The Significance of the Number Seven in the Bible

Concept of Seven in Biblical Hebrew

• Represents fullness or completeness.
• Symbolizes an ideal state we seek but rarely experience.

Genesis 1 and Creation

• Begins with darkness and disorder.
• God creates light and order over six days.
• Each day ends with "there was evening and there was morning."
• Seventh day:
  • God rests, marking creation's completion.
  • Absence of "there was evening and there was morning," implying a day with no end.
  • God's presence fills creation; humans appointed to rule with God.

Humanity's Fall and Exile

• Humans are deceived, losing their seventh-day rest.
• Exiled to work as slaves until death.

Israel's Journey and Sabbath Practice

• God aims to restore humanity to seventh-day rest.
• Israel, enslaved in Egypt, is liberated.
• Journey through wilderness:
  • Life is a struggle, not yet in promised land.
  • God instructs Sabbath (Shabbat) every seventh day to rest and enjoy creation.
  • Sabbath as a taste of ultimate rest.

Festivals and the Year of Jubilee

• Israel practices seven festivals, each anticipating rest.
• Every seven years:
  • Liberation of slaves, debt forgiveness, land rest.
  • Every 49 years (seven times seven) marks the Year of Jubilee.
  • Restoration and forgiveness of debts and land.

Prophets and Jesus

• Israelites forget God and lose their rest.
• Exiled again, waiting for jubilee of freedom and rest.
• Jesus arrives, marking a new hope:
  • Public mission begins on a Sabbath.
  • Proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor, referencing ultimate jubilee.
  • Claims to be the Lord of the Sabbath.
  • Confronts disorder, liberates from ailments, sin, and death.

Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

• Death coincides with end of the week.
• Rests in the tomb during Sabbath.
• Resurrection on the eighth day marks:
  • First day of a new creation.
  • Promise of future rest through resurrection.

Current Struggles and Invitation from Jesus

• Humanity remains in a wilderness of struggle and pain.
• Jesus invites followers to experience real rest now:
  • "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."