AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH: hos hos omosa (1SAAI)
en te orge mou: (Heb 3:18,19; 4:3; Nu 14:20-23,25,27-30,35;
32:10-13; Deut 1:34,35; 2:14)
As - according as, in
conformity with which fact
The Greek rendering conveys the meaning: "If they go into the land I am not
God"
Swore (3660)
(Omnuo) means to affirm the truth of a statement by
calling on a divine being to execute sanctions against a person if the
statement in question is not true (in the case of a deity taking an oath,
his divine being is regarded as validating the statement). In this case
God's Own Divine being is regarded as validating the statement.
Omnuo is repeated in this middle section of Hebrews...
Hebrews 3:11 (note)
As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'"
Hebrews 3:18 (note)
And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those
who were disobedient?
Hebrews 4:3 (note)
For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore
in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest," although His works were finished
from the foundation of the world.
Hebrews 6:13 (note)
For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one
greater, He swore by Himself,
Hebrews 6:16 (note)
For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as
confirmation is an end of every dispute.
Hebrews 7:21 (note)
(for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through
the One who said to Him, "The Lord has sworn And will not change His mind,
'Thou art a priest forever' ")
This verb omnuo is
used in the
Septuagint (LXX)
of God swearing to keep His covenant to bring Israel into the
land (Dt 1:8, 35, 2:14, 4:21, 31, 6:10, 18, 23, 7:8, 12, 13, 8:1, 18, etc >
30x in Deut.)
Wrath (3709)
(orge
from orgaô = to teem,
to swell) refers to to an inner,
deep resentment that seethes and smolders. Orge as used of God refers to His
constant and controlled indignation toward sin, while thumos (which
originally referred to violent movements of air, water, etc., and
consequently came to mean “well up” or “boil up”) refers more to a
passionate outburst of rage. Thumos type anger represents an
agitated, vehement anger that rushes along relentlessly. The root meaning
has to do with moving rapidly and was used of a man’s breathing violently
while pursuing an enemy in great rage!
Orge is derived from the idea
of a swelling which eventually bursts, and applies more to an anger that
proceeds from one’s settled nature. Orge is used primarily of God's
holy, righteous wrath but occasionally refers to the wrath of men (see
notes
Ephesians 4:31)
Orge is...
God’s settled
opposition to
and displeasure with sin
Orge does not
refer to uncontrollable anger to which men are so prone but to God's
settled indignation and controlled passionate hostile feeling toward sin
in all its various manifestations. "Settled" indignation means that God’s
holiness cannot and will not coexist with sin in any form whatsoever. Orge
is not the momentary, emotional, and often uncontrolled anger (thumos) to
which human beings are prone.
God’s wrath is his
holy hatred of all that is unholy. It is His righteous indignation at
everything that is unrighteous. It is the temper of God towards sin. It is
not God's uncontrollable rage, vindictive bitterness or a losing of His
temper, but the wrath of righteous reason and holy law.
John MacArthur writes that
orge...
"signifies the strongest kind of anger,
that which reaches fever pitch, when God’s mercy and grace are fully
exhausted. It will mark the end of God’s patience and tolerance with
unregenerate, unrepentant mankind in the swelling of His final, furious
anger which He will vent on those whose works evidence their persistent and
unswerving rebellion against Him." (MacArthur,
J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press
or
Logos)
Larry Richards in describing
God's anger writes that...
"The OT clearly specifies what human
actions provoke God to anger. The NT treats wrath as a basic relational
state, showing that the unsaved are under God's wrath. But God never acts
capriciously in his anger. He always acts in full harmony with his character
as a loving, forgiving, compassionate, and just person." (Richards,
L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency)
Arthur Pink defined God’s wrath
as...
“His eternal detestation of all
unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine equity
against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin”
(Arthur W. Pink, The Attributes of God, p83).
Bishop Trench defines orge
=
“a wrath of God who would not love good
unless He hated evil, the two being inseparable, that He must do both or
neither.” Trench adds that orge
is an anger “which righteous men not merely may, but as they are righteous,
must feel; nor can there be a surer and sadder token of an utterly prostrate
moral condition than the not being able to be angry with sin—and sinners”
Orge
is used of our Lord when, after healing the man with the withered hand, He
observed the hardness of heart of the Pharisees, and looked upon them with
anger (Mk3:5).
Marvin Vincent describes
orge
as God’s personal emotion with regard to sin. It represents God’s abhorrence
and hatred of sin and His constant, invariable reaction to sin.
What does My wrath refer to in
Hebrews 3:11? The failure to correct a habit of
grumbling and murmuring against God led over a million Israelites to such a
hardened state of heart that they were unable to lay hold of the opportunity
to enter the land of promise when they came to its borders. They perished at
an average of almost ninety deaths a day, until the generation that left
Egypt (except for Joshua and Caleb) had died out.
