The Kingdom of Seven
Seven is the most reoccurring number in the Bible, appearing so often that intent is obvious. The very first sentence in scripture contains seven words, and in the first and second chapters the institution of time was established with the creation of seven days which were incorporated into the week. The word week in scripture literally means seven and it is used to denote time, not in days only, but also in years. This is evident in that Jacob served Laban a week (seven years) for each of his daughters.
Being that the creation is comprised of figurative symbols; the institution of the week is also symbolic. It is therefore written that six days are for work, but the seventh day is holy to the Lord and in it you shall do no work; for the work of God was completed in six days and he ceased from his work on the seventh day and made it holy. The seventh day was set apart and distinguished from the other days representing perfection and completion of God’s work.
Originally the days were not named but numbered, except for the seventh day which was called the Sabbath. The Hebrew word for Sabbath is shabbat which comes from the Hebrew verb shavat, which literally means “to cease.”
In chapter four of the Book of Hebrews it states that there is a rest to the people of God and relates that rest to the Sabbath, saying that, when we ‘cease’ from our works we enter into God’s rest. The true Sabbath then is more than a day; it is a place of rest and completion. We come to that place when we cease from doing our own works and come to the fullness of Christ.
The record in Genesis of the first six days divided the day into two parts, the first part beginning at dusk and the latter coming with the illumination of day (the evening and the morning). After the fist six days were illuminated, on the seventh came the Sabbath. Until we come into the fullness of Christ we labor within the six days and to varying degrees are under our own will, walking in our own ways, and doing our own works. As we become illuminated we are to put off the works of darkness and walk in the light of the day in a quest for perfection and completion in Christ.
Christ then is the Sabbath. When he walked the earth he did not do his own works but the work of the Father. Coming into the Sabbath spiritually is a process of coming into Christ; just as the creation was a process consisting of six days of work with completion coming upon the arrival of the seventh day which was set apart, exalted, and made holy.
Seven Kingdoms
God uses multiple witnesses as conformation and the week is but one figure where seven represents completeness and rest with God in the fullness of Christ. Another allegory expressing this is in the conquest of Canaan when the children of Israel were freed from bondage and called up out of Egypt.
In Chapter seven of Deuteronomy God promises the Israelites that he would bring them into Canaan’s land and cast out “seven nations greater and stronger” than they were, and give them the land for an inheritance forever. Furthermore, he stated that he would do this in stages saying: “I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.” It was therefore established that in time the Israelites would gradually dispossess seven nations and possess the kingdom.
Now consider the conquest of the “Promised Land” extrapolating the events into context with the words of Christ and his statement: “the kingdom of Heaven is within you.” Furthermore, he also stated that the kingdom Heaven “suffered violence and the violent take it by force“. If the kingdom of heaven is within you and the violent take it by force, then we must possess the kingdom by increasing in Christ mortifying ourselves.
There are then seven regions of our being that must be conquered. Those things inhabiting those regions must be driven out “little by little“; and replaced by Christ. We do not achieve perfection in this life instantaneously but it is a constant battle for possession of the land until all seven nations are subdued. And as the creation also was not completed in one day, but it was a process of days coming to completion with the seventh; so likewise Christ is created within us.
Another witness God has given testifying of perfection in seven is the seventh man. The Epistle of Jude expressly states that Enoch, the seventh from Adam prophesied of the Lord’s coming. There is not much information about Enoch in the Genesis account; but one of the most interesting things we learn about him is what was not written. For there is a record of years numbering those coming before Enoch as well as those who follow up until the flood; but the record of Enoch states: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Chapter eleven in the Book of Hebrews elucidates that record by stating that Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; and he could not be found, because God had taken him away. – And, before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
Thus God creates a figure in Enoch the seventh man from Adam; a man that walks with God, pleases him, and escapes death. The seventh man is set aside as holy as was the seventh day, for he is the fulfillment of it; and he is taken by God for himself eternally.
There is so much more to be written about; the golden candlestick for example, which had three branches on each side and seven lamps. – And many other figures, showing not only how metaphors and allegories are built around the number seven relating to the completeness of man in Christ, but how seven also relates to God and his timetable for all of creation.
Let it suffice to end this work here relating scripture from Proverbs with scriptures in the books of Revelation and Isaiah.
Proverbs 9:1-2: “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table.”
We are then to kill our beast and build our house. We are God’s building, but what then are the seven pillars? The book Revelation often makes mention of the seven spirits of God, and it is worth noting that the Book of Isaiah begins chapter eleven with a prophesy of Christ and continues: “The Spirit of the LORD will rest (note the word rest) on him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.”
Interestingly, when you count these beginning with the “Spirit of the Lord” they total seven: (1) Spirit of the LORD, (2) Spirit of wisdom, (3) Spirit of understanding, (4) Spirit of counsel, (5) Spirit of power, (6) Spirit of knowledge, (7) Spirit of the fear of the Lord.
