More proof of the Divine inspiration and majesty of the Biblical scriptures

I’m posting three topics up here, and then NO MORE. I will consider all correction, refute, rebuke of anything I say, and I will abide by any decision of the moderators with regard to these three topics – but after these three topics, I’m done here – that’s a promise! Andrew.

The Hebrew word SHABA (Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary word number H7650) means “to be COMPLETE”

This word is the root-word for the Hebrew word shabat (Sabbath) – Strong’s word number H7676 and shib ‛ah (SEVEN) – Strong’s word number 7651.

The Hebrew words for SEVEN and Sabbath, being derived from the Hebrew root-word shaba, signify COMPLETENESS – the seventh day completes the cycle, and the “eighth” day begins a new cycle of seven.

Every seventh day is the Sabbath-day; and according to the Laws God gave to Moses, every seventh year completes a cycle and is a Sabbath-year, and the eighth year marks a new beginning (Leviticus chapter 23). 7 x 7 Sabbath-years completes another cycle, and the fiftieth year (the year of Jubilee) marks the beginning of a new cycle of seven Sabbath-years.

The same goes for the Day of Pentecost (Pente = 50), which marks a new beginning; because it comes the day after the completion of 7 x 7 days counting from the day after Passover, the day our Lord was crucified.

So SEVEN symbolizes COMPLETENESS. Therefore it is surely no accident that the Bible opens with a pattern of seven (the six days of creation and the Sabbath-rest) and closes with a book which is saturated with sevens and cycles of seven – seven Spirits of God, seven golden lamp-stands, seven thunders, seven letters to the seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, etc. This shows that the book of Revelation COMPLETES the entire Revelation of God (which was a progressive Revelation, since it began over 1,500 years earlier with the book of Genesis).

Yet there is still more:

The first eight chapters of the book of Genesis follow the first eight perfectly natural divisions of the book; and it is in the SEVENTH division (chapter) of Genesis that we read about God’s judgment for the sins of the world coming upon the world in the form of the flood - the eighth chapter speaks of a new beginning – the ark resting on Mount Ararat, etc. Is this a coincidence? No – and we’ll see why in a moment:

The flood began to be poured out upon the world in the seventh of seven days after Noah had entered the ark (Gen.5: 31; Gen.7: 1-10); and Noah’s father, Lamech (who represents the last generation to have died before the flood) was 777 years old when he died.

Much later on, we read that after the Israelites had marched around the city of Jericho for seven days with seven priests blowing seven trumpets (7,7,7), the city was judged by God at the hand of the Israelites on the seventh day, the seventh time the Israelites had marched around the city, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet (7,7,7 – Joshua 6: 2-5).

And in the same way that in the first book of the Old Testament, we read about God’s judgment for the world’s sins in the SEVENTH chapter and a new beginning in the EIGHTH chapter, so in the first book of the New Testament, the record of God’s judgment for the sins of the world falling upon our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (Isa.53: 6; 2Cor.5: 21) is recorded in the SEVENTH division of Matthew’s gospel, and the EIGHTH division of Matthew’s gospel is the record of a new beginning – His resurrection from the dead on the EIGHTH day. (The book of Matthew has eight very clear divisions, which can be seen if one looks under “Matthew, gospel according to” in Microsoft’s Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe, 2004).

The Bible, as I have already noted, opens with a cycle of seven and closes with a book which is saturated with sevens and cycles of sevens; and in the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ, whose crucifixion is recorded in the seventh division of Matthew’s gospel and whose resurrection from the dead on the eighth day is recorded in the eighth division of Matthew’s gospel, is shown to judge the seventh “head” of a seven-headed “beast” at the opening of the seventh of seven seals, the sounding of the seventh of seven trumpets, and the pouring out of the seventh of seven bowls of God’s wrath (7, 7, 7). (In each case, this judgment is symbolized by “noises, thunderings, lightnings and an earthquake, with the 7th trumpet and 7th bowl of wrath adding another symbol of judgment, namely, hail – see Exo.9: 18).

The actions of “the beast that will rise from the bottomless pit” are recorded in the 6th seal, the 6th trumpet and the 6th bowl of wrath (6,6,6) and his judgment at the hand of Christ is recorded in the 7th seal, the 7th trumpet and the 7th bowl of wrath (7,7,7). We are told that the final antichrist (which means “instead of Christ”) will ASCEND from the lowest place – the bottomless pit, but the true Christ will DESCEND from the highest place – the throne of God in the highest heaven, and judge the antichrist – and when this is about to happen, that is, when the SEVENTH trumpet is about to sound, “the mystery of God should be finished (note: COMPLETE), as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” (Rev.10: 7).

What is so phenomenal about all this, is that patterns like this only come to light when one studies all 66 books of the Bible as a whole – because nowhere in the pages of Biblical scripture does the Bible actually point out these patterns which are inherent in the Biblical scriptures - they remain hidden until someone discovers them – and this example is only one of a number of such hidden patterns – proof of the Divine inspiration of the Biblical scriptures!

Isn’t God’s Word amazing, majestic and awe-inspiring?

Nevertheless, we shouldn’t become too distracted by these things, so as to take our focus off Jesus – the author and finisher (note: COMPLETER) of our faith – “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are COMPLETE in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power,” (Col.2: 9-10).

However, I thought I’d share this with you all.

SHALOM SHABA, SHABA SHALOM!

Andrew