Christ as the real Sabbath rest is our rest both in this age and in the next and for eternity; God rests when He is expressed and represented, and Christ is rest to the saints for their full satisfaction in love. Amen!
This week we come to the first crystal in the book of Ruth, Ruth’s Choosing for Her Goal, Exercising Her Right, Seeking for Her Rest, and Receiving a Reward for God’s Economy.
After seeing such a dark and miserable history of the people of Israel in the book of Judges, the book of Ruth – as an appendix to Judges – is a record of a couple’s excellent story, bright and aromatic.
It is such a precious story where Ruth, the main character, is like a lily growing out of brambles and like a bright star in the dark night.
This book has four chapters – the first chapter is on Ruth’s choosing for her goal, chapter two is on Ruth exercising her right, chapter three is Ruth seeking for her rest, and chapter four is Ruth’s receiving a reward for God’s economy.
Boaz and Ruth are a type of Christ and the church. It is a great wickedness in God’s eyes for us to reject and forsake God as our King, our Lord, our Head, and our Husband; it is not a small thing to take Him as our Head, our Husband, our King, and our Lord.
According to the divine thought, as seen in Matt. 1:1, Christ has to be our King first, and then we can enjoy Him as the blessing.
First, we need to enjoy the Lord as the seed of David, the King, and then we can enjoy Him as unique seed of Abraham, the blessing.
We need to take Christ as our King and come under His authority, acknowledging that He is our King, our Lord, our Head, and our Husband; then, he can be our blessing.
The entire Bible shows us a picture of a universal couple, a divine-human romance. God fell in love with man, and He courts man through all that He does, so that He may marry man and become one universal couple, God and man, as the New Jerusalem. Hallelujah!
For us to be a normal Christian, for us to be an overcomer, for us to answer the Lord’s present calling, and for us to meet His present need in His recovery, we need to be like Ruth today to turn to God’s economy and enter into the land of Emmanuel. Amen!
Furthermore, we need to marry ourselves to Christ so that we may bring forth Christ to meet today’s need of both God and man.
This is what we are here for: we are here to be normal Christians, even to be today’s overcomers who answer the Lord’s present calling and meet His present need; for this, we need to turn to God’s economy from anything else, marry ourselves to Christ, be in the good land, and bring forth Christ to meet today’s need of both God and man. Amen, Lord, make us such ones!
God Rests and is Satisfied when He is Expressed and Represented through Man
The story of Ruth is during the period of the judges in Israel; even though the people of Israel had such a dark and foul history during the judges, here we see an excellent love story, so bright and aromatic.
Chapter 1 of Ruth speaks of Elimelech’s swerving from the rest in God’s economy (vv. 1-2), Naomi’s returning to the rest in God’s economy (vv. 3-7, 19-22), and Ruth’s choosing for her goal (vv. 8-18).
Elimelech swerved from the rest in God’s economy – there was a famine in the land, so he left the rest in the good land and moved to a different land, the land of Moab, which was an idolatrous land.
There his sons got married, but both Elimelech and his sons died; so Naomi was left with no sons or husband, and at one point she decided to return to the good land.
She was left a widow, with no sons, but she had two daughters-in-law from the land of Moab; she made a strong decision to return to the good land, even to Bethlehem.
She told her daughters-in-law that she will go back, and they wanted to go with her, but Naomi told them to stay; however, Ruth chose and said, Wherever you go, I will go, wherever you die, I will die, your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wow.
She chose for her goal, for she wanted to be associated with and become part of the people of God. The book of Ruth is a book of rest; the Sabbath rest is Christ as our rest, typified by the good land (Deut. 12:9; Heb. 4:8-9).
God rested on the seventh day because He attained what He desired – He gained a man in His image to express Him and with His dominion to represent Him.
The desire of God’s heart is to have a man on earth expressing Him in His image and representing Him with His dominion (Gen. 1:26-28; Rom. 8:28-29; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 5:17, 21; Rev. 5:9-10; 22:5).
In the Old Testament, the good land was a rest because the temple could be built there; the temple was the ultimate consummation of the entering into the good land by the children of Israel; with the temple, God could have His expression and His representation for His kingdom, government, and administration (1 Kings 8:1-11).
This is what God desires: to be expressed and represented. For this, He created man in His image and according to His likeness, and because He obtained such a man, He rested on the seventh day.
When God’s heart’s desire is satisfied by having a man expressing Him in His image and reigning in Him, with Him, and for Him with His dominion, God can rest, and He is satisfied.
The reality of this is seen in the New Testament, especially in Rom. 8:28-29, where we are told that all things work together for good, so that we may be conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God.
God works out all things – all things, matters, situations, people, everything around us – for good, and this good is not that we would get a better car, for example, but that we would be conformed to the image of Christ so that we may express God.
The reason we have the people around us, the situations we are in, the environment that is tailored to us, and the circumstances we find ourselves in, is that all these would work together for good for us to express Christ and represent God with His authority.
For this to take place, we need to be transformed into the image of Christ; 2 Cor. 3:18 speaks of being transformed into the Lord’s image to be conformed to what He is, even from glory to glory.
May the veil be taken away from our heart, and may we see the Lord face to face; whenever our heart turns to the Lord, the economy of God is being carried out in us, for we are transformed into the image of Christ for us to express Him and represent Him corporately.
