Audio Download

The Spiritual Significance of Numbers – Eight Signifies New Beginnings, The New Man

[Study Aired January 30, 2026]

If the number seven signifies the completed week, then the number eight signifies a new week with a new man… “another vessel as it seemed good to the Potter to make it.”

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

“Another vessel” is ‘a new vessel of clay’, “the new man” in the true “image of Him that created him.”

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man [“another vessel”, (Jer 18:4)], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

It is “the eighth… beast” which “goeth into perdition.” It is only through his perdition, his destruction, his death, the death of the eighth beast, that he becomes “the image of Him that created him.” “The first man Adam” was never “in the image of God” as the King James Version reads:

Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

As we will see in this study, that verse reveals that God is in the process of creating mankind “after the image of Him that created him” (Col 3:10). God is in the process of creating “the new man”, and it is only that “new man” who is “in the image of Him that created him.”

The name ‘Seth’ is defined as “in the stead of.”

Gen 4:25  And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
Gen 4:26  And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

Abel signifies our slain Savior whose ‘blood cries out from the ground.’

Gen 4:6  And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto [H413: ‘el’, against] thee shall be his desire, and [in the end] thou shalt rule over him.

This Hebrew word ‘H413, el’, translated as ‘unto’ here in Genesis 4:7 is the same word translated ‘unto’ and ‘to’ in this verse of the previous chapter where the Lord is pronouncing judgment against the serpent, and Adam and Eve. This verse is His judgment against Eve:

Gen 3:16  Unto [H413: against] the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to [H413: against] thy husband, and [in the end] he shall rule over thee.

Eve’s curse was not that she would want to please her husband. That would be a blessing. Her curse was to oppose and be against her husband. That is indeed a curse. Sin’s desire was not to please God through Cain. That would be a blessing.  Cain’s curse was to be led by “the law of sin in [his] members warring against the law of his mind” (Rom 7:23):

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

The very next verse following Genesis 4:7 gives us the proper translation of this Hebrew word ‘el’ in the context of the three verses we are considering… Gen 3:16; Gen 4:7 and this verse:

Gen 4:8  And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against [H413: ‘el’, against] Abel his brother, and slew him.

The reason Cain slew Abel was the same reason the Jews slew Christ, and that was the very same reason Joseph’s brother wanted to kill him before Reuben and Judah talked them into putting Joseph in a pit, signifying his death, before selling Him into Egypt. Here is that reason in all three cases, Cain, Joseph and Christ:

Gen 37:2  These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
Gen 37:3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
Gen 37:5  And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
Gen 37:6  And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
Gen 37:7  For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
Gen 37:8  And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. [His doctrines]
Gen 37:9  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10  And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
Gen 37:11  And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

Joseph was “the son of [Jacob’s… Israel’s] old age” just as we, too, are “called the sons of God” here in “the end of the world, the end of the ages.”

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

They “hated him and could not speak peaceably to him” (Gen 37:4).  His brothers “hated him for his words” (Gen 37:8) “His brethren envied him” (Gen 37:11).

Why did they hate him? They hated him because his father loved him more that he loved his other ten sons. They hated him because the Lord had shown him that he would rule over his ten brothers. They also hated him because he “brought unto his father their evil report” (Gen 37:2):

Gen 37:2  These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah [Dan and Naphtali], and with the sons of Zilpah [Gad and Asher], his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

All of this is mirrored in how Israel received their Savior. They hated Him because His Father loved Him more that He loved the Jews who hated Christ:

Joh 10:17  Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Joh 10:18  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

Their physical ‘brother’ and fellow Israelite brought to His Father their evil report:

Mat 21:12  And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
Mat 21:13  And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

The chief priests, the scribes and the Pharisees “envied” Christ because of the multitudes which were flocking after Him and being healed by Christ and His Father:

Mat 27:17  Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
Mat 27:18  For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.

Mar 15:9  But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
Mar 15:10  For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.

Joh 11:41  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
Joh 11:42  And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 11:43  And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
Joh 11:44  And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
Joh 11:45  Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
Joh 11:46  But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.
Joh 11:47  Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.
Joh 11:48  If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

Christ’s own nation, His brothers, were definitely jealous of Him, just as Joseph’s brothers had said ‘will this man rule over us?’

Gen 37:8  And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

This is the spirit of “[their] father the devil]” (Joh 8:44) which Christ referred to in His parable of the ten servants and the ten pounds:

Luk 19:12  He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
Luk 19:13  And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
Luk 19:14  But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

The Jews hated Christ because Christ considered them to be of another Father and not of His Father:

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot  hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Eight signifies Christ as both the first and the last Adam:

Gen 5:4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

Luk 3:38  Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of [the first man] Adam, which was the son of God.

