Three Sevens of Scripture

1 Preface 2 Introduction 3 Verse 5: the Passover Feast EV 23:5{the First of the Seven Feasts of Jehovah Proper Is the Passover Feast. the Passover Lamb Is to Be Slain at Evening on the Fourteenth Day of the First Month of the Year. Its Blood Is to Be Caught in a Basin and Applied With Hyssop to the Two Doorposts and Upper Lintel of Each House. It Is to Be Roast With Fire and Without the Mitigating Effect of Water and Is to Be Eaten Along With Bitter Herbs. at Midnight, Jehovah Will Pass Through the Land of Egypt and Visit Death Upon the Firstborn of Every House Where There Is No Blood. Where There Is Blood However, He Will Pass Over That House; Death Will Have Already Been There 4 Verses 6-8: the Feast of Unleavened Bread EV 23:6-8{in Immediate Association With the Passover Feast, There Is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. During the Seven Days Immediately Following the Passover, No Leaven Whatever Is to Be Found in the Habitations of Jehovah's People. in the Scriptures, Leaven Always Typifies Evil, Whether Moral, Doctrinal, or Ecclesiastical; and Seven Is Always the Number of Perfection or Completeness 5 Verses 9-14: the Feast of Firstfruits EV 23:9-14{Next, the Day After the First Sabbath Following the Gathering in of the Barley Harvest, Which Is Also the First Day of a New Week, a Sheaf of the Firstfruits Is to Be Brought to the Priest and Waived Before Jehovah. the Lord Was Put to Death on a Friday, After Which He Spent the Entire Sabbath in the Tomb. Then, Early the Next Day, the First Day of the Week, He Arose From Among the Dead and Became "the Firstfruits of Them That Slept" (1 Cor. 15:20). Accordingly, the Feast of Firstfruits Speaks of Christ's Resurrection From Among the Dead. It Was the Day He Gained the Victory Over Death and Everything That Was Against Us 6 Verses 15-22: the Feast of Weeks 7 Verses 23-25: the Feast of Trumpets EV 23:23-25{on the First Day of the Seventh Month, Which Is the Time of Grape Harvest, Jehovah's People Are to Observe the Feast of Blowing of Trumpets 8 Verses 26-32: the Feast of Atonement EV 23:26-35{the Feast of Atonement, Like the One Before It, Falls in the Seventh Month of the Year. on the Tenth Day of That Same Month, the Israelites Are Told Three Times Over They Are to Afflict Their Souls and to Do No Work in That Day. It Is a Feast of Atonement. If Any Is Not Afflicted or If Any Does Do Any Work in That Day, He Will Be Cut off From Among His People and Destroyed 9 Verses 33-43: the Feast of Tabernacles EV 23:33-43{on the Fifteenth Day of This Same Month, When They Have Brought in the Fruit of the Land, Which, As We Have Seen, Is the Grape Harvest, Israel Is to Set Apart Seven Days for the Observance of the Feast of Tabernacles. on Each of the Seven Days of This Feast, They Are to Offer an Offering Made by Fire Unto Jehovah. They Are Also to Take Boughs of Goodly Trees, Branches of Palm Trees, Boughs of Thick Trees, and Willows of the Brook, From Which They Are to Frame Booths for Themselves. Then, They Are to Dwell in Those Booths for the Duration of the Feast 10 Summary 11 Part 2 - the Seven Parables of Matthew 13 12 Verses 3-8,18-23: the Parable of the Sower AT 13:3-8{AT 13:18-23{the Seed That Is Sown Is the Word of God. There Are Four Kinds of Soil Into Which the Seed Falls. They Are by the Wayside, in Stony Places, Among Thorns, and Upon Good Ground. in Each Instance, Those Places Are Really the Hearts of Men. When the Seed Falls by the Wayside and It Is Not Understood, the Fowls, Figurative of Satan or His Emissaries Come and Snatch It Away. When It Falls on Stony Ground Though, Because It Doesn't Have Depth of Root, It Springs up Quickly; but As Soon As the Sun Becomes Hot, Figurative of Tribulation or Persecution, It Withers Away and Dies. When It Falls Among the Thorns, Figurative of the Cares of the World or the Deceitfulness of Riches, It Grows up With Those Thorns and Is Eventually Choked off by Them and Becomes Unfruitful. When It Falls Upon Good Ground Though, Necessarily Figurative of a Heart in Which There Is Living and Active Faith, It Bears Varying Measures of Fruit, Some a Hundredfold, Some