“And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.’” Mark 2:27-28.

Is Jesus our rest?

“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them [Israelites in the wilderness]; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: ‘So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest,”’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works’; and again in this place: ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, ‘Today,’ after such a long time, as it has been said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.’ For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” Hebrews 4:1-10.

God has given the Christian a rest in Jesus, all those who have accepted Him as their Savior, both Jew and Gentile. We could stop there and say that Jesus is our rest, because we are saved from the wrath of God which will fall upon those who reject Christ.

There is rest in eternal security, the knowledge that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin, past, present, and future; you cannot lose your salvation.

And there is rest in the fact that we can come to Jesus and let our requests be known to Him, casting all our cares upon Him, for He cares for us. But that is not what this passage in Hebrews is saying.

The children of Israel who died in the wilderness as they wandered through it for forty years were not necessarily unbelievers; in fact most of them were probably godly believers. The thing that kept them from entering the land that God had promised them was unbelief.

They did not believe the promises of God, and when spies who were sent into the land to see what they were up against came back and gave a bad report about giants and fierce men in the land the people became fearful and refused to enter as God told them to do.

As a result, God said, “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’” but their children did.

This lesson is for the Christian too; we can read all the promises of God and believe them, we can pray for impossible things and have them come about. We can live a life continually seeing the blessings and the many times He has protected us. But can we enter His rest?

For example: I have seen many wonderful prayers answered in my life and in the lives of my family and friends. There is no question that God can do the impossible, still I have not entered His rest fully.

As the election of November 2016 approached, I started to stress over the possibility that a loss would spell the end of this country as we know it, even the loss of religious freedom was and still is possible.

It was only after I saw the impossible results of that election in spite of widespread election fraud that I began to relax and to thank God.

And yet, here I am as we approach the election of 2024, stressing and fearful once again.

When Jesus approached His disciples as He walked on stormy waters, when the disciples recognized Him, Peter asked the Lord if he could walk to Him on the water, Jesus bade him to come.

“Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.’ And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’ So He said ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.” Matthew 14:25-32.

God’s rest is the absolute knowledge that whatever happens He is in control and whether it is elections or fierce giants we are to place ourselves in His hands and allow Him to act without our hand wringing histrionics.

If you can do this, you can be in the eye of the storm and know that you will remain in the calm all the while the storm rages around you until it finally dies down.

This does not rule out praying fervently during some crisis or for your family, nor does it mean that one does not have to actively look for a job when unemployed.

It does mean that all your cares are to be taken to God in prayer, sometimes more than once or many times, but you are to leave them there knowing that God will take care of them in His own way. This is what I call being on cruise control, living in God’s rest.

Many of us can remember when we were children and the plumbing broke, that did not bother us, dad would fix it. If the car would not start, that did not bother us, dad would fix it. If we needed new shoes, that did not bother us, dad would get them for us.

Our Father in heaven is capable of doing the same things; in fact, dad may have relied on Him to help fix the plumbing, start the car, and get our new shoes. Why ruin a good setup?

So, yes, Jesus is our rest, but we do not truly enter into all that means until we completely, as little children, put our trust in His ability to care for us.

“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him…” Colossians 2:6.

Before we leave this subject, it is important to cover a few more details. While Christians do not meet on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, they still keep a day of rest on the first day of the week, Sunday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week.

“Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” Acts 20:7.

“On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.” 1 Corinthians 16:2.

As Jesus is quoted in the beginning of this study, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27. The word Sabbath is the Hebrew word Shabbath which means “day of rest”, this is taken from the word Shabath which means “He rested” the word used in Genesis 2:2, shown below.

“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested [Shabath] on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” Genesis 2:2.

The truth of the Sabbath and of Sunday is revealed. God has always meant for us to have a Sabbath’s day rest.

Not just so we can rest from the week’s labors, but also to guarantee a timeout from the things of the world that occupy, and perhaps even dominate our minds during the week. But to consider Him for a day and to worship.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” Hebrews 12:1-3.

Sabbath – Seventh Day, Part 2 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 11-5-14, updated on 10-25-24 ck.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.