THEY SHALL NOT ENTER
MY REST: Ei
eiseleusontai (3PFMI) eis ten katapausin mou:
Not enter My rest - A careful observation
of the term
rest in Hebrews 3-4 indicates that it is used in in at three
or four different senses. Consider the following nuances of rest:
(1) the land of Canaan (Hebrews 3:7-19)
(2) salvation as rest (Hebrews 4:1, 3, 8, 9)
(3) God's rest at the completion of creation (Hebrews 4:4)
(4) heaven, the Christian's ultimate rest (Hebrews 4:10, 11).
In all the uses the basic meaning of
rest is to desist from one form of activity in order to give oneself
to a wholly new enterprise. There is no reference whatsoever to sleep or
slumber. To enter God's eternal rest even in heaven will be to devote
oneself to the worship and work in that perfect environment, in which there
is neither frustration nor exhaustion.
Walter Kaiser in his article
entitled The Promise Theme and the Theology of Rest (Bibliotheca
Sacra, Vol 130, page 142, 1973) adds a note clarifying the theology of rest
in Hebrews 3-4 writing that...
It is common to observe in some
commentaries on this passage that there are three or four rests mentioned in
Heb3:7-4:11. The list generally highlights three or four of the following:
1. The Divine Rest (Heb 4:1-3, 10-11 ) or
Rest of Faith
2. The Creation Rest (Hebrews
4:4 )
3. The Sabbath Rest (Hebrews
4:4,
4:9)
or The Rest that Remains (6-9)
4. The Canaan Rest (Hebrews
4:8)
5. The Redemptive Rest (Hebrews
4:10)
6. The Eternal Rest (Hebrews
4:9)
Rest (2663)
(katapausis from katá = intensifies or
"down" conveying sense of permanency + paúo = make to cease)
describes literally a ceasing from one's work or activity. Thayer cites a
use in the active sense of a putting to rest as used in the sentence "a
calming of the winds". Metaphorically as used in the present verse,
katapausis speaks of the spiritual fulfillment God provides for His people.
Barclay has the following
analysis of katapausis noting that...
In a complicated passage like this it is
better to try to grasp the broad lines of the thought before we look at any
of the details. The writer is really using the word rest (katapausis) in
three different senses. (i) He is using it as we would use the peace
of God. It is the greatest thing in the world to enter into the peace of
God. (ii) He is using it, as he used it in
Hebrews 3:12,
to mean The Promised Land. To the children of Israel who had wandered so
long in the desert the Promised Land was indeed the rest of God. (iii) He is
using it of the rest of God after the sixth day of creation, when all God’s
work was completed. This way of using a word in two or three different ways,
of teasing at it until the last drop of meaning was extracted from it, was
typical of cultured, academic thought in the days when the writer to the
Hebrews wrote his letter. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press or
Logos)
Katapausis is used 9 times in
the
Septuagint (LXX)
and refers to God's rest in several of the
contexts.
Exodus 35:2 "For six days work may
be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a sabbath of
complete rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put
to death.
Numbers 10:36 And when it (the Ark
of the Covenant) came to rest, he said, "Return Thou, O LORD, to the
myriad thousands of Israel." (Comment: The Israelites were ready to
leave Sinai under God's leadership. This prayer presents Moses'
understanding of God. With the presence of God resting in the center of the
tribes and His glory radiating outward from the camp, His enemies would
flee. On the other hand as the Ark rested in their midst the "Shekinah"
glory would be the manifestation of His presence among His people and they
would worship Him and rightly fear Him.)
Deuteronomy 12:9 for you have not
as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the LORD
your God is giving you.
1 Kings 8:56 "Blessed be the LORD,
who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He
promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised
through Moses His servant.
1 Chronicles 6:31 Now these are
those whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the
LORD, after the ark rested there.
2 Chronicles 6:41 "Now therefore
arise, O LORD God, to Thy resting place, Thou and the ark of
Thy might; let Thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let
Thy godly ones rejoice in what is good.
Psalm 95:11 "Therefore I swore in
My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest."
Psalm 132:14 "This is My
resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
Isaiah 66:1 Thus says the LORD,
"Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house
you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?
Katapausis is used 8 times in
the NT, all but one in the epistle to the Hebrews...
Acts 7:49 'Heaven is My throne,
And earth is the footstool of My feet; What kind of house will you build for
Me?' says the Lord; 'Or what place is there for My repose?
Hebrews 3:11
As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'
Hebrews 3:18
And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those
who were disobedient?
