The Promise of Rest

Introduction

We continue today with our “Summer of Promise” sermon series. Last week, we took a look at the Promise of a Future, and how God does not intend bad for us, but only good through Jesus our great Kinsman Redeemer. This week, we are going to look at the “Promise of Rest”, and hopefully develop a little more understanding of what that rest is and its requirements. First, I am happy to share that I did keep my promise to Bubba last week as he got a really nice walk in the early evening. Many of you were concerned about that, so I wanted you to know I was good to keep my promise. Yet, no one keeps them better than God does, so this is a very fitting series for us to dive into.

Historical Context

Gaze upon Minerva Teichert’s famous painting entitled “Christ Preaching on Galilee”. This beautiful painting offer’s her visual creation of today’s scripture setting. Jesus continues in the early stages of his ministry. If we agree that his ministry lasted a little over 3 years, then this would have been in the latter part of his first year or early into his second, and he has been very busy preaching to the public, teaching his disciples, and offering a great deal of healing. In fact, we read in Matthew 11:20 that Jesus is denouncing the cities that witnessed his miracles for not repenting.

If you look at today’s map, that would have likely been the cities of Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum on the extreme northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, or what may be labeled as Lake Tiberias in some of your bibles. Your bibles might also list it as Lake Gennesaret or Lake of Ginosar. Do not be alarmed that it is referenced differently depending on your biblical translation; they all mean the same place, the Sea of Galilee. Another visual associated with today’s scripture that may be of historical interest to you is the “Jesus Boat” as seen here. This 2,000-year-old boat was discovered in 1986 in the Sea of Galilee during a drought. This would have been very similar to the one Jesus used, if not the very boat itself. Very interesting stuff. Let’s get back to the scripture.

The Problem

So Jesus promises us rest if we come to Him. But what exactly does that mean? Well, the promise he gave was in Matthew, but the understanding of that promise is found in Hebrews 3 &4 as Paul reflects on the Israelites during their historical Exodus from Egypt. Let’s read his words in Hebrews 3:16–19 “And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.”

So these verses offer that God has determined that a group of people would never enter his rest. If we seek the promise of His rest, then one of the first things that we need to do is develop an understanding of the actions that will keep us from it. Knowing that this particular piece of scripture has to do with the Israelites Exodus from Egypt, let’s start there.

Exodus 3 takes us to the scene of Moses and the burning bush where in verse 7 “the Lord said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them...”, and you know the rest of the story. God called Moses to the task of leading them out of oppression under God’s guidance, provision, and protection. God became their savior in every way possible, proving His power again and again. But by the time we get to Numbers 13 where the spies report from what they saw in Canaan, all but Caleb were riddled with fear and doubt saying “We can’t attack those people, they are stronger than we are”. They did not believe that they could take the land, even with God by their side. It goes on to read that very night, all the members of the community raised their voices and wept allowed, saying “if only we had dies in Egypt. Why did God bring us to this land only to let us die by the sword”.

They had lost their faith in God. And to be fair to them, it wouldn’t take long for us to recognize fear and doubt in our own journeys where faith once reigned, would it. God became very angry with them, and Moses had to petition on their behalf. Finally, God relented saying in Numbers 14:20–23 “I will pardon them as you have requested. But as surely as I live, and as surely as the earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice. They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it.”

What one could take from this is that the Promised Land was to be their rest. They would be done traveling. It was to be a land filled with milk and honey, and rest is often associated with abundant provision. So it would be correct that this was to be in some respect their rest. Thank God that He pardoned them. We essentially could say that He did not withdraw their salvation. He even remained with them in the further desert wandering, but they did not enter the “rest” that was the Promised Land.

The Promise

So what can we understand from this? Fear and doubt is essentially a rejection of God’s plan. Had they trusted Him, they could have gone into the Promised Land and entered into a time of content and satisfying rest. But fear and doubt kept them from doing it God’s way. So we can reason that rejecting God’s plan out of fear and doubt causes us hardship that includes unrest. How often do we create for ourselves increased amounts of unrest due to our own fears and anxieties; our own lack of faith? We continue to see the importance of ‘Trusting and Obeying’ week after week, don’t we?

So let’s revisit the words of Christ Jesus in today’s scripture of promise. He says, “Come to me”. We often fix our eyes on the worrisome things of life, the things that make us tired. Jesus says to leave it and come to him. We have to depend on our Lord for our rest.

Next, He says “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me”. I don’t know how many farmers we have in here but a yoke binds to animals together for shared labor. Jesus is basically saying ‘you are not alone, and I will help carry the load’. His rest is not found in inactivity, but in submission and relationship. The other thing about a yoke is that two animals will work together but one of them typically leads. Otherwise, they would be fighting against one another. Obviously, when we are tethered to Jesus, He needs to be the one doing the leading.

And lastly, He says “and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. The reality is that walking with Jesus is not always easy, but His ways are better, and as we said before, He will carry the load when we can’t.

That is his promise of rest for us.

Closing Thoughts

For those who are weary and do not know Jesus as their redeemer, today is the day that you can enter into His rest. How do you do that? You make that decision in a public way by coming to the altar and asking him to be your Lord and Savior.

To the believer who is burdened - you’ve carried weights that Jesus never asked you to carry. Isn’t it time to put them down and trust him again?

To the one walking with Jesus - stay yoked with Him. Keep learning from Him. His burden is light, and His rest is real.