The spirit of the Lord appears to be the sum of the other six, and it “rested” upon the Messiah. Likewise, the Sabbath was the conclusion and totality of all six days of God’s work and he rested upon their completion. – And the golden candlestick had six branches with seven lamps; the candlestick itself being the base and bearing the seventh lamp.
The Sabbath is coming into the fullness of the seven spirits of God; this is God in us and completeness in Christ as represented by seven days, seven kingdoms, seven golden lamps, and the seventh man from Adam; all representative figures which God has given to be multiple witnesses. Therefore, if we are in Christ, we labor to come into completeness though we have not attained it as of yet. We work toward that goal in hopes of attaining completeness which is perfection in Christ and rest from our own works.
Signs and Symbols
There is extensive use of signs and symbols throughout scripture and it is no coincidence that many things written therein are explained using metaphors and allegories, for the creation was designed for that purpose.
For it pleased God that through his wisdom he would create a physical realm with representatives of the spiritual. All things invisible and eternal, principles or spirits, have physical representation in our material universe whereby they are revealed, thus making the very nature of the creation itself metaphorical.
If the physical world is observed and considered, the things therein act as teachers and instructors revealing truths and mysteries of God. – And even though the physical creation is temporal it is not in vain, for all things organic or inorganic, along with every living creature, and the laws of physics, make knowledge manifest for eternity. – Also there is no language where their voice is not heard.
The Apostle Paul stated; “….the invisible things of [God] from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made….” It is then by the visible that we can know the invisible, and in seeing, see things we cannot see. Knowledge is good but it does not always work to salvation, for condemnation also lies within comprehending the physical but failing to come to the knowledge of the truth in regards to spiritual things. Then it is not a failure of intellect but of heart.
Yeshua often spoke in parables using earthly representations for spiritual things. When asked why, he explained that those who did not believe would see but see not, and hear but hear not. When relating physical things to spiritual, Yeshua was asked by Nicodemus: “How can these things be? “ Yeshua answered back: “If I have told you earthly things and you believed not, how would you believe if I told you heavenly things?”
Heavenly Things
“And God said: Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.” – In those words simultaneous events are recorded; light is created, designated as being good, and separated from darkness. – At the same time a distinction is made and good is separated from evil.
The account of Light and Darkness in the first verses of the Bible begins a theme that continues throughout reaching a climax at the crucifixion and finally culminating in the very last chapter of the very last book when the temporal creation comes to an end.
It is therefore necessary that both light and darkness are the focus in the beginning versus of scripture for they are foundational in God‘s plan for creation from beginning to end – For as Light overcomes darkness so knowledge overcomes ignorance and good overcomes evil.
The dichotomy between light and darkness and between good and evil is but one of many cases where spiritual events are paralleled by physical ones; and it is a reoccurring pattern in both scripture and in nature.
Night and Day
For those of us accustomed to beginning a new day when we arise, a curious statement appears in the Bible immediately following God’s designation of night and day, for the scripture states that the evening and the morning were the first day.
It is necessary to know the context of things in order to grasp their significance and an important aspect in the Genesis account is the sequence in which day and night occur. As in the Jewish tradition which is in accordance with scripture; a full day begins at sunset and ends at sunset the next evening. This would put morning at the mid-point of a day rather than noon as is the present custom practiced throughout the world.
It was however not without purpose or reason that the evening and darkness which followed should come before the morning and the light of day, for the significance is that darkness exists, but the light comes to displace the darkness and it is done away with. – Light is the victor.
The world presently follows the Roman conception of a day which both begins and ends at midnight. It is observed by all modern societies which adopted it from the Gregorian calendar which was based upon the Julian calendar. As a spiritual representation this would indicate that a day begins in darkness and ends in darkness. There is in the middle the appearance of light for a period of time, but then the day descends back into blackness and the obscurity of darkness to end.
Thus, by the observance of the Roman time cycle the allegory is corrupted obscuring the true representation and creating instead a Satanic one that indicates the rejection of light and a return into darkness. – The triumph of darkness over light.
When God created the sun, moon, and stars he said; “Let them be for signs and for seasons.” If we change the times and the signs we destroy representaions and obscure meanings. We do not worship symbols but God has given us signs and symbols to be His witness.
Randy A. Sprinkle
Parallel Worlds
The scriptures state that there are two worlds which run parallel. The first is eternal and invisible while the second is a physical realm which is temporal. The latter was created in part to the end that the invisible things of the eternal realm could be made manifest by physical examples.
Everything physical corresponds to its spiritual counterpart of which it is a representative and displays characteristics of it, so that, as the Apostle Paul stated: “…the invisible things of [God] from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead….”
One may ask why in it would be necessary to create a temporal world to represent the spiritual realm in order to make knowledge manifest. An answer to this lies within the very fact that the earthly model is temporal, for all things and possibilities are not good.
If evil in its totality is manifest in a physical temporal form it has an end. Evil could not be allowed to manifest itself in its fullness in the eternal realm without corrupting heaven, but neither can it exist in God’s presence. Would God have allowed the confusion and chaos that has taken place on earth to take place in the eternal realm? Could God have allowed Himself to be crucified in Heaven? – And how could such a degree of evil be known if not given the opportunity to manifest itself? – How would it be eternally judged?
