Rest
Good day to each of you reading this column on a favorite subject that is easy to practice or that is a daily nap.
Rest, take a nap, resting your eyes, snoozing, taking a break from life, catching some zzzzzzz’s, relax, doze, nod off and cat napping are terms for the word rest.
Rest knows no time of day nor what place it is utilized, yet without rest you and I would cease to exist.
Turn with me to Genesis 2:2-3 (NIV) 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so, on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
As a dual witness, the above verses reiterate that God himself rested from his work as shown in Exodus 20:11.
It is so interesting to explore rest and the phrase “of entering his rest” where brother Paul goes into full length in Hebrews 4: 1-11 as to the Sabbath Rest for you and I, the people of God.
When examining the word “rest”, I see where, biblically this word “rest”, a Holy Sabbath to the Lord and the seventh day tell us in Exodus 16: 23-26 that this day, the seventh day is to be a day of rest for man.
Think about this, for in Genesis 2:2-3 that God had finished his work and rested on the seventh day. If we truly love God, then why are we any different by not following God’s commandments, laws, statutes and judgements. Moses, in Exodus 16: 23 (NIV) does not ask the Israelites but says the following, He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So, bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”
Do you notice the word commanded and do you see the outcome as written in Exodus 16:27-30? God commands that you and I “rest” on the Sabbath day for our bodies need rest to reflect on the past week, reflect on the blessings that he provided each of us, how God supplied us both physically and spiritually, and God will prepare us for the next week of work.
But God did not stop with man for God provides this same rest for the land, for the animals to rest, as well as the slave born in your household and the alien so all things may be refreshed in Exodus 23:10-12.
If you are a farmer, do you for six years sow your fields and harvest your crops? As for the seventh year, do you let the land lie unplowed and used?
As a farmer, are you wondering why your yields are becoming less and less? God says in Exodus 24:21 (NIV) 21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.
Besides robbing the land of its needed rest and its production, we rob those who do not have enough to eat as well as the animals that reside in this land.
Leviticus 25: 3-7 (NIV) 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.
God, in his infinite and great wisdom, shows us how to work the land that he gave us, eliminate hunger, and be blessed by working our crops as a country so that all can receive his bounty of blessings.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, do you? I remember being in church on a Sunday and the minister telling us that this Sunday, the lesson would be cut short so we could watch the Super Bowl? That same preacher, on another week, cut his sermon short, so he and others in the church congregation would not miss their “tee time” to play golf.
Is this the way man makes the sabbath holy? I have been guilty to use the “sabbath” as a day to get caught up in my work, chores around the house, activities that are not God-centered, so I know it is easy to do.
I only ask you, if Jesus were to come on a Sunday, would you be making that day a day dedicated to God?
Let us turn our thoughts to “enter God’s rest “or the third meaning of rest. Turn to Hebrews 4:8-11 (NIV) 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[a] just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
As I reference” to enter God’s rest”, the focus goes back to Deuteronomy 3: 12-21 where God gives the Reubenites, Gaddites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh rest to take over the promised land along with the promise that God promised to help them win every battle.
God’s assurance to Joshua is that they would defeat their enemies, settle the land and to “rest” from their forty-year journey. As for us, trust in God and in Jesus, don’t let your hearts be troubled for you know you will rest or peace in your life.
As the saying goes, you will be too blessed to be stressed because you have the assurance that Jesus has prepared a place for both you and I and that Jesus will come back and take each of us to be with him in the kingdom.
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Please follow me on my podcasts that are broadcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Deezer Podcast, Google Podcasts, I Heart Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Pandora Podcasts, Sticher Podcasts.
Follow me on the You Tube Channel: Jeff Casillo & Friends