Sixty, and Some Thirty 13 Verses 24-30, 36-43: the Parable of the Tares AT 13:24-30{AT 13:36-43{This Parable Is the First of Ten Parables That Are Said to Be Likenesses of the Kingdom of Heaven. Six of the Ten Are Found in This Chapter and the Remaining Four in the Following Passages: Matt. 18:23-35; Matt. 20:1-16; Matt. 22:1-14; and Matt. 25:1-13. As Might Be Expected, Since These Parables Have to Do With the Kingdom in Its Mysterious Aspect, They Have to Do Primarily With This Present Dispensation, During Which God Is Taking Out a Heavenly People for Himself 14 Verses 31-32: the Parable of the Grain of Mustard Seed AT 13:31-32{the Lord Compares the Kingdom of Heaven With a Grain of Mustard Seed, Which Is the Smallest of Seeds, but Grows Into the Greatest of Herbs. a Man Sows It in the Field, and It Grows Into Such a Great Tree That Even the Birds of the Air Find Ample Lodging in Its Branches 15 Verse 33: the Parable of Leaven in Three Measures of Meal AT 13:33{This Time, It Is a Woman That Is Featured. She Hides Leaven in Three Measures of Meal (Flour) Until the Whole Thing Is Leavened. Again, the Word of God Is Its Own Interpreter. Throughout the Scriptures, Leaven Is Employed As a Figure for Evil, Whether Moral, Doctrinal, or Ecclesiastical. It Is so Whether in the Political, Legal, or Rational Arenas of Thought and Action 16 Verse 44: the Parable of Treasure Hidden in a Field AT 13:44{in This Parable, the Kingdom of Heaven Is Likened to Treasure Hidden in a Field, Whose Whereabouts and Existence Is Altogether Unknown to Anyone. Then, a Certain Man Finds It and, Having Hidden It, Goes and Sells All He Has, in Order to Buy the Field, so He Can Get the Treasure That's in It 17 Verses 45-46: the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price AT 13:45-46{in the Previous Parable, the Treasure Found Has All Individual Vessels of God's Mercy in View. in This One Though, the Kingdom of Heaven Is Compared to Just One Thing, a Single Pearl of Great Price. ("Many Members, yet but One Body" [1 Cor. 12:20.]) a Certain Merchantman Is Looking for Goodly Pearls; and When He Finds This One, Its Beauty Is Such That It Ravishes His Heart. He Goes and Sells All He Has, in Order to Buy It for Himself 18 Verses 47-50: the Parable of the Net Cast Into the Sea AT 13:47-50{the Kingdom of Heaven Is Likened to a Net Cast Into the Sea. Then, When It Is Full of Every Kind of Fish, They Pull It to Shore and Put the Good Fish Into Vessels and Cast the Bad Away. Likewise, at the End of the World (or "the Age" in Which the Lord Was Then Speaking), the Angels Will Sever the Wicked From the Just and Cast the Former Into the Fire. There Shall Be Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth 19 Summary These Parables Give Us the Full Range of Events From the Time of the Lord's Ministry Here on Earth to the Time of His Setting up of the Millennial Kingdom and of Its Heavenly Side. None of Them However Takes Us Beyond the Millennium or Into the Eternal State. What Began on Pentecost As a Very Small Thing Has Now Grown Into a Great Edifice, Where Wicked Men Find Accommodations for Themselves and for Their Corrupting Influences Upon the Truth of God. Evil Doctrines and Practices Have Already Leavened the Loaf of Christian Profession, Whose Leavening Will Be Total After the Rapture. at His Appearing Though, When He Comes to Set up His Earthly Kingdom, the Lord Will Both Judge and Destroy the Entire Thing 20 Part 3 - the Seven Epistles to the Assemblies in Rev. 2 and 3 21 Chapter 2, Verses 1-7: Ephesus EV 2:1-7{Some 30 Years Before the Revelation Was Written, Ephesus Was an Assembly, Whose Moral and Spiritual State Had Been Such That It Could Be Entrusted With the Very Highest of All Assembly Truth. a Short Two Years Later Though, Paul Feels It Necessary to Charge Timothy With Seeing That No Other Doctrine Is Taught There. (See 1 Tim. 1:3-4.) Then, Some Two Years After That, He Acknowledges the Tears That Timothy Was Shedding in That Very Locality. (See 2 Tim. 1:3-5.) It Would Appear Then That Decline Had Set in Early and Had Progressed Rapidly Among Those in Ephesus 22 Verses 8-11: Smyrna EV 2:8-11{in