Some things that are so obvious are overlooked. While waking from an afternoon sleep on the Channel Island of Jersey after a morning of heavy ministry and an ample lunch, it came to me that The number 666 was an outstanding anomaly in the New Testament book of Revelation – a book with so many sevens.
The contrast between the book’s sevens (churches, spirits, candlesticks, stars, lamps of fire, seals, angels, horns, trumpets, thunders, heads, crowns, plagues, vials, kings and mountains) and the solitary 666 that is a man’s name, ought to have been obvious, but somehow it hadn’t been – until that waking moment.
In the Bible the numeral seven symbolizes completion. Six stands for the best that man can achieve, and so it falls short of the completeness that God requires. The everyday faith that is so important to the believer develops over time. Unlike the spiritual gift of faith, which brings with it a sudden surge of certainty, faith grows; it develops.
Some people see faith as a sort of spiritual stoicism, a stubborn refusal to give in. But true faith (which in the Old Testament is called trust) is a firm conviction that results from submission and obedience to the Lord. Believing is faith in action. Jesus said to a man who was told that his daughter had died, “Be not afraid, only believe.” Fear would have brought the father to a standstill. But Jesus encouraged him to continue to believe until his daughter could be brought back to life (Mark 5:36).
When the prophet Elisha instructed the leprous Naaman to “Go and wash in the river [Jordan] seven times and your flesh shall be clean again”, the Syrian was enraged. He was the king’s right-hand-man, and a general, no less! Yet the prophet had not even done him the courtesy of coming to the door, but had sent a messenger with the instruction (2 Kings 5:11).
“I said to myself,” said the furious general, “He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and smite the leprosy and heal me! Are not Abana and Pharpah, the rivers of Damascus, better than the waters of all Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? ” Then he turned and away in a rage. But his servants drew near and reasoned, “If the prophet had bid you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much easier then, when he says, Wash and be clean?”
“So he went down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, as the man of God had instructed, and his flesh became like that of a little child, and he was clean.”
If Naaman had stopped after dipping himself six times he would not have been healed. The general’s problem was pride, and that pride could only be broken by complete obedience to the prophet’s instruction – no matter how foolish he felt. Six is man’s best, but seven is better.
One evening in the mountains of Borneo, I preached that some people resist the things to which God wants them to submit, and instead submit to the things that God wants them to resist (James 4:7). The sole response to my message came from a well dressed lady, who came forward, sobbing loudly. Tears ran down her cheeks as she knelt down and confessed in front of everyone that pride was her problem. Then and there she repented.
The next day we were driven down from the mountains to a village (kampong) near the sea, where I preached to 300 people in a packed church. I was thrilled when the Spirit of God came into the meeting in response to the conviction and repentance of everyone present. I’ll never forget the heartfelt tears, the wailing voices, and – most memorable – the roaring sound of the spiritual wind that blew into the church that night.
The revival spread from that meeting through the island of Borneo and lasted seven years. But I believe it began back in the mountains, with the willingness of that one woman to humble herself and repent. Her obedience opened a crack in the wall of a dam that broke when 300 Christians repented two nights later and a flood of revival was released.
Faith brings obedience, and obedience brings revival! (Acts 6:7; Romans 16:26) Naaman’s seven dips into the muddy Jordan River submerged his pride completely. I once read of a Christian who was tormented by a desire for alcohol. His pastor instructed him to get down on his knees and crawl past every bar he came to. It must have been humiliating for him, but when he crawled past the seventh bar it broke the grip of alcohol! That man went on to become a leading missionary in South America.
“Seven times” is God’s way of saying “completely”. When the Lord commanded the children of Israel to march around the city of Jericho once a day for six days, they obeyed. How must they have felt when the jeering soldiers of Jericho looked down on them from their city’s impregnable walls? (Joshua 6:3) Foolish? Humiliated? But on the seventh day God commanded them to march around the city seven days, and when they did the walls fell down! Knowing how soldiers gripe when ordered to do things they don’t understand, Joshua commanded them to keep their mouths shut: the first miracle in the Promised Land was to be one of silent, obedient faith.
Elijah’s victory over the prophets of Baal would seem to have been the high point of his ministry. Was there anything better than fire falling from heaven and justifying his stand for the true God? Well, yes, there was a higher point. It was Mt Carmel, and also less dramatic, it required the prophet’s persistent faith and his servant’s complete obedience.
“And Elijah said to [king] Ahab, ‘Get up and eat, for there is a sound of abundant rain.’ So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he threw himself down on the earth, put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, ‘Go up now, look toward the sea.’ And he went up and looked and said, ‘There is nothing.’ And Elijah said, ‘Go again seven times.’ And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, ‘Behold, a little cloud arises out of the sea, like a man’s hand.’ And Elijah said, ‘Go and say to Ahab, Prepare your chariot and go down, before the rain stops you.’ And it came to pass meanwhile that the sky was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.” (1 Kings 18:41-45)
Naaman had to go down seven times to be healed of leprosy. The soldiers of Israel had to go around Jericho seven times on the seventh day for the walls to fall down. Elijah’s servant had to go up seven times until he saw the small cloud that heralded a downpour.
Go down again, until your pride is drowned! (Acts 9:8, 18) Go around again, until your obedience is complete! (1 Corinthians 10:5) Go up again, until you see what has been heard spiritually! Six times is never enough, because it symbolises the best that we can do; but seven times bring into being God’s best!