2010 A.D.: 777 Beats 666 Any Day!!
Certain numbers are said to have certain associations in God's kingdom. Scholars of the scriptures have held this to be true for a very long time, anyway. The number 1 has to do with God, the Holy Father. Jesus is associated with 8. The number of man is 6 - we were made on the 6th day. 3 is about the one origin - God - for Jesus and the Holy Spirit, Jesus coming of God, the Holy Spirit proceeding from God. One, and yet three, with the Father being the greatest.
But 7 is supposed to be a holy number of purity, refinement, holiness, and completion. Seven days in a week. Seven churches in Revelation. The Lord's words are like silver refined 7 times.
The genealogy of Jesus back to Adam includes 77 people (God and Jesus included).
Also, of interest concerning the number 7, Cain (the first murderer) slew his brother Abel because his brother Abel's sacrifice was pleasing to God the Father, while his own was not. God faced Cain with his deed, and Cain tried to obfuscate the matter, but of course God was not deterred. God banished Cain to be a wanderer, and Cain, rather than expressing any real sorrow for the murder of his brother, expressed sorrow for himself. He said that everyone would want to punish him for what he had done, and that his punishment of banishment, from God, was too heavy to bear.
God, in his extreme mercy, granted that Cain would wear a mark of some sort upon his person, so that everyone would recognize him. And that if anyone tried to avenge Abel by harming Cain, they would themselves be avenged 7 times over.
Later in Genesis, probably hundreds of years later, Cain's descendent Lamech (this appears to be a different Lamech than the one who was Noah's father) tells his wives that he has accidentally killed a young man for bruising him / harming him. But he tries to cheer them up by assuring them that if it was promised to Cain that he would be avenged 7 times for his killing of Abel, then he, Lamech, would be avenged 77 times (presumably because his killing was a more justified one. After all, he was attacked.)
This statement of Lamech's is an instance of three 7's being placed in close proximity within scripture. I believe that this contains or at least hints at a mysterious but very holy message to mankind.
In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus was asked by Peter how often they should forgive an offending brother. Peter asked if they should forgive the brother or sister even if they sinned against you as many as 7 times. Jesus answered: "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."
This statement of Jesus's is another example of three 7's being very closely placed.
See the difference: Lamech used his status as a wronged victim, the fact that someone had wronged him first, to not only justify the murder or killing that he had committed, but to claim that if a victimizer like Cain was avenged 7 times by anyone who sought to avenge Cain's murder of Abel, then Lamech ought to be deserving of being avenged 77 times. After all, he had only responded to a wrong done against him. He was relatively justified, when you considered the circumstances!
But Jesus taught that 77 wrongs done against you offers you 77 opportunities to be a forgiver. Every Christian will approach their judgement as a multiple offender against both our fellow man, and even against God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We will hope desperately at that moment for forgiveness. It is either hell or heaven we face - forever! One that has always forgiven the wrongs done against them might have more hope that the Lord's mercy will cover their sins, and allow them to be forgiven. Better yet to be one that has done no wrongs at all, but who among us can say that? And some of us don't even come close.
So, 7's have meaning in scripture, it appears. They sometimes mark important concepts. I am still figuring out how God uses them, but I believe I have decided that he does indeed use them to mark significant things.
Do you think that the leaders of Jerusalem, in about 30 A.D., were like Lamech? Didn't they kill a young man named Jesus, for 'wounding them'. Didn't Jesus's teachings and statements about the Jewish leadership of Jerusalem cast all of those leaders in a very bad light? And didn't they probably justify it in their minds, feeling that they had only struck back against what Jesus was doing?
7's, it seems to me, are a marker number.
So how about this? What is the 7th Book, 7th Chapter, 7th Verse in the Bible?
In the Bible, the 7th Book is Judges. One portion of the book of Judges deals with how Israel, in the days when it had entered the promised land but did not yet choose kings for itself, became disloyal to God, and so God allowed a foreign people called the Midianites to oppress them.
After they had become thoroughly miserable for a long enough time, and had again turned to God for help, God chose a man named Gideon to rescue his people - to be a military leader against Midian. Midianites were related to Israelites. Midian was a son of Abraham through his second wife, Keturah. She was his wife after Sarah had died, and they had at least 6 children. The Midianites were descendants of Midian, but no longer very friendly towards their distant relatives the Israelites, if they ever had been on good terms.
