Genesis 2:1-4 You might remember just recently the date on our calendar was the 7-7-2007.
Plenty of sevens there.
Well there are plenty of sevens in the Bible. Around 600 of them.
So what I hear you say.
Well when I was preparing my message for today I started reading Genesis chapter two and I got all the way down to the second verse when I came across the word “seven”. It started off a whole chain of thoughts about the whole deal with seven.
So I started to do some exploring and found some very interesting stuff.
Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that seven is an amazing number when it comes to how our world is made up.
It may not seem all that wonderful to you but I suppose it’s like a lot of things that we take for granted.
The whole world revolves around seven days.
Now one of the amazing things I discovered about seven days is that a whole lot of people don’t want to attribute to the fact that “God” created seven days. I find that interesting but not surprising.
For example. Have a listen to this bit of so called scientific waffle.
The fact that humans have long used a week of seven days is thus the result of accident, namely, the fact that the solar system is the way it is, with five of the nine planets being sufficiently close to Earth to be normally visible with the naked eye.
Why Seven Days in a Week?
by Peter Meyer.
http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_stud/hlwc/why_seven.htm
Now I find this statement absolutely astonishing. The result of accident.
Let’s have a look at this amazing accident.
Remember totally by accident.
24 hours in every day.
Seven days in a week.
52 weeks in a year.
Four seasons in a year.
The earth rotates around the sun in 365 days and 6 hours.
A leap year every four years.
Now as you know climate change is a hot topic today.
Well I want to tell you that this accident that many have referred to is no accident because if you changed any parameter by a minute amount you would totally decimate the climate on the earth. The tides, seasons, amount of daylight, you name it. Life as we know it today would just not happen.
Now I want to give you another quote from this guy Peter Meyer.
People use a 7‑day week because they have been born into a world where this is customary. In other words, the 7‑day week has been received from earlier generations. It has a long history. When the Roman emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion early in the 4th Century CE the 7‑day week was officially associated with the Julian Calendar, and the association remained after the Julian Calendar was replaced by the Gregorian Calendar in the 16th Century CE.
Now as per normal even the scientists cannot agree on this idea of seven days.
This is what someone else says about our seven day week.
Yet, the importance of the seven-day week -- or heptad, a series of seven -- is monumental. Eviatar Zerubavel, in his book The Seven Day Circle (The History and Meaning of the Week), notes that:
There is no record of the 7-day week cycle ever having been broken. Calendar changes and reform have never interrupted the 7-day cycles. It very likely that the week cycles have run uninterrupted at least since the days of Moses (c. 1400 B.C.E.), possibly even longer.
He also went on and said.
"a continuous week, for the establishment of settled life with a high level of social organization [is indispensable] . . . . Only by defining the week as a precise multiple of the day, rather than as a rough approximation of a fraction of the lunar month, could human beings permanently avoid the problem of having to handle loose remainders and, thus, introduce into their lives the sort of temporal regularity that they could never attain with the quasi week." (2)
Professor Zerubavel is saying that a regular, predictable week plays a major role in developing our civilization.
I love my week. God gave it to me and I think we should thank Him for it.
Remember the scientists tell us that this happened “just by accident.”
See when you take a little time to “think” about something as simple as our seven day week you can see the finger prints on God all over it.
I really like my seven days. I have no interest in changing it. Just like God made it. A day of rest suits me fine. Thank you very much.
More and more evidence suggests that we need a day of rest and if we just work, work, work then we will get stressed out and burn out.
You see that’s why I love this stuff about creation. Everywhere you look you see God’s hand in creation. A simple thing like “seven days” is not just seven days it’s a gift from God.
http://www.biblestudy.org/godsrest/sevencyc.html
Now just one other thing that I want to highlight for you today.
I quoted Peter Meyer before and as he suggested this whole seven day week thing is a total accident. And there is no way he would give any credit to a creator. He goes a little further in his “theory” of how we got seven days.
Remember he said we have seven days because people could see five planets, plus the sun and moon which makes seven. Well have a listen to what else he said.
If, instead of an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, there had been a planet, then there would have been six visible planets, not five, so the number of celestial entities would have been eight, not seven. In that case humans would have developed a week of eight days, not seven.
Now what we must understand is that God did not name the days. The Bible does not say: “on Sunday God created the heavens and the earth.”
So I’m happy to concede that somewhere along the way we got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But I cannot accept that they came totally by accident.
Seven is God’s number and how the days of the week are named is more about the creativity God gave man. Remember he gave Adam the job of naming all the animals.
But here is a little clue.
Moon – Monday
Mars – Tuesday
Mercury – Wednesday
Jupiter – Thursday
Venus – Friday
Saturn – Saturday
Sun – Sunday
Pretty simple don’t you reckon. Nothing spooky or sinister about those name. You know over the years I’ve had people ask me about the name of Sunday and they have said that it’s named that because of the sun God. Saturday is Satan’s day. Sorry it’s Saturn’s day. You can tell them that now.
I want to conclude with some sevens.
1) “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.” (Lu 23:34 NLT)
2) “And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”” (Lu 23:43 NLT)
3) “At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”” (Mt 27:46 NLT)
4) “When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.”” (John 19:26 NLT)
5) “Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfil Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.”” (John 19:28 NLT)
6) “When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.” (John 19:30 NLT)
7) “Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last.” (Lu 23:46 NLT)
There just happens to be seven eternals in Hebrews –
A priest for ever (1:6);
Eternal salvation (1:9);
Eternal judgment (6:2);
Eternal redemption (9:12);
Eternal spirit (9:14);
Eternal inheritance (9:15);
Everlasting covenant (13:20).
Isaiah 11:1-5 tells us about the coming Christ and some of His characteristics.
He wants the same for us.
Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of wisdom, Spirit of understanding, Spirit of Council, Spirit of might and power, Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God. Seven things.
Oh how accidents continue to happen.
