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In the last message we saw the real meaning of the Sabbath rest, seeing that it is not merely a rest after the completion of work but that it means satisfaction. If your desire has not been satisfied, you cannot have rest. The best rest, the real rest, is the satisfaction of our heart’s desire. When we consider this matter of the Sabbath rest, we must learn what is God’s heart’s desire. From the beginning of the Bible to the end, we can see that God’s desire according to His eternal plan is to have Himself expressed and represented by man. It was for this reason that He created man in His own image and gave him dominion over all things (Gen. 1:26). When man is on the earth expressing God and representing Him, God’s desire is satisfied. When we are satisfied in our God’s desire, we are resting even as we are laboring and working. When the Bible first mentions man, it speaks of God’s image and dominion, indicating that man was destined to express God with His image and to represent God with His dominion. In other words, man has been destined by God to express Him and represent Him in His image and with His authority to set up a kingdom, a divine realm, for God’s rule on earth. This is clearly pictured in Genesis 1.
When we come to the end of the Bible, after centuries of God’s work of creation, redemption, transformation, and glorification, we see a city with God’s appearance. God sitting upon the throne has the appearance of jasper (Rev. 4:2-3), and the entire city of New Jerusalem also has the appearance of jasper (Rev. 21:11, 18a), signifying that God will be fully expressed in and through that city. When you look at that city, you will see God. There, in the New Jerusalem, God will be fully expressed. Moreover, in the center of the city is the throne of God (Rev. 22:1, 3), showing that God’s dominion also is there. In the New Jerusalem God’s image will be expressed and His authority will be exercised. Therefore, in eternity future on the new earth, the New Jerusalem will be God’s complete expression and dominion. That will be the true Sabbath rest to God. At that time, God will be fully at rest because His heart’s desire will have been completely satisfied. He will have obtained what He desired to have. This is the real meaning of the Sabbath rest.
Based upon this understanding of the Sabbath rest, we can see in the Bible different ages or periods in the Sabbath rest. Firstly, the children of Israel in the Old Testament age were God’s Sabbath. The children of Israel expressed God and represented Him on earth. Although there are many negative stories concerning the children of Israel in the Bible, they did, nonetheless, express and represent God. We should not only look at the black side of the history of the children of Israel but also at the white side. When I was a young Christian, almost everything that I heard about the children of Israel was negative. In message after message we were warned not to be like Israel. As a result of this, I received the deep impression that the book of Numbers was the worst book in the Bible. Many years later I learned that the book of Numbers was glorious. Although there is the black side in this book, there is also the white side. For example, what happened when Baalam was hired to curse Israel? God sovereignly took care of this matter, and out of Baalam’s mouth came blessings instead of cursings. Baalam said, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel” (Num. 23:21), and, “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! (Num. 24:5).
The Old Testament reveals that Israel, God’s chosen people, became God’s rest, His Sabbath. Israel secured the good land, and that good land became “the land of Emmanuel” (Isa. 8:8). The word Emmanuel means “God with us.” The land of Canaan was called the land of God with man, the land where God was able to be with man. Since God secured that land through the children of Israel, the children of Israel became His Sabbath.
Eventually the children of Israel built the temple for God, and the shekinah glory of the Lord filled it (1 Kings 8:11). On that day, God not only came down from heaven, but His shekinah glory filled the temple. That was more precious than God’s creation of the earth. If God could only create the earth but not gain it and build His temple, His habitation, on it, then what was the use of the earth? After the temple was built, God could say, “Now I have a habitation on earth.” The land secured by the children of Israel not only became the land of Emmanuel, the land of God with man, but also the site where God’s habitation was built. God’s expression was there in the temple, which was a symbol of Israel as God’s habitation on earth. When the temple had been built and was filled with God’s glory, God rested. Do you not believe that the children of Israel were also at rest? Yes, they all rested with God; that was a Sabbath to them. As all of them rested with God, they surely kept the Sabbath. That was the first stage of the Sabbath rest.
In His economy, God always acts in a gradual way. Firstly, God had Adam and then, gradually, He had Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham with his descendants, and then the children of Israel. But that was not the end. After this gradual development, Jesus, the second man, came. When the Lord Jesus was baptized, God was happy and satisfied, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). When God said that He was pleased with His Son, it meant that He was satisfied. At that time, the Lord Jesus was the Sabbath rest to God. Not only did God rest in Him, but so many of those who followed Him also rested in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus was the Sabbath rest to God and His followers. Both God and His followers rested in Him.
