The Eternal Rest of Christ

Come unto Me, all you 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.

Matthew 11:28–30

Few verses in the Bible offer as much to the soul of the believer as these. Here is an broad-encompassing promise of Christ of rest to those who come to Him.

We are in dire need of rest today, not only physical rest, but emotional rest and especially spiritual rest. That Christ offers rest before He commands us to work is the natural order that God created. We are born into this world helpless and weak, and must endure years of education and training, as well as emotional maturity, before we are of use. And we must rest before we can work. God’s example of the week — six days of work and one day of rest — is tempered by the creation of mankind, that it was done on the last day of creation, meaning that the first day of life for mankind came on the Sabbath. We rest before we work.

The Shepherd Psalm lays down the same principle: “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul,” all precede the words, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:2–3). We must be well-fed, well-nourished, and well-restored in our souls before we are able to follow the Lord in the paths of righteousness.

So Christ invites us and urges us to come to Him, meaning to Him in faith and trust, resting in His work of grace, find in Him the basis of our acceptance before God and the power in our service for Him. As a pastor, let me say honestly how often this verse convicts me, that I am fatigued because I have tried to do things in my strength, not in His. When we are “weary in well doing” (Gal 6:9), when we are tired and prayerless (Luke 18:1), when we seem relatively fruitless in our efforts (Matt. 17:16), we must check our hearts to be sure we have learned to serve in His strength and not in our own. “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The branch that bears fruit is the one that abides in Him.

How important it is for us to learn this truth! Yet we each struggle with it, and it seems those who desire to do the most for Christ struggle with it the most. Do we know where Christ ends and we begin in our service? Do we know when we are serving in His presence and power and life, and when we are going through the motions in ourselves?

Yet here is also a promise for all eternity. None of us on this earth learn to rest in Christ perfectly. Each of us, were we honest, would have to confess to our all-too-human tendency to serve in our strength and not in His, so we grow weary. But the promise of eternal rest is still for us all, that the day will come when our life on this earth ends, and we will hear the words, “Arise!” (Mark 5:41), “Come forth” (John 11:43), “Come up here!” (Rev. 4:1), and we will be with the Lord forever. Then we shall live in the full reality of the power and presence of Christ. As this offer of peace and rest come from eternity, so in eternity they will be fully experienced.

Our response to this promise is clear enough — come to Christ in repentance, in devotion, in faith, in surrender, in obedience, in an attitude of complete submission and dependence, and He will lift us up. “Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!” (Psalm 27:14).”Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6–7).

I believe to live daily in the constant attitude of repentance is a special key to unlock this experience. James 4:7–10 lays down the attitude we must possess for the Lord to lift us up. No confidence in ourselves but all in Him and in His grace. We are invited to come to Him for forgiveness, for mercy, for restoration, and for all of this to be done through His grace. Therein lies the secret to the life of peace and spiritual rest. “Not I but Christ!” (Gal. 2:20)

Prayer:

Lord, I trust You. I confess my sins and my pride, my tendency to try and do Your work and take credit for what You alone can do. I come to You in repentance from sin and love for who You are. Strengthen my heart with Your presence and Your power. Teach me to abide in You so that You may serve through me. Amen.