Hebrews 4:1
Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest,
any one of you should seem to have come short of it.
Hebrews 4:3
For we who have believed
enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore in My wrath, They shall
not enter My rest," although His works were finished from the foundation of
the world.
Hebrews 4:5
and again in this passage, "They shall not enter My rest."
Hebrews 4:10
For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works,
as God did from His.
Hebrews 4:11
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through
following the same example of disobedience.
See also a more detailed discussion of
Rest in the Epistle of Hebrews
Peter Toon has an excellent
summary of rest in Hebrews 3-4 noting first that ...
the verb katapauo (2664)
occurs three times and the noun, katapausis (3709),
eight times. Also, the Greek text of Psalm 95:11 (“they shall never enter my
rest”) is cited eight times. Joshua was given the task by Yahweh of leading
the tribes of Israel into the promised land, into the rest promised them by
their God. This task was fulfilled in an earthly sense by Joshua, as the
Book of Joshua describes. However, the fuller meaning of the everlasting
rest of God promised to his people and related to the gift of rest of the
seventh day was not achieved by Joshua and the tribes under the old
covenant. Jesus the Christ, the greater Joshua, was sent by the Father to
bring into being the true nature and fullness of the gift of rest for the
people of God.
The rest is rightly called a “sabbath rest” because it is a participation in
God’s own rest. When God completed his work of creation, he rested; likewise
when his people complete their service to him on earth, they will enter into
God’s prepared rest. Now, in this age, the rest is before them as their
heritage and by faith they live in the light of it in this world. How this
is done is wonderfully illustrated with the wealth of biographical detail in
Hebrews 11. Here the rest is also portrayed as a city prepared for God’s
faithful people—a city whose builder is God himself. Whatever this rest
consists of it is not a state of complete inactivity, such as the rest of
the wicked (Job 3:17–19).
In Revelation 14:13–14 the heavenly voice speaks of the blessedness of those
who die in the Lord and the Spirit replies: “They will rest from their labor
for their deeds will follow them.” Here a different dimension of the meaning
of rest is being pointed to—a rest that is not inactivity but is certainly
free of the burdens of the flesh and of the present, evil age.
Finally, we note that as the Spirit of the Lord rests on the Messiah (Isa.
11:2), so in the new covenant, “If you [Christian believers] are insulted
for the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God
rests on you” (1 Peter 4:14). (See full article in
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary
of Biblical Theology )
Ray Stedman
explains that it is possible to interpret God's "rest" in at least three
ways and each has some merit. And so God's rest could refer to
(1) The rest associated with
placing one's faith in Christ (see Matthew 11:28-30 above). In context, this
appears to be the primary meaning, that is, of coming to Jesus by faith and
entering His salvation rest where self effort is to replaced (or at least
can and should be replaced) by Spirit initiated and empowered effort. Ray
Stedman speaking of those who have entered this salvation rest by faith
explains that many believers experience breakdown in their Christianity (not
referring to a loss of salvation but a loss of joy and sense of His presence
and power) under the pressures of stress or responsibility because they try
to work out their salvation in their power (see exposition of
Philippians 2:12-13 and Pound's discussion
Work out Your Salvation)
and have not learned to "operate out of rest". (Stedman,
Ray: The Rest Obtained Is New-Creation Rest)
(2).The rest that is promised to
Israel (and applies to all believers) in the 1000 year reign of Christ on
earth ("the Messianic Age"), the "rest" of which Isaiah records...
"Then it will come about in that day
(when Messiah takes His throne in Jerusalem after the "great tribulation" -
see
Daniel's Seventieth Week
- and the defeat of the
"antichrist") that the nations will resort to the root of Jesse (Messiah),
Who will stand as a signal (a banner lifted up to be a rallying point) for
the peoples; and His resting place (LXX
uses the related word anapausis) will be glorious." (Isaiah 11:10)
(3). The rest associated with eternity
and which is described by John who...
"heard a voice from heaven, saying,
"Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes," says
the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds
follow with them." (Revelation
14:13)
The KJV Commentary
notes that...
Rest involves more than mere
inactivity. It is that which follows the satisfactory completion of a task.
Salvation rest is the gift reckoned to the believer resulting from Christ’s
finished work. Heaven (#3 above) and millennial rest is the reward of the
believer’s labors for the Lord (see note
Revelation 14:13). Verse 11 records
the warning one more time: Do not miss through unbelief what God has
promised." (Dobson,
E G, Charles Feinberg, E Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV Bible
Commentary: Nelson
or
Logos)
Matthew Henry
explains the "rest" this way:
The end proposed-rest spiritual and
eternal, the rest of grace here and glory hereafter—in Christ on earth, with
Christ in heaven. The way to this end prescribed- labour (KJV), diligent
labour; this is the only way to rest; those who will not work now shall not
rest hereafter. After due and diligent labour, sweet and satisfying rest
shall follow; and labour now will make that rest more pleasant when it
comes." (Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and
unabridged)
Larry Richards writes that...
