Stephen Jones — Eschatology
b5 — The Biblical Meaning of Numbers
Completion of God’s Plan (Number 7)
Jones connects number 7 to the eschatological climax of Revelation:
“In Rev. 10:7 the mystery of God is finished when the seventh angel blows his trumpet. In Rev. 16:17 ‘it is done’ when the seventh angel pours out the seventh vial into the air.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 2 (Numbers 1-10), number 7
Interpretation: Number 7 functions for Jones as the number of divine completion; both passages from Revelation mark the end of salvation history.
Resurrection (Number 8)
Jones directly links number 8 to the resurrection of Christ as “new beginning”:
“In the New Testament, Jesus was raised from the dead on the eighth day to fulfill the law of the wave-sheaf offering (Lev. 23:10, 11). Likewise, Pentecost occurred seven weeks later on the fiftieth day, which was also the eighth day (Lev. 23:15-17).”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 2, number 8
Interpretation: Jesus’ resurrection on the eighth day is the typological fulfillment of the firstfruits offering; Pentecost as the fiftieth/eighth day anticipates the future completion through Tabernacles.
Judgment (Numbers 9 and 10)
Number 9 — Divine Visitation and Judgment
Jones discusses number 9 in connection with divine judgment upon Jerusalem:
“In Luke 19:43 and 44, Jesus says to the temple in Jerusalem, ‘For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.’ In this case, the time of visitation was the three-year period of Jesus’ ministry from 30-33 A.D., where God manifested in human flesh to ‘visit’ Judea and Jerusalem and to test the hearts of the people.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 2, number 9
“The good figs were Jesus’ disciples and the converts of the early Church, who were expelled from the land (by persecution), in order that God might spare them from the coming judgment forty years later.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 2, number 9
Interpretation: Jones sees 70 A.D. as the fulfillment of prophetic judgment; “forty years later” refers to the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome.
Number 10 — Judgment According to Works
“The meaning of the number ten is based upon the divine law, because as Revelation 20:12 and 13 say, all will be judged ‘according to their deeds.‘”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 2, number 10
Interpretation: Jones explicitly connects number 10 (the law, the Ten Commandments) to the final judgment of Rev. 20:12-13.
New Jerusalem (Number 12)
Jones extensively connects number 12 to the eschatological New Jerusalem:
“There are 12 foundations in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:14). It also has 12 gates and 12 angels at the gates (Rev. 21:12) and 12 pearls at the gates (Rev. 21:21). The city is foursquare at 12,000 furlongs (Rev. 21:16). The wall is 144 cubits high (Rev. 21:17), which is 12 x 12.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 3 (Numbers 11-20), number 12
“Jesus spoke of 12 thrones on which the 12 apostles would sit to judge the 12 tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28).”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 3, number 12
Interpretation: Number 12 as governmental perfection is fully eschatologically charged in Jones: both the structure of New Jerusalem and the future judicial office of the apostles.
Jacob’s Trouble / Prophetic Time Periods (Number 21)
Jones treats Jer. 30:7 as a prophetic pattern:
“The Hebrew word for distress or trouble, tsarah, is used in Jer. 30:7, where it speaks of ‘the time of Jacob’s distress’ (NASB). The KJV renders it, ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble.’ Jacob had two times of distress, each lasting 21 years.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 4 (Numbers 21-30), number 21
Interpretation: Jones reads Jer. 30:7 as a prophetic pattern that is fulfilled twice — first in Jacob’s life, then eschatologically. Number 21 is the number of distress/pressure.
Sonship: From Pentecost to Tabernacles (Number 22)
“These 22,000 priests of Levi represented all of the firstborn sons. They represented the manifested sons of God, the true children of light, whom God has set apart to teach the word and to administer the law to the people by the mind of Christ.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 4, number 22
“He [Paul] is an example of Sonship. Saul was converted and his name changed to Paul. He shows us the way to go from Pentecost to Tabernacles.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 4, number 22
Interpretation: Number 22 (sonship, sons of light) is connected to Jones’ doctrine of the manifested sons of God — an eschatological concept in which the “way from Pentecost to Tabernacles” denotes the completion of salvation.
Three Outpourings of the Holy Spirit (Number 26)
“The 26th time that Noah’s name is used in the Bible is found in Gen. 8:11, where we read of the second and third doves that Noah sent into the world. These two doves signify the Holy Spirit, by which the Gospel—‘the Power of God for Salvation’ (Romans 1:16)—was to be preached in the whole world. This began at Pentecost and will be completed through the third dove, the third feast (Tabernacles). That third outpouring of the Holy Spirit will see the fulness of the Holy Spirit poured out, bringing the Power of Salvation into its full manifestation in the earth.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 4, number 26
Interpretation: Jones constructs a salvation-historical triptych: Passover (cross), Pentecost (first outpouring), Tabernacles (future third outpouring = full manifestation). The third phase is explicitly eschatological and not yet fulfilled.
Prophetic Time Reckoning: Cursed Time (Number 37)
“Ham’s son, Canaan, was disinherited according to the factor of Cursed Time, which is the meaning of the number 414. (See my book, Secrets of Time.) And so, precisely 828 years (414 x 2) after Noah’s curse, Joshua led Israel into Canaan and disinherited the Canaanites and gave Hebron to Caleb as his inheritance.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 5 (Numbers 31-40), number 37
Interpretation: Jones applies his system of “Cursed Time” (414 years, multiple 828 years) as a prophetic calculation scheme — characteristic of his broader work Secrets of Time. Numbers serve as keys for salvation-historical periodicity.
Trial, Jubilees and the Second Coming (Number 40)
Jones develops his most explicit eschatological chronology around number 40:
“Forty is the number of trial or probation. When viewed as a time cycle, we find that Israel spent 40 years being tested and tried in the wilderness. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness being tested of the devil.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 5, number 40
“The number 40 can be viewed negatively in terms of the full 40 days/years of trial, but it can also be viewed positively in that it is the END of the time of trial or testing. In the positive sense, then, forty (i.e., mem) speaks of Israel crossing the Jordan River (water) after 40 years in the wilderness. In that sense also, Israel came from the wilderness and flowed into the Promised Land.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 5, number 40
“The New Testament Church spent 40 Jubilees in a wilderness of its own (33-1993 A.D.). The ‘Exodus’ covenant was made at the cross through the feast of Passover, while the Deuteronomy covenant is made as we enter the Promised Land in the Age of the feast of Tabernacles.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 5, number 40
“Perhaps He will return some time after forty Jubilees of the Church’s wilderness time. If so, we are in that season now, for 1993 was the 40th Jubilee of the Church’s wilderness time.”
— Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 5, number 40
Interpretation: Jones constructs a specific church-historical chronology: the Church passes through 40 Jubilees (33-1993 A.D.) of wilderness time. 1993 marks the end of that period. The return of Christ is placed “some time after” this jubilee year — an explicit, though tentative, time-prophecy. The feast of Tabernacles functions as the eschatological type of entering the Promised Land (new creation).