I like to do an interview with my kids on their birthdays, asking about some of their favorites, things they like and dislike, etc. My daughter's birthday was recently, so she has some of the questions and answers still on her mind. Today at lunch, she was talking about her favorite numbers. I started thinking about my favorite number. For the last 15 or so years, I've said that my favorite number was 7. Today, though, I realized that I really like 1 as well.
My daughter asked me my favorite number, and I shared with her that for a long time it was seven, but I think right now, I really like one as well. I was wondering if she would leave it there or not - and she didn't. :-) That was fine with me. I was just going to wait for her to ask, though. Before she asked I had already been thinking about it and here are some of the thoughts I had and shared with her, and a few verses I found for some of them:
1 God
1 Savior
1 Man without sin (Hebrews 4:14-15, 1 Peter 2:22, 2 Corinthians 5:21)
1 Son of God (Jesus) (John 3:16)
1 Death (Jesus only had to die one time for all. The price has been paid once, not repeatedly.) (Romans 5:19)
1 Way to Heaven (John 14:6)
1 Salvation (Once you are truly saved, you don't lose your salvation.)
1 - for unity
1 - one church body with Jesus as the 'head' (Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4:4)
1 - man leaves his parents and becomes one with his wife (Genesis 2:24, Ephesians 5:31, Mark 10:8)
1 - Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-13, Ephesians 4:4)
So, are you now wondering why 7 has also been a favorite? :-)
Seven in Hebrew is closely related to the word for Sabbath. It symbolizes completion, fullness, perfection. It is used throughout the Bible. Here are a few of the references.
7 Days of creation (Genesis 1)
7 Of every clean animal taken on the ark with Noah (Genesis 7:2)
7 Days in the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 23:15)
7 Lamps/lights on the lampstand (menorrah) in the first tabernacle (Exodus 25:31-40, especially 37)
7 - The seventh day of the week is supposed to be the Sabbath, a day of rest, a holy day. (Exodus 20:8-11, Exodus 35:2)
7 Days of isolation for people who get sick/infected (Leviticus 12-15)
There are so many more uses of the number seven in the Bible, but let me just end here with some of the uses in the book of Revelation:
7 churches, spirits (or sevenfold Spirit), golden lampstands, stars (in Revelation 1-4)
7 seals, horns, eyes, spirits (or sevenfold Spirit) (in Revelation 5)
7 angels, trumpets (in Revelation 8)
7 thunders (Revelation 10)
7 heads, crowns (Revelation 12)
7 angels, plagues, golden bowls, heads, hills, kings (Revelation 15-17)
There are other amazingly significant numbers used in the Bible, such as 12 (tribes, disciples...), 40 (days and nights it rained during the flood in Noah's time, days Jesus spent in the wilderness after being baptized..., maximum number of lashes that could be administered as punishment), and 42 (months - a time, times and half a time [years...3 1/2 years, which equals 42 months], 1260 days [again, 42 months]). The references for 42 months/time, times, and half a time/1260 days are from Revelation 11:2-3, 12:6, 12:14, 13:5 and Daniel 7:25. It refers to a time of tribulation, the time of the anti-Christ. Interesting side-note: The extermination camps in Nazi Germany during
the Holocaust were operational for 3 1/2 years
(http://www.1260days.com/1260days.htm). Another interesting side-note: 3
1/2 is half of 7.
It just amazes me how precise God is. He has a plan, a schedule, a perfect time worked out for everything. He has chosen to reveal pieces of it to us. How is God revealing Himself to you?
P.S. - Following our talk about favorite numbers, my daughter's mind wandered to favorite colors. Today, she said her favorites were red and purple. Red reminded her of Jesus' blood shed on the cross for our sins. Purple reminded her of the wine at the Last Supper, when Jesus referred to it as a symbol of his blood. Oh, this girl is always thinking!
