We want to be those who diligently seek the Lord to enter into rest today, for Christ is the reality of the Sabbath rest in our spirit, and Christ is our real Sabbath rest to us today!
As believers in Christ, we need to see that the Sabbath rest is Christ as our rest, typified by the land of Canaan, for He is rest to us in three stages; the goal of our enjoying Christ and taking Him as our rest today in this age is for us to enter into Him as our rest in the next age. Amen!
The good land of Canaan was a rest to God’s people, and God wanted to bring them out of anything else into the good land so that they would become God’s people to express Him and represent Him.
Whenever God gains a group of people, a corporate man, that would express and represent Him, He is at rest, and His people enter into rest.
This is what we see from the very first time that rest was mentioned in Gen. 2.
After God created the heavens, the earth, all things in them, and man, God rested.
After God created the heavens and the earth with all the fish, the birds, and the animals, He considered it was all good.
But after He created man, He said that it was very good, and the very next day He rested, for He obtained man.
Man was created in God’s image and according to His likeness, and man was given God’s authority to subdue the earth and have dominion over it and all the things on it.
Wow, man is not only created in God’s image and according to His likeness, but even more, man was given God’s authority to represent Him! Praise the Lord!
Because man was there in the garden of Eden bearing God’s image to express God and exercising God’s authority to represent God, there was rest for God, for He was satisfied.
So God rested, and man also rested with Him.
Man’s first day after he was created was not a day of labor or hard work for God; it was a day of rest and satisfaction with God.
This is a principle in our Christian life.
We may labor so much and toil to do this and that, even to do a work for God, but the Lord wants us to first stop our being and enjoy Him, and then we can labor with Him and in Him.
We are not created to join in God’s work; we are created to join in God’s rest, remain in God’s rest, and enjoy God and be satisfied with God. Then, we can work.
This is the reality of the Sabbath rest.
For us to enter into the Sabbath rest we need to realize that God has done everything for us – He has completed everything, He has prepared everything, and now we just need to come to Him and enjoy Him. Hallelujah!
The Sabbath Rest is Christ as our Rest in Three Stages: Today, in the Millennium, and for Eternity
The Sabbath rest is Christ as our rest; this rest is typified by the good land of Canaan (Deut. 12:9; Heb. 3:7-4:1).
In Deut. 12:9 we see that God wants to bring His people into rest, which is the good land. So Joshua took the lead and brought them into the good land.
But in Heb. 4:8-9 we are told that Joshua didn’t bring them into rest, for there is a Sabbath rest for God’s people today, into which rest Christ brings us and which rest Christ is to us. Amen!
According to the entire revelation of the New Testament, the Sabbath rest is Christ as our rest in three stages.
![And he said to him, Well [done,] good slave. Because you have become faithful in the least, have authority over ten cities. Luke 19:17 His master said to him, Well [done,] good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master. Matt. 25:21](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/And-he-said-to-him-Well-done-good-slave-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And he said to him, Well [done,] good slave. Because you have become faithful in the least, have authority over ten cities. Luke 19:17 His master said to him, Well [done,] good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master. Matt. 25:21")
First, in this age, the church age, Christ as the heavenly Christ who has expressed, represented, and satisfied God, and who rests from His work and sits at God’s right hand in the heavens, is the rest to us in our spirit (Matt. 11:28-29).
In this age Christ is our rest; the Sabbath rest is Christ as our rest.
He has done everything, and He has become our rest.
We can enter into rest today by enjoying Christ in our spirit as the reality of the rest.
The Sabbath rest in Heb. 4:9 is Christ as our rest, typified by the good land of Canaan.
Then, in the next age, the millennial kingdom, after Satan has been removed from the earth (Rev. 20:1-3), God will be expressed, represented, and satisfied by Christ and the overcoming saints.
Then Christ with the kingdom will be a rest in a fuller way to the overcoming saints, who will be co-kings with Him (vv. 4, 6) and share and enjoy His rest.
