There Is a Seven

A little rain this morning after a weekend in which we didn't see the sun much. Praise the Lord for the rain. At times we speak of the coming Tribulation; a period of seven years that is the time of the Antichrist, judgments from God, and other horrors that we would just as soon not think about too often. Where does this come from though? The Revelation does not say that it lasts for seven years, and adding up some of its 1,260 days and 42 months prophecies might lead us to believe it is longer. Paul didn't say it lasted for seven years. Jesus said that the time was shortened so that some few might make it to the end, but not specifically seven years. Where does this come from?

Of course, we know that Daniel received the seventy seven's prophecy in chapter 9 of his book, and we just assume that a seven is seven years, right? Not so fast. We like a prophecy in the scripture to be backed up with scripture. Like the Bereans, we search the scriptures to test the prophets who come our way. Gabriel does not explain what a seven is in his message to Daniel, but since the seventy sevens is a part of his explanation, Daniel must already know what a 'seven' is and perhaps use it often.

Daniel stood by the law of the Lord even in the face of death by lion's den, so that seems a good place to start our search for the definition of a seven. After a mere second or two of searching the Bible notes on the side panel of my study Bible, I found Leviticus 25:8, which does indeed define a seven quite clearly as a Sabbath of years or seven years.

The prophecy Daniel received goes on to speak of seven sevens, or forty-nine years as explained in Leviticus, and then another sixty-two sevens. A command will be given to rebuild Jerusalem, which we find in Nehemiah, and then the Lord's Christ will be cut off, but not for Himself. Sixty-nine sevens are easily accounted for but there is one floating out there, somewhere, and that is where we get that final 'seven' which is a Sabbath of years yet to come.

The prophecy received by Daniel shows a period of an undefined number of years in which there is an ongoing war and desolation. Take a look at the photos of the many wars we can think of without even trying hard and you see ruined cities, homes, fields, and lives: desolation. We live in that period of war between the ascension of Christ and His return. Somewhere, at the culmination of that time period, there is a Seven.

Yours in Christ Jesus,
Bucky