Rough Notes:
Three
THREE
3
BeginningDivine Influence/EmphasisEndFutureGodheadGoldMiddlePastPresentPresidencyThreeUnityWitnesses
BEGINNING, MIDDLE, END
See “Past, Present, Future”
DIVINE INFLUENCE/EMPHASIS
Coming soon…
GODHEAD
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”
1 John 5:7-8
PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
“Most every LDS temple utilizes 3 in some form, normally in their 3-part progression through both sacred space (3 ascending rooms) and through sacred time (past, present and future). And last, when temples are dedicated Saints repeat the sacred Hosana Shout 3 times, sealing the ordinance, as first seen in the modern era at the Kirtland Temple.”
Val Brinkerhoff, “The Day Star: Reading Sacred Architecture” (Book 2), 67
PRESIDENCY
A presidency in the Church consists of a president and two counselors. This may be a pattern of the divine presidency or the Godhead which consists of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
STRUCTURE
“…3 and 4 and 6 and 8 and 12 are considered structural numbers, the numbers nature builds with.”
(Michael Schneider, Oral Interview, via YouTube)
“Plato saw 3 as…the simplest spatial shape, and considered the world to have been built from triangles.”
Encycolpedia Britannica; http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/604590/triangle, accessed 12/10/2012
UNITY
“Three is an unfolding of the One to a condition where it can be known – unity becomes recognizable.”
Carl Jung, “A Psychological Approach to the Trinity,” Psychology and Religion, CW, Vol. XI, 180
“But every tension of opposites culminates in a release, out of which comes the ‘third.’ In the third, the tension is resolved and the lost unity is restored.”
Carl Jung, “Dogma of the Trinity,” Psychology and Religion, CW 11, 180
WITNESSES
“This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”
2 Corinthians 13:1
Next to the number seven, three is the most common symbolic number employed in scripture.53 It occurs more than 450 times in the Bible alone.54 One commentator wrote, “An examination of [passages exhibiting the triadic formula] is bound to lead to the conclusion that the number ‘three’ is not used literally, but rhetorically.”55
Whereas the number one reminds us of unity, including that which exists between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the number three emphasizes the distinct and separate nature of the three members of the Godhead. More than any other number, three symbolizes God.56 When the number is used in scripture, it frequently serves to emphasize divine involvement, backing, or influence.57
It appears significant, then, that Jesus served a three-year mortal ministry in which key events involved the number three: he was tempted three times by Satan (see Luke 4); he raised three people from the dead (see Matthew 9:18; Luke 7:12–15; John 11); he took three disciples, who represented the Godhead, into the garden of Gethsemane with him;58 he was crucified at the third hour; on Golgotha were three crosses; darkness reigned for some three hours while he was on the cross; his body lay for three days in a tomb. The repetitive presence of the number three in relation to the Atonement implies that God was behind this most sacred of events.
Other examples of this same use of the number three include the following: Three times God spoke to the Nephites before they recognized his voice (3 Nephi 11:1–7), as was the case with Samuel and Eli (see 1 Samuel 3). Like Adam and Eve, Abraham received three heavenly messengers (see Genesis 18:3). Three times God showed Peter the vision of the descending sheet so that he would know to send the gospel to the Gentiles (see Acts 10). Jonah was three days in the belly of the “great fish” until he repented. Elijah poured water on his burnt offering three times (see 1 Kings 18:34) and stretched himself over a dead child three times in an effort to raise the boy from the dead (see 1 Kings 17:21). In each case, the number three serves to emphasize the idea that God is the one speaking or performing the miraculous act.