Gideon was no military man. So, to make sure he really was God's chosen leader, Gideon asked God to have a sheep fleece that he layed out be wet with dew the next morning, while the rest of the ground was dry. God provided Gideon this sign. Then, just to be sure, Gideon asked God to have the entire ground be soaked with dew the next morning, while his sheep fleece remained dry. A patient God provided this sign as well. So Gideon had faith, and called together an Israelite army to oppose the Midianites.
Gideon gathered an army of about 32,000, but the army of Midian was gigantic! Judges Chapter 7, verse 12 says: "The Midianites, Amalakites, and all the Kedemites lay in the valley, as numerous as locusts. Nor could their camels be counted, for these were as many as the sands on the seashore."
Fierce desert warriors on gold bedecked camels, a giant encampment of them gathered to suppress the revolt that Israel had gathered troops for. The Israelites were at a great numerical disadvantage, it appears.
But even so, God wanted to give them a victory that they would not take credit for. God wanted them to know that He was bringing them victory, and He alone. He did not want them forgetting Him in their pride over winning, and returning to their sins, I suppose.
So God told Gideon to let anyone that felt afraid inside go home. When Gideon passed on God's offer to the soldiers, an astounding 22,000 soldiers out of 32,000 took it. Only 10,000 stayed.
But the Lord said "There are still too many soldiers. Lead them down to the water and I will test them for you there. If I tell you that a certain man is to go with you, he must go with you. But no one is to go if I tell you he must not."
When Gideon led the soldiers down to the water, the Lord said to him, "You shall set to one side everyone who laps up water as a dog does with his tongue; to the other, everyone who kneels down to drink." End Quote
As it turned out, only 300 people knelt by the water and brought their cupped hands up to their mouth to drink their water. The other 21,700 soldiers got down on their hands and knees to drink directly from the water with their mouth.
Then the Lord spoke to Gideon.
It's 7th Chapter, 7th verse goes as follows:
"The Lord said to Gideon," By means of the 300 who lapped up the water I will save you and deliver Midian into your power. So let all of the other soldiers go home."
That night, God told Gideon that if he still felt afraid, he should take his aid Purah and go down stealthily to listen to the talk in the Midianites' camp. Obeying, Gideon crept down close to the enemy camp until he could hear conversations. One of the enemy was discussing a terrible dream he had had. "I had a dream", he said, "that a round loaf of barley bread was rolling into the camp of Midian. It came near our tent and struck it, and as it fell it turned the tent upside down."
"This can only be the sword of the Israelite Gideon, son of Joash." the other replied. "God has delivered Midian and all the camp into his power." (Jesus is the BREAD of life. His word is 'sharp as a two edged SWORD'. Is Gideon a hint of Jesus coming for these Israelites of that ancient time?)
Gideon saw that God was putting fear into the minds of the enemy.
And a great victory was indeed brought to Israel. Gideon, listening to God, broke the group of 300 soldiers into 3 groups of 100 each. He gave them all horns, and jars with torches inside of them. In the middle of the night, when the Midianites were changing the guard, they blew the horns and attacked. The Midianites scattered in a panic and were pursued by much of Israel by the next day. It was a horrible defeat for Midian.
This would have been a very good story for Israel, but that when it was all over, Gideon asked for and received a gold ring as a reward from the Israelite army from among the gold items that were stripped from the dead Midianites and from their camels. With this, he made an ephod out of the gold rings and placed it in his city of Ophrah. It was supposed to be a monument only, I suppose, but all of Israel began to pay it idolatrous homage there. So, it began to lead Israel astray, just after they were rescued from the punishment which they had received the last time they strayed. Humans are slow, slow learners.
So, the 7th Book, 7th Chapter, 7th Verse tells how God used those who kneel and bring the water to their mouth to win victory for His people, rather than that mighty throng of people who get down on all fours and lap the water.
Now, we know that the Holy Spirit of God is sometimes symbolized by water. Seeking "the water" is like praying, is it not? With that in mind, picture a man kneeling upright, with his hands to his mouth, folded in prayer, and you have a picture of a Christian praying, just as you have a picture of the 300 men that God ordered Gideon to use to save His people.
And if you picture people who get down on the ground, basically on all fours, and pray that way, you have a picture of people on all fours at the waters edge to dring directly with their mouth. That's just my take on it, not something God spoke to me in words or anything. But I believe that the 7th book, 7th chapter, 7th verse of the Bible is part of a true account in Gideon's time, but part of a foreshadowing of how God would defeat His enemies. It would be through the Christian; when Jesus is wholeheartedly followed, the Christians can do great things through God, who strengthens them. Using love, not military power.
