777

Years ago, when I was fresh out of seminary, I followed the advice of the New Testament professor who advised us that we would never begin to really learn from Revelation until we began teaching it.

I began a class.

At one point, while preparing a lesson, I listed out all of the series of things that consisted of seven items. After much comparing and sifting, I concluded that there are only four. Even though many lists of things, events, angels or qualities, can be squeezed into a framework of sevens, the four that are actually NUMBERED within the text seemed to have a special significance.

Of course, many things are listed as seven in number, like eyes, angels, lampstands and whatnot, but they are groups of things and cannot be compared. It became obvious that I would be working in this comparison with the letters, and with the seals, trumpets and bowls.

I made a chart, placing summaries of each letter, seal, trumpet and bowl in columns under the numbers one through seven. That was the first time I realized that the latter three were very significant, and that the importance of the letters was of a different nature.

My chart became a series of three sevens. Click here to see it.

The very first thing I noticed was how much larger the sections for the number six had to be.

The second thing I saw was that in the second and third series, the trumpets and the bowls, the same things were effected, earth, sea, water and heavenly bodies. That immediately drew my attention to the first four seals.

I could not for the life of me see what the connection was between the four living creatures and earth, sea, water and the heavenly bodies.

Unless.

Perhaps earth, sea, water and heavenly bodies were similar to earth, air, fire and water, the ancient idea of the four basic elements of creation. Perhaps the four living creatures somehow represented the powers of creation.

Well, it was an hypothesis, at any rate. One I could test.

I concentrated on the first series, the seals. It used four of the characters of the previous scene. Perhaps the fifth through seventh seals did as well. But there were twenty-six characters in the scene, and only three seals left. Twenty-six doesn't divide by three - that isn't it.

Well, of course! The twenty-four elders are a group and that leaves the Lamb and God, three places. Does it work, though?

The martyrs under the altar were humans, as were the elders, so that seemed to fit.

What about the sixth seal? Once I was looking, I saw it, "the wrath of the Lamb."

But that left the seventh seal to represent God. That didn't seem to work, because all that happened there was a half hour of silence.

Oh. Sorry Lord. Of course.

That moment when I realized that the seventh seal was God's position in the framework was the closest I have come to that instant KNOWING I spoke of about John. All of a sudden, so many things fit.

God - the beginning and the end, known in the silence in our noisy world. This was the moment, some time in 1979, when this book was begun. This was when I noticed the internal and external relationships of the 777 framework.

Externally, it had a relationship with the scene in chapters four and five. The experience of God, the Lamb, people and creation seemed to be very different, but the connections were there. What did those differences mean?

From this series of questions, the whole organization of Revelation began to appear, be revealed. That is presented in the body of this book.

Internally, the seven positions each were related to the same positions in the other two series. That was my first clue. But there was another internal relationship within each series.

The progression from 1-4, elements of creation; to 5, human; to 6, Christ; to 7, God; is developmental. It traces our spiritual evolution from various kinds of automatically-reacting, less-than-fully conscious beings, to human consciousness, to Christ-mastery, to submission to the Creator.

Most systems of spiritual development and humanist development follow this progression in some form or other. At least one I know of, that developed by the Russian mystic Gurdjieff, is an exact fit.

So, what is the meaning of 666 in relation to 777? Yes, the numerical equivalent of the name NERO CAESAR is 666. People did things like that two thousand years ago, as they do now. John may even have purposely had that in mind.

But look at this. It is possible to progress in one's spiritual development from the automaton level (1-4) to human consciousness (5) to mastery (6) and then not acknowledge God. Our spiritual lore is full of such, beginning with the tradition of Satan, the brightest of God's angels, who rebelled. Throughout history, the beast has been known to us in the form of human leaders who exercised incredible control over people and, seemingly, nature.

One who works through to the mastery level and doesn't acknowledge God as Creator, has stopped at the sixth place. Satan, thrown down from heaven is 6. The beast who was called forth from the sea (chaos) is 6. The beast who arose from the earth is 6. These stand, 666, in contrast to the 777 of the complete worldly existence, the pattern of wholeness and salvation presented by John.

In Paul's first chapter of Romans, we are told that the original sin is ingratitude.

FOREWORD || INTRODUCTION || CHAPTER 1 || CHAPTER 2 || CHAPTER 3 || CHAPTER 4 || CHAPTER 5 || CHAPTER 6 || CHAPTER 7 || CHAPTER 8 || CHAPTER 9 || CHAPTER 10 || CHAPTER 11 || CHAPTER 12 || APPENDIX A, 777 || APPENDIX B - The Medicine Wheel || REVELATION STUDY MAIN PAGE || Return to the Revelation Geek Homepage