Christ is our rest in this age, and if we enjoy Him and enter into Him as our rest to be His overcomers, we will enter into the rest in the next age, where Christ will be our rest in a fuller way. Hallelujah!
Finally, in the third stage, in the new heaven and new earth, after all the enemies, including death, the last enemy, have been made subject to Him (1 Cor. 15:24-27), Christ, as the all-conquering One, will be the rest in the fullest way to all of God’s redeemed for eternity. Hallelujah!
Today, Christ is our rest; in the next age, Christ will be our rest; for eternity, Christ will be our rest in the fullest way. Hallelujah!
The Sabbath rest mentioned in Heb. 4:8-9 refers to Christ as our rest in the first two stages, especially in the second stage.
Today in the church age we need to enjoy Christ and partake of Him as our everything, entering into Him as our rest, so that we may be His overcomers and be therefore qualified to enter into Him as our rest in the kingdom age.
We believers in Christ need to seek after the rest in the next age and enter into it diligently today.
The rest in the first two stages is a prize to the Lord’s diligent seekers, those who enjoy Him in a full way and become the overcomers.
The rest in the third stage, in the New Jerusalem, is not a prize but the full portion allotted to all the redeemed ones.
Today we need to aspire to enter into rest, seeking the Lord diligently and enjoying Christ as our rest in our spirit, so that we may be rewarded with the rest in the next age and enter into Christ as our rest in a fuller way as our reward.
In the second stage of His being our rest, Christ will take possession of the whole earth as His inheritance, making it His kingdom for a thousand years (Psa. 2:8; Heb. 2:5-6). Hallelujah!
![And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And [I saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and [of] [those] who had not worshipped the beast nor his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years...Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. Rev. 20:4, 6](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/And-I-saw-thrones-and-they-sat-upon-them-and-judgment-was-given-to-them-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And he said to him, Well [done,] good slave. Because you have become faithful in the least, have authority over ten cities. Luke 19:17 His master said to him, Well [done,] good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master. Matt. 25:21")
May we be the overcoming believers in Christ who seek the Lord and enjoy Him as our rest today so that we may participate in His reign in the millennium (Rev. 20:4, 6; 2 Tim. 2:12).
We want to be those who inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5; Psa. 37:11; Luke 19:17, 19) and partake of the joy of our Lord and Master (Matt. 25:21, 23).
The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate rest, for the New Jerusalem is the corporate and consummate expression and representation of God in the new heaven and new earth.
Today we’re in the church life, the growing Sabbath that is leading us into the harvest Sabbath of the millennial kingdom.
The ultimate rest, however, will be the New Jerusalem!
Hallelujah, there will be a new heaven and a new earth with a city built up with transformed people as living materials, and this city will be God’s complete expression in eternity!
In the New Jerusalem, there will be God’s throne and authority for His kingdom, and God’s people will rule and reign with Him and in Him. Hallelujah!
It is good to offer the Lord short prayers regarding this and tell Him personally,
Lord Jesus, we want to enter into You as our rest today. Hallelujah, Christ is our rest in our spirit! Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy You as our Sabbath rest in this age. We come to enjoy You as the heavenly Christ, the One who has expressed, represented, and satisfied God and who rests from His work and sits at the right hand of God in the heavens. Amen, Lord, You are our rest in our spirit. You are the reality of the Sabbath rest, typified by the good land of Canaan. We want to diligently seek You and enjoy You today, partaking of Your riches and resting in You and with You. Oh Lord, how much we want to enjoy You in our daily life so that You may be our rest in our spirit daily! We don’t want to first labor for You or work for You; we simply come to You to enjoy You in our spirit! We come to You from all our toil and labor, and we take You as our rest. Give us rest in our spirit. Be our rest in our spirit. Keep us in our spirit today!
Diligently Seek the Lord to Enter into Rest today for the Goal of the Rest in the Next Age
Christ is our rest; He is the reality of the Sabbath rest.
He is not only the Lord of the Sabbath; He came to be the reality of the Sabbath rest to us, those who believe into Christ.
He is not our rest only for the future; He is our rest for today.
