Rest in the Promised Land
The first purpose of the Promised Land is rest. We can see this clearly in David’s 95th Psalm:
Today, if you will hear His voice:
“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
So I swore in My wrath,
They shall not enter My rest.’”
(Psalm 95:7-11)
Here, the Promised Land is called God’s “rest”, which shows that the two things are really one and the same. God’s Promised Land is God’s Rest.
In fact, man’s work is directly related to man’s sin. Adam’s sin brought about incessant toil to all men all of their days (see Genesis 3). But now in this Psalm, we see the words “My work” in verse 9, and “My rest” in verse 11. It is only by God’s work that man can enter God’s rest. This is a divine principle that we must see to have any progress in our Christian life. When Israel finally gave up trying to save themselves, and called on the Lord, He began to work – saving them from Egypt’s oppression – so that they could cease their work and bondage and enter the Promised Land of Rest.
God’s Creation and Rest
This is the very principle we have set before us at the beginning of creation:
In the creation God worked from the first to the sixth day and rested on the seventh. We may truthfully say that for those first six days he was very busy. Then, the task he had set himself completed, he ceased to work. The seventh day became the Sabbath of God; it was God’s rest.
But what of Adam? Where did he stand in relation to that rest of God? Adam, we are told, was created on the sixth day. Clearly, then, he had no part in those first six days of work, for he came into being only at their end. God’s seventh day was, in fact, Adam’s first. Whereas God worked six days and then enjoyed his Sabbath rest, Adam began his life with the Sabbath; for God works before he rests, while man must first enter into God’s rest, and then alone can he work. Moreover it was because God’s work of creation was truly complete that Adam’s life could begin with rest. (Watchman Nee, Sit, Walk, Stand, p. 16)
Ephesians: Sit, Walk, Stand
How does this translate to Christianity? It has been said that “of all Paul’s epistles, it is in Ephesians that we find the highest spiritual truths concerning the Christian life” (Sit, Walk, Stand, p. 11). It is therefore worthy of note that Ephesians begins with this injunction: God “raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus: …for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, that no man should glory” (Eph. 2:6-9, Revised). This letter in which is found such high and lofty truths for our Christian walk, has this humble beginning, that we sit before we walk. This is God’s plan for us. Notice the contrast of sitting as opposed to working.
Most Christians make the mistake of trying to walk in order to be able to sit, but that is a reversal of the true order. Our natural reason says, If we do not walk, how can we ever reach the goal?…But Christianity is a queer business! If at the outset we try to do anything, we get nothing; if we seek to attain something, we miss everything. For Christianity begins not with a big DO, but with a big DONE…
Walking implies effort, whereas God says that we are saved, not by works, but “by grace through faith” (2:8)…We began our Christian life by depending not upon our own doing but upon what he [Jesus] had done. Until a man does this he is no Christian; for to say: “I can do nothing to save myself; but by his grace God has done everything for me in Christ,” is to take the first step in the life of faith….”Sitting” is an attitude of rest. Something has been finished, work stops, and we sit…
What does it really mean to sit down? When we walk or stand we bear on our legs all the weight of our own body, but when we sit down our entire weight rests upon the chair or couch on which we sit. We grow weary when we walk or stand, but we feel rested when we have sat down awhile….So also in the spiritual realm, to sit down is simply to rest our whole weight – our load, ourselves, our future, everything – upon the Lord. We let him bear the responsibility and cease to carry it ourselves. (Sit, Walk, Stand, 14-16)
Jesus & Rest
Doesn’t Jesus say during his earthly ministry, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working,” (John 5:17)? We see that God was hard at work to secure our salvation, and how amazing is Jesus’ cry on the cross: “It is finished!” God has done all the work, just as God did all the work in saving Israel from Egypt’s bondage. And what is our responsibility from here? The same as Israel’s responsibility: to rest in God’s work.
In Hebrews 3:7-4:16, the writer of Hebrews takes the passage we began this section with (Ps. 95:7-11), and explains its implications to us who have been saved. After quoting this passage, the writer says: “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God” (Heb. 3:12). This shows what it takes to enter God’s rest: belief. And how much this agrees with the command to “sit” seen in Ephesians, as we are asked to “sit”, believing that God has done the work. This is why Israel was not able to enter the Promised Land of which God brought them out of Egypt for that very purpose: “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” (Heb. 3:19).
