Friday, 31 August 2018

Blessings: Sabbath Rest

For thus says the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you will be saved; In quietness and in trust will be your strength; But you were not willing. Isaiah 30:15 
The Sabbath rest was ordained by God in the Old Testament. The principle of Sabbath is still effective today in the New Testament age. It is by this principle of Sabbath that our Christian life and service must go on. Otherwise, there is a danger of either being trapped in the religious bondage of Sabbath of the old or being too loose as to have no regard for the Sabbath rest and end up labouring for the Lord in vain. Both of them have to be avoided.

A brother coming to fellowship with us on the Sabbath rest was a real help to me personally. If I do not know how to rest in the Lord, I would also not know how to labour in the Lord. Only those who know how to rest in the Lord knows how to work for the Lord. Our labour is on resting in the Lord. Resting in the Lord does not mean we should not labour, it only means we rest in the Lord as we labour for Him. We labour by taking the Lord as our Sabbath rest.

The service we are in is too immense and the country we serve too vast unless we rest and labour in the Lord and receive the Lord's blessing we stand a chance of labouring in vain. Rest in the Lord and blessed by the Lord.

In fact, the first commandment for man is to rest in the Lord. Man's first day is a Sabbath day after God created man. The work of God begins by man resting in God. Man's natural man wants to rush and do things for God, but what God wants is man to rest in Him first. Only by resting in God then can we work for God. And when we work for God by resting in Him God blesses our work, not merely meeting the need, but in abundance, even beyond our expectation.

The building work of God also begins by man resting in God. Without man putting his natural man to rest, God has no way to work in him and bless him. We must learn from the life of Isaac who rested and received all the blessings, and we also must learn from Jacob, who laboured and struggled so much, yet, the blessing came only when his natural man was dealt with and put to rest. 

This is a great lesson for me in my service. I must learn to rest in the Lord, and when I do learn to rest, the Lord will pour out His blessings; blessings not merely to meet the need, but blessings in abundance. I must take Christ as my Sabbath and expect the Lord's blessings in abundance. Then, "in returning and rest you will be saved; in quietness and in trust will be your strength;" this will be my testimony.

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