Today, if we hear God’s voice, we should not harden our heart but come to Him and enjoy Him.
Today we need to diligently seek the Lord to enter into rest so that we may receive Him as our rest and enter into Him as our rest in a fuller way in the next age.
We have enjoyed the Lord yesterday and last week, but He is the today-Christ; today we need to enter into His rest (Heb. 3:7, 13, 15).
We need to forget about yesterday and not allow anything else of the past to hinder us from enjoying Christ today.
We are not persons of yesterday, and tomorrow will never be ours; we are persons of today.
Every day is a today. Every day we need to enjoy Christ and enter into Him as our rest.
Some people always worry about tomorrow and try to get more things and do more things for tomorrow.
Some people always focus on yesterday. But we need to look to the Lord today to enjoy Him and diligently seek Him so that we may enter into Him as our rest.
The Lord is moving and working in us right now.
We need to forget the past and stretch forward to enjoy Christ today (Phil. 3:13-14).
Like Paul, we need to forget the things which are behind and stretch forward to the fresh, new, living Christ that is in front of us today to enjoy Him!
We had yesterday, but we don’t have it now; furthermore, we will not have tomorrow – all we have is today.
May we diligently come to the Lord day by day, as long as it is today, to enjoy Him and partake of His riches in our spirit.
We do aspire to enter into Christ as our rest in the next age so that we may rule and reign with Him and be His corporate expression; however, we only have today, and today we want to enjoy the Lord.
May we see that Christ today is our rest, and may we seek Him and enjoy Him as our rest today so that, when He returns, He will reward us with Himself as our rest and satisfaction in the next age in a fuller way! Hallelujah!
May we today enter into the joy of the Lord, being part of His corporate expression, so that we may express Him and represent Him and therefore enter into His rest.
In the church age we have today; every day is today, and every day we need to apply the Lord’s precious blood to be cleansed and washed from any iniquity and sin, and go on to enjoy the Lord.
![Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing [I do:] Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called [me] upward. Phil. 3:13-14](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Brothers-I-do-not-account-of-myself-to-have-laid-hold-but-one-thing-I-do-Forgetting-the-things-which-are-behind-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing [I do:] Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called [me] upward. Phil. 3:13-14")
May we not focus on our past failures or successes but focus on enjoying Christ as our rest today.
May we learn to put all things that encumber us aside, especially sin, and simply seek the Lord in a diligent way to enjoy Him as our rest today.
If we today diligently enjoy the Lord and become His overcomers, we will receive the rest in the next age of one thousand years, and we will rule and reign with Christ over the whole earth.
This is our goal. For this goal, we want to enjoy the Lord today.
We need to come to Him as we are, and we even need to ask Him to lead us into Himself as our rest.
The Lord is our Shepherd in our spirit, and He leads us to waters of rest; He causes us to lie down and rest, and He Himself is our pasture (Psa. 23).
May we come to Him as we are, not trying to improve ourselves nor focusing on our good points, but simply opening to Him to enjoy Him and partake of Him as our rest.
Amen, may we enter into Christ as our rest in this age today!
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy and enter into You as our rest today. Hallelujah, we have today, and today Christ is our rest in our spirit! Amen, Lord, we come to You to enjoy You as our rest. We take You as our rest. We come to You as we are; we bring You all our toils and labor, all our striving and struggling, and we take You as our rest. We want to diligently seek You today. We forget about yesterday with its failures and successes. We simply want to enjoy You today. We want to be filled with You right now. We want to gain the all-inclusive Christ who is our rest today. Amen, Lord, fill us today! Fill us right now! Be our rest today. Be our rest right now. We don’t want to repeat the things that we did in the past nor do we want to hope for things in the future; we want to just enjoy You today! Make us those who are diligently seeking You and entering into You as our rest today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Hebrews, msgs. 18, 20-27 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good land for the Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Reality and the Manifestation of the Kingdom, and for the Bride to make Herself Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 Winter Training), week 6, entitled, Christ as Our Sabbath Rest, Typified by the Good Land of Canaan.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Keeping God’s Sabbath, a portion from, Life-Study of Leviticus, Chapter 59, by Witness Lee.