“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.” (Heb. 4:1). This Promise Land of Rest remains obtainable to believers, in fact we are told to “be diligent to enter that rest” (Heb. 4:11). What a paradoxical statement that can only be true in light of Christ’s finished work! “Be diligent to rest,” or we could say “Strive to rest.” The only work we are told to do is to rest, but what a work this is for Christians (especially those bred on American ideals that you can do anything you put your mind to). This is such a difficult concept for Western Christianity, yet so pivotal in our study of the normal Christian life. We must rest in God’s work! We must rest in God’s work! How many more times do we need to say it before we believe? There is a statement in Philippians in which Paul says that he and his companions, “have no confidence in the flesh,” (Phil 3:3). He doesn’t really mean no confidence in the flesh, does he? Maybe just not a lot of confidence in the flesh? Maybe it is hyperbole to make a point? NO! Paul literally means he has no confidence in the flesh. NONE. He has learned to enter the rest, and has charged us to “be diligent” to do the same.
“For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” (Heb. 4:10). This is the meaning of rest: ceasing from your works. When Jesus’ disciples asked Him what they shall do to work the works of God, His response was plain, simple, and I dare say reprehensible to many Western Christians today: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (John 6:29). Your work is belief (which the Israelites did not accomplish, and for their unbelief they were led to wander the desert). Nothing more, but nothing less.
Christians & Rest
This especially goes to those Christians who have been Christians for awhile, and feel that they need to do something to please the Lord who has done so much for them. It is those particular Christians (whom I have been from time to time), that need to hear this solemn word: REST. “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end” (Heb. 3:14). We do not become partakers of Christ by willing ourselves to be like Him, or by striving to do the works He did. Yes, He promised we would do His works and even greater works than these, but the way in which we do this is by belief, and from true belief of the heart, our works will flow out. We must first sit, before we walk. It is interesting that Peter names so many virtues that Christians should follow in his second epistle (knowledge, self-control, godliness, etc.), and in fact says that “if you do these things you will never stumble” (2 Peter 1:10), but gives a very simple answer for why the Christian man is not doing these things: he “has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins,” (2 Peter 1:9). This answer agrees with Paul’s. The source of life comes from seeing and remembering Christ’s work.
The secret to our Christian walk, and one of the reasons God has brought us out of “Egypt” is to enter His Rest. A Rest that He has worked so hard on, and a rest that we would defame if we tried to add our own works.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)
Rest & Fruit
In Matt. 7:17, Jesus speaks of this fruitfulness produced on earth: “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.” And later He says, “by their fruits you will know them” (Matt. 7:20). His main point is that you can tell what type of man someone is by the fruit they produce, by their outward actions. Only good trees are able to bear the good fruit worthy of the Promised Land.
The tendency for many believers, however, is to try to manufacture good fruit from a bad tree. Let me explain. Paul says, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells” (Ro. 7:18). This is a sobering statement that many of us are slow to realize. Does Paul really mean nothing? Surely some things good come from the flesh? We reason with ourselves in this sort of way, because we’d all like to think of ourselves as “not perfect, but better than the average guy”. This is why Paul’s statement is such a heavy, piercing sword that we must either deny or agree with. It is the same with his statement in Phil. 3:3 in which he says he has “no confidence in the flesh”. Oh, how many of us nod in agreement with this statement, then live out every day in the confidence of our flesh? This is what I meant when I said that we try to manufacture good fruit from a bad tree. Any fruit that comes from our flesh will never be worthy of the Promised Land. This is more than a doctrine, this is a truth. We must realize that the Promise Land of fruitfulness is a Promise Land of rest.
Jesus says, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5). According to this passage, our job is never to bear fruit. Let me repeat: our job is not to bear fruit! We are given one job, and that is to “Abide in Me”, where the “Me” is Jesus. When we do this, God’s life produces the fruit in us. This is the only way to produce the fruits promised in the Promised Land.
Jesus says to abide (or stay) in Him, and He will produce fruit. And what is the formula given to enter God’s rest: “hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,” (Heb. 3:14). How similar they seem, and in fact, they really mean the exact same thing. To enter the Rest and to produce fruit are the equivalent of entering the Promised Land, and they both are accomplished by the believer in one simple way: faith that Jesus has finished the work.
Does this sound too simple? For many in the West I think it does. They say, well, there has to be something we can do for the Lord, because He has done so much for me. We have such a works-based attitude. Anything we set our mind to we can do. But please, please, say along with Paul that you will put “no confidence in the flesh”. It may sound passive to merely abide in the Lord and He will produce fruit, but it is in fact a very active duty to rely on the Lord and not yourself. It takes much trust, and it is the only way to produce eternal fruits. Romans 4 makes it very clear that it is faith, not works, by which we will be justified: “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.” (Ro. 4:2). And when this faith is real and alive, it will always produce fruits pleasing to God (see James 2:14-26).
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