SO THERE REMAINS A SABBATH REST FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD: ara apoleipetai (3SPPI)
sabbatismos to lao tou theou:
(Heb
4:1,3;
3:11;
Isaiah 11:10;
57:2;
60:19,20;
Revelation 7:14-17;
21:4)
(Heb
11:25;
Psalms 47:9;
Matthew 1:21;
Titus 2:14;
1 Peter 2)
So there (686)
(ara) means so, then, therefore and conveys here the idea of drawing
a conclusion.
The sentence begins with the inferential
ara ("so," "as a result").
What follows is the logical consequence of the author's preceding argument.
So there remains -
In other words, Today, the
rest is still open.
John Piper elaborates writing that this...
is the foundation of God's message to you today: There is a rest open to you
today. God offers rest. The door is not shut. The time is not past. You have
not missed your last opportunity. Hear the words of verse 9: "There remains
therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God." The door is open. The time
is now. Ah, but someone says, "Yes, a rest remains for the people of God --
but not for me." But I answer, do not rule yourself out. Look at verse 3 --
our last word, "We who have believed enter that rest." There is one door to
the safe, peaceful, happy rest of God -- the door of faith. Anyone who puts
faith in God's promises bought for us by the blood of Jesus, and is diligent
not to throw that faith away, is a part of the people of God. So on behalf
of God, I call you this morning, put your trust in the promise of God's
rest. (See
the full message by John Piper - Hebrews 4:1-11 Be diligent to
enter God's rest)
Remains (620)
(apoleipo from apo = from, marker of dissociation, implying a
rupture from a former association + leípo = lack, be deficient
or wanting) means to leave behind in the active sense and in to remain in
the passive sense (as used in this verse).
present tense
= continually remains.
Paul uses it in the active voice to describe
leaving behind of his cloak (see note
2 Timothy 4:13
cp the two other uses of the active voice -
2 Ti 4:20;
Titus 1:5)
The passive voice as used here in Hebrews means to be reserved or to remain,
to be left over.
Apoleipo in the present verse conveys the idea that the promise of
rest remains over from past times. The
present tense
indicates that it continually remains. In
other words, even though the promise of rest had not been appropriated (by
faith) by most of Israel in the wilderness, the promise of rest still holds
good.
A T Robertson says...
This left-over promise is not repealed, though not utilized by the
Israelites under Moses
Apoleipo is apparently a technical term in wills in ancient Greek
writings.
Stedman explains why there remains a Sabbath rest writing
that...
Though Jesus is not compared here with Joshua in terms of relative
greatness, it is apparent from Hebrews 4:8-10 that the work of Joshua in
leading Israel into the rest symbolized by the Promised Land was far
inferior to the work of Jesus. He provides eternal rest to all who believe
in him. The fact that God repeats his promise of rest through David in Psalm
95, centuries after Israel had entered Canaan, is used to indicate that
Sabbath-rest is the substance and Canaan-rest but a shadow. There was an
experience of rest for Israel in Canaan (from armed invasion, natural
disasters, failure of crops) when they were faithful to God. But even at
best that rest was outward and essentially physical, and could not satisfy
the promise of rest to the human race which was intended from the beginning.
The author specifically states, There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for
the people of God. (Hebrews 4:8-11 Rest Obtained -
New-Creation Rest)
Sabbath rest
(4520)
(sabbatismos
from sabbatízo = keep the Sabbath)
means a keeping of a sabbath or a keeping of
days of rest. It was a special period of rest for God’s people modeled after
the traditional Sabbath and thus was a Sabbath rest. In the NT it is used only of rest with God.
Thayer writes that sabbatismos refers to...
the blessed rest from toils and troubles looked for in the age to come by
the true worshippers of God and true Christians
Sabbatismós
is used here to indicate the perpetual Sabbath rest to be enjoyed
uninterruptedly by believers in their fellowship with the Father and the Son
under the New Covenant in contrast to the weekly Sabbath under the Old
Covenant of the Law. In this verse the writer is referring to a divine rest
into which the believers enter in their relationship with God not just in
eternity future but in the here and now while still on earth.
