a Divine Mind!
§ Second, these deep numeric patterns only begin in Genesis 1:1, they continue throughout the Bible in the plain text and below the surface. For instance, how many times are the first four prime numbers mentioned or patterned throughout the Bible in the plain text?
· 2 = two
great lights, two become one (man and wife), clean animals two x two, etc.
· 3 = three
days in the whale, three days in paradise after the cross, these three are one,
etc.
· 5 = five
books of the Law, David’s five stones, five books of Psalms, etc.
· 7 = seven lampstands, seven trumpets, seven bowls, etc.
The mirrored counterpart:
As noted above, the sum of the letters in Genesis 1:1 is 2,701.
The prime factorization of 2,701 is 37x73—palindromic primes.
God uses that mirror reflection a lot in scripture—a wonderful study beyond our scope here. *Consider a study on how Genesis is found in Revelation backwards. In a future post, we will discuss how Genesis and John parallel each other.
If you take the numerals of the first verse, reverse them and then add the two to find a sum, something very interesting happens.
2701 + 1072 = 3773 *What is the chance this being random?
It seems that in this age when so many feel that the Word of
God is simply a collection of myths, fables, and fairy tales collected by the
Israelites and preserved, it seems that God is revealing the true, deep secrets
of the arrangement of His word as a means to authenticate the overall true
message of the life, death, and continuing ministry of Jesus. Truly, He is Soon2Come.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: 2 Timothy 3:16
