22nd May, 2022
Minister: Pastor Seyi Osanyinbi
The whole program of God is to bring us into the Sabbath rest. The Sabbath rest is a mystery and the first time we saw it was when God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh.
Why did God have to rest since He lives by the power of an endless life? Actually, His rest was not the type that comes after being stressed. He rested because He was satisfied with all that He did in six days and knew there was nothing else to add. Everything He did was well planned and done perfectly thereby leading to a sense of fulfilment.
He came to a place where nothing about what He had done made Him agitated. He was not bothered and did not have any reason to be displeased about what He did. When He says “come into my rest”, He knows what He is saying because there is no provision for anybody outside His rest.
Israel offended God because they refused to enter His rest. The Old Testament is a type of what was to happen in the New. The Land of Canaan was the rest God promised the Israelites but they did not believe. They allowed physical evidence to inform their judgment allowing what they saw to paralyze them. As such, their minds could not accept the truth of God.
There were, indeed, giants in the land they were promised and they could not have physically been able to defeat them but God expected them to believe His report fearing nothing.
Are we willing to risk our lives to show that God is faithful? The Israelites refused to take that bold step of faith and that really annoyed God. It is a deadly thing for anyone to doubt God.
Hebrews 4:1-11
There are many promises for us, the children of God, but there is one ultimate promise- His rest; this rest is tied to perfection. Many of us still think that heaven is the ultimate promise but beyond going to heaven is coming to God’s rest (perfection). Our efforts must be geared towards this.
What will heaven write about us when we exit this Earth? It was written of Enoch that he pleased God; he walked consistently with God for 300 years in such a beautiful way (Hebrews 11:5). Many of us are busy pursuing achievements that are irrelevant to the purpose of God for our lives but it is high time we recognized that all we have been called to come into is rest.
Exodus 16:23-29; 20:11; Hebrews 4:3,4; Joshua 5:11,12
On their journey to the Promised Land, the Israelites did not have to gather manna on the Sabbath day being a day of rest. In our days, we need to be able to trust God for supply even outside our conventional ways of getting things.
It looks contradictory to labour to enter into rest. Whenever the manna ceases it is a pointer to the Sabbath which we have to work to get into. We come into rest when we let God be God; when we build according to His design and instruction; when we only go to war based on His directions.
The Battle of Jericho was a perfect example of rest. Joshua and his people did nothing known in conventional warfare to conquer Jericho; they simply followed God’s instructions even when it did not make sense.
To labour for rest and from the place of rest, we need to wait on God for the strategy for every situation. We will never outgrow God because He has called us into rest which we need Him to operate.
Obedience to every line of God’s instructions is the precursor to rest. Consistent disobedience will keep us in a perpetual state of restlessness and this can be quite tiring. At God’s instruction, show up and let Him meet you where He has summoned you.
We are always agitated and anxious because we do not know the God we serve. The assurance of God’s presence with us makes us brave all challenges and emerge strong and mighty. Rest transcends time into eternity; we can start resting now and continue in eternity as we trust and please God in all things.