There are 37 times in the Old Testament where the Hebrew word that we translate as "I am" occurs in connection with the LORD. They are hints of the Messiah. There are 37 times in the New Testament where Jesus says effectively "I am (He)" in fulfillment of the Old Testament promise. 37 times in the Old Testament. 37 times in the New Testament. That is not an accident. The Holy Spirit has placed a watermark of God in the scriptures. Here is another example. There are exactly 37 times where the Old Testament speaks of those who "are blessed" because they take refuge in Him; are forgiven; whose strength is in Him; etc. The Hebrew word is "ashrei" (blessed). We find it notably in Psalm 1. "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, etc." "Blessed is the man ..." (ashrei ha'ish). This word "ashrei" occurs exactly 37 times in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. Here is another example. The phrase "the LORD of hosts the God of Israel" in Hebrew, "Adonai tzeva'ot Elohei Yisra'el" occurs exactly 37 times in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. Go to our website where this video session is embedded, and you can download PDFs with the scripture references. Could anyone imagine that the many Old and New Testament writers scribbled away randomly and these patterns of 37 simply happened? No. They were moved by the Holy Spirit, just as the Bible tells us. In Session 11 we covered the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet. Here they are again, this time with the lowercase letters Alpha Beta Gamma Delta Epsilon Zeta Heta Theta Iota Kappa Lambda Mi Nyi Xi Omicron Pi Rho Sigma Tav Upsilon Phi Chi Psi Omega. The lowercase letters were not in use at the time of the New Testament. They are a relatively modern idea. Note: there is a final form for Sigma in lowercase letters, when that letter occurs at the end of a word ... the shape changes. In the modern era, because of the absence of a letter of numeric value 6, this final form of Sigma has been given the value 6, but that was not the case at the time of the New Testament and, whenever we calculate the value of words and phrases in the New Testament, Sigma always has a value of 200. Now let us examine a significant verse in the New Testament Greek. Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 says, "For in Him ..." (that's in Jesus) "... all the fullness of the Deity ..." (many English translations say "all the fullness of the Godhead) "... dwells in bodily form." In other words, Jesus was and is fully God. When He was on earth He was showing us everything that God is. We could say He was showing us the love of God, the grace of God, humility, much more. Characteristics of God. Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 is not an obscure verse. It's significant. It tells us important things about God and about Jesus. Here it is in Greek. "Oti en avto katiki pan to plerama tis theotitus somaticos." "Oti en avto" (For in Him) ... "katiki pan to plerama" (dwells all the fullness) ... "tis theotitus" (of the Deity) ... "somaticos" (in bodily form). Here is the numeric value of each word. "Oti" (380) ... "en" (55) "avto" (1501) "katiki" (436) "pan" (131) "to" (370) "pleroma" (1,059) "tis" (508) "theotitos" (962) "somaticos" (2,371). Before we go any further, let me remind you of what we learned in Session 10 on Hebrew numerics. The first verse of the Bible "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". In Hebrew, "Bereshit bara Elohim et ha'shamayim ve'et ha'aretz". Total value of this verse, all the words, is 2,701 which is 37 times 73 ... two key prime numbers, with 3 and 7 prominent. Remember those numbers. 37 and 73. Back to Colossians chapter 2 verse nine. "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Deity". Total value 5,402 which is 2 times 37 times 73. This matches what we saw in Genesis 1:1. Do you think this is an accident? Or do you now, like me, think that the Holy Spirit has placed a seal of God on the first verse of the Bible, and now, knowing as we do that Jesus is the Creator, we see in this significant New Testament verse a double-stamp so to speak of Jesus. If we look at the entire verse and we add up the value of all the letters we come to a total of 7,773 (7 7 7 3). Interesting number. Count the individual letters. There are exactly 49 letters which is 7 times 7. What about this word "theotitos" (the Deity or Godhead)? This is the only time this Greek word appears in the New Testament. A key word. Total value is 962, which is 37 times 26. 37 is significant. 26 is the numeric value of the Hebrew word that represents the name of the LORD YUD HEH VAV HEH. We've been seeing that in previous sessions. It's not an accident that this key New Testament word for the Godhead has a numeric value that equals 37 times 26. The last two words "theotitos somaticos" (the Deity in bodily form) equals 962 plus 2,371 which is 3,333 (3 3 3 3). Finally for this session, there's one further PDF that you can download from our website. Acts chapter 4 verses 10 to 12, the Apostle Peter speaking to the people of Israel, "Let it be known to you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." On the PDF you have the Greek for this passage. The phrase "the stone rejected by you the builders" has exactly 37 letters. The middle verse "this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you the builders that has become the cornerstone". In the Greek, that is 73 letters and there are 73 words in the original Greek 37 73. Accidental? I don't think so. Jesus ... the only name by which we must be saved. There is no other name.
