Rest

“Oh, to find rest, sweet repose. Why must we grind out our lives in search of vain glories when all that is wanted is home?” Sadly, these were the thoughts from Stephen Crane that came at the end of a short life of twenty eight years that were wasted in debauchery. His popular moralistic novel, The Red Badge of Courage, was actually a picture of this truth when in the end the idealistic Union soldier, Henry Fleming, finds that a simple life of rest is a virtue rather than a vice. It is this rest that all men were made for.

When we come to the greatest Book in all the world, the Bible, and read the first few chapters of it’s beginning and then rush ahead to read the last few chapters of it’s conclusion we find a life of rest for some. In the beginning we find a wonderfully adorned garden with two characters walking in the cool of the day with the Creator and Sustainer of all of life. In this garden of rest they have a relationship of sweet repose with one another in the perfect rest of love. They have lives that reflect the glory of the Creator in righteousness and holiness with a growing knowledge of his glorious nature that allows them to live in his rest. In the closing chapters of the conclusion of the Book we are brought into the rest of the garden city of God. The Lord of Heaven and Earth is there to dwell with his people and be their light by day and night. He wipes away every tear so that there is no more but only perfection of love and joy in his rest. There is a city in the garden more grand and exquisite than any can imagine with a river of life and a tree of life that brings healing and rest to all the nations that dwell therein. This ancient Book of life which is the Scriptures with it’s book of beginnings, Genesis, and it’s conclusion, Revelation, is where is revealed the promise and fulfillment of rest that we as God’s creatures were made for.

We know we are made for this rest when as children we climb trees to hide or sneak off into a corner to read or cuddle up for a nap. We know we are made for this rest when we find that we actually are enjoying moments of “boring”. We know we are made for this rest when we find ourselves longing for a weekend or a “holiday”. We know we are made for this rest when we plan and save to go to a secluded vacation spot. We know we are made for this rest when we realize we have left our cell phone at home and we smile about it. But greater than all these natural indicators that tell us we were made for rest are the words of Jesus from the gospel of Matthew, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Mt.11:28-30).

Those earlier chapters of rest in Genesis are followed by a chapter (3) of toil and futility brought on by the sin of our first parents. It is here that we find the beginnings of all our unrest in sin which causes us to be those who “labor and are heavy laden” under the load of sin and misery that lead to the condition that is antithetical to rest, death. However in the midst of that chapter is the promise of God for rest in his salvation as he promises one who will come from the seed of the woman to crush death forever (Gen.3:15). Therefore the unfolding of the Book is the fulfillment of this promise to restore his creatures in the rest he made them for in Himself. These words of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew reveal that he is the seed of the woman who is also the “Son of Man who is lord of the Sabbath.” (Mt.12:8). He is the ruler of heaven and earth (Son of Man), the true Son of God who he is the lord and ruler of rest (Sabbath). Therefore he can make this kind of promise to all that come to him to find rest from the weight and penalty of sin through his forgiveness by his death and to find rest in his righteousness through his life and resurrection that is imputed to all sinners who come to him by faith believing that he is God and the rewarder of all who seek him.

The rest that we were made for is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in him that we can find that “sweet repose” and the home in glory that we are created for. It is Christ in you that is the hope of glory (Col.1:28). There are many Stephen Cranes in the world and some of us may find that we are playing out a life like Stephen Crane or Henry Fleming. It is to the Son of Man, the Lord of Glory that we must come and find rest. There is rest in his salvation, rest in sitting at his feet and learning from him, and rest in walking with him as his disciple in obedience to his will, even if he leads us right up to the gates of hell that others may find their rest in him. In coming to him by faith we will receive the promised rest we were made for.