My Father worketh hitherto and I work. (John 5:17)

The adversaries of the Lord Jesus condemned Him for working on the Sabbath. But He did this to alleviate suffering. His response to this charge was that He and the Father could have no rest in a world

filled with sin and misery. As one has said, “Holiness cannot rest

where sin is, and love cannot rest where sorrow is.” For the believer

also, it is still a scene of labor, conflict, and sorrow, but there is a

day of rest coming.

At one time we had no rest at all because of our sins; however, we heard the voice of the Savior calling, “Come to Me, all ye who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). We can now sing with the hymn writer, “On the Lamb our souls are resting… Sweetest rest and peace have filled us.”

Some believers seem to stop at salvation, but there is much more to the Christian life. If we are living for ourselves and not for the Lord there will be unrest. There is a promise of rest to the one who answers the call to obedience, and who takes the yoke of discipleship with the meek and lowly One. His promise to such is, “Ye shall find rest to your souls” (v. 29).

There remains yet a rest for the people of God. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes it as a sabbatism (Heb. 4:9). This is the only time this word is used in the New Testament. It means a “Sabbath rest,” a time when we will rest from all our labors, just as God did from His in the original creation. This rest will come when we are in glory and we will have ceased from our works (Heb. 4:10; Rev. 14:13). This world is the scene of our labors and of our conflict. But, we will soon depart and enter into what the Lord calls, “My rest” (Heb. 4:3,5).

B. Reynolds

Till of the prize possessed, / We hear of war no more, And, Oh, sweet thought! forever rest / On yonder peaceful shore.

T. Kelly