We have entered into another school year. For someone with two kids that means schedules have ramped up and we are running from one thing to the next and getting reacquainted with routines and clocks. It has been a hectic couple of weeks getting used to the new, and I have found the still and quiet part of my mornings more difficult.
My brain is busier, my mornings are even earlier than they used to be, and the rhythm is not there yet. Quite honestly that frustrates me to no end because normally I very much look forward to my quiet mornings in stillness with God. Instead, the last few weeks I’ve stared out into the darkness outside my window at 0-dark-thirty many times saying, “God I know you are there, but I am tired and it is hard to hear and focus on anything”. But in true God fashion he still speaks in quiet ways throughout the day (and night) reminding me he never leaves, he’s always there, waiting and ready for whatever I am willing and able to bring, and it doesn’t always have to look the same. I can rest in his presence and just be.
Last week our family was talking about what a day of rest looks like as the Sabbath was a topic in a book we are reading through as a family. We’ve always been fairly committed to taking it easy on Sundays as our Sabbath rest day, but we often let laundry and meal planning and things like that creep in. So, we decided this week to be intentional about fully resting after church on Sunday—naps, reading a book, playing a game, whatever that looked like for each of us. Imagine my surprise when I returned to a Bible study class that morning that I had stepped away from for a few weeks and the scripture that morning was Hebrews chapter four. In my Bible the title is “A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God.”
I find all of this even more interesting because I see so many repeating themes coming together right now and especially in this chapter of Hebrews. Some of you might be aware of this (I find most Christians are not), but the civil New Year of the Hebrew calendar starts at sundown tonight. It is called Rosh Hashanah, also referred to as the Feast of Trumpets. It is a feast that God told the Jews to observe in Leviticus 23:24-25 when he says to Moses, “24Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25 Do no regular work, but present a food offering to the Lord.’” On the Jewish calendar, today is that day. And why is that important, you might ask? Well, you see God was the one who established this calendar and he still speaks through the things on this calendar, the numbers, the symbols, and what the feasts represent.
For example, Passover was established back when the Israelites were about to be delivered out of Egypt. In Exodus 12 God gave them specific instructions for what to do putting the blood of the lamb on their doorposts (tops and sides) so that when the angel of death came through to kill all of the firstborn sons theirs would be spared. Then they were to eat that lamb as their meal. He then told them it was to be celebrated for generations to come, and they were to tell their children what it meant when they asked. He mentions it again in Leviticus 23 when he is giving instructions on all the feasts. But then in the New Testament as these feasts are still being celebrated as instructed, Jesus, the only Son of God celebrates the Passover with his disciples. The Lamb of God gives bread and wine to his disciples and explains that it is his body and his blood that is being given—because Jesus is the fulfillment of that feast. It was his life that saved ours from death at Passover. You see every feast points to a prophecy, some near, some far, some both. God’s words are very purposeful, his timing is very important, and there is always more there than just words on paper if you are willing to look.
So today at sundown by Jewish tradition, we move from the year 5786 to 5787. And here is where I see all of these things coming together. You see the number six in the Bible represents man. Not only is it the day man was created, in Revelation 13:18 it says, “Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.” Today, we leave the number of man (5786 to 5787).
The number seven, on the other hand, represents perfection, completion, and it represents rest. There are so many examples of this throughout the Bible, I won’t go into all of them but will point out a few of the obvious ones. On the seventh day, God rested, and creation was complete. We are told in the Ten Commandments, “10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:10). In Revelation the number seven is mentioned more than 50 times. There are seven churches, seven lampstands, seven seals, seven angels with seven trumpets. Again, all pointing to a completion and finality. Joshua marched around Jericho for seven days and on the seventh day was told to march around it seven times and then seven priests blew their seven trumpets to bring the walls down. That’s a lot of sevens! Hopefully you get the picture.
Not only do numbers have biblical meaning but they also have pictures and words they represent in the Hebrew alphabet. To make it less confusing I’ve put the details of the numbers six and seven below.
Six: 
- Represents the number of man in the bible
- Its Hebrew word is “vav” which means “hook,” and implies the connection between heaven and earth.
- The picture (see above) of “vav” looks like a tent peg
Seven:
- Represents rest, completion and perfection in the bible
- Its Hebrew word is “zayin” which means “weapon” or “sword.”
- The picture (See above) of “zayin” looks like a “vav” with a crown on it. It also looks like a sword.
- “Zayin” derives from a root word that means “sustenance” or “nourishment.”
So, as I was reading in Hebrews four that morning I saw all of these words come together in several ways. The whole chapter is about entering rest (the number 7), but Sabbath rest actually means to cease, or to stop doing. It is similar to the “be still” meaning I’ve talked about before—stop working, cease striving, just rest. It is the invitation of the gospel. You can’t earn it; you can’t work for it; there is nothing you can do except have the faith that you are given to receive it. That is the rest we are invited into, not just on the Sabbath, but an eternity of rest.
That same ceasing was what God told the Israelites to do on the Sabbath, rest from work and trust him to provide, to be their nourishment and sustenance. He wants the same from us today. Rest in him, not in our productivity and what we feel we need to accomplish.
At the very end of Hebrews four the chapter wraps up with these verses, “14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
The vav, the connector, the hook from earth (man) to heaven is Jesus! The one who now sits on his throne at the right hand of God the Father, the crowned one. The one who is also called the “the Word” (John 1:1) which Hebrews 4:12 says, “12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” And Ephesians 6:17 says to take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
I cannot tell you what the Lord wants for you personally in this new year, but I would highly recommend you ask. I find he typically speaks loudly to me this time of year.
I see a picture of resting in the sustenance of Jesus and his word, that it is always enough, His Word is always enough, as Isaiah 55:10-11 says
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
I pray that no matter what you face today or in the next season you find rest and sustenance in Jesus and in His Word in this new year. Let His word guide, you fight for you and defend you.
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