The third and fourth chapters of Hebrews
explore the significance of God's voice in the believer's experience. The
writer argues that only by hearing and responding to the Lord as he speaks
to us in our "today" can we find rest. Such rest is not cessation of
activity but repose in activity. God's Sabbath rest is
defined: God has ceased creating (Hebrews 4:9-11). But the God of the OT is
active. How then is He at rest? He is at rest from bringing
into existence and organizing the basic plan and contents of the universe.
He knows the end from the beginning, and his purpose will stand (Isaiah
46:8-10). Thus, His voice is able to guide us into the paths He intends for
us.
The struggle Christians are engaged in is not that of finding their way
through life but of entering his rest (Hebrews 4:11). That is, they
are to be responsive to the Lord and let his Word and Spirit guide them to
the solutions He has already provided for their problems. In knowing God and
responding to Him we find true repose. (Richards,
L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency)
John MacArthur nicely
summarizes rest in Hebrews 3 and 4 writing that...
The basic idea is that of ceasing from
work or from any kind of action. You stop doing what you are doing. Action,
labor, or exertion is over. Applied to God’s rest, it means no more
self-effort as far as salvation is concerned. It means the end of trying to
please God by our feeble, fleshly works. God’s perfect rest is a rest in
free grace.
Rest also means freedom from whatever
worries or disturbs you. Some people cannot rest mentally and emotionally
because they are so easily annoyed. Every little nuisance upsets them and
they always feel hassled. Rest does not mean freedom from all nuisances and
hassles; it means freedom from being so easily bothered by them. It means to
be inwardly quiet, composed, peaceful. To enter God’s rest means to be at
peace with God, to possess the perfect peace He gives. It means to be free
from guilt and even unnecessary feelings of guilt. It means freedom from
worry about sin, because sin is forgiven. God’s rest is the end of
legalistic works and the experience of peace in the total forgiveness of
God.
Rest can mean to lie down, be settled,
fixed, secure. There is no more shifting about in frustration from one thing
to another, no more running in circles. In God’s rest we are forever
established in Christ. We are freed from running from philosophy to
philosophy, from religion to religion, from life-style to life-style. We are
freed from being tossed about by every doctrinal wind, every idea or fad,
that blows our way. In Christ, we are established, rooted, grounded,
unmovable. That is the Christian’s rest.
Rest involves remaining confident,
keeping trust. In other words, to rest in something or someone means to
maintain our confidence in it or him. To enter God’s rest, therefore, means
to enjoy the perfect, unshakable confidence of salvation in our Lord. We
have no more reason to fear. We have absolute trust and confidence in God’s
power and care.
Rest also means to lean on. To enter into
God’s rest means that for the remainder of our lives and for all eternity we
can lean on God. We can be sure that He will never fail to support us. In
the new relationship with God, we can depend on Him for everything and in
everything—for support, for health, for strength, for all we need. It is a
relationship in which we are confident and secure that we have committed our
life to God and that He holds it in perfect, eternal love. It is a
relationship that involves being settled and fixed. No more floating around.
We know whom we have believed and we stand in Him.
The rest spoken of in Hebrews 3 and 4
includes all of these meanings. It is full, blessed, sweet, satisfying,
peaceful. It is what God offers every person in Christ. It is the rest
pictured and illustrated in the Canaan rest that Israel never understood and
never entered into because of unbelief. And just as Israel never entered
Canaan rest because of unbelief, so soul after soul since that time, and
even before, has missed God’s salvation rest because of unbelief.
Two other dimensions of spiritual rest
will not be found in a dictionary—the Kingdom rest of the Millennium and the
eternal rest of heaven. These are the ultimate expressions of the new
relationship to God in Christ, the relationship that takes care of us in
this life, in the Kingdom, and in heaven forever. (MacArthur,
John: Hebrews. Moody Press
or
Logos)
The words “They shall not enter into” in the Greek
text include a conditional particle not brought over into the English. It
is, “If they shall enter.” This is a common Hebraistic formula in oaths. In
the case where God speaks, as here, it is “may I not be Jehovah if they
shall enter.”
