Seven in the book of Revelation
WARNING - DETAILED STUDY BELOW WITH HEAVY CITATIONS. THIS MAY NOT BE SOMETHING EVERYONE ENJOYS. CONCLUSION AND TAKEAWAYS IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STUDY.
Seven shows up a LOT in the book of Revelation. What's the deal about seven?
There are lots of things that could be said about this number within Revelation. First, we must remind one another of the foundational principles when reading Revelation, the Revelation was written to make something known (1:1). Therefore, we ought to be on guard and skeptical towards any interpretations of Revelation which would make sense to us today, but zero sense to the first century recipients of Revelation.
Since none of us have a time-machine to travel back and experience first-hand the first century, we'll need to do some research. For this discussion we have a few questions:
1) What are the occurrences and/or references of the number seven in the book of Revelation?
2) What's the deal about this number seven in a context of both the bible and the first century?
3) How should we understand Revelation's uses of this number?
Let's begin by taking a look at every instance of the number seven in Revelation (sounds more daunting than it is). Disclaimer: I'm NOT going to account for each instance counting between 1-7. I'm only citing below when "seven" is mentioned in a verse. I'm not going to cite every counting instance between 1-7 in this discussion. I'm also NOT going to cite every time a numeric count goes BEYOND 7. When 10 or 12 of something is mentioned, it will only get brought up if it relates specifically to the number seven.
1) What are the occurrences and/or references of the number seven in the book of Revelation?
Seven churches (1:4, 1:11, 1:20, 2:1, 2:8, 2:12, 2:18, 3:1, 3:7, 3:14). These churches are mentioned beginning in the introduction. They were seven historic churches as named individually in 1:11 and throughout chapters 2 & 3. The seven churches were located in the first century Roman territory called "Asia". The names of the seven churches are: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
Seven Spirits [lamps] (1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6). These seven spirits are called the seven spirits of God in 1:4 and 4:5 and are positioned close to the throne of God almighty. Called "lamps" in chapter 4. Also, will be referred to as seven eyes in 5:6.
Seven golden lampstands (1:12, 1:13, 1:20, 2:1). We are told in 1:20 that these lampstands are the seven churches.
Seven stars (1:16, 1:20, 2:1, 3:1). These Seven stars are explained in 1:20 as being "the seven starts are the angels of the seven churches". It should not shock us then that each of the seven churches as they are individually given messages from Jesus are addressed as "to the angel of..." (2:1, 2:8, 2:12, 2:18, 3:1, 3:7, 3:14).
Seven Seals (5:1, 5:5, 6:1, 8:1). These are the sorts of seals that secured a written message, not the sort of seals that you see at the zoo.
Seven horns and Seven eyes (5:6, a description of the lamb and also of the Seven spirits as told in 5:6).
Seven angels with seven trumpets (8:2, 8:6, 10:7, 11:15). These seven angels each will sound their trumpets progressing the narrative of Revelation.
Seven thunders (10:3, 10:4). They are a speaking voice which John is told "seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down".
Seven thousand casualties (11:13). These seven thousand casualties die in the first woe and its associated earthquake.
Seven headed dragon with seven crowns (12:3). Depending on how you interpret the rest of Revelation and the framework you approach the text you may understand this passage differently. Historicists, futurists, idealists/spiritualist, and partial preterists see this dragon and beast as varying historical, symbolic or future figures.
Seven headed beast with ten crowns (13:1).
Seven angels with seven plagues (15:1, 15:6, 16:1, 17:1, 21:9).
Seven golden bowls filled with God's wrath (15:7, 16:1, 17:1, 21:9). These seven bowls are the vessels or instruments containing the wrath of God which previously have been named the "last plagues" in 15:1.
Seven headed beast with ten horns [seven hills & seven kings] (17:3, 17:7, 17:9-11.). These seven heads are seven hills. These seven hills were ruled by seven kings. All the context points to a reference to Rome as the city of seven hills (a frequent first century nick-name for Rome) and the seven kings being the first seven Roman emperors (starting with Julius as first who proclaimed himself king/emperor of Rome in the first century counting of Roman kings).
2) What's the deal about this number seven in a context of both the bible and the first century?
Often throughout the Old Testament the number seven is a symbol of completion, or fulfillment. We have to be careful not to give additional meaning to this number as sometimes seven is simply a numeric value. Yet, while not falling into the trap of "over symbolizing", we also need to avoid the trap of "ignoring symbolism" that is intended. The Hebrew word for seven (שִׁבְעַ֥ת) occurs 484 times in the Old Testament and the Greek word for seven (ἑπτά) occurs 88 times in the New Testament. This word certainly shows up frequently!
