Saturday, July 8, 2006
Genesis 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
THE ETERNAL SABBATH REST
The Sabbath rest of Old Testament times presented a picture of a number of greater rests of the spirit. We spoke of the rest for our souls as we live here in time, the need for such a day of feeding our souls with the Word.
We find in Jesus the greater Sabbath in respect to our souls salvation. As I watch the Roman Catholic Church fill up on a Saturday or Sunday morning (their services begin later than ours here) I find great joy in knowing that Jesus has given me rest from earning my way into heaven. What is left to be done that Jesus has not fulfilled? The Law obeyed. The price paid in full. The declaration pronounced by the Father. It is finished! Jesus has sat down at the right hand of the Father. I too can sit down and rest from the work of my salvation. It has been given me by faith in Christ Jesus. From baptism on it has been: No Work Today. Rest.
With this salvation won and given in Jesus my Lord and Savior comes the certainty of a day of an everlasting Sabbath. Then, no temptation, no trials, no sorrows, no illness, no work ever again, only peace and rest in the house prepared for me by Jesus.
Like Job the heart speaks, "how my heart yearns within me!" Or in the words of the hymn writer, "Oh had we wings to hasten yonder!" Longing for it, hastening on to that eternal rest which is pictured in the earthly Sabbath, in our Sunday worship, and devotions, and promised and given in Christ Jesus. God said, "Let there be . . ." and there is forever -- rest.