This is so that God would have rest and satisfaction in the one new man, who expresses Him and represents Him in the universe.
May we turn our heart to the Lord day by day, constantly beholding Him and allowing Him to infuse Himself into us for our transformation and conformation to His image, so that we may be part of the one new man who causes Him to rest and be satisfied.
Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You to behold You face to face so that we may be transformed into the glorious image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God! Amen, Lord, remove any veil from our eyes so that we may see You even as You are and be infused with You for our transformation and conformation to Your image. We want to be part of the new man who expresses God with His image and represents Him with His authority so that God would rest and be satisfied. Amen, Lord, may Your glory fill the church, Your house, so that all men may see Your corporate expression and the enemy would be defeated!
Enjoying Christ as our Rest in our Spirit in the Church Age, in the Millennium, and for Eternity
God not only wants to enter into rest and be satisfied by having a corporate man on earth to express Him and represent Him; He was incarnated in Christ to be rest to the saints, those who believe into Him.
Christ is rest to the saints in three stages: in the church age, in the millennial kingdom, and in the new heaven and new earth.
Rest is perfect people and full satisfaction. In the church age the heavenly Christ is our rest in our spirit; He is rest to us in our mingled spirit, where He lives and dwells.
The One who has expressed, represented, and satisfied God and now sits at the right hand of God in the heavens, is rest to us in our spirit.
Whenever we come to the Lord, He takes away our problems, toils, burdens, and struggles; He calls us to come to Him to enjoy rest in our spirit from all our toils and struggles (Matt. 11:28-29).
When we have the presence of Christ, we have perfect peace, for we have His smile, and we are fully satisfied.
The Lord calls His people and all those who toil and are burdened to come to Him, and He will give them rest.
We may think that we don’t need rest, for we are in the church life, and here we enjoy the Lord with the saints; the truth is, however, that many times our work for the Lord and even our meetings with the saints may be a toil, a labor, and a struggle.
So we need to come to the Lord, again and again, realizing that we have the wrong yoke on us; if the yoke that we bear causes us to toil and labor and be weary, we need to come to the Lord and take His yoke upon us, for His yoke is light and His burden is easy.
It is not a small thing to tell the Lord, Lord Jesus, I come to You right now. You promised to give me rest: I come to You to enjoy You as my rest. Lord Jesus, give me rest right now. I want to rest from all my toils and burdens.
When we come to Him in this way, He has no choice but to give Himself to us as our rest and satisfaction.
May we come to the Lord, again and again, open to Him, give Him all our burdens and toils, and may we take Him as our rest in our spirit.
Christ is rest to the saints in the spirit today, in the church age; whenever we turn to our spirit, we enjoy Him as our rest.
In the millennial kingdom, Christ with the kingdom will be the rest in a fuller way to the overcoming saints, who will be co-kings with Him and share and enjoy His rest (Rev. 20:1-6).
After Satan has been removed from the earth, God will be expressed, represented, and satisfied by Christ and the overcoming saints; He will have rest, and Christ with the kingdom will be the rest in a fuller way to those who overcome, those who will be co-kings with Him.
This will be our enjoyment of Christ in a fuller way as our rest and satisfaction.
In the new heaven and new earth, Christ will be the rest in the fullest way to all of God’s redeemed for eternity.
After all enemies, including death (the last enemy) have been made subject to Christ as the all-conquering One (1 Cor. 15:24-27), this One – Christ as the One who conquers all and reigns for God – will be the rest in the fullest way to us for eternity.
The New Jerusalem, which will be the bride of Christ, the wife of Christ, joined to Christ, mingled with Christ, and incorporated with Christ; in and as the New Jerusalem we enjoy Christ as our rest and full satisfaction for eternity.
We will be filled with the Triune God embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit to be our peace – our real peace, rest, joy, and satisfaction – forever and ever. Hallelujah!
Thank You, Lord for promising to give us rest whenever we come to You. Remove any veils from our heart for us to behold You face to face. Amen, Lord, we come to You: give us rest and full satisfaction in our spirit. We want to enjoy You as our rest today and for eternity. We bring to You all our toils and burdens and we take You as our rest. Hallelujah, Christ is rest to the saints today, in the millennium, and for eternity! Praise the Lord, Christ is rest to us in our spirit. We take You, Lord, as our perfect peace and full satisfaction today! We come to You as we are and we take You as our rest, our peace, and our full satisfaction!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ruth, msg. 1, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 10, Ruth’s Choosing for Her Goal, Exercising Her Right, Seeking for Her Rest, and Receiving a Reward for God’s Economy.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, / And I will give you rest. / Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, / And I will give you rest. / Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, / For I’m meek and lowly in heart, / And you’ll find rest for your souls. / My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Scripture song)
– Oh, lightest burden, sweetest yoke; / It lifts, it bears my happy soul, / It giveth wings to this poor heart; / My freedom is Thy grand control. / Upon God’s will I lay me down, / As child upon its mother’s breast; / No silken couch, nor softest bed, / Could ever give me such deep rest. (Hymn #617)
– Throughout the whole of Holy Writ / The saints in type are manifest / As like a bride, God’s heart to please, / And as a building for His rest. (Hymns #980)