Under the law of Moses, the number three was prevalent. The tabernacle was marked by this number, having an outer court (telestial), a Holy Place (terrestrial), and a Holy of Holies (celestial). The brazen sea, or laver, held three thousand baths and was compassed by a line of thirty cubits on which were three hundred knops (see 1 Kings 7:23–24, 26). “‘Three measures of meal’ formed the great meal offering; because it set forth the perfection of Christ’s perfect and divine nature.”59 The great feasts were three (see Deuteronomy 16:16), for which the Israelites were commanded to come to Jerusalem (see Exodus 23:17). “The complete separation of Israel is shown in ‘the three days’ journey into the wilderness’ (Exodus 5:3).”60 Three-year-old animals were prized for special sacrifices.61 That the number three was so frequently employed in temple worship underscores the idea that the temple and its ordinances are the typifying or symbolizing of God.
The attributes of deity are traditionally divided into three: omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. There are three kingdoms of glory: telestial, terrestrial, and celestial. Time, pertaining only to man, is divided into past, present, and future. “Oriental speculation tended to group all things under three heads.”62
The number three and one-half is sometimes given in scripture as “a time and times and the dividing of time” (Daniel 7:25; 12:7), or 1,260 (see Revelation 12:6).63 Being half of seven, its meaning is that which is “arrested midway in its normal course.”64
John the Revelator speaks of two “witnesses,” or prophets, who will prophesy in the streets of Jerusalem for forty-two months,65 or in other words, three and one-half years (see Revelation 11:3–14). Suddenly, and in the midst of their ministry, they will be slain. Satan will appear to have “arrested” their work while in course. However, God will ensure that Lucifer does not win. After their bodies lay unburied in the street for three and one-half days, they will be resurrected, “arresting” Satan’s work “in its normal course.”
Daniel spoke of a “beast”66 that would “devour the whole earth” and “tread it down and break it in pieces” (see Daniel 7:21–25). This “beast” would “speak great words against the most High” and “wear out the saints,” to some degree prevailing against them. It would “think to change times and laws” and would seemingly have power to do so “until a time and times and the dividing of time” (i.e., for three and one-half years). Again, the utilization of the number three and one-half indicates that, although the accomplishments of this heinous, corrupt, and immoral movement will not be insignificant, they will not last. In the end, God, his Church, and the Saints will prevail.
Related to this concept of limited power is the fraction one-third. Of it, one scholar wrote, “One-third symbolically [shows] that their bounds have been set. They can go only so far. The fraction one-third is used by a number of the prophets in association with what is called ‘remnant theology,’ the remnant being the unaffected part. We see this in Ezekiel 5:1–5 . . . [and] again in Ezekiel 5:12 and in Zechariah 13:8–9.”67 When this fraction is utilized toward a particular individual or event, the suggestion is that they have a limited degree of power or influence.68
In Revelation, chapter 8, John sees fire and desolation poured out upon the earth during the seventh seal but preceding the Second Coming (see vv. 7–12). In this outpouring he views a “third part” of the trees and green grass burned up, a “third part” of the sea turned to blood, a “third part” of the creatures in the sea and boats on the sea being destroyed, a “third part” of all water becoming bitter and undrinkable, and a “third part” of the sun, moon, and stars darkened. All of this, though catastrophic, still sends the message that not “everything” is destroyed. God yet exhibits a degree of mercy by limiting the power or influence of the disasters John was shown in his vision.
When John speaks of the war in heaven, his description of Lucifer’s activities is slightly different from the typical interpretation in Latter-day Saint circles. He states that the devil drew away a “third part” of the hosts of heaven with him (see Revelation 12:4; D&C 29:36–38). The distinction between “one-third” and a “third part” may seem subtle, yet it is real. The fraction one-third implies 33 1/3 percent, whereas the phrase “third part” implies a numerically undetermined segment of the population who symbolize the fact that Satan’s power over the premortal spirits was limited.69 Thus, the numerology in the passage implies that we have no knowledge of the fraction or percentage of the Father’s children who followed the adversary. All we know is that Satan had a limited influence over those in the presence of God.
BODY
“And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.”
Mark 14:22
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
1 Corinthians 10:16
“For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.”
1 Corinthians 10:17
“O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.”
Moroni 4:3
“And this shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.”
3 Nephi 18:7
See “Bread”
BREAD
“As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.”
Job 28:5
“Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.”
