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Seven Last Words of Christ
[Bible]The Seven Last Words of Christ is the traditional name for the seven sayings that Jesus Christ spoke from the cross before his death, as gathered from the four Gospels.
The Seven Signs of the Gospel of John
[Bible]The seven signs of the Gospel of John are seven events recorded in John 1–12, a Gospel that calls Jesus' miracles "signs." John presents these events as indications that reveal who Jesus is and lead people to faith.
Seven Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls
[Bible]The seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls are visions in Revelation 6–16 in which God's judgments unfold in three successive series of seven. Interpreters differ on how the three series relate to one another and when they occur.
Seven Deacons
[Bible]The Seven Deacons were seven men chosen by the early church in Jerusalem to ensure the fair distribution of relief to those in need. They included Stephen and Philip, and their appointment is commonly regarded as the origin of the office of deacon.
Seven Nations of Canaan
[Bible]The seven nations of Canaan is a collective term for the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, the peoples who lived in the land of Canaan before Israel entered it. The expression derives from Deuteronomy 7:1.
Seven Sacraments
[Doctrine & Theology]The Seven Sacraments are the seven rites that the Catholic Church professes to be signs of grace instituted by Christ: Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. Most Protestants recognize only two sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Seven Seals
[Bible]The seven seals are the seals that close the scroll held in the hand of God in Revelation 5–8. As the slain Lamb opens them one by one, war, famine, death, martyrdom, and cosmic upheaval follow in succession.
Seven Bowls
[Bible]The seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God that seven angels pour out in succession upon the earth, the sea, the rivers, the sun, the throne of the beast, the river Euphrates, and the air in Revelation 15–16, together with the plagues they bring.
Seven Trumpets
[Bible]The seven trumpets are the trumpets blown in succession by seven angels in Revelation 8–11, together with the plagues and events that follow each one. They form the second set of seven judgments, placed between the seven seals and the seven bowls.
Cambridge Seven
[History]The Cambridge Seven were seven young British men who went to China in 1885 as missionaries with the China Inland Mission, founded by Hudson Taylor. Six came from the University of Cambridge and one from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.
Penitential Psalms
[Bible]The Penitential Psalms are seven psalms (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143) that church tradition groups together because they give prominent expression to the confession of sin and the plea for God's forgiveness.
Feeding of the Four Thousand
[Bible]The Feeding of the Four Thousand is the miracle in which Jesus fed a crowd of more than four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. It is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.
Sceva
[People]Sceva was a Jewish priest (or high priest) mentioned in Acts 19. He is known for an incident in Ephesus in which his seven sons tried, and failed, to cast out evil spirits by invoking the name of Jesus whom Paul preached.
Ezra 7
[Bible]Ezra 7 recounts how Ezra, a priest and scholar of the Law, went up from Babylon to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. The chapter includes the king's decree and Ezra's praise to God.
Luke 23:34
[Bible Verses]Luke 23:34 records the prayer Jesus offered on the cross for those who were crucifying him: "Father, forgive them." It is traditionally counted as the first of the Seven Last Words from the Cross. The verse also raises a textual question, because the prayer is absent from some early manuscripts.
Luke 23:43
[Bible Verses]Luke 23:43 records the promise Jesus made on the cross to the repentant thief: "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise." The verse is frequently cited in discussions of where believers are immediately after death (the intermediate state) and of whether salvation is possible apart from works or baptism. It is also the subject of a translation debate over the placement of a comma.
Beersheba
[Bible]Beersheba was a town at the southern edge of the land of Judah, in the northern Negev. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dug wells and worshiped God there, and the expression "from Dan to Beersheba" marks the southern boundary of Israel.
Lampstand
[Bible]The lampstand was a furnishing of pure gold that stood in the Holy Place of the tabernacle and the temple. It had a single central shaft with six branches and held seven lamps. In Hebrew it is called the menorah.
"I Am" Sayings
[Bible]The "I am" sayings (Greek ego eimi) are the sayings in which Jesus Christ identified himself with the words "I am …." They appear mainly in the Gospel of John and are read in connection with Old Testament passages in which God reveals himself.
Great Tribulation
[Doctrine & Theology]The Great Tribulation is an eschatological term for a period of intense suffering said to occur immediately before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Interpretations of its duration and nature, and of whether the church will pass through it, vary among theological positions.