“Then the land rested from war” - Joshua 11:23
Are you exhausted? Do you feel like a loser in the race of
life? Do you feel bitten in the dog-eat-dog rat race of the world? Are you a
worldly war casualty? Are you striving for more and more always seems just
beyond your grasp? Do you feel beaten down by the circumstances of life? Do you
feel like the weight of the world is bowing out your legs and they’re at a breaking point? Do the storms of life have you shaken
and rattled? Do you fear the storm? Jesus is able to calm the storm and give
you rest. He says, “Peace be still!” (Mark 4:39). “There remains therefore a
rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). There is rest for your soul.
First off, the New Testament “rest” is a rest in the
completed work of Jesus Christ. On the cross He cried “It is finished!” (John
19:30; Hebrews 10:12). Our righteousness, legal justification, and forgiveness
for sin is complete in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 5:1f.; Eph. 1:7; Acts 26:18).
By faith we rest in His work for our redemption. “Every spiritual blessing”
comes in Christ (Eph. 1:3). Our victory is secure in Christ (Romans 1 Cor.
15:57; 1 John 5:4). We rest in the fact that our salvation and eternal life is
secure in Him. We need not fear eternity.
But the reality of life is that while our victory is secure
in Christ there are still battles to be won in this life. Our final
resurrection glorification victory is still a ways off. So what is the “rest”
God speaks of that we can enter into now?
The conquest of the Promised Land by Joshua exemplifies aspects of the rest of the Lord. It states, “So
Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had said to Moses;
and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by
their tribes. Then the land rested from war” (11:23; cf. also 14:15).
Similarly, Jesus gained the victory of redemption for sin on the cross; He bore
our sins on the cross. Then He sat down at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19;
Heb. 1:3; 10:12; 12:2). That is our reality in Christ. But there is also a very
practical rest in Christ. It is possible to rest in Jesus even in the storms of
life.
The Promised Land is typical of the conquest of our own heart.
God calls us to take our heart for Him; to defeat enemy rulers in our heart
that challenge His lordship. He promises victory in this endeavor. He states,
“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and
godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by
which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that
through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4). Upheaval comes
when we try to do this on our own apart from the Spirit. Then we struggle and
strive and live a wretched way (Rom. 7:24). There is rest from that; rest in
the Lord.
What is this rest of the Lord? Alan Redpath explains:
What kind of rest is it? It is
certainly not the rest of exhaustion. . . . His is surely a rest of
satisfaction. . . . The rest of the Savior is the rest of calm, the rest of
poise, the rest of assurance, the rest of satisfaction, the rest from work that
has been completed; all that need be done for the salvation of every soul has
been accomplished, and therefore He has sat down. . . .
What is the effect of that rest in
the Christian life today? . . . The work of God can never be done efectively
until we learn to rest in His strength that He may mold us, until we learn to
let the fever, the rush, the worry, and the excitement subside into the rest of
Jesus. . . . It is the purpose of God in Jesus Christ to lift us every day of
our lives above the grime and fog and conflict of daily living into the clear
blue sky of the love of heaven and of the rest of Jesus. . . . .
The restful Christian is he who
lives his life above the storm with Jesus. Oh, he is sensitive to sorrow and to
the troubles of other people, but he is able always to discern the wisdom of
God. He is willing to trust the loving heart of God and therefore is able in
the conflict to await the unfolding of God’s plan. He is able to keep silent
while he waits on the Word of God. . . . resting in Jesus. He is also the
busiest man of all, going at such a speed you wonder that he doesn’t’ break
down. The only answer he can give you is that as he has waited on the Lord he
has exchanged his puny strength for the almighty energy of the Holy Spirit. The
resting Christian – are you like that? I didn’t say the lazy Christian, I said
the resting Christian: busy, keen,
always at the work of the Master, while deep in his heart is peace that no
storm, however unexpected, and no sorrow however miserable and hard to bear,
can ever disturb. . . . [It is a] rest of assured forgiveness. . . . He has
heard the cry, ‘It is finished!’ He listens to the Word of God – ‘Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God’s elect?’ (Rom. 8:33). [It is also] the rest of
victory. . . . The child of God begins to see that Christ has done everything
and to understand that Satan is a conquered foe, he finds rest and victory. He
begins to realize that the devil cannot touch the life of the child of God who
is resting in Jesus, for his life is hid with Christ in God. . .
There is nothing – no circumstance,
no trouble, no testing – that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has
gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it
has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment; but as
I refuse to become panicky, as I lift my eyes up to Him and accept it as coming
from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no
sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will
cause me to fret, for I shall rest in the joy of what my Lord is. That is the
rest of victory. . . . The Christian who is resting in the Lord is calm in
every situation. . . . because the power of God is there in place of his own
puny strength. . . . because he has surrendered his will to the will of God. [1]
Do you have that rest? It comes when we by faith rest in
full surrender of our will and circumstance to the Lord. We do our best, but
trust Him with the rest. “For if
Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another
day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has
entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His”
(Hebrews 4:8-10). Stop striving. Stop fighting against the lot in life God has
ordained for you. Serve Him where you are. “For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should
walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). God knows what He’s doing. Trust Him. Rest in
Him.
If God wants to move you to different territory, He is able
to move you. If He chooses to do so, cooperate with His will. If He keeps you
where you are, cooperate with His will. Rest in the Lord. He has your back. He knows
what He’s doing. Listen to the LORD, “For I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a
future and a hope.” He’s got the hairs on your head numbered (Mat. 10:30). He
thinks about you all the time (Psalm 139:17-18). He won’t forget your loving
efforts on His behalf (Heb. 6:10). Just seek Him wherever you are and whatever
storm you are in; He will be found by you. “Then you will call upon Me and go
and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me,
when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:12-13). Stop fighting God.
End this war. Rest in Him.
[1]
Alan Redpath, Victorious Christian
Living, (Calvary Chapel Pub. Santa Ana, CA 2007) pgs. 144, 145, 146, 147
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