The Church is the enlargement and the expansion of Christ. If Christ was God’s Sabbath, then how much more extensive should the church be as His Sabbath? If Israel was God’s Sabbath, then the church must be even more of a Sabbath to Him. If the Lord Jesus in the flesh was God’s Sabbath, then the church, the Body of Christ, must be an even greater Sabbath to God. Although I have heard that when we come to the Lord Jesus we have rest, I have never heard that we also may have rest when we come to the church. Today I want to announce to you the glad tidings that the church is your rest.
No place is as restful as your own home. Is not the church your home? If the church is your home, then the church must certainly be your rest. Is not the church God’s house? Since the church is God’s house (1 Tim. 3:15), then the church must be God’s rest today.
In this age, the age of the church, Christ is our rest. But do you not realize that the church is the enlargement of Christ? If Christ is our rest, then what about the church as the enlargement of Christ? If the individual Christ is our rest, then what about the corporate Christ? How can we forget the enlarged Christ or neglect the corporate Christ? Not only is the individual Christ our rest but also the corporate Christ. Not only the Head but also the Body is our Sabbath rest. Recently the Lord burdened me, saying, “You must go and tell My people that the church is their rest today!” Never have I seen so clearly as in these days that the church is today’s Sabbath rest.
Let us now consider the reasons why the church today is the Sabbath rest. Firstly, according to Genesis 1 and 2, in order for God to have His Sabbath rest, He must have His expression and representation. In other words, God’s Sabbath needs a man in His own image with His dominion. Immediately after the creation of the first man, the old man, God had a Sabbath because God had secured a man to express and represent Him. Should God not also have a rest after the creation of the new man? The church is the new man (Eph. 2:15; 4:24). If God enjoyed a Sabbath rest after the creation of the old man, He must have a greater rest after the creation of the new man. We are not in the age of the creation of the old man but in the new age, after the creation of the new man. God has a new Sabbath because He has secured a new man to express and represent Him. According to the principle established by the first mention of the Sabbath rest after the creation of man, there must be a new and better Sabbath after the creation of the new man. We are in this new Sabbath today.
Secondly, in Deuteronomy 12:9 we are told clearly that the land of Canaan was a rest to Israel because it was a rest to God. The land was God’s rest because there He could have His habitation and there He could put His name (Deut. 12:5, 11). The name is just the person himself. When God said that He would put His name there, it meant that He would put Himself there. When God said that His name would be there, it seemed that He was saying, “My name is just Myself. For My name to dwell there means that I shall dwell there. I shall set Myself there and make My habitation there. That place will be My dwelling place, and My dwelling place is My rest.” Is not the church God’s habitation today? Is it not God’s house? Ephesians 2:22 says that God’s habitation is in our spirit. Ephesians 2:15 mentions the new man and Ephesians 2:22 speaks of God’s habitation. For both the new man and the habitation there should be the Sabbath rest. Is not the church the new man? As long as the church is the new man, we have the Sabbath. Is not the church God’s habitation? As long as the church is the habitation of God, we also have God’s rest.
In order to have God’s habitation for His expression, there is the need of the exercise of God’s authority. In Genesis 1:26 dominion follows image and goes along with it. This means that God’s kingdom goes along with His expression. Without the kingdom as a safeguard and protection, it would be difficult for the expression of God to exist. Where the expression of God is, there is always the kingdom of God. Is the church not the kingdom of God today? Yes, the church is surely the kingdom of God today.
John 3:5 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (Recovery Version). In this verse we see that regeneration brings us into the kingdom of God. Yet some say that the kingdom of God is not present today. Some hold the concept that after Matthew 13 the kingdom of God was suspended. According to this concept, after the Lord Jesus presented the kingdom to the Jewish people and they rejected it, the kingdom was suspended. But if this is true, where shall we put John 3:5, which says that regeneration brings us into the kingdom? Have you not been reborn? Since we have been reborn, we must be now in the kingdom of God. John 3 tells us that we have been reborn into the kingdom of God. When an animal is born, it immediately enters into the animal kingdom. When a man is born, he is certainly born into the human kingdom. We have been born of God; therefore, we have been born into God’s kingdom. Do you not have the divine life? Since we have the divine life, how can we say that we are not in the kingdom of God?
