I WILL GIVE YOU REST [part one]

 1)           One hardly appreciates the mental grokking of it until one is ushered into the physical reality of basking in true rest. The human mind constantly yearns for the serenity that comes from the cessation of physical travails associated with man’s life on this terra firma. Rest, indeed, is a subjective delicacy psychogenically sought after by every individual. Man’s greatest enemy, the kahuna of task masters, Lucifer, having stumbled on the best way to bring mankind into abject subjugation, sold religious piety to the warped mentality of Adam’s progeny. True rest is absolutely nonexistent in religious toils. Jesus, ergo, had to come to man’s rescue.

            Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” This is the solution to man’s yearning for freedom from religious slavery. This rest is found nowhere else but in the Creator.

“Come unto Me….I will give you rest.”

            The verb ‘come,’ in the Greek, is deute (dyoo’-teh). It is a Greek imperative form of deuro (dyoo’-ro) –‘here’ and εἶμι eimi (‘to go’)– meaning: ‘come hither, come here, come interjection, come! come now!’ The word ‘labour,’ kopiaō (kop-ee-ah’-o) is: ‘to grow weary, tired, exhausted (with toil or burdens or grief), to feel fatigue; by implication to work hard.’ ‘Heavy laden’ is phortizō (for-tid’-zo): ‘to place a burden upon, (properly as a vessel or animal), that is, (metaphorically) to overburden with ceremony (or spiritual anxiety).’ While the pronoun ‘you,’ humas (hoo-mas’): ‘an accusative case of the 2nd person you (as the object of a verb or preposition);’ an interesting thing is that ‘give’ and ‘rest’ mean the same anapauō (an-ap-ow’-o): ‘(reflexively) to repose (literally or figuratively (be exempt), remain); by implication to refresh; of calm and patient expectation.’

I Am, the Good Shepherd: JESUS!

            Is it possible for any man to give this kind of rest to anyone? Jesus promises anyone who obeys Him, “I will anapauō you anapauō.” This is perfect rest. This is why ‘rest’ must be mentioned twice: for emphasis. Only the Creator can offer this anapauō. It is not difficult to figure out the One who can establish this safe rest which can only be celestial. The Author of this given rest is found in this Scripture, “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made” [Genesis 2:2]. It is absolutely essential for God to choose the seventh day to institute His day of rest. Is it not the scriptural numerology for perfection? It also proves His perfect control of universal affairs.

The LORD of Sabbath showed Himself on Mount Sanai

                The Hebrew rendition of the sobriquet ‘God’ in Genesis 2:2 is a titillating ‘Ělôhı̂ym (el-o-heem’). This is ‘God’ in the plural. The singular is ‘Ě̆lôahh (el-o’-ah). God the Father will not vacate the celestial throne. The only One that makes Himself visible to human perception is the Second Member of the Godhead. The Christ. When ‘Ělôhı̂ym is employed in the introduction of God, what it simply means is that the Members of the Godhead are acting in strict consonance. Christ, in His preincarnational manifestation, came into Eden as the LORD God of creationism. He is the Author of Sabbath and the Lord of rest. Amen!

Perfect rest of the Garden of Eden

            The Hebraic ‘rested’ of Genesis 2:2 is shâbath (shaw-bath’): ‘to repose, that is, desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causatively, figuratively or specifically).’ The One who rested on the first ever seventh day of human existence is the very One who says to restless man, “Come unto Me……and I will give you rest.”

                The Matthew 11:28 mand of ‘come’ is a divine summon of Old Testamentary understanding. Prophetic utterance of Isaiah 45:22 says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” What do I see?  It is saliency: gaping at the unraveling of the deity of Jesus. Is it not apropos that if God did make a repetition of the deute it must be by none else but God Himself? There is no recorded history of any other person offering a soteriological invitation of an eternal consequence. In another prophecy it goes thus: “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” (Isaiah 55:1). Confer Isaiah 53:2 & 3; John 6:37; John 7:37 & Rev 22:17.

