The Number 333
On Saturday, August 5th, 75 days since God last inspired me to buy a Lotto ticket, He prompted me to buy a ticket for that night’s draw. This would be my 70th ticket using the number 33 (my original numbers). It would also be day 33 of my current trip had I gone on it, starting on the 4th of July in Auschwitz (American Independence Day). As it happened, it was exactly four years earlier on August 5th, 2019, that God first inspired me to visit Auschwitz. He didn’t prompt me to pick a date to visit it until five days later on August 10, which happened to be the 9th of Av in the Jewish calendar – the saddest day of their year, commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Jewish Temples. (It was observed one day later in 2019 due to it falling on the Sabbath Day). In fact, God inspired me to buy this ticket at 3:24 p.m., which is around the very time that He first gave me the idea to visit Auschwitz exactly four years earlier.
Some people believe that the Second Temple was destroyed on August 5, 70 A.D., so it was ironic then that my 70th ticket should fall on August 5, 2023 – the 5th day of the 8th month of the year. It wasn’t until 75 days later on the evening of October 19, that God prompted me to add this connection. I logged in to my computer at 9:11 p.m., and then an hour-and-a-half later, made another interesting connection. The evening of October 19 was the start of the 5th of Cheshvan in the Hebrew calendar – the 5th day of the 8th religious month of the year – the exact equivalent of August 5th in the Gregorian calendar! That is an unusual coincidence to say the least!
My next ticket, whenever it came, would potentially be my 71st using the number 33 – a number that is typically associated with rule or governance in Judaism. Why? Because the Great Sanhedrin that ruled over Israel was composed of 71 members. This was derived from the fact that God asked Moses to assemble 70 elders of Israel to help him rule over the people (Numbers 11:16–17). Moses plus the 70 elders equals 71.
Interestingly, Jesus – the Messiah, is also associated with government:
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” – Isaiah 9:6–7
On Saturday, October 14, 2023 – exactly 10 weeks or 70 days since God last prompted me to buy and play a ticket for the August 5th draw, He prompted me to buy my next one. My 71st ticket was purchased and played exactly 70 days since my 70th ticket using the number 33! Interestingly, this ticket was inspired at 6:05 p.m., 1 hour and 41 minutes before sunset. As it happens, there were exactly 70 days and 1 hour and 41 minutes since God inspired me to buy my last ticket at 3:24 p.m. on August 5th (taking into account daylight saving time). The time between it being exactly 70 days until sunset was split precisely in two. That then got me thinking. How long was it from the time my ticket was inspired on Saturday, August 5th until sunset on that day? The answer was 2 hours and 11 minutes. (3:24 p.m. to 5:35 p.m.)
Adding all those time periods together, you get 5 hours and 33 minutes, or precisely 333 minutes! In other words, if you add the time from when the 70th ticket was inspired until sunset (2 hours, 11 minutes on August 5th), and the time from when the 70th ticket was inspired until sunset 70 days later on October 14th (3 hours and 22 minutes), this adds up to precisely 333 minutes! There was no way I would have discovered that if God had not split the time exactly in half between it being exactly 70 days and sunset on October 14th!
Fascinatingly, the time between the two sunsets on Saturday, August 5th and Saturday, October 14th was exactly 70 days, 1 hour and 11 minutes, or 70 days and 71 minutes! (5:35 p.m. on August 5th until 7:46 p.m. on October 14th, allowing for one hour of daylight savings time). These two dates separated my 70th and 71st tickets using the number 33! (Sunset times based on Nelson, New Zealand using timeanddate.com).
The question is, why? I can think of several reasons.
Israel was created with 33 votes on the 333rd day of the year in the United Nations. Both the numbers 70 and 71 are intimately tied to Israel. As it happened, Saturday, October 14, 2023 was the start of the annual Torah portion reading cycle beginning with Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning…”.
It was apt then on this day that New Zealand held its general election resulting in a new government being formed! Our new Prime Minister, Chris Luxon, being of Christian belief.
Exactly two weeks later on October 28th at 6:05 p.m., God inspired me to buy my 72nd Lotto ticket using the number 33. This came exactly two weeks to the minute since inspiring me to buy my last ticket on October 14. Or, to put it another way, it was inspired exactly 12 weeks, 1 hour and 41 minutes since being prompted to buy my 70th ticket on August 5th (accounting for 1 hour of daylight savings time).
