Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint..1
Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath and in him is rest. It is but unbelief that keeps us from entering into his rest. The Israelites disobeyed in the wilderness, God had told them, My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.4 He had delivered them but now he says to them trust and obey and I will give you rest. He gives them the ten commandments, they heard these words from God but many disobeyed, so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.5 We can enter into His rest because of the works of Jesus, we must only believe.
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart... Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.4
The Sabbath was given as a day of rest, for people and animals to be refreshed physically.5 This is as valid and useful today as it was then. It was also a spiritual request to enter into his rest. Jesus came to make manifest the wisdom of God, who God is. He has always wanted a relationship, to love him with all our heart. Jesus would tell the Pharisees they did not understand the scriptures when it came to the Sabbath; is it not good, to rescue an oxen fallen into a ditch on the Sabbath, is it not the will of God that a man be made whole on the Sabbath? Like the Ten Commandments which pointed to loving God and neighbor, the Sabbath pointed to Him, entering in to His rest.
There is a promise that remains of entering into his rest.6 The Bible states that Jesus is God, one of his names is Word of God, which was with God, was God, in the beginning all things were created through him. When God created everything in the beginning it was through his word. If Jesus is the Word and the word created all things then Jesus rested from his work on the seventh day. In the beginning this day was set aside because of the works of Jesus.
Again it is because of the works of Jesus that we enter into rest; his birth, life, death, resurrection, and authority. Jesus said, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.7 Jesus is our rest, so do not fail to enter into his rest, as this is the rest that matters. The Word of God who created all things and by him and through him we can enter into the rest of God. We must but trust and obey to enter into his rest, like little children we come before Abba Father.
God had a plan, a day set aside for rest and there was a promise of a future entering into his rest. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest... For the word of God is living and powerful... Our rest and peace is in Christ, You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.8 Our righteousness is in Christ.9 And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.