Vincent comments that...
Remaineth, since in the days of neither Moses, Joshua, or David was
the rest appropriated. He passes over the fact that the rest had not been
entered into at any later period of Israel’s history. Man’s portion in the
divine rest inaugurated at creation has never been really appropriated: but
it still remaineth. This statement is justified by the new word for “rest”
which enters at this point,
sabbatismos
instead of katapausis.
Sabbatismos,
signifies a keeping Sabbath. The Sabbath rest points back to God’s original
rest, and marks the ideal rest — the rest of perfect adjustment of all
things to God, such as ensued upon the completion of his creative work, when
He pronounced all things good. This falls in with the ground-thought of the
Epistle, the restoration of all things to God’s archetype. The sin and
unbelief of Israel were incompatible with that rest. It must remain
unappropriated until harmony with God is restored. The Sabbath-rest is the
consummation of the new creation in Christ, through whose priestly mediation
reconciliation with God will come to pass. (Vincent, M. R.. Word Studies in
the New Testament 4:424)
Wuest adds that sabbatismos
is a Sabbath rest because the believer reaches a definite stage of
attainment and has satisfactorily accomplished a purpose, as God did when He
finished the work of creation. It is not the believer’s rest into which he
enters and in which he participates, but in God’s unique, personal rest in
which the believer shares.
(Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans
or
Logos)
The related word sabbaton is used in Colossians...
Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in
respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath (sabbaton) day-- things
which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to
Christ. (see note
Colossians 2:16;
2:17)
(Comment: Jesus fulfilled the Jewish regulations and celebrations by
achieving perfectly the intentions they only pointed to. It is important to
keep in mind that the command to observe the Sabbath is the only one of the
Ten Commandments not repeated after Pentecost.)
Compare
rest [katapausis] in [see note
Revelation 14:13]
From the context this "Sabbath rest"
is one in which a believer can enter today (v10) although obviously not as
completely and fully as in glory (see note
Revelation 14:13).
This Sabbath Rest for a believer is also described in the next verse as a
rest from one's own works. What keeps a person from entering this "Sabbath
rest"? (v11) "disobedience".
See also Genesis 2:1-3, (God rested on 7th day)
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
2 And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He
rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
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.
Exodus 20:8-11 (4th commandment)
8
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 "Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall
not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female
servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
11 "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all
that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed
the sabbath day and made it holy.
Deuteronomy 5:15 (adds to 4th commandment to remember slavery in Egypt)
15 'And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and
the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an
outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the
sabbath day.
Exodus 32:12-17
(sign, penalty = death)
12 "Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'With evil intent He brought
them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of
the earth'? Turn from Thy burning anger and change Thy mind about doing harm
to Thy people.
13 "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants to whom Thou didst
swear by Thyself, and didst say to them, 'I will multiply your descendants
as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will
give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'"
14 So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to
His people.
15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of
the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they
were written on one side and the other.
16 And the tablets were God's work, and the writing was God's writing
engraved on the tablets.
17 Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to
Moses, "There is a sound of war in the camp."
See Exodus 31:13
13 "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely
observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your
generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
The Jewish Mishnah comments on Ps 92 which is introduced with the
title "A Psalm: A Song for the Sabbath" writing that it is...
A Psalm, a song
for the time that is to come, for the day that shall be all Sabbath and rest
in the life everlasting (Tamid 7:4).
Sabbath rest for the people of God -
refers to Jews and since the gospel is to the Jew first, this phrase refers
first to those Jews who entered the Sabbath rest by faith...Christ Himself
being the substance of the shadow. How tragic that most missed true rest as
do most Gentiles! And thus the warning to be diligent to enter that rest!
1Pe 2:10 Here this phrase refers to NT believers from Gentile background
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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)
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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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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
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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
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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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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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.