The earthly rest which God
promised to give was life in the land of Canaan which Israel would receive
as their inheritance (Dt 12:9,10; Jos 21:44; 1Ki 8:56). Because of rebellion
against God, an entire generation of the children of Israel was prohibited
from entering into that rest in the Promised Land (cf. Dt 28:65; Lam 1:3). The
application of this picture is to an individual’s spiritual rest in the
Lord, which has precedent in the OT (Ps 116:7; Isa 28:12). The Promised Land
represents our spiritual inheritance in Christ (Ep 1:3, 11, 15-23). And just
as the people of God had to “step out by faith” (Jos1:3)(which equates with
belief in the promises of God, and relates to Heb11:6) and claim the land
for themselves, just as believers today must do. : 2Cor 5:7
Rest according to Wayne Barber means to cease from works with the idea of release from anxiety, worry,
insecurity. This is what is offered to us in Jesus Christ. When applied to
Israel, rest applied to Canaan, a land. Israel was an earthly symbol of what
Jesus offers us of a heavenly kingdom. Jos 22:4 speaks of "rest" in Canaan.
For believers "rest" refers not to a land BUT to a life, to all we have in
Christ.
><> ><> ><>
Rest in Six Aspects
• Creation rest, broken by sin - Genesis
2:2
• Redemption rest, secured in Christ - Zephaniah 3:17
• The sinner’s rest, by coming to Christ - Matthew 11:28
• The saint’s rest, in communion with Christ - Mark 6:30
• Paradise rest, present - Rev 16:13 and 2 Cor. 5:1-8
• Eternal rest, future - Hebrews 4:9; Rev. 22:5
From the Book of 750 Bible and Gospel
Studies, 1909, George W Noble, Chicago
><> ><> ><>
Kent Hughes
comments that...
The point the writer of Hebrews wants his readers to see is that it is
possible to have a remarkable spiritual “exodus” and yet fall by the way
when trouble comes. This was the Holy Spirit’s message to the beleaguered
little church from Ps95, and it is his message to us. If we have been
Christians for any length of time, we have seen this lived out. During my
years as a youth pastor, I had a spectacular “convert” in my group—a classic
hippie who turned overnight into a classic “Jesus person.” He was
intelligent, winsome, handsome and spiritual. Just a few weeks after this
“exodus,” he would stand regularly to give testimony, entrancing all who
heard. He even reproached the lukewarm. I was so proud! But it all came down
in one unforgettable week when a relationship he was pursuing fell through
and he hurt himself in a church softball game. The result? Rejection of
Christ—and a lawsuit against the church! Jesus said of such, “What was sown
on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with
joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or
persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away” (Mt 13:20,
21). The problem today is that so many people when asked about faith point
to their “exodus”—when they began with Christ. They can wax eloquent about
their experience. How dare anyone question that! They “went forward”—they
left Egypt—they were baptized and identified with God’s people—they visibly
drank from the same rock (Christ)—they use the same redemptive vocabulary
with the same pious inflections. But troubles came, and they turned away.
Their “exodus” is a convenient memory. But to trust God now? That is a
problem, for their faith is dead. (Hughes,
R. K. Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul. Volume 1. Crossway Books;
Volume 2)
><> ><> ><>
F B Meyer - Our Daily Homily
- Devotional on Rest
Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.
Psalm 95:11
God’s Rest has been waiting for man’s entrance, since He rested from all the
work that He created and made. To all other days there were evening and
morning, but not to this. It does not consist in circumstances, or
conditions of existence, but in disposition. It does not lie, as sacred
poets have too often suggested, beyond the confines of this world — it is
now, and here. Canaan is not primarily a type of heaven; but of that blessed
experience which is ours when we have passed the Jordan of death to natural
impulse or selfish choice, and have elected for evermore to accept, and
delight in, the will of God.
Will you not take up this position today? Today! Oh that ye would hear his
voice! To hear his voice speaking in the heart, in circumstances, and in
nature, and to obey promptly, gladly, blithely, — this would bring the soul
into the rest that remains unexhausted for the people of God. Are you
hardening your heart against some evident duty to which you are called, but
which you are evading? Are you hardening your heart to some appeal which
comes to you through the ties of kinship and nature? Are you saying, Can God
subdue these Canaanites, instead of God can? Beware, for this is the sin of
Massah and Meribah, which, being interpreted, means strife. Woe to those
that strive with their Maker; let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of
the earth.
Every one comes in the Christian life, once at least, to Kadesh-Barnea. On
the one hand the land of rest and victory; on the other the desert wastes.
The balance, quivering between the two, is turned this way by faith; that by
unbelief. Trust God, and rest. Mistrust Him, and the door closes on rest, to
open to wanderings, failure, and defeat. (Meyer, F. B. Our Daily Homily)
><> ><> ><>
F B Meyer - Our Daily Homily
- Devotional on Rest
As the cattle which go down into the valley,
The Spirit of the LORD gave them rest.
