Page 142 - Foundations

chapter of the Bible we learn that the creation “week” consisted of seven days. The first six days were
full of creative activity and on the seventh day God rested. This seven day “week” has remained
pervasive throughout man’s history as a basic unit of counting time. Whether men are Christian, or
non-believers; whether they regard the Bible as divine truth, or nothing more than fable and
superstition, the week of seven days is observed by all. The number seven continues to be featured
prominently to the last book of the Bible. In Revelation we read of seven churches, seven stars, seven
angels, seven lampstands, seven spirits of God, seven seals, seven horns, seven eyes, seven trumpets,
seven peals of thunder, seven thousand people who perish in an earthquake, a dragon with seven
heads and on his heads seven crowns, seven plagues, seven golden bowls containing the wrath of
God, and seven mountains. Only the naive could dismiss the number seven as bearing no particular
significance to God.

The number seven is intrinsically tied to this present creation of the earth. In the book Number in
Scriptures, E.W. Bullinger provides insight into the profound significance of numbers throughout the
creation. He remarks on the fact that the number seven is linked to a divine chronology of events.

CHRONOLOGY

The first natural division of time is stamped by the Number seven. On the seventh day God rested
from His work of Creation.

When He ordained the ritual for Israel which should show forth His work of Redemption, seven is
again stamped upon it in all its times and seasons. The seventh day was the holy day; the seventh
month was specially hallowed by its number of sacred festivals; the seventh year was the Sabbatic
year of rest for the land: while 7 x 7 years marked the year of Jubilee (Lev 25:4,8)...

God's dealings with His people have to do with actual duration of time rather than with specific
dates; and we find that His dealings with Israel were measured out into four periods, each consisting
of 490 (70 times 7) years. Thus:—

The 1st. From Abraham to the Exodus.
The 2nd. The Exodus to the Dedication of Temple.
The 3rd. From the Temple to Nehemiah's return.
The 4th. From Nehemiah to the Second Advent.

It is clear that these are periods of duration having regard only to Israel, and to Jehovah's immediate
dealings with them. For in each one there is a period of time during which He was not immediately
governing them, but in which His hand was removed, and His people were without visible tokens of
His presence with them.

You can see how Bullinger arrived at the calculation of these four periods of time in his book.
http://philologos.org/__eb-nis/chap01.htm#2 Bullinger continues to demonstrate how the number
seven is stamped upon other aspects of this present creation.