– Resting with God and Working with Him according to the Principle of the Sabbath, via, Living to Him.
– God’s plan and God’s rest, first part of sharing by Watchman Nee in, Affirmation and Critique.
– Three things with three parts in the book of Hebrews, a portion from, The Centrality and Universality of Christ, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
– Why is the Sabbath Rest Mentioned in Hebrews 4:9? Read more via, God-seeking.
– Recommending the Life-study of Hebrews Radio Broadcast via LSM radio.
– God’s plan and God’s rest, second part of sharing by Watchman Nee in, Affirmation and Critique.
– The situation of the Hebrew believers, a portion from, Life-Study of Hebrews, Chapter 26.
– Rest and Be Satisfied in Jesus Christ, via, New Jerusalem blog. - Hymns on this topic:
– Oh, that I now the rest might know, / Believe, and enter in; / Now, Savior, now the power bestow, / And let me cease from sin. / Remove this hardness from my heart, / This unbelief remove; / To me the rest of faith impart, / The Sabbath of Thy love. (Hymns #424 stanzas 3-4)
– Christ is my life, my light, my way, / My comfort and my health, / My peace, my rest, my joy, my hope, / My glory and my wealth… Christ is my sabbath and new moon, / My morning and my day, / My age and my eternity / That ne’er will pass away. (Hymns #510 stanzas 5 and 12)
– My Shepherd Himself is my pasture, / My Shepherd, the waters of rest; / I eat of His riches in spirit, / I drink, and O how I am blest! / My Shepherd my soul is restoring, / My will, and emotion, and mind; / And though through the valley I’m walking, / O what a Companion I find! (Hymns #1170 stanzas 2-3)
About aGodMan
Life-study of Hebrews, second edition, pp. 190-191, by Witness Lee
Watchman Nee, God’s Plan and God’s Rest.
Amen, brother, thank the Lord for another today to enjoy Him as our rest.
We want to be those who diligently seek the Lord and enjoy Him as our rest in our spirit today so that, when He returns, we would enter into Him as our rest in the next age as our reward.
Praise the Lord dear brother.
Christ is our Sabbath rest in three stages.
The growing Sabbath in the church age; the harvest Sabbath in the Kingdom age and the ultimate Sabbath in the coming age.
If we are to enjoy Christ as our Sabbath rest in this age we must come to Him who is the meek and lowly one to find rest for our souls, so that we may become those who are meek and lowly to express Him and represent Him for an inheritance in the Kingdom age, as overcomers, and to enjoy such an ultimate rest with all God’s people in the new heaven and new earth.
Praise the Lord! 🙌🙋🏽😃
Praise the Lord for our growing Sabbath or rest-day from time to time. Whenever our Lord is growing in us, our rest also growing.
Rest doesn’t come by solving all our problems, but regardless of all kinds of intensive fighting with our enemy, our rest will remain with us as long as God is expressed in us.
Amen, praise the Lord we can rest in Him today. Much grace
Amen brother.
When Christ has His temple and is expressed & represented, then there is satisfaction for both God & man.
In this church age, we’re able to enjoy the first stage of Christ as our rest, with the goal of entering the fuller rest of being priests & kings in the millennial kingdom.
Eventually, all of God’s people will enjoy the fullest rest when Christ will be fully expressed, represented & satisfied by all.
May we fight constantly in this age to enter into the rest of the coming kingdom.
Amen, yes Lord we want to enjoy you today and everyday. We want God to reach his goal and be expressed and represented fully
Yes Lord!
Wow, brother, everything in God’s economy is not a heavy burden but an enjoyment!!
Hallelujah!
Amen brother, praise the Lord we have rest in our spirit through Christ.
Amen! We take You as our rest today oh Lord Jesus!