So didst Thou lead Thy people,
To make for Thyself a glorious name. (Isaiah 63:14)
It is the noonday glare in Palestine. The sun’s rays like spears of
flame are striking down upon the parched sand-wastes, and all the land burns
like a furnace. Away yonder is a sequestered glen, where mosses line the
margins of streamlets and pools, and rich pasture keeps green in the shadow
of the hills. Thither the cattle descend at noon. As the shadows creep down
the mountain-sides they follow them, and presently the herd browses on the
succulent herbage or reclines beneath the shadows of the spreading trees,
while the brooks purl past clear and cool. Similarly Isaiah says God brought
his people through the wilderness, leading them as a horse that might not
stumble, and finally conducted them into the rest of Canaan.
But how fit an emblem is suggested of our Father’s dealings with us.
The scorching sun of temptation shines around us. The glare of publicity,
the fever of money-making, the strife of tongues, torment the children of
men. But for God’s beloved ones there is a secret place by Him, a green and
verdant nook, watered by the river of God. Over its portals these words are
written: “I will give you rest.”
When once we learn to trust our Fathers unfailing love, we are caused to
rest. Notice that forcible expression: the Spirit of the Lord caused
them to rest. Here is anew thought of the omnipotence of love. It can so
reveal itself that it almost compels rest. Cause us to lie down, O Lord, we
pray Thee! Job speaks of Him as giving quietness: and then who can make
trouble? Seek quietness as his gift! Lo! there is a place by Him, in the
mountain-shadowed valley of his care, where disquieted souls are at peace.
Seek it! (Meyer, F. B. Our Daily Homily)
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F B Meyer - Our Daily Homily - Devotional
on Rest
My people have become lost sheep;
Their shepherds have led them astray.
They have made them turn aside on the mountains;
They have gone along from mountain to hill
And have forgotten their resting place. (Jer 50:6)
These words may often be said of us. A time of emergency arises; the
necessity for instant and vigorous action seems overpowering; we fail to see
what course to adopt — and immediately we get flurried and excited; we run
from one to another; we lose our sleep. All our earnest resolutions to abide
in Christ and live in his fellowship are forgotten. We have forgotten our
resting-place.
Or we are in the midst of a great campaign of work. From morning to
night we are plunged in a mass of calculations and activities. There is no
time to take our meals, much less to obtain opportunities for prayer and
fellowship with God. Our rooms without, our souls within, are littered with
the symptoms of the many absorbing interests which are monopolizing our
attention. We have forgotten our resting-place. Or, perhaps, it is a time of
great temptation. Hour after hour the foe returns to the attack. We have
done our best to withstand him; but have hit out without precision, have
fired at random. Again, we have forgotten our resting-place.
The place where we lie down to rest is under the shadow of the Cross.
Whilst we remain there, we are perfectly safe and blessed. Return unto thy
rest, O straying sheep! Back to the arms of Jesus, where only such frail
ones as thou art are safe.
I
knew a man, who had to bear a thousand crosses belonging to others, and who
grieved himself into an illness because others did not love God as He
deserves, till all at once his own foolishness and sinfulness struck him to
the heart. He could do nothing then but cast himself and them into the
endless depths of the love of God; and he ended by having rest in his heart,
and a song on his lips. (Meyer, F. B. Our Daily Homily)
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F B Meyer - Our Daily Homily -
Sabbath rest -
There is a rest for weary souls. — God speaks of it
as his Rest. He entered it, we are told, when He had finished his work; and
beheld it to be very good; and ever since the door has been standing open
for the travel-stained, weary children of men to enter it. To every other
creation-day there were evening and morning, but not to this; it partakes of
the nature of eternity in its timeless bliss.
Let us rejoice that this rest remaineth. — Of course, the
Sabbath, which was and is a type of it, could not exhaust it. And Canaan,
with its sweet plains and cessation of the wilderness wanderings, could not
completely fulfill it; because centuries after it had been given through
Joshua, in the Psalms God spoke of yet another day, as though his rest were
still future.
The rest may be a present experience. — The word
“remaineth” has diverted the thoughts of commentators who have supposed it
referred to heaven. There is rest, sweet rest, there. But “remaineth” means
“unexhausted, unrealized, by aught which has taken place.” The rest is for
us here and now. “We which have believed do enter into rest.” Where is it?
In the bosom of Christ: “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.” It is in
ploughing the furrow of daily duty — “Take my yoke; ... and find rest.”
This rest is compatible with great activity. — He that
enters into the Divine rest is not reduced to quietism. On the seventh day
the Creator rested from creation; but He works in providence. Jesus, on the
seventh day, rested from Calvary; but He pleads in heaven. Cease from your
own works, after a similar fashion; abandon your restless planning and
striving; by the grace of the Holy Spirit better service will be produced.
