The Perfect Number 7

I wanted to mark today as "Year Number Seven", seven years since we lost our son, Tyler. It is amazing how God can give us such peace with such a simple thing as a number. Nothing can ever take the place of Ty, nor do we want anything to. But I believe God has put this on my heart today to just give that little extra calm to my life and my memories. Thanksgiving is usually very hard on my heart, but this year was a Thanksgiving to truly be THANKFUL for - family... and all of them surrounding us and letting us love them and laugh with them.

Tyler's marker reads '777', and not by our doing. It was what was offered. But in a tragic time, it was a sign of peace to us.

In Scripture, we are given many instances of God's use of the number seven. It's perfectness.

Look at the BibleWheel.com has to say about the number seven:

1. God marked the Bible with the Number Seven because it is the fulness of God's revelation!

2. God marked the Bible with the Number Seven because it is His Oath! His Promise! His Covenant!

3. The phrase seven times is used frequently in Scripture to mark the work of God. The Levitcal Priests were told to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice seven times, Joshua was ordered to march around Jericho seven times, and Namaan was told to wash in the Jordan seven times to be cleansed of leprosy.

4. The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

5. Matthew 18:21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

6. Revelation 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

7. Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and herested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

The following is from Bible-History.com (more examples):

The Number 7

The number 7 perhaps speaks of perfection or completeness. God's complete provision in His dealings with men.

Some examples:

7 days make a complete week

7 colors make a perfect spectrum

7 great land masses form a complete earth

7 notes make a perfect scale

7 great bodies of water form a complete ocean

There were the 7 days of creation as well as many other examples throughout the Scriptures:

Zech 3:9 For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,' says the LORD of hosts, `And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

Rev 1:4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,

To the Jew every 7th day was a Sabbath.

Every 7th year was a Sabbatical year.

After the 7th Sabbatical year was the year of Jubilee.

Every 7th month was holy and had 3 feasts.

There were 7 weeks between Passover and Pentecost.

The Passover feast lasted 7 days.

The feast of Tabernacles lasted 7 days.

At Passover 14 lambs (7 twice) were offered daily.

At Tabernacles 14 lambs (7 twice) and 70 bullocks were offered.

At Pentecost 7 lambs were offered.

The time of mourning the dead was fixed to 7 days.

and so on...

Seven continues to have symbolic prominence in the New Testament, with Jesus telling Peter that it is not enough that he forgive the brother who had sinned against him seven times, but "seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:21-22). Seven is also the number of Greek-speaking Christians appointed by the Twelve Apostles in Acts 6:3.

The New Testament concludes in a "great surge of sevens, with heptads, explicit and implicit, tumbling forth from many verses."

In the Book of Revelation there were:

The 7 letters to the 7 Churches.

The 7 Seal Judgements

The 7 Trumpet Judgements

The 7 Bowl Judgements

The 7 Golden Lampstands

The 7 Stars

The 7 Angels

The 7 Spirits of God

The Lamb with 7 Horns and 7 Eyes.

The 7 Lamps of Fire

The 7 Thunders

The Fiery Red Dragon with 7 heads and 7 Crowns.

The Leopard-Like Beast with 7 heads.

The Scarlet-Colored Beast with 7 heads.

The 7 Mountains

The 7 Kings

Now you all have a little insight into why the number seven means something to us today. It is the way things are to be, whether is it be pleasant or not.

But there is peace.