We should not be influenced by the concept that the kingdom of God is not here and that we must wait for it. Although I do not say that the kingdom of God has come in every sense or in a full way, I do say that the kingdom has come already. While Matthew 6:10 says that we should pray, “Thy kingdom come,” Matthew 16:18-19 indicates that the kingdom comes when the church is built. In Matthew 16:18 the Lord Jesus said, “I will build my church,” and in the next verse He said, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” This indicates that the words church and kingdom are used inter-changeably, proving that the church is the kingdom and that the kingdom is also the church. When Peter used the keys to open the kingdom, that was the time when the church was built. Although the whole book of Matthew is on the kingdom, it speaks of the church in both chapters sixteen and eighteen. In Matthew 18:15-17 we are told that if a brother with whom we have a problem will not listen to us, we should “tell it unto the church” and that he should “hear the church.” If that brother neglects to hear the church, the church will look upon him as a publican or as a heathen man. Immediately after saying this, the Lord speaks of the church having the authority to bind and loose. We see by this that the church life is the reality of the kingdom.
Other New Testament books also reveal that the church life today is the kingdom. In Romans, a book that is on the church life, not on the kingdom, we see that the kingdom of God is the church life. Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is...righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The church life today is the kingdom of God.
The book of Ephesians also shows us that the church is the kingdom of God today. Ephesians 2:15 speaks of the new man, Ephesians 2:22 speaks of the habitation of God in our spirit, and Ephesians 3:21 speaks of the church. The church as the kingdom of God is found in Ephesians 5:5. Thus, the new man is the habitation, the habitation is the church, and the church is the kingdom. Hence, the church today is the kingdom of God. Hebrews 12:28 says that we are receiving this unshakable kingdom. We are not just waiting for it; we have already begun to receive it.
We see the same thing in the book of Revelation. Although many Christians hold the concept that the kingdom has not yet come but that it will come in the future, in Revelation 1:9 the Apostle John says, “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.” This verse indicates that John was in the kingdom already. What was the kingdom for him at that time? According to the following verses (10-13), it was the church. Therefore, the church today is the kingdom where God’s authority is exercised and represented. Where God has His dominion, there is rest. So the church, being the kingdom of God today, is God’s Sabbath rest. Since the church has God’s image and is God’s kingdom, it is a Sabbath rest for God.
At this point we need to read Hebrews 3:6-7: “But Christ, as a Son over His house, Whose house we are, if we hold fast the boldness and the boast of hope firm to the end. Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you hear His voice.” Verse 6 says that we are the house of God and that the Son of God is now over the house taking care of it. If we would enjoy Christ, we need to be in the house and be a part of the house. Verse 7 begins with the word “wherefore,” indicating that it is the continuation of the foregoing verse. The use of the word wherefore to connect verses 6 and 7 means that we must take care of the house of God or else we shall miss the Sabbath and not enter into rest. Hebrews 4:7, being a continuation of 3:7, says, “He again designates a certain day, Today, saying in David after so long a time, as He has said before, Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” Verses 8 and 9 continue, saying, “For if Joshua had brought them into rest, He would not have spoken concerning another day after these things. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” If we put all of these verses together, we shall see that today the Sabbath rest is the house of God. If we do not remain in the house of God, we shall miss the Sabbath rest. The writer seemed to be saying to the Hebrew believers, “Your fathers in the wilderness did not listen to the word of God. So, after that, in the Psalms, the Spirit set up another day for you to enter into rest. What is the rest that you need to enter today? It is the house of God under Christ, the Son of God.” The “wherefore” in 3:7 is very important. If we did not have this word here, we would be unable to see that the Sabbath rest today is the house of God under the care of the Son of God.
Although thousands of Christians have been saved, so many of them remain in the wilderness; they have never entered into the good land. What is today’s good land? It is a situation in which there is God’s habitation with God’s kingdom. This is the church life. The church is God’s house, God’s habitation, and God’s kingdom. Thus, the church is today’s good land. If we miss this, we miss today’s Sabbath rest.
For years I wondered about the Sabbath rest in Hebrews 4, being dissatisfied with all the interpretations of it that I heard. But now, seeing that the church is today’s Sabbath rest, I am fully satisfied and at rest about this matter. The house of God under the care of the Son of God is our rest, home, homeland, land of Emmanuel, and good land flowing with milk and honey.
