Need A Little Rest?

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. (Hebrews 4:9)

Christians believers know full well the promise of the Sabbath rest that awaits us on the other side of the grave. But is there any rest for us now? Does the writer of Hebrews have a promise for us in the here and now? Read on, and be encouraged today!

To be sure, the promise of a Sabbath rest will find its fulfillment when we are living in the new heavens and the new earth with our God and His people. But before we experience that fulfillment, we are to experience the first installment in this lifetime. So great a salvation has been given us that we can rest from trying to save ourselves. When Jesus enters our lives, He puts an end to our self-salvation project. When He cried out from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), He meant what He said! The work of salvation has been completed. We can cease from trying to earn God’s favor through our good works, which, as the Bible tells us, really aren’t that good at all (Isaiah 64:6).

There is no more wearying a work than trying to earn our way into God’s continued favor and blessing. Millions of people are laboring under this great weight week after week, month after month, and year after year. The joy of the Lord is as far from them as the east is from the west, because they are crushed under the weight of working for a blessing, rather than simply resting in the ones they have already been given in Christ. You see, it is only by trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ that we can experience this Sabbath-rest in a world that is marked by restlessness.

Remember this truth: Jesus Christ not only earned this perfect rest for us, He is this perfect rest. By resting in Him, we begin to experience in part what we will one day experience in full: the Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God. If you need a little rest, live in the shadow of the cross, where your Lord paid the penalty for all your sins in full, satisfying all the demands of God’s justice. Living in the light of this truth will set you free to enjoy the fruits of your labor, rather than laboring for the fruit that Jesus gives you freely and without cost.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!