Preface

Gematria has its roots in the Kabalistic method of studying the scriptures of the Old and later the New Testament, for identification of patterns that authenticate God as the author by using:

• The numerical value of the Hebrew or Greek letters,
• Patterns of words and letters that are often counted

which the Scripture consistently use to indicate a specific purpose, which will have a total, divisible or be equivalent to specific numbers such as 3, 7, 49 or 50.

The more conservative usage, that many who research Gematria, is the discoveries of the actual number equivalence to letters and words in the scriptures which have patterns to conform or corroborate the scriptural passage.  There are specific numbers that are used in Gematria which are shown in the table list below, which have been found to be consistently used in the scriptures.

As noted by many Biblical Scholars, one of many authenticating parts of the scriptural expositional authenticity was 40 authors writing 66 books over thousands of years which all used the same patterns, word choices, themes and so much more. 

The most important point of the scriptures is the theme of Jesus Christ, who is prophesized in the in the Old Testament as the future Messiah, followed with Jesus Christ being revealed in the New Testament.  Jesus Christi is in the Way for us to have Salvation, and we all need Jesus Christ as our Savior.  This does not mean that other interesting studies of the scriptures are not relevant, as long as they do not take away from the primary focus of Jesus Christ.

For this author, another interesting authenticating facet of the scriptures is the encryptions in the scriptures which are being re-discovered today by the use of computer algorithms.  Additionally, God is using patterns, models, a heptadic structure throughout the entire Bible.

Warning, Prohibition and Acceptable

When searching the internet, there are more advanced studies of Gematria being done by assigning values to incidents, dates and other aspects of the scriptures including modern-day events.  These types of approaches will contain algorithms which discuss ideas such as prime numbers, the number PI, and segments of a long number for a pattern for associations with numbers that conform to suggested dates in the scriptures, and so much more.  There might be some truth or fascinating aspects to the equations and results, but rhetorically the question should be asked if this type of searching is going into an area that can yield spurious findings.

There are unfortunately, many theories surrounding the numbers in the scriptures that approach highly speculative conjectures, which in this author's opinion do not honor God.  Additionally, these type of uses of Gematria often seem to approach a forbidden area for the Christian.  Looking for obscure patterns based on esoteric number associations, patterns and sequences, seem to always have the documentation from investigators heading into predictions

• of what was God thinking,
• will there be something on a future date,
• does a number pattern mean something different or more than the scripture was stating.

A quip from Chuck Missler, who endorsed Gematria in some of his excellent MP3 documentaries but not the extremes of it, that this author is paraphrasing is:

 "The danger of Gematria is the potential of creating a new type of religion which requires members with the best computer programs to belong in order to find data where people without the means are excluded."

Table of Numbers and Significance

The following is a chart of the most significant meaning associated with numbers in the scriptures that are consistently used to convey a meaning and a pattern.  The Bible is composed of 66 books written by over 40 different authors that wrote in different points in history, where God has used and will use events to occur in prophecy to have the patter of use of numbers to convey a meaning for us.

Six other special numbers that are not Gematria but have significance:

Example of the Number 3

Some Additional Examples of Gematria

• A very well-known example of Gematria is the "Mark of the Beast" which the numerical values of the letters adds up to a sum of 666.
• In Leviticus 23, we read that there 52 Sabbaths; 7 days of Passover (including its related feast days); 1 Feast of Weeks ~ Shavout ~ Pentecost; 1 Yom Teruah, Feast of Trumpets; 1 Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement; 7 days of Sukkot, Feast of Tabernacles; and 1 Shimini Atzeret, 8th day of Assembly which adds up to 70.
• There are some Biblical Scholars who discuss that the book of Psalms was most likely 5 books that were combined into one which would have given the total of OT books at 43 and the grand total of 70 books in the Bible rather than 66 books.

Are there Peculiar Mathematical Examples?

There are peculiar mathematical examples that not relevant in terms of the Scriptures.  They are statistical types of oddities and fun patterns. 

As an example: 9 multiplied by 1089 equals 9801 which is the reverse of the original 1089.

There are many other examples, but the important part of Gematria is the consistency of use of specific numerics in the scriptures.

Ivan Panin called the Modern-Day Father of Bible Numerics

Some Great Sources for Codes in the Scriptures

Take a look at this link from Grant Jeffrey which is a wonderful read that discusses the matter on the "Signature of God".  Another two great links from Chuck Missler are "Beloved Numerologist" and "Hidden Codes in the Bible".