In Matthew 11:28-30 the Lord Jesus said that if we were heavy laden and would come to Him, He would be our rest, and in Matthew 12:8 He said that He was the Lord of the Sabbath. Where is this Christ who is our rest and who is the Lord of the Sabbath? He is in the church. If we would take Christ as our rest, we must be in the church. The book of Revelation mentions clearly that this Christ, the all-inclusive One, is now walking in the midst of the lampstands, that is, among the churches. Not only is He walking among the churches, but, as Revelation 2 and 3 reveal, He is the Spirit speaking to the churches. If you want to touch Him, enjoy Him, and partake of Him as your rest, you need to be in the church. The church is our Sabbath today. If you apply this concept to all of the verses in Isaiah concerning the Sabbath, you will see how meaningful it is. How do we keep the Sabbath today? By having the church life. Oh, how we need to have the church life! We are the real Sabbath keepers; we keep the Sabbath day by day. What a Sabbath we are enjoying today! What a rest this is!
In the book of Hebrews the church is mentioned briefly but strongly. Hebrews 2:12 says, “I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise unto You.” The church is the place where the Firstborn Son of God can declare the Father to His brothers and sing praises to the Father. This is not a small thing. Many of us can testify that for years where we were before we came into the church life we did not have the realization that the Son of God was declaring the Father to us or singing praises to the Father in our midst. Although you might have attended many so-called Christian services, have you ever had the sense that where you were the Son of God was praising the Father in your midst? But how about today in the church meetings? Meeting after meeting, we do have the sense that the Lord is revealing the life, the reality, of the Father. Every time we meet together we have the sense that the Lord is happy with us, that the Son of God is praising the Father. This is the Sabbath rest.
In Hebrews 2 we have the church wherein the Son of God praises the Father, and in chapter three we have the house of God of which the Son of God takes excellent care. This church, this house, is the Sabbath rest. After mentioning these two matters in chapters two and three, the writer of Hebrews speaks of the remaining Sabbath rest in chapter four, telling us that we need to be “diligent to enter into that rest” (v. 11). What is the Sabbath, the good land, mentioned here? It is the church life, the house of God, the church in which the Son of God praises the Father, and the house of God taken care of by the Son of God. The “wherefore” at the beginning of 3:7, connecting, as we have seen, the house of God in chapter three with the Sabbath rest in chapter four, is a strong proof that the church life is today’s Sabbath rest. We all must endeavor to enter into it, and once we have entered into it, we should never leave it.
Barnabas is an illustration of a person who gave up the Sabbath rest. Barnabas brought the Apostle Paul into his ministry and for quite a while was an apostle working along with Paul (Acts 9:26-27; 11:25-26; 13:2; 14:14). Eventually, however, Barnabas dissented with Paul and separated from him, taking Mark with him and going on his own way while Paul went with Silas to establish the churches (Acts 15:36-41). From this point onward, there is no further record concerning Barnabas in the book of Acts, for he was through with the Sabbath rest of the church life. Barnabas came into the Sabbath rest and stayed for a time, but then he left it because he was dissenting. After that, he was out of the Sabbath rest and was no longer in the divine economy.
In Romans 16:17-20 we have a warning about the matter of dissenting. Verse 17 says, “Now I beg you, brothers, keep a watchful eye on those who make divisions and causes of falling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them” (Recovery Version). The causes of falling here refer to a falling away from the church life. Such divisions and causes of falling will keep us away from the Sabbath rest. This kind of thing is not only happening today but also happened during Paul’s days. If you would check with those who are opposing the church life or dissenting with it today, you will find that none of them has rest. They have no joy or peace, only jealousy, because they are not in the Sabbath, not in the good land. Whoever becomes dissenting against the church life and opposes it will miss the Sabbath rest. In Romans 16:18 Paul continues, “For such men do not serve as slaves our Lord Christ, but their own appetites; and by smooth and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple” (Recovery Version). These dissenting ones have a taste, desire, and appetite for their own little kingdom and empire. Do not listen to their arguments or excuses. Their basic factor is their appetite. They are hungry for something, for there is a gap deep within them. They are seeking for something to satisfy their desire. That is the meaning of the word appetite in this verse. These dissenting ones employed smooth and flattering speech, deceiving the hearts of the simple. Then verse 20 certainly refers to the Sabbath rest: “Now the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (Recovery Version). When the God of peace is present and Satan is crushed, that surely is the Sabbath rest. The grace of the Lord also points to the rest. We should not be distracted by the dissenting ones but stay with the church to enjoy the Sabbath rest. The church is God’s desire today. Therefore, it is God’s Sabbath rest.