Isaiah 30:23
“And it came to pass that after I, the Lord God, had driven them out, that Adam began to till the earth, and to have dominion over all the beasts of the field, and to eat his bread by the sweat of his brow, as I the Lord had commanded him. And Eve, also, his wife, did labor with him.”
Moses 5:1
CROSS
See “Earth”
DIRECTIONS (NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST)
“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.”
Revelation 7:1
EARTH
“When we cross a vertical with a horizontal…a tangible, measurable entity come into existence…The principle can be transferred symbolically to the crossing of any contraries such as the crossing of male and female which gives birth to an individual being…or the crossing of matter and spirit which gives birth to life itself. So the crossing is an action-principle which the square perfectly represents …So the square came to represent the earth…”
Robert Lawlor, “Sacred Geometry Philosophy and Practice, 24
MATTER
“…3 and 4 and 6 and 8 and 12 are considered structural numbers, the numbers nature builds with.”
(Michael Schneider, Oral Interview, via YouTube)
MORTALITY
See “Earth”
SEASONS
There are four seasons, spring, summer, fall, and winter.
WOMAN
Through the process of gestation and birth, a woman’s body is the gateway to life and mortality for all mankind; earthly existence begins.
The number four symbolizes geographic completeness or totality.70 In other words, if the number four is associated with an event or thing, the indication is that it will affect the entire earth and all its inhabitants. One source informs us:
The number four always has reference to all that is created. It is emphatically the number of Creation. . . . The fourth day saw the material creation finished (for on the fifth and sixth days it was only the furnishing and peopling of the earth with living creatures). . . .
Four is the number of the great elements—earth, air, fire, and water. Four are the regions of the earth—north, south, east, and west. . . . Four are the seasons of the year—spring, summer, autumn, and winter. . . . In Gen. ii. 10, 11, the one river of Paradise was parted and became into four heads. . . . It is the first squarenumber also, and therefore it marks a kind of completeness as well, which we have called material completeness.71
There are many examples of the utilization of the number four in scripture, each with a consistent message of geographic totality.
As noted above, the river that flows forth from Eden and parts into four different directions implies that the issuance of Eden influences or affects all of the earth (see Genesis 2:10–14; Moses 3:10; Abraham 5:10). Perhaps the number four in this episode was meant to imply that all of the earth, prior to the Fall, was in a paradisiacal condition. Or perhaps the image is associated with Eden as the first temple.72 If the latter is the case, then the water flowing forth from Eden in four directions is mirrored by John’s vision of the river flowing out from under the throne of God in the heavenly Jerusalem (see Revelation 22:1–2; Zechariah 14:8) and implies that it is the Spirit and its revelations that come from Eden (and the temple), flowing to all the world (see John 7:37–39).73 Or perhaps the use of the number four in this episode is a symbol for the idea that chaos (via the Fall) went forth from Eden unto all the world.74 Moses certainly uses water as such a symbol.75
The prophet Isaiah speaks of an ensign, representative of the restored gospel and its accompanying light (see D&C 45:9; 115:4–5), that would be raised up in the last days to gather the dispersed of Judah from the “four corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:12). The number four implies not only the location of the dispersed but also for whom the gospel and its teachings have been restored.
Zechariah 2:6 speaks of the lost tribes as being spread “abroad as the four winds of the heaven.” Despite popular theories that attempt to pinpoint their physical location, Zechariah’s use of the number four indicates that they are spread throughout the entire earth.76
When Ezekiel sees his vision of the resurrection of the dead (Ezekiel 37:9), he speaks of the event in association with “the four winds,” representative of the fact that the Resurrection will be universal. One wonders if John’s discussion of the crucifixion of Christ and the dividing of his possessions into four lots was somehow also intended to convey a geographic symbolism. Could John have been hinting at the idea that Christ was giving his life and all that he had for the salvation of all(no. 4) mankind?
In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13) there are four kinds of soil, apparently representing all the peoples of the earth and their attitude or receptiveness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.