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Christ’s Rest and Ours Matthew 11:28-30
Are you weary in your soul, laboring under the heavy, heavy load of guilt and sin? Would you like to be free of your burden? Would you like to lie down and rest? What would you give, if your very heart and soul could find rest before God? — I’ve got a message from God for you. Are you carrying a heavy load, a crushing weight of burden that seems too great to bear, a yoke too hard to wear, a load you just cannot carry any longer? What would you give, if your very heart and soul could find rest before God? — I’ve got a message from God for you. The Son of God calls weary, laboring, heavy-laden sinners to himself, and promises rest to all who come to him (Matthew 11:28-30).
Rest Typified It is this rest, promised in the gospel to all who come to Christ, promised to all who believe on the Son of God that was typified and portrayed in the Old Testament Sabbath. It was God’s purpose in giving all the sabbatical laws of the Old Testament that they should be a sign, a type, a picture of this blessed rest that is found in Christ. It was never God’s intention that people throughout the world should perpetually keep a Sabbath day, any more than it was his intention that we should observe the Passover. Those laws were never given to any Gentile nation. No one was ever required to keep those legal ordinances of the Mosaic age except Israel. The law was given to point us to Christ. Like circumcision, the Passover, and all other aspects of legal, ceremonial worship during the Old Testament, the legal Sabbath day was established by our God to be a sign, picture, and type of grace and salvation in Christ. This is not a matter of speculation and guesswork. This is exactly what God says about the matter in Exodus 31:13.
Christ’s Rest Our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, has entered into his rest, and his rest is glorious, because he has finished his work (Isaiah 11:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 10:11-14). Our Savior’s rest in heaven is his glory. The marginal translation of the last sentence of Isaiah 11:10 reads, “His rest shall be glory!” As God the Father rested on the seventh day, because his work of creation was finished, so God the Son rested in the seventh day of time and entered into his rest forever, because he has finished his work of making all things new for his people (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 10:11-14). A literal translation of Matthew 28:1 reads, “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the Sabbath.” When the Lord Jesus Christ died at Calvary and rose again, the old Sabbath of the law ended and the new Sabbath of grace began. Behold our exalted Savior! Do you see him seated yonder upon his throne in heaven? There he sits in the undisturbed, undisturbable serenity of his absolute sovereignty! His rest is his glory (John 17:2; Philippians 2:9-11; Isaiah 45:20-25). Because Christ has finished his work, the salvation of his people is certain (Hebrews 9:12). There is no more work to be done. Christ did it all. Since he has finished his work, he sat down in his glory. There he is resting! —— We ought to be just as restful!
Don Fortner
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