(Meyer, F. B. Our Daily Homily)
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F B Meyer - Our
Daily Homily - Devotional on Rest
A man of rest …
he shall build. (1 Chronicles 22:9-10)
The men of rest are the builders of the most lasting
structures. Solomon builds the Temple, not David. Mary’s deed of
anointing, learned in much sitting at the Lord’s feet, fills the world with
its aroma. What is needed to make us men and women of rest?
First, a profound conviction that God is working.—
Never despair of the world, said the late Mrs. Beecher Stowe, when you
remember what God did with slavery: the best possible must happen. This
serene faith, that all things are working out for the best— the best to God,
the best to man— and that God is at the heart of all, will calm and still us
in the most feverish days. There is a strong and an experienced Hand on the
helm.
Next, an entire surrender to His will.— God’s will
is certain to mean the destruction of the flesh, in whatever form He finds
it; but it is our part to yield to Him; to will His will even to the cross;
to follow our leader Christ in this, that He yielded Himself without reserve
to execute His Father’s purpose.
Thirdly, a certain knowledge that He is working within
to will and do of His good pleasure.— What a blessed peace possesses us
when once we realize that we are not called on to originate or initiate, nor
to make great far-reaching plans and try to execute them; but just to
believe that God is prepared to work through our hands, speak by our life,
dwell in our bodies, and fulfill in us the good purposes of His will. Be
full of God’s rest. Let there be no burry, precipitation, or fret; yield to
God’s hands, that He may mould thee: hush thy quickly throbbing pulse! So
shalt thou build to good and lasting purpose. (Meyer, F. B. Our Daily
Homily)
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F B Meyer - Our
Daily Homily - Devotional on Rest
Now the Lord my God hath
given me rest on every side. (1Kings 5:4)
God is the Rest-Giver. When He surrounds us on
every side with His protecting care, so that our life resembles one of the
cities of the Netherlands in the great war— inaccessible to the foe because
surrounded by the waters of the sea, admitted through the sluice— then
neither adversary nor evil occurrence can break in, and we are kept in
perfect peace, our minds being stayed on God.
Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can enter, never traitor stand.
Have you experienced the rest which comes by putting God
round about you, on every side—like the light which burns brightly on a
windy night because surrounded by its four panes of clear glass? Ah! what a
contrast between the third (1 Kings 5:3) and fourth verse: Wars on every
side; Rest on every side. And yet the two are compatible, because the wars
expend themselves on God, as the waves on the shingle; and there are far
reaches of rest within, like orchards and meadows and pasture-lands beyond
the reach of the devastating water.
Out of such rest should come the best work. We are not
surprised to find Solomon announcing his purpose to build a house unto the
name of the Lord. Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus, anointed Him. Out of
quiet hearts arise the greatest resolves; just as from the seclusion of
country hamlets have come the greatest warriors, statesmen, and patriots.
Men think, foolishly, that the active, ever-moving souls are the strongest.
It is not so, however. They expend themselves before the day of trial comes.
Give me those who have the power to restrain themselves and wait; these are
they that can act with the greatest momentum in the hour of crisis. (Meyer,
F. B. Our Daily Homily)
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C H
Spurgeon in Faith's Checkbook
has a devotional entitled "Work Is Done; Rest in Him" -
GOD has provided a Sabbath, and some must enter into it. Those to whom it
was first preached entered not in because of unbelief; therefore, that
Sabbath remains for the people of God. David sang of it; but he had to touch
the minor key, for Israel refused the rest of God. Joshua could not give it,
nor Canaan yield it: it remains for believers.
Come, then, let us labor to enter into this rest. Let us
quit the weary toil of sin and self. Let us cease from all confidence, even
in those works of which it might be said “They are very good.” Have we any
such? Still, let us cease from our own works, as God did from His. Now let
us find solace in the finished work of our Lord Jesus. Everything is fully
done: justice demands no more. Great peace is our portion in Christ Jesus.
