Is There A Secret Hidden In the Ratio of Old and New Testament Bible Books in Protestant Bibles?
I'll get right to this! The word of God is amazing. The Bible is potent, and simple yet sufficient on its surface, and also astoundingly complex if you wish to look deeply. And though a great many have the intellectual ability to look much deeper than I ever will, yet none shall find the bottom of all God's buried wisdom held hidden within His Word...or so I believe.
The Bible today has Chapters and Verses. Those were added fairly recently. Once it was only the individual Books, not divided into Chapters and Verses. Yet it still had the power to save souls of course. But Chapters and Verses were instituted, and they are helpful I believe.
Then there was the great schism...the Protestants formed, breaking away from the Catholics. And they decided to revisit the question of whether all writings in the Bible were Holy and ought to be included. They chose, rightly or wrongly, to put some books aside - seven of the books used in the Catholic Bible - as being a little too doubtful in whole or in part. And so the 73 books of the Catholic Bible were reduced to 66 books in the Protestant Bible. And I usually read the Protestant Bible type, though I have also read the other 7 removed books and find them pretty great to read. I think that the Protestant movement broke away from a Catholic Church which had, at that time, become pretty evil. And so I side with Protestantism in that respect. But various Catholic Church members were involved in great miracles in the first 15 Christian Church centuries and afterwards as well. And there was some significant reform in the Catholic Church and I think it likely still holds salvation to Christian believers also, though I think it a mistake to let any one single merely-human person have great power in this world. After all, Satan has repeatedly shown his ability to infiltrate such people in such positions, and I am certain that he still has that ability. Some powerful and important people will have the personal strength to successfully resist being taken hostage by Satan, but some won't. And taking over the minds of people in high and celebrated places is rich pay dirt for Satan and his followers. He can do a lot of damage to the Kingdom of God on Earth from such places, through such people. And so I think the inherent weakness of the Catholic Church may be in its allegiance to its hierarchy. But I am no qualified judge of such matters. And I want to make clear that I don't think the Catholic Bible is poisonous, or anything like that. It too holds God's Holy Words. God has accomplished much on this Earth through those who read from it, also.
Yet I keep finding beautiful things about the 'refined and purified?' 66 book Protestant type Bible. It seem to hold some wonderful secrets if you consider its Books, Chapters, and Verses. Here is yet another one I just recently noticed:
There are 66 books in the Protestant Bible, and the number 66 seems to show up in scripture and in history quite often when God's people are given a new chance, when they are saved at the last minute from disaster or great affliction, by the providence of God.
Sometimes God has allowed His people to be saved by giving them a new place to migrate to, to escape their old doomed situation. Sometimes this escape has been through water. Noah passed through the waters of the flood, and humanity was saved. Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea which God miraculously parted for them, and they were saved from the oppression of Pharaoh and Egypt. Jesus taught to be baptized, passing through the water to become one of His people and be saved, though He had John the Baptist begin the work. At a later time and on a slightly different note, the Christians escaped Jerusalem in A.D. 66 just before the Romans surrounded it and eventually crushed it in 70 A.D. The American Pilgrims, escaping religious intolerance, took 66 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean, a large body of water, and come to America, to a land where they could worship with more freedom. The WWII D-Day invasion took place on June 6, 1944, (6-6 -1944) eventually leading to the stoppage of Nazi takeover of Europe, and the Western world in general perhaps. But you see what I mean, right? 66 shows up a lot. 'Saved by passing through water' shows up a lot.