October 28th happens to fall exactly 333 days since November 29, 2022 – the 333rd day of the year, and also the 75th anniversary of the historic vote to create the state of Israel in the United Nations in 1947. Therefore, if you add the time to sunset from the 70th ticket being inspired (2 hours and 11 minutes), plus the lengths of time over and above 70 days and 12 weeks respectively until the 71st and 72nd tickets were inspired (1 hour, 41 minutes each), this comes to precisely 333 minutes! I would have been unlikely to discover this had God not done things in the way that He did two weeks earlier.
It is clear then that God had his hand on this story (as with all these stories), particularly in light of the fact that Israel was created with 33 votes on the 333rd day of the year, and this story came to an end 333 days after the 333rd day of the year with a figure totalling 333 minutes, for my ticket using the number 33! There is no way that I could have or would have come up with that story myself. Having been travelling around constantly for over a year, I had no idea that I would end up in Nelson for over three-and-a-half months, which is where God used the sunset times in order to tell the first part of the story. Had I shifted around to other towns during that time, the sunset times would have been different, and the story may not have worked! (As it happened, I left Nelson on October 25th and was in Greymouth on October 28th). I was in Nelson for 3 months and 24 days (July 1 – October 25), which, coincidentally, was the very time that my 70th ticket was inspired on August 5th (3:24 p.m.)!
As it happens, my 69th ticket using the number 33 was inspired at 3:57 p.m. – 75 minutes before sunset in Nelson on May 22nd. I had arrived that day from the West Coast, and left two days later on May 24th for Greymouth. Therefore, my 70th ticket was inspired exactly 33 minutes short of 75 days on August 5th at 3:24 p.m. It was this ticket on August 5th that began the story of the 333 minutes for the following two tickets, ending on October 28th, 12 weeks later.
One of the recurring themes in this story since May 22nd, seems to be that of the number 75. It would appear to me that God was using both the fact that it was 75 years since the vote to create Israel in the United Nations, and the fact that it was done with 33 votes on the 333rd day of the year. That is not something that I could have foreseen coming, especially given that everything that God did was down to the very minute! To summarise:
333 Minutes
| # | Inspired: | Sunset: | Significance: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 69 | Mon, May 22 @ 3:57 p.m. | 5:12 p.m. (Nelson) | Inspired 75 mins before sunset |
| 70 | Sat, Aug 5 @ 3:24 p.m. | 5:35 p.m. (Nelson) | Inspired 33 mins short of 75 days since last ticket, 131 mins before sunset |
| Clocks went forward 1 hour on Sep 24, 2023 @ 2 a.m. (Daylight Saving Time) | |||
| 71 | Sat, Oct 14 @ 6:05 p.m. | 7:46 p.m. (Nelson) | Inspired 70 days, 101 mins since 70th ticket, 101 mins before sunset. (202 mins + 131 mins = 333 mins). The 70th and 71st sunsets are 70 days & 71 mins apart. |
| 72 | Sat, Oct 28 @ 6:05 p.m. | 8:12 p.m. (Greymouth) | Inspired 12 weeks, 101 mins since 70th ticket. Oct 28 falls 333 days since the 333rd day of the year, marking the 75th anniversary of Israel’s creation on Nov 29, 1947. 131 mins + 101 mins + 101 mins = 333 mins. The first and last sunset times are separated by exactly 120 mins. |
Essentially, what you are looking at here is the mind of God at work. This is what was in His head before it was in mine! An interesting concept in and of itself. It is interesting that God put me in Nelson for just two days from May 22–24, 2023, seemingly to align with the sunset times of the following three tickets.
The first and last sunsets are separated by precisely 120 minutes (5:12 p.m. in Nelson to 8:12 p.m. in Greymouth, allowing for one hour of daylight saving time). There are 159 days between the two dates (May 22 – October 28).
The number 120 is also significantly associated with rule or governance in Israel, deriving from the number of people who made up the “Great Assembly” – a collection of prophets and scribes who exercised authority over Israel after returning from Babylon in the 6th century B.C. Even in Israel today, this has extended to the number of members in parliament (the Knesset) made up of 120 members.