"We which have believed do enter into rest.....Heb. 4:3.
There are two delightful pictures of 'heart-rest' in this chapter. There is Sabbath Rest - this is the word used in the Revised Version: There remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest to the people of God" (v9)
I do not know how it is with you, but we always awake happy on Sabbath mornings. I can think of nothing better in this wide world than to wake up on a 'Lords Day' morning when the sun is shining into the room: you get up take a quite breakfast and the only noise to greet you is the chiming of the 'church bell'. O the delight of it!
That is Gods picture of a perpetual Sabbath in the soul, which He offers by grace.......and we receive by faith.
Then there is this wonderful picture of the Canaan rest, which was intended for the children of Israel after those years of bondage and after those 40 years of wandering. It was God's intention they should have a home and settle down. They had been living in tents, packing and unpacking: this was the promise of a 'home', and that war should cease.
Forty years they had wandered.....they entereed not because of unbelief.
Here are these lovely pictures of the rest of the heart, deep, abiding and unchanging, which God offers to His people: a rest which covers the needs of our sinful nature and our daily life, in fact every part of our intricate life - God offered us a heart rest that covers it all. He is longing to bring us in, and offers this rest of faith.
Ah Yes.......thank-you Jesus
There are two delightful pictures of 'heart-rest' in this chapter. There is Sabbath Rest - this is the word used in the Revised Version: There remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest to the people of God" (v9)
I do not know how it is with you, but we always awake happy on Sabbath mornings. I can think of nothing better in this wide world than to wake up on a 'Lords Day' morning when the sun is shining into the room: you get up take a quite breakfast and the only noise to greet you is the chiming of the 'church bell'. O the delight of it!
That is Gods picture of a perpetual Sabbath in the soul, which He offers by grace.......and we receive by faith.
Then there is this wonderful picture of the Canaan rest, which was intended for the children of Israel after those years of bondage and after those 40 years of wandering. It was God's intention they should have a home and settle down. They had been living in tents, packing and unpacking: this was the promise of a 'home', and that war should cease.
Forty years they had wandered.....they entereed not because of unbelief.
Here are these lovely pictures of the rest of the heart, deep, abiding and unchanging, which God offers to His people: a rest which covers the needs of our sinful nature and our daily life, in fact every part of our intricate life - God offered us a heart rest that covers it all. He is longing to bring us in, and offers this rest of faith.
Ah Yes.......thank-you Jesus