Yes Lord be our inward rest today ✨
04/30/24 Christ as Our Sabbath Rest Typified by the Good Land of Canaan (Week 6, Day 2)
The Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4:9, as typified by the good land of Canaan (Deut. 12:9; Heb. 4:8), is Christ as our rest. Christ is rest to us in three stages:
1.) In the church age (the growing Sabbath) ~ after accomplishing His work of redemption for sinners, Christ, is not just the heavenly Christ, as the One who has expressed, represented, and satisfied God and who rests from His work and sits on the right hand of God in the heavens, but, He is also the indwelling Spirit in our regenerated spirit for our rest and enjoyment (Mat 11:28-29).
When the diligent seekers of Christ abide with Him in their spirits, He shall be a prize, as a “foretaste”, for them to gain and enjoy Him in a “full way”.
2.) In the Millennial Kingdom (the harvest Sabbath) ~ after Satan has been removed from the earth (Rev 20:1-3), God will be expressed, represented, and satisfied by Christ and the overcoming saints. Then Christ with the kingdom will be the rest in a “fuller way” to the “overcoming saints” who will be co-kings with Him (Rev 20:4, 6) and share and enjoy His rest.
Christ will then be the prize enjoyed by the “overcomers” in a “fuller way” because they will reign with Him for a thousand years; the “fullest” enjoyment of which will be to reign for eternity in the New Heaven and New Earth.
3.) In the New Heaven and New Earth (the ultimate Sabbath) ~ after all the enemies, including death, the last enemy, are subdued to Him (1 Cor 15:24-27), God will be fully expressed, represented, and satisfied by all His redeemed ones in Christ. At that time Christ, as the all-conquering One, with that glorious situation, will be the rest in the “fullest way” to “all God’s redeemed” for eternity. The rest in the third stage is not a prize but the “fullest portion” to all the redeemed ones.
As vessels created by God, we are made and designed only to be filled with the Lord. The more we seek for earthly enjoyment, the more we realize that we are still empty, not satisfied, and cannot find rest. Only by coming to the Lord, enjoying Him, and absorbing Him shall we find true satisfaction and real rest.
Today, in this present church age, we need to seek the Lord diligently by abiding with Him in our regenerated spirit in order for us to gain and enjoy Him as our rest in a “full way”.
In the coming Millennial Kingdom, the overcomers, as the faithful seekers of the Lord, who consistently disentangle themselves from the world, sin, self, and flesh, will then receive the Lord as their reward, their prize, being their rest in a “fuller way”, for they will reign with Christ over the nations for a thousand years.
It is in the second stage of Christ as rest to us that Christ will take possession of the whole earth as His inheritance (Psa 2:8; Heb 2:5-6) for His kingdom in the millennium (Rev 11:15). All His overcoming followers, who seek and enjoy Him as their rest in the first stage, will participate in His reign at that time (Rev 20:4, 6; 2 Tim 2:12). It is then that they will inherit the earth (Mat 5:5; Psa. 37:11).
The rest of the good land was the goal to all the children of Israel who were redeemed and delivered from Egypt; likewise, the rest of the coming kingdom is the goal to the New Testament believers who have been redeemed and saved from the world. We, the New Testament believers, are all on the way now towards this goal.
Amen, thank you, Lord, we take You as our rest each and every day.
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-IlMfcaPG4
Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v4sfke5-diligently-seek-the-lord-and-enter-into-his-rest.html
Ameeen!!!
Yes my brother, the rest in the first two stages is a prize to His diligent seekers, who not only are redeemed but also have enjoyed Him in a full way, thus becoming the overcomers, whereas the rest in the third stage is not a prize but the full portion allotted to all the redeemed ones.
Therefore, in the first two stages, and especially in the second, Christ as our rest is the Sabbath rest mentioned here, the rest that remains for us to seek after and enter into diligently.
It is in the second stage of His being our rest that Christ will take possession of the whole earth as His inheritance making it His kingdom for a thousand years.
Amen. Christ is our sabbath rest in our spirit today. Thank you Lord for being our rest
Amen, Christ is our Sabbath rest, Lord we enjoy you as our rest today.
Christ is rest to us in three stages.