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Lord of the Sabbath Rest

(this is a repost from 2012)
Jesus has issued us an invitation. If you can believe you may cease from your striving and enter My rest. Labor in the Greek is translated kapiao, to feel fatigue, to work hard, to toil. We labor under the weight of our anxieties, fears, habits, and addictions. The ways in which we labor are many. We labor under the weight of our fears. We labor to pad our bank accounts, get out of debt, or keep up with some real or imaginary person. We labor to gain and keep the respect of significant others and the list goes on. We labor on and seldom experience more than a fleeting rest. Apart from the rest of Christ, we are indeed heavy-laden.

We are to labor, but not for the things that perish because those things do not offer rest for our souls. This is really what we are after even if we don't realize it. If I just have this person, job, or salary, then I will feel joy and peace. Not so. After Jesus fed the 5,000 the crowds followed him across the lake. Instead of gloating in his newfound popularity (Hey, I could start holding conferences!) he tenderly rebuked them: "You are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."

In the miracle of the fish and the loaves, Jesus was declaring Himself so that the people would believe on Him. But they were distracted by the physical provision and thereby missed the Bread from heaven that would bring true satisfaction. John 6 is a sermon on Christ himself as our meat and drink, and all who believe and desire may freely partake.

And what is the rest of God? Sabbath means to rest, and Jesus said that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. In Christ, God has provided for all of my needs, healing, provision, forgiveness, guidance, and most of all, the Holy Spirit who is the promise of the father. This is the rest of God, that we might believe on Jesus and cease from our own worry, effort, and striving.

How we enter: Feed on Jesus.

Hebrews admonishes us to labor to enter into the rest of God. There is a work to do and this is to enter into the promised rest. This rest is the provisions made for us through the completed work of Christ on the cross. He is my Sabbath rest. He who rests has ceased from his own works. I like the sound of that. He told his astonished disciples that they must feed on him. This is my body, broken for you. His work on the cross is life for us and Jesus repeatedly urges his disciples to believe on Him. This is how we work the works of God, to believe on Him. As I partake of Him daily by faith, I enter into His very life. His life is the only rest, the only satisfaction, and the only true purpose that I will ever know.

My Dake study Bible explains that the idea of feeding was a very common metaphor in Jesus's day. It was a figure of speech that conveyed partaking of something. Our spiritual lives do not consist of self-effort. We do not labor to enter the kingdom of God in our own strength, by doubling down and exerting tremendous effort. No, growth in the Kingdom of God is by partaking of Jesus. We partake of him every day through an act of faith, energized by the Holy Spirit who abides in us.

The words and promises of God must be mixed with faith, or we shall never enter his rest. The supernatural life of Jesus in the believer is transformative as we feed on him by faith. "My words are spirit and life." As we receive his promises based upon the work of Christ on the cross and mix them with faith we will enter the rest of God. This is my understanding at this point in my walk. It is likely to expand and change as I mature in the Lord but it is where I am today-and I rejoice in these truths! 

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