Why the number 7?

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In God’s revelation, what is the signifance and importance of the number 7?

In Scripture, the number is symbolic.

In Genesis, God created the word in 7 days.
(And several other examples from Scripture)

**What about the 7 sacraments
and the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit? **
 
Seven is the number of Completeness… hence the 7 days, 7 sacraments, etc…
 
Here is something I found interesting. With the measures of time (day, week, month, seasons, year), it is only the 7 day week that is not determined by, and has no relation to, the movement of heavenly bodies (sun, earth, moon, stars). The 7 day cycle (week) exists only because of God’s decree - when He commanded every 7th day to be a day of rest.
God desired the 7 day cycle of His creative activity to be reflected in the lives and activity of those He creates.

Nita
 
BlestOne said:
Seven is the number of Completeness… hence the 7 days, 7 sacraments, etc…
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Specifically, of earthly completeness, hence the seven deacons who ministered to corporal needs - Acts 6. Twelve is the number of Heavenly Perfection - hence 12 Apostles who ministered to spiritual needs.

Note that this is where the significance of 666 comes from. Six is one short of complete, thus imperfect. The triple notation emphasizes the extremeness of the imperfection.

This is more or less accurate. I don’t have my sources at hand at the moment. I might bet 5 or 10 cents on it; not my life savings. 😃
 
7 is the number of the covenant. In Hebrew, if you wanted to make a covenant, you would literally “seven” yourself.

7 is generally associated with Covenantal Judgment/Blessing.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
Specifically, of earthly completeness, hence the seven deacons who ministered to corporal needs - Acts 6. Twelve is the number of Heavenly Perfection - hence 12 Apostles who ministered to spiritual needs.

Note that this is where the significance of 666 comes from. Six is one short of complete, thus imperfect. The triple notation emphasizes the extremeness of the imperfection.

This is more or less accurate. I don’t have my sources at hand at the moment. I might bet 5 or 10 cents on it; not my life savings. 😃
Click to expand...
Man was created on the sixth day as well, so six also represents imperfect man. Three is symbolic of God, hence the number 666 symbolizes man making himself into a god.
 
catholic1seeks said:
In God’s revelation, what is the signifance and importance of the number 7?

In Scripture, the number is symbolic.

In Genesis, God created the word in 7 days.
(And several other examples from Scripture)
**What about the 7 sacraments
and the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit? **
Click to expand...
It was 6 days, not 7.
 
lots of 7s in book of Revelation

seven churches which are in Asia
seven Spirits which are before his throne
seven golden candlesticks
seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand
seven Spirits of God
seven seals
a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes
seven trumpets
seven angels which had the seven trumpets
seven thunders
red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns,
…and seven crowns upon his heads
seven last plagues
seven golden vials full of the wrath of God
seven mountains
seven kings
 
thistle said:
Created in 6 days. The 7th day God rested. He did not create on the 7th day.
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If you want to get technical, He created the Sabbath on the 7th day, so he didn’t really rest.

At any rate, creation was not completed until He rested so it’s part of the cycle of creation.
 
HamtramckSteve said:
If you want to get technical, He created the Sabbath on the 7th day, so he didn’t really rest.

At any rate, creation was not completed until He rested so it’s part of the cycle of creation.
Click to expand...
He rested on the 7th day because his creation was complete at the end of the 6th day.
 
After each day of creation, God sees that His work is “good.” After the first six days are through, God sees that His work is “very good.”

The word “very” is used to mark the end of the creation cycle, since God had finished creating the realms and the rulers.

God “rested” on the 7th day.

It’s not that God got tired; we should see this rest and blessing as the first of the cycle of covenants that we will see throughout the Bible.

From www.salvationhistory.com:

God, by His act of establishing the Sabbath, is making a covenant with His creation, and especially with all of humanity, represented by the man He created in His own image. That seems to be what Jesus is getting at when He says: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).

…

Also, the Hebrew word for “oath-swearing” is sheba, a word that’s based on the Hebrew word for the number “seven.” In Hebrew, to swear an oath, which is what you do when you make a covenant, is “to seven oneself” (see Abraham’s oath in Genesis 21:27-32).

So, what God seems to be doing here on the seventh day, is not resting, but binding Himself to His creation in a perpetual covenant relationship. And we’ll see this pattern of covenant continuing throughout the Bible.
 
I find it interesting that in the binary number system, the simplest number system there is, 7 is 111. Does that look familiar?

DaveBj
 
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