So, to me, the number 66 is a beautiful number that God often uses. There are 27 New Testament books, and 39 Old Testament books - 66 total. And the Old Testament Mosaic Law alone could have saved our souls with God if we could have followed it, which we couldn't! God foresaw our failure to keep the Covenant He gave Moses, providing His lost and sinfully unworthy children with His own obedient Son Jesus and through Jesus, the the New Covenant, explained in the Bible's final 27 books in both the Catholic and Protestant versions. And so we have 66 books. The number associated with salvation. But man did not foresee mankind's failure to follow the first covenant. We only were only able to realize it was so as we passed through those centuries, failing to successfully keep it. The Israelite people, God's 'chosen', were used as a high-profile example to all other nations of the blessings of following God and the curses of rebelling against Him. He was a severely strict parent to them at times, but never allow His enemies to completely extinguish them even when they became almost unthinkably misled and rebellious towards Him. They were his to bless or punish. And through this, the watching world could learn of His love, His generosity, His fairness, His righteousness, His strict but righteous standards and His insistence that those standards not be infringed upon even by His chosen children, the great severity of His punishments when He rose to punish, but also His unshakable love and wish that His errant children would turn to Him so that He could heal them and forgive them.
And the whole Bible itself has been given God's spiritual power to save...it is an actual form of Jesus in a mysterious spiritual sense! It holds God's words for salvation. Read it, embrace it, live it, and you may find salvation through Jesus because of it. It holds out great continuing hope to humanity.
So, here's an interesting nugget to consider: If you divide 66 (the books in the Bible) by 27 (the number of books in the New Testament) you get 2.444 repeating. Call it 2.44. If you go to Book 2 of the Bible, (Exodus) Chapter 4 of that book, and read around verse 4 it is the place where God is calling Moses to go back after 40 years in Midian to His Israelite people in Egypt and is telling Moses about how He will use Moses to speak to Pharaoh and eventually save His people from Egypt's terrible oppression (which ends up being accomplished by the 10 plagues, and is done by great signs, including passing through the divided waters of the Red Sea, possibly in the Gulf of Aquba.)
Here's Exodus 4:
4 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.
2 And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
4 And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:
5 That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.
6 And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.
8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
10 And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
11 And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord?
12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
14 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.
15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.
17 And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.
18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.
19 And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.
20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
21 And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
End Quote
By the same means, if you divide 66 (books in the Protestant Bible) by 39 (the number of books in the Old Testament) you get 1.6923etc...call it 1.69. So, if you go to Book 1 in the Bible, (Genesis) Chapter 6 of that book, and read around verse 9 you find it is the place where God talks to Noah about how the world is wicked and Noah shall build an ark and save a seed of humanity and the animals to be redeposited upon the surface of the Earth after God wipes it clean by the actions of the Great Flood He intends to send. It's like He gave the Earth, a planet, yes, but also a symbol of 'His Bride', a great baptism by water, washing away her sins so she could start anew. Here's Genesis 6, King James Version:
6 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
End Quote
And so, it is an interesting 'coincidence' that once again world history has a peculiar mathematical correlation to the eventually added Chapters and Verses of the Bible, which is the Word. I think God presided over their addition and incorporation into the Bible. And remember, scripture says that all things are held together and have their being through 'the Word', (Gospel of John, first chapter, for one instance) which is one of the names given to Jesus, through whom God made all things. But it is also what we call the Bible.
God's hand is still reaching out to whoever will listen, trying to get every willing person to repent, confess, turn and be baptized, and then live as a follower of Jesus. The Bible is adamant that it is Jesus that will judge all souls, and only Jesus that can grant salvation, because the Father has placed that authority in Jesus' hands. And Jesus will win the Earth and its people, then hand it all over to the Father so that the Father will be all in all, as it says clearly in 1 Corinthians 15: verses 22 - 28:
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
End Quote KJV
Today so many people sadly look to science as their 'god'. Science in many important respects has gone from being a valid investigatory tool and philosophy for discovering facts to being an opposer of the Creator of all things. But they, those who consider themselves men and women of science, are very wickedly wrong to do that. When they examine the Creation they examine the work of God...period, end of story. It is God who knows the truth of history, the truth of how old the Creation is, and the truth of whether God Almighty made all things or if mere chance did it all. Let God show you that He knew it all from the beginning. There is proof everywhere within His word. And there is proof everywhere within His book that His Word is no ordinary book! It is alive. It is a form of Jesus somehow. It is the highest of knowledge...it honestly is. Be a scientist, go ahead. Do an actual fair investigation of this matter.
