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Saturday, November 01, 2008

Sevens in the Book of Revelation

Below is a chart of most of the occurrences of the number, seven, in the book of Revelation. My church is using lessons on this book in our Sunday School classes, and I decided that I wanted to see where and how the number was used in the book. I have no expertise in the question of why seven is used so much. One popular opinion, perhaps correct, is that seven represents perfection. However, I note that some of the numbers relate to evil entities, not good ones.

Seven occurs elsewhere in the Bible, of course, starting with the seven days in the first chapter of Genesis.

Thanks for reading, and looking.

2 comments:

Weekend Fisher said...

I don't think that the uses of 7 with evil things has to deter you; consider it may be that the dragon or beast is set up with apparently good traits, in a credible counterfeit of what was good.

Though for my part, I think of "7" in the Jewish Scriptures and I see Sabbath (blessing and rest at the fullness of time), Jubilee (forgiveness and restoration), Daniel's 70x7 (time until the Messiah), and Jesus' 70x7 (forgiveness).

Take care & God bless
Anne / WF

Martin LaBar said...

Thanks, Weekend Fisher. You may be right about the dragon/beast.

You are right, for sure, that 7 is used a lot in the Bible as a whole -- though use is concentrated in Revelation.