GOD’S WORD FOR SEPTEMBER 12~ ~ Hebrews 4:9 ~ ~ “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.”

From the book, “We Shall See God”—sermons by Charles H. Spurgeon and comments by Randy Alcorn.

“Present and Future Rest”

ALCORN:

Are you weary, whether from your work, the suffering you’ve endured, or simply from living in a world bogged down by sin? God offers us true rest, heart-level rest—both now and in eternity. (I want to remind the reader at this time, that this rest is only for those who have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus as the ONLY means of their salvation because He paid the price for their sins. Repentance and living for Jesus will avail us of these promises without any rituals or even church attendance, although that is recommended)

SPURGEON:

“My rest,” says God (Hebrews 4:3-4). The rest of God! Something more wonderful than any other kind of rest. It is not the Sabbath, but the REST of the Sabbath—not the outward ritual of the Sabbath, which was binding upon the Jew, but the inward SPIRIT of the Sabbath, which is the joy and delight of the Christian.

Now this rest, I believe, is partly on earth. “We who have believed enter that rest” (Heb. 4:3), for we have ceased from our works, as God did from His. But the full fruition and rich enjoyment of it remains in the future and eternal state of the blessed on the other side of the stream of death.

If god should help me to raise but one of his feeble saints on the wings of love to look within the veil and see the joys of the future, I shall be well contented to have made the joy-bells ring in one heart at least, to have set one eye flashing with joy and to have made one spirit light with gladness. The REST of heaven!!!

Here, too, on earth, the Christian has to suffer. Here he has the aching head and pained body. His limbs may be bruised or broken; disease may rack him with torture. He may be an afflicted one fro his birth. He may have lost an eye or an ear, or he may have lost many of his powers. Or if not, being of a weakly constitution, he may have to spend most of his days and nights upon the bed of weariness.

But in heaven, no aching head, no weary heart. No old age, but perpetual youth. There, they shall flit, as on the wings of angels, from pole to pole and from place to place, without weariness or anguish. They shall never need to lie down to rest, day or night. Day without night, with joy unflagging, they shall circle God’s throne rejoicing and ever praise Him who has said,

“No inhabitant will say, ‘I a sick’” (Isaiah 33:24)

Here, sin troubles them constantly, but there, sin is dead. There God’s children have no temptation to sin.

Here, many have wet the cold ashes of their relatives with tears, but there, NEVER once shall be heard the toll of the funeral bell, no hearse with plumes has ever darkened the streets of gold. The immortal are strangers to the meaning of death; they cannot die—they live forever!

OH! rest of the righteous, how blessed you are, where families shall again be bound up in one embrace. Where parted friends shall again meet to part no more. Where the whole church of Christ united in one mighty circle shall together praise God and the Lamb throughout eternal ages.

RANDY ALCORN:

In 1649, Puritan pastor Richard Baxter wrote “The Saints’ Everlasting Rest,” which Spurgeon read and treasured a few hundred years after its publication. It was for centuries the most influential book on heaven ever written. Baxter, whom Spurgeon called “a man who above all other men loved the souls of men.” marveled that we don’t set everything else aside to consider heaven and make sure we’re going there. Somehow, he lamented, heaven hasn’t captured our imaginations or shaped our lives. Baxter and Spurgeon both latched onto the biblical picture of heaven as a place of ultimate rest.

(More from Mr. Alcorn on heaven tomorrow)

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Revelation 14:13

Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”

Isaiah 51:11

 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away

Psalm 86:5

For thou, Lord art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

Isaiah 50:7

For the Lord God will help me: therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

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