1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

One
There is one God and father of all, one Lord, one Spirit, one body, the church, one faith, one baptism and one hope (Eph. 4:4-6). “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deut. 6:4).

Two
There are two great lights, one to rule the day and one to rule the night (Gen. 1:16). There were two tables of stone upon which the commandments were written (Ex. 31:18; Deut. 4:13). There are two covenants and two great commandments and two comings of the Lord (Heb. 8:7; Matt. 22:38,39; Heb. 9:28).

Three
There are three elements to the substance of man, body soul and spirit (I Thess. 5:23). The Lord was three days and three nights in the belly of the earth just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish (Matt. 12:40). There are three persons in the Godhead: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one” (I John 5:7-8).

Four
The river that came out of Eden turned into four rivers (Gen. 2:10). The world is said to have four corners (Rev. 7:1). There were four pillars in the tabernacle on which the veil hung that separated the holy place from the most holy place (Ex. 26:32,33). In Ezekiel’s vision there were four living creatures with four faces and four wings (Ezek. 1:5,6). John’s vision reveals there are four beasts full of eyes around the Throne of God (Rev. 4:6-8). Jesus’ garments were parted into four parts (John 19:23). There are four gospel accounts that tell us of the life and teaching of Jesus.

Five
There are five books of law in the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. There are five offerings in the tabernacle service: Burnt offerings, meal offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings and trespass offerings (Lev. 1-5). There were two sets of five curtains (Ex. 26:3), two sets of five bars (Ex. 26:26,27), five pillars at the entrance of the tabernacle and five sockets holding them (Ex. 26:37). Excluding the ark of the covenant, there were five objects associated with the tabernacle: the great altar (which was five cubits by five cubits), the laver, the table of shewbread, the candlestick and the altar of incense. There are five steps in the plan of salvation: hear, believe, repent, confess, and be baptized.

Six
God created man on the sixth day (Gen. 1:24-31; Ex. 20:11). Because of this, man is to work six days (Ex. 20:9). The glory of the Lord covered Mt. Sinai six days before He called unto Moses (Ex. 24:16). Under the law, a Hebrew slave was to serve only six years (Ex. 21:2). Jesus turned the water in six waterpots into wine (John 2:6-10). The number of the beast in the Book of Revelation 666 (Rev. 13:18).

Seven
Seven is the number of completion and perfection. The Lord rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made (Gen. 2:1-3). Seven of each clean beast was taken on the ark (Gen. 7:2). The Passover was a feast of seven days (Ex. 12:15). God’s word is purified seven times (Psalm 12:6). The Bible records Jesus as healing seven times on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:9; Mark 1:21, 29; Luke 13:11; 14:2; John 5:8,9; 9:14) and He taught us to forgive seventy times seven (Matt. 18:22).

Eight
Eight souls were saved by water (I Pet. 3:20). At eight year old a child was to be circumcised (Gen. 17:12). Interestingly, the New Testament was written by eight men: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter and Jude. Equally interesting is the fact that the number of Jesus’ name in Greek is 888.

Nine
On the ninth day of the seventh month the children of Israel were to observe a fast for the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:26-32). Jesus died the ninth hour (Matt. 27:46-50). There were nine gifts of the Spirit in the first century (I Cor. 12:7-11) and there are nine fruits of the Spirit described by Paul in Galatians 5:22,23: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.

Ten
In Genesis 1, the expression “God said” is found ten times. There were ten generations living before the Flood (Gen. 5). There were ten plagues which convinced Pharaoh to let the children of Israel leave Egypt. The boards in the tabernacle were to be ten cubits in length (Ex. 26:16). There were ten commandments given by God on the two tables of stone (Deut. 10:4). On the tenth day of the first month the Passover Lamb was chosen and on the tenth day of the seventh month was the Day of Atonement (Ex. 12:3; Lev. 23:27).

Eleven
Eleven curtains were made for the outer covering of the tabernacle (Ex. 26:7-9).

Twelve
There were twelve sons of Jacob and twelve tribes of the children of Israel (Gen. 49:12). The Bible records Jesus’ visit to the temple at twelve years old (Luke 2:42). Christ chose twelve apostles (Matt. 10:2). In the Book of Revelation the redeemed are depicted as 144,000 or twelve times twelve (Rev. 7:1-8; 14:1). Heaven is depicted as having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, with names written thereon “which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel” (Rev. 21:10-13). The Heavenly city has twelve foundations and in the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (21:14). The city lay foursquare twelve thousand furlongs, or twelve times 1000, another number for completeness (10 times 10).

Eric L. Padgett