What Does the Number 6 Mean in the Bible?

On the sixth day, God spoke Adam and Eve into existence, giving them language and giving Adam a job of naming the animals.

Whereas seven means perfection and completion, six means imperfection and incompleteness, just as six is one number short of seven, just as all people fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

It means that God knew people would turn away from Him the moment He set his beautiful earth to its first rotation. This is comforting and also very confirming. Nothing, absolutely nothing is out of God’s control or sovereign will.

Even as we have free will, as Adam and Eve expressed in their decision to sin and disobey God, God’s good plan will stand, down to the exact day and hour.

The number 6 is another way that God tells us the truth about who we are: humans laden with weakness who are incomplete without Him.

The world will tell us something very different, similar to when false prophets back in ancient times told the Israelites to relax, good times were coming but it was the stomping feet of the Babylonians that came.

God does not lie, but the world does.

So what does the world say the number 6 means?

The Number 6

In numerology, the number 6 is the “embodiment of the heart.” Associations with this number are things like a nurturing and healing personality, compassion and empathy.

In planet numerology, if you’re noticing this number a lot, your guardian angel is communicating balance between professional and personal life, and between love, friends, and family.

It mentions domestic harmony, stability, and happiness.

The astrology sign for the number 6 is Virgo, who symbolizes service and meticulous work.

The sixth card in a tarot deck is the Lovers and “predicts new unions or the choice of what needs to be done. It represents the ideals of pleasure, beauty and friendship.” (themagichoroscope.com)

This is all quite different from what the Bible says the number 6 means.

The Number 6 in the Bible

Along with man, God created the serpent on the sixth day. (Genesis 1: 24-31) The serpent was the form Satan used to fool Eve into sinning. (Genes 3:1)

There is a long-standing correlation between the two that we see start in Genesis and end in Revelation, the book-ends (literally) of the Bible that the number 6 underscores.

As mentioned in this article (hyperlink to number 9 article), the number 666 is the mark of the beast, who is the Antichrist.

Satan will embody this being. The book of Revelation 13:18 says, “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is 666.”

It is as though God is saying our sin makes us inherently evil and that this number compounded shows how utterly evil, destructive, and brutal Satan is.

Yet our culture portrays him as cool and harmless, as our friend and God our enemy.

Significant Mentions of the Number 6 in the Bible

It was on the sixth day of Passover called the day of preparation that Jesus died on the cross (John 19:14). Several things are significant in this.

Passover is a week-long Jewish festival that celebrates their miraculous exit from Egyptian slavery.

The parallel set of events, one having taken place in the Old Testament and the other taking place in the New Testament, is again underscored by the number 6.

For God to save people from their slavery to a sinful nature, Someone sinless had to die. Turn the 6 and you have the number 9 (hyperlink to article).

We are to understand that our sin actually enslaves us and causes our death.

To really bring this message home, we’re told Mary’s cousin was in her sixth month of pregnancy (Luke 1:36) when an angel told Mary she’d conceive the Savior.

Significance of The Number 6 in the Old Testament

It’s worth going back to the beginning and seeing how God meant for us to live and compare it with how we live now.

God said that we are to work six days a week, and then rest on the seventh day.

Do we truly rest on the Sabbath as God commanded? Jesus said that man was not made for the Sabbath but Sabbath for man. (Mark 2:27)

We need our rest, and I believe God is communicating this not just through a command, but also through the number 6, knowing the dangers of exhaustion to human health.

A similar principle applies to the health of the land. God instructed the Israelites to work the land for six years, and then let it rest on the seventh.

Are we doing this? I don’t think we have to wonder why there is nutrient depletion in soil worldwide.

Significance of The Number 6 in the New Testament

The Bible says that six days lapsed from when Jesus told the disciples that some would not “taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matthew 16:28) and when he led three of them to a high mountain and was transfigured.

His countenance was brilliant, his face and his clothes shining. (Matthew 17:1 and 2)

Believers will also have transfigured bodies after they die!

Number 6 in the Bible

The number 6 in the Bible is the number of man and means human sin and incompleteness. We need a savior – not a spouse, a child, career, house, boat, dream, fame, money, status, drugs, or even something like the withheld love of a parent – to complete us, but a pure and loving and perfect Savior, who loves us. (Colossians 2:10)

It is good news indeed that what we really need to experience healing and restoration is what God has freely given us in sending Christ. (Romans 8:32)