Blog 4: Time Marked by Sevens
Genesis 1 gives us light and dark markers to track days, weeks, months, and years. During the light period, YHWH established Passover
and seven “holy convocations” or sacred appointed times to meet with Him (Leviticus 23). These annual appointed meeting times, He called Sabbaths in addition to the seventh day Sabbath of solemn rest, a weekly “holy convocation.”
The idea of seven is complete, whole, and finished before a new beginning (8th and 1st ). It is also connected to the concept of an oath, and “to seven oneself” means to make an oath.
Seven: shaba, שָבַע, to be filled up, to be satisfied, to swear an oath by repeating it seven times1.
Shabbat: shabbat, שָׁבַת, to rest by ceasing, to end labor2.
YHWH’s dwelling: shibteka, שִׁבְתְּךָ, the dwelling He has made, the sanctuary His hands have established, Exo. 15:173.
Behold, I AM‘s Appendix 39 Biblical Time in Sevens shows YHWH’s design pattern of seven days, seven weeks, seven months, seven years, seven times seven years, and seven millennia.
Takeaway:
God designed time in a pattern of sevens. Seven signifies God’s role as Creator and His satisfaction. The Sabbath is the sanctuary He has set up as a dwelling.
Fun Factors:
A light period measures time. The Hebrew word for time is `eyth, עֵת, with a letter sum of 470. The sun’s light takes eight minutes to reach the Earth.
Genesis 1:3, “Let there be light, and there was light” = 470.
Footnotes:
1https://www.studylight.org/lexicons/eng/hebrew/7651.html, Strong’s Definitions, Brown-Driver-Briggs Old Testament Hebrew Dictionary, Ancient Hebrew Lexicon Definitions, accessed 9/14/2025.
2https://www.studylight.org/lexicons/eng/hebrew/7676.html, Strong’s Definitions, Brown-Driver-Briggs Old Testament Hebrew Dictionary, Ancient Hebrew Lexicon Definitions, accessed 9/14/2025.
3https://www.studylight.org/lexicons/eng/hebrew/3427.html, Strong’s Definitions, Brown-Driver-Briggs Old Testament Hebrew Dictionary, Ancient Hebrew Lexicon Definitions, accessed 9/14/2025.
Learned a lot here. You gave me a new perspective on how to see the Sabbath, as being a sanctuary or dwelling place with YHWH. I love seeing it that way. I did not know before that seven was tied to an oath.
Joyce, I cannot help but think you have spent your life preparing the work that will be part of what God reveals to His people so that they will be in step with His time cycles at the end. What a powerful rest and sanctuary as we walk forward, in Him, toward the culmination of His Salvational light ushering in the New Beginning! It is too big to hold. Yet there is peace in knowing that He does. Thank you for being a conduit of His spirit on our behalf. Your book has me wanting to start my Bible study in 10 places at once!
I believe your words hit the nail right on! It is too big to hold! That is why I started writing things down in a book so as not to lose them. And that is why I started writing the blog because I feel I am at just the beginning of understanding how awesome is the God we worship! It is so thrilling to share it!