And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. – Revelation 8:2

Today's Scripture Reading (July 18, 2024): Revelation 8

The number seven is significant in the Bible. It is the number of completeness. God created the world in six days, and on the seventh day, he rested, but by the end of the seventh day, creation was complete, or at least, all of the building blocks were present after the seventh day to provide for a healthy world. Part of the problem of our day is that we have been steadily taking away from what God had created, making the world an unhealthy place. God created it whole, but we have steadily set ourselves to the task of breaking what God had created complete and perfect.

I keep returning to the genealogy of Jesus presented in Matthew. I found Matthew's genealogy problematic when I was younger because it was wrong. Some generations are skipped, and one generation is counted twice. Skipping generations is one thing, but what made it so problematic for me, and I need to stress that it really was my problem, was Matthew making this statement at the end of the genealogy.

Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah (Matthew 1:17).

But there weren't. The numbers have been manufactured and adjusted.

However, I was missing the point. The message that Matthew was trying to share with me was that everything that took place happened at the appropriate time. God is in control. Fourteen, or two times seven, generations simply indicates that when David rose to power, the timing of the Babylonian exile, and the coming of the Messiah, all came at the perfect time or in the fullness of time. God had ordained these moments.

In Jewish thought, seven angels are continually in the presence of God. We have given them the title of Archangels, and they are considered to be the most important of the angels. We have even given them names. Maybe the most famous of the Archangels is Gabriel. He is the messenger of God and often is involved in carrying messages from the throne room of God to the earth, such as when he brought the news that Jesus was going to be born in Bethlehem in the New Testament. Michael is the warrior angel and is often seen carrying a sword. Incidentally, Gabriel and Michael are the only two Archangels named in the Bible.

The other Archangels include Raphael, who is thought to be one of the angels who met Abraham and went into Sodom before the city's destruction. Jegudiel is the bearer of mercy and love. Selaphiel is the angel of prayer, and his name means "I have asked God." Uriel is the archangel associated with knowledge and wisdom. And finally, Barachiel is the angel associated with blessing. Please don't get lost in the various angels; it is a side road that might be interesting for some, but it is not strengthening in any way.

John seems to agree with Jewish thought as he mentions the seven angels that gather around the throne of God. He doesn't give us their names or even their purposes. He just affirms that these seven angels exist, carrying out the will of God at a moment's notice.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Revelation 9