Number Seven

I heard the Lord saying to me: "To the angel of the Church in Ephesus, write this: "'The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven gold lampstands says this: "I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked; you have tested those who call themselves Apostles but are not, and discovered that they are impostors.  Moreover, you have endurance and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary. 

Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first. Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent."'"

The number seven has special significance for the writer of Revelations.  According to Jonathan Kirsch in his book “A History of the End of the World: How the most controversial book in the Bible changed the course of Western Civilization” (2006), “...[The author] sees not only seven seals but also seven angels, seven bowls, seven candlesticks, seven churches, seven crowns, seven eyes, seven heads, seven horns, seven kings, seven lamps, seven mountains, seven plagues, seven spirits, seven stars, seven thunders, and seven trumpets.  

The story of Revelation, such as it is, focuses on what will happen in heaven and on earth when, after the ever-mounting terror of the last days finally reaches a climax, the seventh trumpet is sounded, the seventh bowl of God’s wrath is poured out, and the Lamb of God breaks the seventh seal.”

Kirsch continues: "...seven becomes the symbol of divine wholeness in Jewish tradition.  When John refers to signs and symbols in groups of seven…he means to suggest that God’s will is at work in both creation and destruction of the world...God’s primal act of creation was completed in seven days."

Obviously, none of us (most of us?) believe that God’s will includes the destruction of the world.  How horrific is that?!  Let’s listen to Pope Francis’ appeal made in his 2018 encyclical “On Care for our Common Home:”

"The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us (my emphasis). Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. 

Here I want to recognize, encourage and thank all those striving in countless ways to guarantee the protection of the home which we share. Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest. Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded."

If our world is every destroyed it will have happened due to our negligence, not God’s.  We hold and seven continents and the seven seas in our hands.

Deacon David Pierce