We All Need Rest

Rest. Our bodies need it to function properly. Thankfully, rest is a very integral part of God's design and extends beyond this earthly tent to a day yet to come, but one that is certain enough for us to "rest" in today.



During my recent study of Leviticus, I read God's instructions through Moses to the Israelites about keeping Sabbath Years and the Year of Jubilee once they entered the Promised Land, and was reminded of the special role these events played in the lives of the people as a symbol not only of their relationship to God and each other but also a symbol of a future rest brought into existence by Jesus. In light of this New Covenant instituted by Christ, I was reminded of the passage in Hebrews that also talks about rest.



The Sabbath

You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest. ~Exodus 34:21 (NASB)



Of all God's Commandments, I struggle with the command to rest more than any other. Maybe it's because of the sense of urgency I feel. My earthly days will soon come to an end, and my to-do list is longer than the hours in a day. Then again, maybe I can blame it on society. Our world is full of workaholics who push themselves to extremes, and I must confess to being one of them.



I think I also struggle with it because Jesus butted heads with the Pharisees time after time on the topic of the Sabbath. He even told them that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27) I know Jesus' main point of contention was the extraneous laws the Jewish leaders had added to the original command. In addition, with Christ's death came the new covenant.



For a little background, in Genesis 2:3, God blessed the Sabbath and rested from His work of creation. In Exodus 20:8-11 and Leviticus 23:3, the Bible specifically mentions "no work" in relation to the Sabbath. In Exodus 31:17 God calls it a day of refreshing. In Deuteronomy 5, God mentions a remembering of His deliverance of His people from slavery. In Isaiah 58:13, God told His people to make the day one of delight and honoring God, instead going their own way. In the books of Ezekiel and Exodus, God calls the Sabbath a sign between Him and His covenant people. Because it was a "holy" day it demonstrated to a watching world that these people were set apart for God.



The penalty for disobeying the commandment was stiff. People were stoned or cut off from the congregation for dishonoring the Sabbath.



Sabbath Years

The Lord then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. Your harvest’s after-growth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year. All of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you. Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat. ~Leviticus 25:1-7(NASB)



Can you imagine how odd the Hebrew people must have found this request? Once they settled in the land, they would be dependent upon their crops for food. But here God was telling them to give the land a rest every seventh year.



Just as the people were to consider the seventh day of each week as a cessation from work, the land was to enjoy the same rest every seventh year. In Deuteronomy 31:10-13, God's Word reveals that this was also a special time of instruction in the Law of God. Then in addition to the Sabbath year, the people were also to give the land an additional year of rest after the seventh Sabbatical, called...



The Year of Jubilee

‘You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its after-growth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field. ~Leviticus 25:8-12 (NASB)



Not only was the year of Jubilee an extra year of rest for the land, but it was also a time for servants to be given their freedom and for property to be returned to its original owners.



God's Purposes

To our modern sensibilities, these passages on the Year of Jubilee and Sabbath years seem foreign and strange, but consider the following:


Land needs rest just like people do. Whether the land is used for growing crops or raising animals, it's important to give the soil a break. Crops derive nutrition from the soil, so the resting time allows the soil to rebuild those much needed nutrients. Animals can quickly deplete grazing land if the area isn't permitted to rest so that the grass/grain can replenish.
These God-ordained years of rest foreshadowed the atoning sacrifice of Christ at His first coming and His triumphant return at His second coming, both events holding the promise of eternal rest.
As mentioned above, God allocated this time to give His people special instruction in His Word, to remind them of Who He was, and the best way to live in relation to Him and to others.
Most importantly, God wanted His people to learn to trust Him. Can you imagine not planting crops for two years in an agricultural society? This special time set apart by God would surely encourage their dependence on Him.

The Ingredient of Faith

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. ~Hebrews 4:1-2 (NASB)



The early Christians lived in a time when it was all too easy to fall back into Judaism and the legalistic tendency to merit their salvation through works. If we're completely honest, the temptation is there for us, too. Doesn't it make you feel better when you can do something that makes you feel worthy of eternal salvation and heaven? But our works will never be enough to gain salvation because we're sinful and imperfect people. Only Christ is worthy enough to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. In light of rest, then, the ingredient of faith is key as mentioned in this passage from Hebrews. Our faith in the sufficiency of Christ is what enables us to gain God's perfect rest, and we can rest in the fact that He is all we need. Our faith is our rest.



Application

Praise the Lord! Because of our freedom in Christ we are not bound to a set of legalistic requirements. Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Rest is still beneficial and necessary. As we rest, we remember what Christ has done for us by delivering us from slavery to sin and look forward to His return and our eternal rest. We study His Word for the purpose of knowing Him and for living in right relationship with Him and others. Our faith is a resting in Him, and becomes a sign between us and our covenant God that we are indeed His people. And it demonstrates our complete and total dependence on Him to meet our every need.



Thank You, God, for rest.  Lord, fill our hearts with the desire to honor You through resting in who You are. As we study Your Word may we know You better and live in right relationship to You and our fellow man. May we recognize not only our personal ineptitude, but our total dependence on You. Thank You for what Christ accomplished for us at the cross. Thank
You that we can rest in Him. Amen.