He went about doing good (Acts 10:38)

                The scriptural reference to ‘all’ is found in, Psalm 38:4, “For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.”  This psalmodic complaint is a universal dirge of every soulish entity. Ecclesiastes 2:22 “For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?” Man’s operose emprise, geared towards spiritual relevance amounts, absolutely, to nothing unless one takes the expected steps of divine protocol that answers the imperative deute of Jesus. Amen!

                Jesus will give you rest only if you will receive His life. Get born again. Say this simple prayer:

 “Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I receive Him now as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen!”   

 (…to be concluded…)

Click here to read the concluding part

FAITH RESPONSIBLE (I)

Every act of man is a reaction to the prevalent force from two entities of good and evil. Man was made to be a believer. We know that not everything is to be believed; man, hence, is accountable for that which he has made himself to live by. Amen.

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God,” says Hebrews 12:2. The word ‘looking’, aphoraō (af-or-ah’-o), comes from apo (apo’) meaning: ‘of separation; “off”, that is, away (from something near), in various senses (of place, time, or relation; literally or figuratively)’; and horaō (hor-ah’-o) ‘(Properly) to stare at, that is, (by implication) to discern clearly (physically or mentally); by extension to attend to; by Hebraism to experience; passively to appear’. From Thayer Definition: ‘looking’ means ‘to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something’, and from Strong’s Definition: ‘to consider attentively’. If it says ‘looking’ then it whips up the spirit of continuity of this act of faith. ‘Unto’ is eis (ice): ‘towards; to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etc.)’. Our focus must, scripturally speaking, be a continual reaching out to Jesus.

The word ‘author’ is called, in the Greek, archēgos (ar-khay-gos’) which comes from archē (ar-khay’) (properly abstract) a commencement, or (concrete) chief ‘ and agō (ag’-o) ‘properly to lead; by implication to bring, drive, (reflexively) go, (specifically) pass (time), or (figuratively) induce’. This makes archēgos ‘the chief leader, and not a writer. What is ‘finisher’? It is the Greek word, teleiōtēs (tel-i-o-tace’): ‘a perfector, a completer, that is, consummater‘. Faith is an established understanding in the heart which one sees as the solution to problems. The foundational ground of faith is of utmost importance. To the unlearned heart, faith can come from anywhere, and to such mind, it is debatable when you say that true faith stems from the knowledge of the word of God, in the name of Jesus. Your faith cannot stand the true test of global vicissitudes outside Christ based faith. All other ground, as the hymn renders, is sinking sand.

Do we have scriptures that agree with ‘looking’? Isaiah 8:17 reads, “And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.” Chapter 45:22 of Isaiah says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” Prophet Micah, in the 7th chapter of the 7th verse of his prophetic book also agrees with, “Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.”

Abraham showed unwavering faith according to God’s will

Definitely, it will take the collaboration with the One with spiritual disposition, for us to expend faith. This takes us to John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Our faith, exercised, can only find a surest footing in the One who can find a lasting solution to our sinful nature. John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Even the father of faith developed his faith power from the only source as we read in John 8:56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” Abraham made contact with the Author of pistis (pis’-tis), the Greek word for faith. It is a feminine noun –an indication of its profitable productivity. It is defined as: ‘persuasion, that is, credence; (morally) conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), (especially) reliance upon Christ for salvation; (abstractly) constancy in such profession; (by extension) the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself’.

The uniqueness of faith is so evident. It is captured in Hebrews 11:3, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Ten times God spoke at the creationism, God being fully aware that absolutely nothing could challenge His words of creation. God, at creation, exhibited faith in Himself. We cannot draw perfect faith from our being. Impossible. Atheists and Humanists will erroneously believe otherwise.

Philippians 3:20, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:” tells us where Christians come from, spiritually. The neuter ‘conversation’ is politeuma (pol-it’-yoo-mah): ‘a community, that is, (abstractly) citizenship (figuratively)’. The Holy Spirit made it known to Paul who failed to disbelieve, so, he wrote, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” [2Timothy 4:8]. (…to be continued…)

Click to read the concluding 2nd part.