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"The Number Three"
In this number we have quite a new set of phenomena. We come to the first geometrical figure. Two straight lines can not enclose any space, or form a plane figure: neither can two plane surfaces form a solid. Three lines are necessary to form a plane figure: and three dimensions of length, breadth, and height, are necessary to form a solid cube, or solid contents. Three, therefore, stands for what is solid, real, substantial, complete, and entire.
All things that are specially complete are stamped with this number three. God`s attributes are three: omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence. There are three great divisions completing time, past, present and future. Three person`s in grammar, express and include all relationships of mankind. Thought, word, and deed, complete the sum of human capability. Three degrees of comparison complete our knowledge of qualities. The simplest proposition requires three things to complete it: the subject, the predicate, and the connecting words. Three propositions are necessary to complete the simplest form of argument, the major premise, the minor, and the conclusion. Three kingdoms embrace our ideas of matter, mineral, vegetable, and animal.
When we turn to the Scriptures, this complexion becomes Divine, and marks Divine completion or perfection. Three is the first of four perfect numbers. Three denotes divine perfection, Seven denotes spiritual perfection: Ten denotes ordinal perfection: Twelve denotes governmental perfection.
Hence the number three points us to what is real, essential, perfect, substantial, complete, and Divine. There is nothing real in man or of man. Everything under the sun and apart from God is vanity. Every man at his best estate is altogether vanity, Psalm 139:5-11
Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Ecclesiastes 1:2-4 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. Romans 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,Three is the number associated with the Godhead, for three are the three persons in the one God. Three times the Seraphim cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, one for each of three persons in the Trinity, Israel 6:3
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. The living creatures also in Revelation 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Three times is the blessing given in (Numbers 6:23-26 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.).Each of these three blessings is twofold, so that there are two members in each, while the name God occurs three times. This marks the blessings as Divine in its source. No merit drew it forth: grace was its origin, and peace was its result.
In (Genesis 18:2
And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground). The same “three” persons appear to Abraham. Abraham looked, and lo, Three Men stood by him. But in Genesis 18:1, declares that it was God who appeared unto him (Genesis 18:1 And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;). It is remarkable that Abraham addressed them both as one and as three. We read first that they said, then he said. Genesis 18:13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Genesis 18:17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Genesis 18:20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; And the Lord said. The whole narrative which begins with the appearance of the Lord, ends in (Genesis 18:33 And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.).As we have in the number one sovereignty of the one God: and in two, the second person, the Son, the Great Deliverer: so in three we have the third person, the Holy Spirit, marking and completing the fullness of the Godhead. The word fullness is remarkable, occurring only three times, and in connection with the Three Persons of the “Trinity:” Ephesians 3:19
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Ephesians 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The fullness was manifested visibly in Christ, and is communicated by the Holy Spirit, for it is a fullness of which we receive by His mighty power, John 1:16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.But there is more in the number three, “the three measures of meal.” We have them in the parable, Matthew 13:33
Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. Pointing to Christ in all the perfection of His person and His work, when He said in Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. There are different opinions about the leaven, but what is the meal. This is the point on which the interpretation turns. According to the popular interpretation, this pure meal is the corrupt mass of mankind, and the defiling leaven is the pure Gospel of Christ! Was there ever such a proof of man`s perversity in calling sweet bitter, and bitter sweet? Was there ever such a proof that man`s thoughts are contrary to God`s? No! the three measures of meal point us to man`s corruption of the truth. A corruption for which we have to look, not after the third century, but in the first!The number three, therefore, must be taken as the number of Divine fullness. It signifies and represents the Holy Spirit as taking of the things of Christ and making them real and solid in our experience. It is only by the Spirit that we realizes spiritual things. Without Him and His gracious operation, all is surface work: all is what a plane figure is to a solid, John 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. He is who has formed all our work in us, and by whom alone we can serve or worship, John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Hence it is that the Holy of Holies, which was the central and highest place of worship.Hence it is that the third Book of the Bible is “Leviticus,” the book in which we learn what true worship is. Here we see God calling His people near unto Himself, prescribing every detail of their worship, leaving nothing to their imagination or taste, crowning all with “Must” of the great rubric of John 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. In true worship we see the Father seeking these true worshippers, John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. The Son, the one object of all worship: and the Spirit qualifying and enduing the worshippers with the only power in which they can worship. Thus in Genesis we have sovereignty in giving life, the Father, the beginning of all thing: in Exodus we have the oppressor and the Deliverer, the Son redeeming His people: while in Leviticus we have the Spirit prescribing, and ordering, and empowering them for Divine worship.The first occurrence of the number three is in Genesis 1:13
And the evening and the morning were the third day. The third day, was the day on which the earth was caused to rise up out of the water, symbolical of that resurrection life we have in Christ, and in which alone we can worship, or serve, or do any good work.Hence three is a number of Resurrection, for it was on the third day that Jesus rose again from the dead. This was Divine in operation, and Divine in its prophetic foreshowing in the person of Jonah, Matthew 12:39-40
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Luke 11:29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. It was the third day on which Jesus was perfect, Luke 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.It was the third hour that He was crucified: and it was for three hours (from the 6th to the 9th) that darkness concealed the Divine Sufferer and Redeemer.
