E.W. Bullinger — Creation
b1 — Number in Scripture
God’s design in creation
Bullinger opens with a theological foundation: the infinitely perfect Creator can only act and speak in perfect order. Number is the evidence.
“There can be neither works nor words without number. We can understand how man can act and speak without design or significance, but we cannot imagine that the great and infinite Creator and Redeemer could either work or speak without both His words and His works being absolutely perfect in every particular.”
— Part I, Chapter I: ‘Design Shown in the Works of God’
Bullinger cites three biblical texts as evidence of God’s perfect order in creation:
“As for God His WAY is perfect” (Ps. 18:30). “The Law of the LORD is perfect” (Ps. 19:7). […] “The LORD is righteous in all His ways: and holy in all His works” (Ps. 145:17).
“All His works were (and are) done, and all His words were spoken and written, in the right way, at the right time, in the right order, and in the right number. ‘He telleth the number of the stars’ (Ps. 147:4). He ‘bringeth out their host by number’ (Isa. 40:26). ‘He weigheth the waters by measure’ (Job 28:25).”
— Part I, Chapter I
Interpretation: Bullinger links numbers directly to God’s nature as Creator. Number is not a human tool, but an expression of God’s perfection visible throughout creation.
Bullinger formulates a core thesis on providence and natural law:
“In all the works of God we find not only what we call ‘Law,’ and a Law-maker, but we observe a Law enforcer. We speak of laws, but they are nothing in themselves. They have no being; they possess no power; they cannot make themselves, or carry themselves out. What we mean when we speak of law in nature is simply this: God in action; God not merely giving or making laws, but carrying them out and enforcing them.”
— Part I, Chapter I
Interpretation: This is Bullinger’s position on providence — God is not only Lawgiver but active Sustainer of his creation. Law in nature is “God in action.”
“When we see the same design in each; the same laws at work; the same mysterious principles being carried out in each, the conviction is overwhelming that we have the same great Designer, the same Author; and we see the same Hand, the same seal stamped on all His works, and the same signature or autograph, as it were, upon every page of His Word.”
— Part I, Chapter I
The heavens
Bullinger discusses the number 12 as the governing structural principle in the starry heavens — creation as an ordered whole.
“Here we see number displayed in a remarkable manner. The 12 signs of the Zodiac, each with three constellations, making 36 in all, which together with the 12 signs make a total of 48. There must be a reason, therefore, why the number 12 should thus pervade the heavens. Why should 12 be the predominating factor? Why should it not be 11, or 13, or 7, or 20?”
— Part I, Chapter I: The Heavens
Bullinger answers from his theology of numbers:
“Because 12 is one of the four perfect numbers, the number of governmental perfection; hence it is associated with the rule of the heavens, for the sun is given ‘to rule the day,’ and the moon ‘to govern the night.‘”
— Part I, Chapter I: The Heavens
“Here, then, is an example of number as it is used in the heavens. Twelve is the pervading principle throughout the starry heavens.”
— Part I, Chapter I: The Heavens
Interpretation: Bullinger reads the structure of the heavens as evidence of God’s deliberate numerical design. The 360 degrees of the heavenly circle (12×30), the 12 months of the prophetic year — all point to one Designer.
Chemistry
Bullinger treats chemical regularity as evidence of God’s ordering activity in the creation of matter.
“All matter is made up of certain combinations of various elements, which are its ultimate, indecomposable constituents. […] But though their total number cannot yet be known, the law by which they are arranged has been discovered. This law is complex, but perfect.”
— Part I, Chapter I: Chemistry
Bullinger argues that chemistry — unlike geology — is truly science because it knows unchangeable truths:
“Chemistry is worthy of the name Science. Here are no theories and hypotheses, which deprive other so-called sciences of all title to the name. Science is Scientia, knowledge, that which we know, and what we know is truth which can never alter.”
— Part I, Chapter I: Chemistry
Interpretation: Bullinger uses the periodicity and regularity of chemical elements as empirical evidence for God’s design in matter. The law of the elements is for him “God in action.”
Sound and music
Bullinger treats harmonic proportions in sound as evidence of divine design in creation.
“It is a remarkable fact, that when a string vibrates, the number of its vibrations, in a given space of time, is always the same for the same length of string, and the same tension. […] musical notes stand in certain harmonic relations to each other. These relations are expressed in numbers.”
— Part I, Chapter I: Sound and Music
“These harmonic relations are simple numerical proportions. The ratios are 2:1, 3:2, 5:4, etc. Now is it not remarkable that the most beautiful, the most perfect, the most delightful concords in nature are expressed in the simplest numerical ratios? This is a fact which cannot be denied. And a fact which points to the existence of Divine wisdom and Divine design.”
— Part I, Chapter I: Sound and Music
“It is a matter of great interest to observe that these numbers, from which all the harmonies of music are produced, are but combinations and modifications of the primary numbers 2, 3, and 5.”
— Part I, Chapter I: Sound and Music
Interpretation: Musical harmony as evidence of creation. The simplest ratios produce the greatest beauty — this can only be by divine design.