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Rev 1:17  And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

Physical circumcision signified the beginning of putting off of the sins of the flesh:

Gen 17:12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

Gen 21:4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.

Eight, in its negative application, signifies the end of our time in service to our flesh:

Jdg 3:8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
Jdg 3:9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD [after eight years of slavery], the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, [even] Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.

Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

King David, a type of Christ, was the eighth son of Jesse:

1Sa 17:12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.

1Sa 17:14 (a) And David was the youngest: [the eighth]

King David’s “chief …captain” slew eight hundred man “at one time”:

2Sa 23:8 These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.

Eight signifies a giving spirit:

Ecc 11:1 Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
Ecc 11:2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

It is through the Number eight we approach the temple:

Eze 40:31 And the arches thereof [of the south side of the temple] were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof: and the going up to it had eight steps.

Eze 40:34 And the arches thereof [of the east side of the temple] were toward the outward court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps.

Eze 40:37 And the posts thereof [of the north gate] were toward the utter court; and palm trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the going up to it had eight steps.

Here is the spiritual antitype of these eight steps up to the temple:

Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

There were eight tables for offering the sacrifices, four on each side of the temple. There were four on the north side, and there were four on the south side:

Eze 40:39  And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering.
Eze 40:40  And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of the gate, were two tables.
Eze 40:41  Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they slew their sacrifices.

The firstborn of our herds and of our flocks were to be given to the Lord on the eighth day:

Exo 22:29 Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.
Exo 22:30 Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me.

The burnt offering and the sin offerings for the days of the consecration of the priests and for the sins of the people were to be offered on the eighth day, after seven days of consecration of the priests:

Lev 8:33 And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven days shall he consecrate you.
Lev 8:34 As he hath done this day, so the LORD hath commanded to do, to make an atonement for you.
Lev 8:35 Therefore shall ye abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night seven days, and keep the charge of the LORD, that ye die not: for so I am commanded.
Lev 8:36 So Aaron and his sons did all things which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.

Lev 9:1 And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel;
Lev 9:2 And he said unto Aaron, Take thee a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer [them] before the LORD.

Lev 9:7 And Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto the altar, and offer thy sin offering, and thy burnt offering, and make an atonement for thyself, and for the people: and offer the offering of the people, and make an atonement for them; as the LORD commanded.

Circumcision, signifying the putting off of the flesh, took place on the eighth day:

Lev 12:3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

“Circumcision… of the heart, in the spirit” takes place only in our spiritual eighth day, the day we begin to be transformed into a new man:

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man [on the spiritual eighth day], which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Php 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Col 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image [not of the first Adam, but after the image] of him that created him:
Col 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

The Eighth Man in Micah is Christ “whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting.”

Mic 5:1 Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
Mic 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Mic 5:3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
Mic 5:4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
Mic 5:5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him [the Assyrian] seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
Mic 5:6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria [Babylon] with the sword [of the Word of God], and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian [Babylon – “the land of Nimrod], when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

The ”eight principal men” of this 5^th chapter of Micah are the “Christ [of] our Lord.”

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever

Christ comes to us only “when [the Assyrian] shall tread in our palaces (Mic 5:5). Therefore, the new man or “eight principal men” come to deliver us only after we have begun to be judged and are beginning to be purified and consecrated.

The New Testament

John the Baptist and Christ were both circumcised on the eighth day, signifying the fact that He does not come to deliver us until our seven days of being judged and consecrated in these vessels of clay:

Luk 1:59  And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
Luk 1:60  And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.

Luk 2:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Christ appeared to His disciples after His resurrection – “after eight days.”

Joh 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: [then] came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

Deliverance came to Aeneas, and he began a new life after eight years of being bedridden:

Act 9:33 And there he [Peter] found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy.

There were eight people on the ark, and Noah is called “the eighth person.”

1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

2Pe 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Paul was circumcised the eighth day “an Hebrew of Hebrews.”

Php 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

It is expedient that we understand that the eighth man cannot appear until after seven days of the judging and purifying and consecrating of our old man. That is the meaning of this verse:

Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Now that we know that the number eight signifies the new man and new beginnings let’s take note of where the word ‘new’ appears in the New Testament:

1Co 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

1Co 11:25 After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me.

2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man [be] in Christ,  he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Gal 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. [Circumcised in spirit on the spiritual eighth day]

Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man [the “consecrated man” – Lev 8:33 – and then offer a sin offering], which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: [It was Christ who created them male and female, but they were not yet “after the image of Him that created him” while yet in “vessels of clay”]

Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

Heb 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

1Jn 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Conclusion:

Eight is the number of the new man, the overcomer who is, “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20) offers himself as a living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1), and fills up in his body what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake, which is the church” (Col 1:24).