There is likely no shame to be found in science as it pretends to be...a method of unbiased and rational investigation. But there is shame in the lies that it actually tells to our young people and our old. Science has not explained how life could initially form and reproduce itself; no, they certainly never have. Investigate the matter and you will certainly find that they have no answer for how the first organelles of even the simplest first cell could have formed themselves into a viable living cell. Such internal cell parts are quite specialized and complex, yet very necessary for a cells survival.
Nor has science ever explained how so very many necessary forces and essential effects could remain in such careful and near perfect balance as to allow this planet to be a longstanding host for life.
And science has not ever yet, after all these years, found a 'missing link', a 'transitional fossil'. Nobody has a proven one, peer reviewed and authenticated, on display anywhere in the world. Not even one! Disagree? Try to locate it...good luck...every college or museum thinks that some other college or some other museum has one. None of them do! Not even one single missing link for human evolution has been authenticated. The claims made so far have not proven true or have been disqualified once a deeper investigation was conducted. there should have been dozens, were evolution valid. There actually are none.
So, do not believe that Carbon Dating or Radio-Isometric Dating are always correct or that they science has even used those techniques honestly in all cases. In cases they have not...in important cases! This is God's world, God's creation, and God's Word still says to believe Him, fear Him, and follow Him or else experience the damnation of your sinful soul. Those sound like church-screamer words, but God is very specific in telling us that those who will not join and follow Jesus in obedience shall experience an endlessly horrific afterlife. It's not too late to save your soul if you are reading this, but the so-styled intellectuals of our day will have no power to save themselves, let alone others, on judgement day. So don't join with the damned, join with those who have a hope...a hope through Jesus, the Son of God, who came and taught and then died a terrible death to become our atonement, if we will only have the good sense to redirect our lives and claim it.
I am not a Biblical numerologist and find that any extensive investigation into that realm quickly overwhelms my mind with the realization that there are gems out there in the midst of the findings (some of them purposely placed there by God I would say) but madness certainly lies out there also. The rich and saving goodness of the Bible is open and apparent. You do not have to try to dig and delve to find the message that offers a chance for salvation. It is laid out plainly to those who read and consider God's words to us, His human children.
We've been given several covenants with which to prove ourselves worthy on our own terms. We did not prove ourselves worthy. We showed ourselves unable to govern ourselves and unable to stay on track. We showed ourselves wicked and needful of God if we are ever to be 'good'. That is one thing well proven by the narrative of the Bible. And by the events of our own individual lives if we will only admit it.
And so God sent His Son to do for us what we could not do for ourselves...if we will even have the good sense to give ourselves to Jesus the Son, and follow His teachings. And how has the work, teachings and personal sacrifice of Jesus, that best and last chance for mankind, been received by humanity? Well, there are less than 1/3 of all humans on this planet claiming to be Christian, a rebuke against the effort level of Christians to evangelize. Among us who want to be counted Christian, the 1/3 that know we need to be Christian and know we must strive to meet the requirements of the Christian Covenant with Jesus, I would be afraid and saddened to even guess at the fraction which God and His Son accept as legitimate Christians. I fear for my own soul, and my most honest assessment is that many other Christians should also. MANY others. And myself VERY MUCH!
So keep the whole numbers arena in perspective, or even ignore it if it troubles you. God seems to have used math in wonderful ways to create and then confirm His authorship of the Creation and to show His ability to foresee our human history from the beginning. He has used math among other things to confirm His mastery of all things. And I will never know what all else He has used it for. But we must not get buried in the great tangle of endless numbers. How should we view them? I don't know, really, do you? Perhaps we should just admire a few of the things God has done with them as we go about our walk in this life, which is supposed to be centered on loving others and letting others know about the work of Jesus the Lord while modeling it in and with our lives.