Indeed, evil began in heaven, but it was cut short of its aspirations. It was however necessary that those aspirations be allowed to mature to the end that their fruit could be irrefutability proven to be the absolute evil it is. It was necessary that evil become absolute to assure its absolute destruction.
A tree is known by its fruit and not only does evil produce evil fruit, it does so consistently regardless of all the various forms and ways in which it presents itself. Evil will come in every way imaginable but the outcome of its works are invariably evil. It is a truism that if mankind can imagine it and do it, someone will. Furthermore, many will attempt the evil that no one can do.
God’s exposé of evil is exhaustive. Not only is evil made manifest by the deeds of men, but even nature itself contains innumerable examples of evil. During the existence of the world not only is every evil discovered; it is made naked in every way it presents itself and in all of its operations. In every generation we see a reoccurrence of evil. Is it not in the fact that history consistently repeats itself, a damning testimony against the inherent defects of evil?
Reality is that for a season evil exists in both the spiritual and physical realms. Evil will be destroyed eternally after it is allowed to mature fully and ripen so that there shall be no continual reoccurrences such as the world has experienced. When evil is brought to light it is destroyed; thus it was the wisdom of God that designed out of the clay a temporal battlefield where the heart and soul of both good and evil could be epitomized repeatedly – A place where even when evil triumphs it ultimately loses.
Randy A. Sprinkle
Christianity: Then to now
A Brief overall review
Originally, Christianity consisted almost exclusively of Jewish believers and although the first believers were met with hostility from many of their Jewish brethren, and the whole region at the time was under the control of Rome, Christianity continued to grow. As Christianity spread from Judea throughout the Roman Empire and increased, the Christians were also persecuted by the Roman state. Never-the-less the faith abounded regardless of persecution. Eventually Rome, being unable to stop the spread of Christianity adopted the faith as a state religion and began to use it as a means to gain more authority. A “Romanization” of Christianity took place which removed the faith from its Jewish context and added elements of Romanism and paganism.
The purpose of the religion as administered by Rome was not so much the service of God, but rather to set Church hierarchy up in the stead of God in his perceived absence. – But the state religion was not compatible with the scriptures; therefore, to conceal this, access to scripture by the masses was denied. A select few were chosen to control the information the public was to be exposed to, and to interpret the understanding of those things with absolute authority. Because this is now evident, many Christians today are seeking to understand their faith in the original Jewish context rather than in relation to the Roman religion that has influenced western Christianity for over the past 1700 years.
For almost two millennia Christianity has gone through transformations; one of the more consequential transformations being when Constantine ‘converted’ to Christianity and established it as a state religion about 325AD. As it turned out it would be Christianity that would be converted, or rather, perverted, in order to gain more authority over the people due to the widespread acceptance of the faith among them. When Rome put on the cloak of Christianity a reversal took place; instead of Christians being tortured, killed, and fed to lions by the state, the new “Christians” became the persecutors. Before that time, and from the time of Christ, there seems to be no historical record of Christians committing murders or using violence as a means to achieve their aspirations, even when they were often persecuted and killed for their faith. When Rome became a “church state” this changed. As both a political power and a religion combined into one entity, it became the most powerful and oppressive force on earth; an institution of control rather than a faith to be accepted and followed by free will. This resulted in the persecution of the Jewish people and also other Christian dissenters who were considered heretics by the Church; many of which were tortured and killed.
The question could be asked; how did this happen seeing the scriptures taught to do the opposite and to love your enemies instead of killing them? (Note: If you try love and they still come as suicide bombers, – kill them.) It happened because people were not allowed to read the scriptures or to possess them. Only a few of the elite leaders of the church were allowed to possess or read the scriptures and these church leaders withheld much of the content from the people and maligned the Jews, condemned others as heretics, and misrepresented the Bible. Regardless of repression and persecution there were always dissenters. Eventually came the invention of the printing press at about the same time as scriptures were being translated into many different languages, this would be the beginning of ending the strangle hold on the scriptures by the Church. As the Bible became common place and many of the common people learned to read: the Church tried furiously by means of force even burning people at the stake to stop the spread but to no avail.
Not only did people leave the Church in droves but the anti-Semitic teachings which condemned the Jewish race as “Christ killers” began to unravel. The Jewish people began being viewed as the givers of God’s revelations and the preservers of scripture. As time passed it became imperative for Christians to seek the original context of scripture in order to grasp Christianity in its original state before being shaped and corrupted for hundreds of years by foreign teachings.
Many Christians today understand that their faith has been “Westernized.” They realize it has undergone transformation from its beginning as a Jewish faith whose followers labored to change the world by word of mouth; and that it was later taken by Rome and turned into a bloody state religion. It has since the reformation slowly began return to its beginning and this has many Christians looking to Jewish history and to Israel to understand their faith as it was in its purest state at inception. This in turn has worked to improve relations between Christians and Jews and forms a part of the base for Christian support of Israel.
Randy A. Sprinkle
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