Addressing the Angel of the Assembly in Smyrna However, the Lord Assumes Quite a Different Character. He Is the First and the Last and the One Who Was Dead and Is Alive Again. (See the Imagery of Rev. 1:17-18.) in Revealing Himself Thus to the Assembly, He Is Addressing Himself According to the Trials That Are About to Come Upon It. He Is the Divine One, the One Who Has Ever Been and Who Will Ever Be, and, Having Become a Man, the One Who Has Gone Through the Extremity of Satan's Power and Has Come up Out of It in Victory 23 Verses 12-17: Pergamos EV 2:12-17{This Time, the Lord Presents Himself to the Angel of the Assembly in Pergamos As Having a Sharp Two-Edged Sword Proceeding Out of His Mouth. (See the Imagery of Rev. 1:16; Also Heb. 4:12.) Whether in Matters of Doctrine, Practice, or State of Soul, It Is by the Word of God That We Are to Discern and Correct Even the Minutest of Irregularities 24 Verses 18-29: Thyatira EV 2:18-19{in Addressing the Angel of the Assembly at Thyatira, the Lord Identifies Himself As the Son of God, Whose Eyes Are Like a Flame of Fire and His Feet Like Fine Brass. (See the Imagery of Rev. 1:14-15.) the Angel of That Assembly Has Allowed a Certain Woman, Whom the Lord Calls "Jezebel," but Who Calls Herself "a Prophetess," to Teach and Seduce His Servants to Commit Spiritual Fornication. Having Already Given Her Space to Repent, He Knows She Has Not Done so. Therefore, Unless She and Those Who Commit Adultery With Her Do Repent, He Will Cast Them Together Into a Bed and Into Great Tribulation and Will Kill Her Children With Death. All the Assemblies Will Know Then That He Is the One Who Searches the Reins and Hearts of Men. He Gives to Everyone According to His Works. Everything Is Found Out, and Nothing Is Overlooked 25 Chapter 3, Verses 1-6: Sardis EV 3:1-6{the Lord Addresses the Angel of the Assembly at Sardis As the One Who Holds the Seven Stars in His Hand. (See the Imagery of Chapter 1:16, 20.) This Time, He Does Not Say, As He Did When Addressing the Angel of the Assembly at Ephesus, "in His Right Hand." This Omission Is Not Without Significance. the Right Hand Is the Hand of Power and Authority; and While the Angel in Sardis Still Acknowledges Its Connection With Him, It No Longer Acknowledges His Authority Over It 26 Verses 7-13: Philadelphia EV 3:7-13{in Addressing the Angel of the Assembly at Philadelphia, the Lord Doesn't Draw on the Imagery of Rev. 1 at All. Instead, He Presents Himself According to What He Is Intrinsically—That Is, Holy and True. As Such Then, It Gives Him Pleasure When He Finds Such Moral Features in His Own, Which Features Are Fruits of His Grace. (That Is His Standard for Them.) 27 Verses 14-22: Laodicea EV 3:14-22{in This Last of Seven Epistles, Even As in the Previous One, the Lord Does Not Address the Angel of the Assembly at Laodicea by Drawing on the Imagery of Rev. 1. Instead, He Addresses It As Being the One Who Is "the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God." He Is Everything the Angel of the Laodiceans Should Be, but Is Not. As "the Amen," He Is the One, in Whom, All God's Counsel Is to Be and Will Be Made Good. As "the Faithful and True Witness," He Is the Antithesis of What the Angel of the Laodiceans Is in This World. As "the Beginning of the Creation of God," He Is in Resurrection the Head of That New, Eternal Creation, Where All Is of God and Where, Unlike in the First Creation Under Adam, Nothing Will Ever Fail. (See Again Rev. 2:7; 2 Cor. 5:14-21.) 28 Summary the Book of Revelation Was Written Toward the Very End of the First Century. Each of the Assemblies Addressed Actually Existed at the Time They Were Addressed. the Moral and Spiritual Conditions As Described in Their Respective Epistles Actually Existed Too. Furthermore, Although We Are Living so Long After They Existed, We Too Are to Hear What the Spirit Says to Them. Often, the Individual Christian's Moral and Spiritual State Follows the Same General Pattern of Decline That Theirs Did. Finally, the Moral and Spiritual Decline Traced in These Assemblies Also Describes the History of the Assembly Itself Down Through the Intervening 20 Centuries