A Rest for the Weary

The time of traveling and vacations lies behind us. Many tried to get some much-needed rest in that time. Perhaps they came home somewhat disappointed, however. They may have said, "It was nice, but it went by too soon," and it probably did not give them what they had been looking for. However, is this not a picture of human life in general? Especially when we are young, we have our ideals, plans, and expectations. This is not necessarily wrong. We are young, and life lies before us; we feel strong and energetic, and the future seems to be promising. Yet life will not give us what we expect of it. Everything in this life says, "It is not here."

Restlessly, modern man seeks fulfillment, satisfaction, rest, and peace. Yet, more than ever, he is tired, ill at ease, and often discontented. He tries to fill the void in his life with pleasures, riches, honor, and whatever this world seems to offer unto him. However, he remains a restless seeker of something he cannot find.

Augustine, the church father, said, "Man is created for God, and he remains restless until he finds rest in God."

There is no rest, no fulfillment, and no true satisfaction in the world, not even in the religious world. The Jews in the days of the Lord Jesus were also missing that true rest. Moses could not give it to them. The Pharisees taught them to observe the many rules and laws which they had added to God's own commandments. Their rules were inventions of man. The people whom they taught were laboring under heavy burdens without rest and peace. Then the Lord Jesus spoke. He is the only One who can give real rest. He said, "Come unto Me," literally, "Come this way. Come here." It is as if He said, "In the way you are going, you will never find it. There is no peace and true rest outside of Me."

He still calls sinners to leave the paths of destruction, to turn unto Him, and He says, "I am the Way, I am the Shiloh, the Rest-giver."

In the preaching of God's Word, that Way must be proclaimed, and sinners must be called to repent and believe the gospel. Outside Him there is no life, but an eternal destruction of the soul. What a responsibility to live under that truth! The Lord Jesus had warned, "Woe unto thee, Chorazin; woe unto thee, Bethsaida," and He said, "It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you."

However, He also spoke of the good pleasure of His Father, and He rejoiced in His sovereign will, to hide these things from the wise and prudent and to reveal them unto babes. Those babes are not wise in their own eyes. They sit, like Mary, at the Master's feet. They have been taught that they are traveling under God's wrath. They see that they miss the true rest. Yes, they also seek it where it cannot be found. They ask the Lord to be patiënt with them, and they promise to pay it all. How hard they work and try to reform their lives! How they labor under heavy burdens, but without getting rest! The great Teacher's instruction by His Spirit shows them that all their righteousnesses are as filthy rags. God is just and holy, and they must give satisfaction to Him. This they are utterly unable to do. They increase their debt daily. How they labor and are heavy laden, under the burden of sin, under God's heavy wrath and displeasure! They understand Psalm 38:4, "For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me."

God would be just if He passed them by, but they cannot miss Him anymore. Is there yet one who can deliver them? What a wonderful invitation this is to them! Christ Himself invites and says, "Come unto Me." They may feel so far away from Him, being at the ends of the earth; there is such a separation between God and their soul, and they cannot stand before a righteous Judge. But He says, "Come." As we read in Isaiah 55:1, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."

Oh, what glad tidings to a wearied soul! And they come, like the centurion, beseeching Him like a needy beggar. They come as did the man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed, who could not come there himself, but was laid at His feet by other men. They come like the leper: "If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean."

They come poor, dirty, guilty, ashamed, unworthy. That is what He says: "Come." You cannot come too filthy, too guilty; you may buy without money and without price. What a free invitation, what a rich gospel! Whosoever needs Him may come to Him, but this gospel, though proclaimed so freely, becomes good tidings only for those who have learned that they can never save themselves, only for those whose pockets have been made empty, who have become lost sinners before Him. What a wonder if they may hear the gospel sound, when they know themselves to be so unfit, so unholy, so undeserving. And yet He says, "Come unto Me. Come without money and without price."

Then there is a precious promise. "I will give you rest." Literally it is, "I will rest you." It is not that He just places before them rest which they may take, but He will cause them to rest. The Lord asked Moses, "Should My presence go with thee to give you rest (literally, a resting place)?" Then Moses answered, "If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence."

There is a place by God. There is rest in the clift of the rock, in the hiding place, in the Ark, in the city of Refuge, rest in His perfect sacrifice, in His finished work, in His complete atonement. There is rest because Christ did not rest before He had accomplished the work that the Father gave Him to do.

Oh, sinner, why are you trying to bring your work, your money to Him, since He is an all-sufficient, willing Savior?

Blessed are those who may be at the end of their work and may be brought to the feet of the greater Shiloh; who may be hidden behind His precious blood; who may be brought into the city of Refuge. He calls, and He also draws sinners by His Spirit to Himself. Here is rest for a wearied heart—rest in His love, His faithfulness, His covenant mercy. He will finish perfectly what He for them has undertaken. Here it remains a wilderness, but there is rest hereafter. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God," when they may inherit what the Lord has prepared for them. There the wearied pilgrim may receive his desire. He may see Him as He is, and God will receive all the praise and honor for what He has so graciously given them.

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