The loud voice at the end of those twice three hours, when about the ninth hour, Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Shows completely that nothing of nature, nothing of the light or intelligence of this world, could give help in that hour of darkness. Does not this show us our impotence in the matter? Does it not prove our incapacity to aid in delivering ourselves from our natural condition?With the light at the ninth hour came Divine declaration, “It is finish.” So divinely finished, complete, and perfect, that now there is no such darkness for those who have died with Christ. Light, uninterrupted sunshine, even the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That three hours of darkness, therefore, testifies to our complete ruin, and our complete salvation, and shows that His people are complete in Him.
While we are speaking of the Divine perfection of Christ, let us note the many marks and seals of this completeness.
The Spirit, the water, and the blood, are the divinely perfect witness to the grace of God on earth. 1 John 5:7
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.The three years of His seeking fruit testifies to the completeness of Israel`s failure, Luke 13:7
Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?His three fold, it is written, shows that the Word of God is the perfection of all ministry, Matthew the 4th chapter.
He raised three persons from the dead.
The inscriptions on the Cross in three languages show the completeness of His rejection by man.
The Complete Separation of Israel is shown in the three days journey into the wilderness, Exodus 5:3
And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. Marking the complete separation with which God would separate His people from Egypt then, and from the world now. We can understand Pharaoh`s objection in first wishing them to hold their feast in the land, Exodus 8:25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. And when that could not be, at last consenting to their going, but adding, “only ye shall not go very far away.” So Satan now, is well content that we should worship in the land: and if we must go into the wilderness, that we should be within easy reach of the world and its influences. Not so, with God. He will have no such borderline service: He will have a scientific frontier, a divinely perfect three days journey into the wilderness, completely separating them from all their old associations. The difficulty of drawing the line, which so many Christians experience, arises from the fact that it is a crooked line, and that it is an attempt to include that which can not be included. Draw at a proper distance it can be ruled straight, and be divinely perfect and effectual.The Temple is marked by three, as the Tabernacle is by five. The Holy of Holies in each was a cube: In the Tabernacle a cube of ten cubits: in the Temple a cube of twenty cubits. Each consisted of three parts: The Court, the Holy Place, and the Sanctuary. The Temple had three chambers round about. The Brazen Sea or Laver held three thousands baths: and was compassed by a line of thirty cubits on which were 300 knoops. 1 Kings 7:24
And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast. It was supported by twelve oxen (3x4): three looking north, three looking west: three looking south: and three looking east: the Sea was set upon them, and their back parts pointed inward. This order in naming the points of the compass occurs nowhere else. It is the same in both accounts of Kings and Chronicles, 1 Kings 7:25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. 2 Chronicles 4:4-5 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. And the thickness of it was an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths. Why is this? It is because this was the order in which the Gospel was to be afterwards preach throughout the world. Whether this was the reason or not, the fact remains that the Gospel was preached first in the north (Samaria, Damascus, Antioch): then in the west (Caesarea, Joppa, Cyprus, Rome): then in the south (Alexandria, and Egypt): then in the east (Mesopotamia, Babylon, Persia, India).The Great Feast were three: Unleavened Bread, Weeks, Tabernacles, (Deuteronomy 16:16
Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:).Two or Three. As three marks completeness and perfection of testimony, so it marks the number of Spiritual worshippers: and intimates that true Spiritual worshippers would always be few.
The Three-Fold Corruption of God`s Word. By taking away, adding to, and altering.
Man`s Three Great Enemies are, “The Flesh,” “The World,” and “The Devil.” The World is set over against the Father, (1 John 2:15-16
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.). The Flesh is set over against the Spirit, (Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.). The Devil is set over against the Son, “the Living Word,” (Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.). And the Written Word, (John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.).___________________________________________________________________