God, Man, and the Number 3

 When King Solomon wrote that “two are better than one” (Eccl. 4:9), he went on to add, “and a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Eccl. 4:12). We were just talking about two; where does this threefold cord come from?

God created human beings with a need for each other, but above all He created us with a need for Him. No human relationship can be complete without God. It will never reach its true potential unless God is involved.

Likewise, Jesus prayed to the Father for His followers, “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:21-23).

That’s “three in one, one in three,” but it’s not the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s the Father, Son, and God’s people!

We can see, then, that the number 3 represents man’s relationship with God. God created man to become part of His family.

3: Man’s relationship with God

If we look at the ten commandments (or more properly, ten statements), we see that the first three concern man’s relationship to God, the fourth concerns the Sabbath (representing God’s Kingdom), and the last six concern man’s relationship to his fellow man.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

In the first statement, God told us who He is. In the second, He told us not to have any other gods before Him. In the third, He told us not to bring shame upon His name.

Three statements that sum up our relationship with our Creator. Throughout Scripture, the number 3 represents and tells us about this relationship.

Jesus Christ died to reconcile us to the Father, that is, to repair our relationship with Him. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18-19).

Now, Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross or stake at the 3rd hour (Mark 15:25), or roughly 9 AM by modern time. Darkness fell over all the land from the 6th hour (noon) until the 9th hour (Mat. 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44). At the 9th hour, or about 3 PM by modern time, Jesus died (Mat. 27:46-50; Mark 15:34-36; Luke 23:44-46).

Jesus’ death repaired our relationship with the Father, and the hour markers of the crucifixion — 3, 6, 9 — are each a multiple of three. Not only that, but there are three of them!

After His death on the cross, Jesus’ body lay in the grave for three days and three nights (Mat. 12:40). His death and resurrection gives us the hope of resurrection to eternal life.

Furthermore, any healthy relationship requires communication. In our relationship with God, we speak to Him through prayer, and we listen to Him speak to us through studying His Word.

So it only makes sense, then, that God’s people customarily prayed to Him three times a day. Daniel prayed to God three times a day (Dan. 6:10), as also did King David (Psa. 55:17). In fact, as shown in the book The Lord’s Passover and many other places, it was the usual custom for God’s people to pray at the third hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour — the very hours of the crucifixion!

In order for us to truly have a relationship with our heavenly Father, though, we also need His Holy Spirit. Rom. 8:9 tells us, “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”

When God poured out His Holy Spirit on His New Testament servants, that happened on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), which is the third holy day (holy convocation) in Lev. 23! Furthermore, the Day of Pentecost always falls in the Hebrew month of Sivan, the third month. Whether you believe in a Sivan 6th Pentecost, a Sunday Pentecost, or a Monday Pentecost, Pentecost always falls in the third month.

Now. let’s back up a bit and follow the number 3 through the Bible. We won’t go through every example, obviously, since the Bible mentions “three” or “third” nearly seven hundred times! But let’s look at some significant examples.

In Gen. 15, God made a covenant with Abraham, confirming it with the sacrifice of a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram (Gen. 15:9). This was a covenant between God and man, sealed with the sacrifice of three animals (also two birds) that were each three years old.

Moses was born during a time when Pharaoh of Egypt commanded all male Hebrew children to be murdered at birth. However, Moses’ parents hid him for three months because he “was well-pleasing to God” (Acts 7:20).

Before Israel’s exodus from Egypt, Moses asked Pharaoh for permission to “go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God” (Ex. 3:18). Three days’ journey to worship God — interesting timeframe, yes?

God appointed seven annual holy days, as we see in Lev. 23, but in celebration of His holy days, He commanded His people to appear before Him three times each year. “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed” (Deut. 16:16).

As they journeyed through the wilderness, God commanded the tribes of Israel to encamp around His tabernacle on all four sides, in a very specific formation: three tribes on each side (Num. 2). Likewise, in New Jerusalem, when “the tabernacle of God is with men” (Rev. 21:3), the city has three gates on each side (Rev. 21:12-13).

In representing man’s relationship with God, the number 3 can also pertain to God’s correction. For example, when King David, in a moment of pride, numbered the men of Israel, God gave him a choice of three punishments: three years of famine, three months of being defeated by Israel’s enemies, or three days of plague (1 Chron. 21:12).

As a result of Solomon’s and Israel’s sins, God divided Israel into two houses, Israel and Judah (1 Kings 11:30-39; 12:24). When Solomon died and his son Rehoboam became king, the Israelites gathered together to petition for relief from their tax burden, so the new king put them off for three days (1 Kings 12:1-5). At the end of the three days, a haughty Rehoboam spurned the people’s request, so they rebelled, just as God had intended (1 Kings 12:24).

However, Rehoboam and his remaining kingdom, the kingdom of Judah, humbled themselves and sought God’s favor after this. As a result, we read, “So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years, because they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years” (2 Chron. 11:17).

Later, after both Israel and Judah had gone into captivity, we learn from Ezek. 14:14-20 that God singled out three men for their righteousness: Noah, Daniel, and Job. Three men renowned for their closeness to God.

Speaking of Daniel, we read in the third chapter of that book about how Daniel’s three friends refused to bow down before King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, even at the cost of their lives. Because of their close relationship with God, the three men boldly told the king, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king” (Dan. 3:17). And so God did.

When Haman plotted to murder all the Jews in the Persian Empire, Queen Esther requested her fellow Jews to fast with her for three days and three nights (Est. 4:16). After this, God delivered them and the Jews slaughtered their attackers (Est. 9).

In the New Testament, Cornelius, “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household” (Acts 10:2) prayed to God at the ninth (3×3) hour. Then God, having determined to call Cornelius and other Gentiles into His congregation, showed the Apostle Peter a vision about this (vv. 12, 28), and showed it three times (v. 16). After this, Peter was summoned by three messengers from Cornelius, and God told him to go with them (vv. 19-20). The next day, once again at the ninth hour, God poured out His Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his household (vv. 30, 44-48).

As we’ve glimpsed already, it’s not just the number 3 itself that represents man’s relationship with God, though. Various multiples of the number 3 expand on this concept.

In Numbers 4, we learn that the Levites began serving in God’s tabernacle at the age of 30. Similarly, Jesus Christ, our High Priest (Heb. 4:14), began at His earthly ministry at the age of 30 (Luke 3:23). Since 30 is 3×10, it shows another aspect of man’s relationship with God, the aspect of being of service to God and to others.

In Gen. 5:22, we learn that, “After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years….” Of course, 300 is 3×100, and thus we again see that the number 3 pertains to man’s relationship with God, this time walking with Him.

Under the Old Covenant, the tabernacle represented the focal point of Israel’s worship of God. It’s where they were to serve Him, to continually renew their walk with Him. So it only makes sense, then, that the perimeter of the tabernacle would be 300 cubits: 100 cubits long on the north and south, and 50 cubits wide on the east and west (Ex. 27:9-18).

Finally, when God sent His Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, He also called three thousand people to repentance (Acts 2:41). That’s three thousand who entered into a new relationship with Him.

As we did with the numbers 1 and 2, let’s wrap up with a quick look at the Hebrew language and what it has to tell us about the number 3. In Hebrew, the numeral 3 is represented by the letter gimel ג, the third letter of the alphabet.

Now, remember that Hebrew letters were once pictographs or pictures. In this early form of Hebrew, gimel was represented by a foot: . The foot represents walking, and what do we do when we have a proper relationship with our Creator? We walk with Him through the narrow gate (Mat. 7:13-14) into His Kingdom and become part of His family!