But I believe that God really does expect the Christians to save their brothers in this world, and I believe that it is through Jesus, and Jesus alone, that anyone will be saved. Jesus said that, and the evidence is essentially incontrovertible. Both Jewish and Christian scenes are designed into our very bodies.
Jesus did great and miraculous works in front of friend and foe alike. He was not allowed to remain dead, but rose again, as seen by many witnesses. His name has held power for miracles in all quarters of the globe where it has been taken, no other religion can claim even a small fraction of so many great miracles have been done in the name of any other God but the Holy Father, and Jesus springs from Him as His actual Son.
Jesus's birth, life, and ministry fulfill numerous Old Testament hints and statements. All lands that are largely Christian are such good lands to live in that men and women from everywhere on the planet emigrate to become citizens in them. His is a message of love for neighbor, and more greatly, love and respect for the Holy Father, and all men know, in their heart, that it is wrong to kill.
Surely this is a lot of evidence. And if a little bit of faith is still required, let us remember that, without faith, salvation is impossible. Faith is one of our very few available great gifts to God.
And also, without God's assistance, no great victory is ever won.
Here, for your consideration, are a few lines of scripture that mathematically relate to 777 and even 666 in one way or another. You can decide if they seem to mean anything associated with the numbers as well as the subject at hand in the section of the Bible where they are found:
Numbers 21:8 (21= 7+7+7, and Jesus's number is 8): The Lord said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived." What a picture of Jesus on the cross, and how we can turn to him and be forgiven of our deadly sin and live!
Isaiah 66:6: "A sound of roaring from the city, a sound from the temple, The sound of the Lord repaying his enemies their deserts!"
(The Bible's 6th book, 6th Chapter, 6th verse. It concerns making war against Jericho. God won the victory for them by making the cities walls collapse when the Israelites circled it and blew horns. It is from Joshua 6:6): "Summoning the priests, Joshua, son of Nun, then ordered them to take up the ark of the covenant with seven priests carrying ram's horns in front of the ark of the Lord."
Psalm 77:7 : "I remember. In the night I meditate in my heart; I ponder, and my spirit broods: (begin v. 8 onward) "Will the Lord reject forever and nevermore be favorable? Will his kindness utterly cease, his promises fail for all generations? Has God forgotten pity? Does he in anger withhold compassion?" And I say, "This is my sorrow, that the right hand of the Most High is changed." I remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I remember your wonders of old. And I meditate on your works; your exploits I ponder." (Though this Psalm long pre-dates Jesus, Jesus sits now at the right hand of God. This Psalm speaks of the 'right hand of God'. That's kind of interesting! Author)
Psalm 66:6 : "He has changed the river into dry land. Through the river they passed on foot, therefore let us rejoice in him."
(The Israelites passed through the Jordan river on foot when they entered the promised land after their 40 years of wandering. God divided the river, and made a dry passage. Soon after this they defeated Jericho when God made it's walls fall down. Remember how the 6th book of the Old Testament, Joshua, related to Jericho in the vicinity of it's 6th Chapter, 6th verse? They seem somewhat linked, these 2 incidents of 666 occurring. Author)
Leviticus 21 (7+7+7 = 21) ( I think Leviticus hints a lot about Jesus): This chapter and verse are about the sanctity of the priesthood. Jesus is the High Priest forever, we are told, in the Order of Melchizedek)
Leviticus 18: (6+6+6 = 18) is about the sanctity of sex.
Leviticus 24: (8+8+8 = 24, and 8 is the number associated with Jesus): This chapter deals with the sanctuary light, the showbread, and finally, a man who is half Egyptian and half tribe of Dan, who blasphemes by cursing in the Lord's name and Moses has him stoned to death.
Revelation 6:12 (6 + (6+6)): "Then I watched while he broke open the 6th seal, and there was a great earthquake; the sun turned as dark as dark sack cloth, and the whole moon became like blood."
Revelation 7:14 (7 + (7+7): I said to him, "My Lord, you are the one who knows. He said to me, "These are the ones who have survived the great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb."
There are more interesting incidents, and I will add to them as time passes, if possible. But doesn't it seem that God sometimes uses these numbers to showcase events?