As to providential matters, the work of grace in the
soul, and the work of the Lord in the souls of others, let us cast these
burdens upon the Lord and rest in Him. When the Lord gives us a yoke to
bear, He does so that by taking it up we may find rest. By faith we labor to
enter into the rest of God, and we renounce all rest in self-satisfaction or
indolence. Jesus Himself is perfect rest, and we are filled to the brim in
Him. (Spurgeon, C. Faith's Checkbook)
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Morning and evening: Daily
readings (January 18 AM)
How different will be the state of the believer in heaven
from what it is here! Here he is born to toil and suffer weariness, but in
the land of the immortal, fatigue is never known. Anxious to serve his
Master, he finds his strength unequal to his zeal: his constant cry is,
“Help me to serve thee, O my God.” If he be thoroughly active, he will have
much labour; not too much for his will, but more than enough for his power,
so that he will cry out, “I am not wearied of the labour, but I am wearied
in it.” Ah! Christian, the hot day of weariness lasts not for ever; the sun
is nearing the horizon; it shall rise again with a brighter day than thou
hast ever seen upon a land where they serve God day and night, and yet rest
from their labours. Here, rest is but partial, there, it is perfect. Here,
the Christian is always unsettled; he feels that he has not yet attained.
There, all are at rest; they have attained the summit of the mountain; they
have ascended to the bosom of their God. Higher they cannot go.
Ah, toil-worn labourer, only think when thou shalt rest
for ever! Canst thou conceive it? It is a rest eternal; a rest that “remaineth.”
Here, my best joys bear “mortal” on their brow; my fair flowers fade; my
dainty cups are drained to dregs; my sweetest birds fall before Death’s
arrows; my most pleasant days are shadowed into nights; and the flood-tides
of my bliss subside into ebbs of sorrow; but there, everything is immortal;
the harp abides unrusted, the crown unwithered, the eye undimmed, the voice
unfaltering, the heart unwavering, and the immortal being is wholly absorbed
in infinite delight. Happy day! happy! when mortality shall be swallowed up
of life, and the Eternal Sabbath shall begin. (Spurgeon, C. H.)
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Henry Bosch tells the following
story entitled "Oh Rest in the Lord"...
Years ago
the English steamer Stella was wrecked on a rocky coast. Twelve women put
into a lifeboat, but the boisterous sea immediately carried it away. Having
no oars, they were at the mercy of the winds and the waves, and they spent a
fearful night being tossed about by the raging tempest.
They probably would have lost hope if it had not been for
the spiritual stamina of one of the ladies, Margaret Williams, who was
well-known for her work in sacred oratorios. Calmly she prayed aloud for
Divine protection. Then, urging her companions to put their trust in the
Lord, she encouraged them by singing hymns of comfort.
Throughout the dark hours her voice rang out across the
water. Early the next morning a small craft came searching for survivors.
The man at the helm would have missed the women in the fog if he had not
heard Miss Williams singing the selection from Elijah. “Oh, rest in the
Lord, wait patiently for Him!” Steering in the direction of her strong
voice, he soon spotted the drifting lifeboat. While many others were lost
that night, these trusting few were rescued.
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Augustine in a frequently quoted
saying wrote of God that...
Thou have created us for Thyself, and our
heart cannot be stilled until it finds rest in Thee.
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Our Daily Bread - Loosen the Bow
According to a Greek legend, in ancient
Athens a man noticed the great storyteller Aesop playing childish games with
some little boys. He laughed and jeered at Aesop, asking him why he wasted
his time in such frivolous activity.
Aesop responded by picking up a bow, loosening its string, and placing it on
the ground. Then he said to the critical Athenian,
"Now, answer the riddle, if you can. Tell
us what the unstrung bows implies."
The man looked at it for several moments
but had no idea what point Aesop was trying to make. Aesop explained,
"If you keep a bow always bent, it will
break eventually; but if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use
when you want it."
People are also like that. That's why we
all need to take time to rest. In today's Scripture, Jesus prescribed time
off for His wearied disciples after they had returned from a prolonged
period of ministry. And in the Old Testament, God set a pattern for us when
He "rested from all His work" (Genesis 2:3).
Shouldn't we take His example seriously? Start by setting aside a special
time to relax physically and renew yourself emotionally and spiritually. You
will be at your best for the Lord if you have taken time to loosen the bow.
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
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Rest is Not Cessation from Labor
A man named Frederick W. Taylor, may
provide some answers. Taylor worked for a large steel mill during the
Spanish-American War 1898.
He was an ambitious young executive and
was one of the first to apply scientific methods—as then known—to study the
productivity of manual labor. In those days there were no cranes to load
steel bars onto railroad cars. It was backbreaking manual work and, after
some experimentation, Taylor concluded that the men could do more work if
they took rest pauses at definite intervals.
He induced some of the workers to try his
new method. He offered a dollar a day more and flattered them by calling
them his “high-priced men.” Under this system, a whistle was blown after the
men had carried iron for twelve minutes. At this whistle they were to sit
down and rest. After three minutes’ rest, the whistle was blown again as a
signal for the men to resume work.
The result—the amount of iron carried
increased from 12 and a half to 47 tons a day! This seeming miracle ushered
in the era of rest pauses, the forerunner of today’s coffee breaks.