The first instance of seven in the Bible is in Genesis 2:2-3. We find that after the 6 days of creation, the seventh day was a day of rest by God. There was completion of the work of creation, and there was fulfillment or satisfaction found in the good work accomplished and then enjoyed on the seventh day. Throughout Genesis seven is used in multiple ways. Seven is used to describe a consequence for anyone who might kill Cain (4:15), later Lamech uses this same template and increases the number from seven to seventy-seven (4:24). Seven is the number of pairs of animals Noah was to take with him on the Ark (7:2-3) and God gave Noah a seven days notice after the completion of the Ark to when the flood would begin (7:4). Some other familiar Old Testament occurrences of seven are in the dreams of Pharoah (Genesis 41 - seven cows, seven years), the days of celebration for the feast of Unleavened bread and Passover (Exodus 12 & 13), seven priests were to carry seven trumpets and the Israelite army was to march around Jericho seven days and on the seventh day to march around Jericho seven times (Joshua 6). There are more instances (another 400 +) of seven occurring throughout the Old Testament, but I hope these few familiar occurrences demonstrate the significance of seven.
In the New Testament seven also appears frequently in familiar passages. In Matthew 15:34 we're told seven is how many loaves did the child have at the miracle of loaves and fishes to feed thousands. Seven is the number of basketfuls of leftovers of broken bread (Matthew 15:37). The Sadducees try to trap Jesus with a question about marriage and the resurrection bringing up a woman who has married into a family of seven brothers (Mark 12:20). Mary Magdalene had seven demons driven out of her by Jesus (Luke 8:2). Seven men were chosen to serve tables as the first deacons (Acts 6:3). Just as seven occurs frequently throughout the Old Testament, so too seven occurs frequently in the New Testament.
Having seen some examples in the Old and New Testament we now can appreciate that seven occurs both with great frequency and is often used as an aspect of completion, fulfillment or totality.
3. How should we understand Revelation's uses of this number?
At least one takeaway for us is that these numbers help move the message of Revelation forward. Generally, when a "seventh" of something happens, that wraps up that portion or section of Revelation. There is an aspect of "completion" to these sevens in Revelation. Citations of this are as follows:
The seven churches are no longer mentioned after the seventh message is given to the seventh church in 3:14-22 (Laodicea).
The seven golden lampstands are last mentioned in 2:5 (two other lampstands are mentioned in 11:4 and are not associated with the seven churches, but instead with two witnesses).
The seven seals are no longer mentioned after 8:1 when the seventh seal was opened.
The seven angels with seven trumpets are last mentioned in 11:15. It's possible these are the same angels who then have the seven bowls of seven plagues (15:1) but the text doesn't refer to these as the same angels in any specific way other than the number of angels. Simply being the same number of angels doesn't necessitate this is the same group. We already know there are whole hosts of angels throughout the book and many (using varied numerical counts and even sometimes mentioned as countless) beyond simply the ones mentioned in various numbered groups.
The seven thunders are no longer mentioned after 10:4.
The seven thousand casualties of the earthquake are only in 11:13 and do not again come up after.
The seven headed dragon (12:3) does continue through the rest of chapter 12 and into chapter 13 the beast that comes after the dragon continues in "his power and his throne and great authority" (13:2). The dragon is then later on mentioned in 13:11, 16:13, and finally in 20:2.
The beast with seven heads also has a similar pacing to the dragon as the beast will come up multiple times as first mentioned. This is one of the reasons why many see Revelation as having a marked distinction or "scene change" of some sort after chapter 11. Much of chapters 12-20 deal with various descriptions of the dragon (12), the beasts (13), the harlot (17), the city of the harlot (17-18) and their servants (16), and the Lamb (14), the servants of the lamb (14-15), and the wrath of God poured out (16-20).
The seven angels with seven bowls are last mentioned in chapter 21 and 22 as John is given a tour of the new heaven and new earth and the Holy City, the new Jerusalem. It was one of the seven angels who poured the bowls who takes John on this tour (21:9).
Conclusions
As we have looked, we should see seven as something similar to our "chapter" divisions, or scene changes. Often when a "seven" is brought into the story of Revelation, that seven will be the focus or a part of the focus until it's part in the story is completed. Therefore, we can also say that when a specific set of seven reaches its completion the vision and story of Revelation will move forward.
Seven isn't a magic or mystical coded word or number in the book of Revelation. It is a word that is packed with meaning as it moves the story towards completion or fulfillment.