Rest is Seven Times a Friend

If a friend wakes you in the middle of the night it’s to warn you, an enemy on the other hand seeks only to disturb your rest. 

If a friend wakes you in the middle of the night it’s to warn you, an enemy on the other hand seeks only to disturb your rest.

Rest is a friend; He is seven times a friend, just as His name is represented by the word sheva—seven--Shabbat—the seventh day, G-d given rest.

Rest is a ceasing of self-effort; Rest is a stop sign that protects you from oncoming traffic. When Rest acts He acts in your favor, He opposes the disquiet that seeks to steel you away, He is the defender of the weary, the restorer of the soul.

Rest is seven times a friend.

Rest is a voice to the nations, a call of the shofar—ram’s horn. The voice of Rest goes forth in seventy directions to the four corners of the earth. Rest is flame, tongues of fire, and languages of light. Rest is communication; He is the conversation of G-d.

Rest is seven times a friend.

Seven is a unity, when seen in the Menorah—sevenfold candelabra of the G-d of Israel—the light thereof is intense, there are seven branches of light that shine as one, this is the only light to illuminate an otherwise dark temple: we—in Messiah—are the temple of the Ruach Ha-Kodesh—Holy Spirit, you—in Messiah—are the temple of the Ruach Ha-Kodesh. The Ruach Ha-Kodesh is the evidence of Rest.

Rest is seven times a friend.

Oil is the symbol of the Ruach Ha-Kodesh, oil is ignited by flame and fuels the sevenfold light. This same oil feeds every branch of the Menorah; it is echad—a complex unity. Oil is poured out as a gift upon those who have been chosen by G-d in Rest. Those who turn toward G-d, exposing their darkness, and accepting that they cannot see without His light, find Rest. Rest is light, the light of the sevenfold Menorah, He cannot be put out.

Rest is seven times a friend.

Seven times seven times is a group of weeks, it is a holy remembrance--zakhor—of G-d, and we call it Shavuot—sevens, rests. We are surrounded by these weeks, a cycle of Rest. We are put in motion by Rest and are returned to Him. These weeks are intense; they begin with Rest and end with Rest. From the day after the first Shabbat--Yom Ha-Bikurim, first fruits—we look forward through seven shabbat’s toward Shavuot. From the day of Shavuot we look back in remembrance of the price paid for our rest--Pesach, Passover.

Rest is seven times a friend.

Rest is Mashiyach—Messiah, the greatest of friends.

If a friend wakes you in the middle of the night it is to warn you, an enemy on the other hand seeks only to disturb your rest.

“Cease striving and know that I Am HaShem—YHVH.” –Tehillim/Psalm 46:10

© 2014 Yaakov Brown