SEVEN: #3 The Old Testament Sevens

Symbols and numbers function as a kind of spiritual code. In the Old Testament, when God created the world in seven days, it perfectly matches the numeric time code of humanity's timeline.

THE OLD TESTAMENT SEVENS

Most associate the number seven with the Book of Revelation. While that is true, the Old Testament set the stage for the conclusive writings of John, who wrote the book of Revelation. Did you know that all the imagery within Revelation’s book comes directly from the heavy use of symbols and imagery from the Old Testament? Well, it’s true.

Symbols are timeless; they deliver values, doctrines, and immovable signposts that grant direction along life’s way. An example is using the word “beast” vs. “dictator” or saying “Babylon” over that of “World Economic Systems.” One creates a picture, and the other must be translated into the human mind to find an implanted picture.

Symbols and numbers function as a kind of spiritual code. In the Old Testament, when God created the world in seven days, it perfectly matches the numeric time code of humanity's time period of existence – 6,000 years for humanity and reserving 1,000 years for the reign of Jesus Christ. We determine this as truth from the doctrine that One Day to the Lord is one thousand years for mankind.   

There are 245 verses in the Old Testament noting the number seven. It reveals the importance of God cementing His perfect number – seven pairs of animals, seven days of rain, seven days of water, seven years of serving to receive Rachel, seven ears on a corn stalk, seven years of Jubilee, seven years of famine, and a host of others. God truly seems to be “obsessed” with the number seven.

Without question, God does a lot of things in sevens. Noting, this is more significant than you realize. There are seven days in each week. Our body's cells change every seven years. Our pulse beats slower every seven days. On a more Biblical side, there are seven feasts of Jehovah, seven sayings from the Cross, and seven secrets in the Lord’s parables. Furthermore, we find seven churches, seven spirits, seven lampstands, seven stars, seven lamps of fire, seven seals, seven horns, and the list grows from there.  

The Holy Word of God, when it was canonized, was organically divided into seven major categories – the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels and Acts, the general epistles, the epistles of the Apostle Paul, and let’s not forget the book of Revelation. The calculation of the original inspired books was forty-nine or 7X7, demonstrating the absolute immovable perfection of God’s identity marker, the number seven.

Within the Old Testament, there are seven primary men labeled by God as “a man of God.”

These men are Moses (Joshua 14:6), David (2 Chron. 8:14), Samuel (1 Sam 9:6), Shemaiah (1 Kings 12:22), Elijah (1 Kings 17:18), Elisha (2 Kings 5:8), and Igdaliah (Jeremiah 35:4). Each are men that God brought special honor and significance to the prophecies God worked to place within man’s timeline.

Taking a snapshot of the book of Hebrews, which is the Jewish New Testament history book of the Hebrew people, Paul notes seven titles to refer to Jesus Christ – Heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2), Captain of our salvation (2:10), Apostle (3:1), Author of salvation (5:9), Forerunner (6:20), High Priest (10:21, and the Author and finisher of our faith (12:2). While Jesus is pegged with 225 names associating His broad range of services, in God’s reality, He has seven primary names.

One of the more common things Jesus was remembered by is His parables. In chapter thirteen of Matthew alone, He details seven parables within 47 verses – sower and the seed (13:3-9), the tares (24-30), the mustard seed (31-32, the issue of leaven (33), the hidden treasure (44), the pearl of great price (45-46), and a net cast into the sea (47-50). Now, why would Jesus stick to the number seven in most of His teachings? It is simple stuff – He was revealing the identity marker of His Father in all that He said, did, and explained.

As you can see, the number seven is foundational in God’s Word – both in the New & Old Testaments. It derives much of its meaning from being tied directly to our Lord, revealing His identity in creation, which symbolizes completeness and perfection, both His spiritual and physical positioning in eternity. If we include all the variations of the number seven, as in “sevens,” “seventh,” and “sevenfold,” there are around 600 references.

If we review Jewish traditions, the creation of Adam occurred on September 26, 3760 B.C., known as Tishri (Feast of Trumpets), which is the first day of the seventh month of the Hebrew sacred year. The word "created" is used seven times to describe God's creative work (Genesis 1:1, 21, 27, 2:3 - 4). There are seven days in a week, and God's Sabbath is on the seventh day. These were birth pangs of the extensive use of the number throughout God’s Holy Word. As we progress to the time of Jesus, we find some fascinating facts.

The book of the prophet Micah contains seven chapters. More interesting are the chapters in God's Word that contain seven verses, as in Psalms 11, 14, 54, 67, 87, 110, 120, 142, Isaiah 18, and Jeremiah 47. All of these have to do with the seven Temple segments and warnings of the Lord.

Another interesting fact. Wednesday, March 29, in 30 A.D. - Nisan 7 on the Hebrew calendar, began the last week of Jesus' life. This is the day Jesus traveled to Bethany to have dinner at Lazarus' house, the same man He resurrected from the dead on the seventh day, John 12:1 - 11. Since he brought Lazarus back to life on the seventh day, he told the women that Lazarus was sleeping/resting due to it being on the Sabbath. At the dinner during his visit, Mary, Lazarus' sister, anointed the Lord's feet with oil that symbolized the Holy Spirit’s anointing – to mark His seven-day journey to the Cross. In fact, the number seven was embedded in all that Jesus did.

There are seven annual Holy Days for the Jews and the graphed Gentiles in the Bible that God requires indwelt believers to keep - the Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread (7 days), Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpet, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles (7 days) and the Last Great Day. Interesting as it is, this cycle begins in the first month of the Hebrew calendar's sacred year and completes in its seventh month.

While Rome stole the thunder of the seven hills, Jerusalem, historically, was the city noted as being built on seven hills - Mount Scopus, Olivet, Corruption, Ophel, the original Mount Zion, the new Mount Zion, and the hill on which the Antonia Fortress was built. Jerusalem, however, Rome is not the only one to make claim to the Seven Hills ideology. The cities of Babylon, Moscow, Mecca, and many others, including 19 American cities, also claim this distinction.

Miracles and the Number Seven

Speaking of the seventh day, the Sabbath, Jesus performed seven miracles on God's holy Sabbath Day, thus affirming its continued sacredness to the Eternal and necessity in the life of the believer & God’s work as He rests.

1. Jesus healed the withered hand of a man attending synagogue services (Matthew 12:9).

2. At a Capernaum synagogue, he casts out an unclean spirit that possessed a man (Mark 1:21).

3. Following the above miracle, Jesus heals Peter's wife's mother of a fever (Mark 1:29).

4. A woman attending synagogue, who was made sick by a demon for eighteen years, is released from her bondage (Luke 13:11).

5. At a Pharisee's house, eating a meal with the host and several lawyers, Jesus heals a man with dropsy (Luke 14:2).

6. A man who is disabled and unable to walk is healed at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:8 - 9).

7. Jesus heals a man born blind at the pool of Siloam (John 9:14).

Hopefully, by now, you can see the significance of the number seven in the Word of God. Regardless of what happens in this life, no matter how confusing things might appear – the life in Christ is 100% based on the number seven. As we continue to study this number, you will be glad to know the Word of God provides prophecies that are rooted in, and are revealed from the Father’s identity marker, the number seven. Until next time.