Mat 11:28
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest
What is this rest that Christ offers?
THE TRUE REST OF THE LORD
"Thus saith the Lord,stand ye in the ways and see,and ask for the old paths,
where is the good way,and
walk therein,and ye shall find rest for your soul..."[Jeremiah 6:16]
The people of Israel did not have the faith to heed this and other preaching and hence could not enter this rest:
"...But they said;
we will not walk therein."[Jeremiah 6:16;Hebrews 4:1,2;Romans 9:31,32]
“But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.Wherefore? Because
they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;”(Romans 9:31,32)
The prophet Isaiah had a similar message and response:
“To whom he said, This
is the rest
wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this
is the refreshing: yet
they would not hear.”(Isaiah 28:12)
Israel in the wilderness were of a similar nature and had the same problem of failing to enter His rest.
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left
us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them:but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” (Hebrews 4:1,2)
Their unbelief just like the unbelief in Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s time caused them to disobey God.
“Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in
their heart; and
they have not known my ways.So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you
be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”(Hebrews 3:10-13)
Hence this call to enter God’s rest is nothing new and Jesus made this call when He preached on earth and this is the day which David prophesied about, that when we hear His voice we should not harden our hearts,even as hearts were hardened when Jeremiah and others preached.
Jesus said:"Come unto me,all ye that are heavy laden,and I will give you rest;Take my yoke upon you,and learn of me;for I am meek and lowly in heart;and ye shall find rest unto your souls."[Matthew 11:28,29;Luke 4:16-21;;Hebrews 4:7;Psalm 95:7-9]
“But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:” (Hebrews 3:6-8)
Hence we see that this call by Jeremiah,Jesus and others,is a call encouraging us to drop the burden of sin and our own ways and learn of Jesus in order to take up righteousness.It is our faith in God that will allow us to heed this call and not fall into the error of Israel.[Romans 6:16-23;II Peter 2:19;I Corinthians 5:7,8;Romans 8:3,4;Ephesians 4:20-24]
“But
ye have not so learned Christ;If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him,as the truth is in Jesus:That ye
put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;And that
ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”(Ephesians 4:20-24)
