Old Testament Survey Week 5
The Rest of the Rest
Query about the feasts of Israel,
The Rest of the Rest
Query about the feasts of Israel,
particularly Passover and why despite the instruction
that it would be a feast celebrated forever,
most Christians do not celebrate them.
Leviticus 23 talks about these instructions …
the answer is yes and no.
We don’t celebrate them but we should…
Leviticus 23 talks about these instructions …
the answer is yes and no.
We don’t celebrate them but we should…
those feasts which are three; there are three basic feast seasons..
We will spend at least three weeks on the feast seasons
and talk about them in great detail…
The short answer is that we should celebrate them…
Two of the feasts have been fulfilled in Christ,
The short answer is that we should celebrate them…
Two of the feasts have been fulfilled in Christ,
one is not yet fulfilled (the last one)
The Feast of Tabernacle is not yet fulfilled in Christ.
We await that fulfillment.
Passover has been fulfilled because
Passover has been fulfilled because
Christ is the Passover Lamb.
We have to understand
in the way those feasts are laid out
we will see how they unfold in the scriptures.
Basically, those feasts,
We have to understand
in the way those feasts are laid out
we will see how they unfold in the scriptures.
Basically, those feasts,
Passover
and Pentecost and
Tabernacles
actually are commemorating some pretty important layers
of the history of the people of Israel.
For instance, Passover is
of the history of the people of Israel.
For instance, Passover is
obviously about the time when Israel
is delivered from Egypt.
Pentecost, however
is the time when they received the Law of Moses –
the Ten Commandments…
why is that?...
why is that?...
It is significant that they received the Law,
because that Law would make them
different from every other nation.
In the New Testament Pentecost
is when The Spirit of God is given.
The Spirit is given on the Day of Pentecost… why?...
for the same reason…
to make us different and distinct from all other peoples…
It is proof that we have a relationship with God.
For Israel it was the Ten Commandments
or the Decalogue that set them apart,
and the proof that we are in relationship with God
is the work of the Holy Spirit in us to sanctify us
and to work through us.
There is the work of the Spirit on us,
the work of the Spirit in us
and the work of the Spirit through us.
The Ten Commandments
(alternatively called Decalogue, or Ethical Decalogue),
a list of religious and moral imperatives which,
was spoken by God to Moses on Mount Sinai
and engraved on two stone tablets
Reference to Ten Plagues handout:
Interesting little point about the ten plagues against Egypt…
one of the Gods was Apis (Ah pees) (sacred bull god)
he was in the figure of a calf…
He was the god of strength and fertility…
He was pictured as a golden calf
with the rays of the sun between his horns.
The Egyptians would have an actual live bull
that they selected as the personification of that god –
when that bull would die they would mummify him
and bury him in a grave of great spleandor.
They went through these enormously expensive rituals
to bury a dead bull.
They should have just had a cook-out ;-)
because that Law would make them
different from every other nation.
In the New Testament Pentecost
is when The Spirit of God is given.
The Spirit is given on the Day of Pentecost… why?...
for the same reason…
to make us different and distinct from all other peoples…
It is proof that we have a relationship with God.
For Israel it was the Ten Commandments
or the Decalogue that set them apart,
and the proof that we are in relationship with God
is the work of the Holy Spirit in us to sanctify us
and to work through us.
There is the work of the Spirit on us,
the work of the Spirit in us
and the work of the Spirit through us.
The Ten Commandments
(alternatively called Decalogue, or Ethical Decalogue),
a list of religious and moral imperatives which,
was spoken by God to Moses on Mount Sinai
and engraved on two stone tablets
Reference to Ten Plagues handout:
Interesting little point about the ten plagues against Egypt…
one of the Gods was Apis (Ah pees) (sacred bull god)
he was in the figure of a calf…
He was the god of strength and fertility…
He was pictured as a golden calf
with the rays of the sun between his horns.
The Egyptians would have an actual live bull
that they selected as the personification of that god –
when that bull would die they would mummify him
and bury him in a grave of great spleandor.
They went through these enormously expensive rituals
to bury a dead bull.
They should have just had a cook-out ;-)
If you go to Exodus 32
where it talks about Aaron making the golden calf;
he is in the shape of that god Apis.
The request of the people of Israel
was to make a god “that will go before us.”
In-other-words,
they wanted a god
to go where they wanted to go…
not where God wanted to go
but where they wanted to go .
The other interesting thing is
they did not see this form of god as Apis…
they didn’t call him that,
what they were trying to do
is take the real God, Elohiym
and reduce Him to a form…
God doesn’t like that!
The problem was it says in Exodus…
they had forgotten all the works of the Lord their God
They had forgotten all that Elohiym had done.
It is interesting that they would take that form,
that they probably had grown up around for generations
(in the Egyptian culture),
and try to adapt that into their life and culture…
I’m giving you this because
there is a contemporanious application…
They took the culture that they grew up around
and tried to form God in that culture…
Remind you of anything?...
This is where we live… (trying to do the same thing).
We try to take God…
all the culture that we have
and we try to smoosh God into it somehow.
We try to form God in our image
and we want God to go where we want Him to go,
not go, where He wants us to go!
God doesn’t like that… aparently…
You can tell by the way He swallows things up when that happens…
The ground opens uo and people disappear…
and they didn’t enter the witness protection program
they just disappeared!
In the studying of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Torah;
there’s an awful lot of contemporatry application to it.
There is nothing new – you know what I mean?...
There is really nothing new…
We are doing the same stuff… this is 3480 years later…
that’s a long time ago, we’re still doing it.
There is very little today in our theology,
especially in modern American 21st century Christianity
of obedience – when was the last time
you heard a teaching on obedience?
We hear lots of teachings on miracles, and signs and wonders;
but do we hear things on holiness and obedience?...
No, because that’s no fun!
Yet, the reality is that’s where the greatest power is!
We have a tendency, just like those folks did
over thirty-five hundred years ago…
we have exactly the same tendencies.
We try to take our culture and superimpose it on God,
or make God move according to our culture.
That’s just not accurate.
24Now it came about at the lodging place on the way
that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death.
25Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin
and threw it at Moses' feet, and she said,
"You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me."
26So He let him alone.
At that time she said,
"You are a bridegroom of blood"-
-because of the circumcision.
Exodus 4:24-26 NAS
The anger of God toward Moses here
We try to take our culture and superimpose it on God,
or make God move according to our culture.
That’s just not accurate.
24Now it came about at the lodging place on the way
that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death.
25Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin
and threw it at Moses' feet, and she said,
"You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me."
26So He let him alone.
At that time she said,
"You are a bridegroom of blood"-
-because of the circumcision.
Exodus 4:24-26 NAS
The anger of God toward Moses here
was due to his disobedience of
not having his son circumcised.
God took his disobedience as a tremendous affront.
There are a lot of different
There are a lot of different
layers of interpretation of these verses by the way.
Some people interpret this to say
that Moses didn’t do this intentionally somehow.
Some say that he didn’t want to stigmatize his son
as he was headed back to Egypt by having him circumcised
(the certain sign that he was a Hebrew and not Egyptian).
Basically his wife has to do what he (Moses) was supposed to do.
What it comes down to is that Moses
did not uphold the covenant of God.
God says,
“Look, I’m sending you on this mission,
you literally are on a mission from God,
and you are not doing what you are supposed to be doing…
you are not upholding the covenant.
That’s the sign of the covenant… a blood sacrifice.”
That’s why God became angry.
Query:
God reveals Himself to Moses as Yahweh –
Query:
God reveals Himself to Moses as Yahweh –
and that’s the first time He reveals Himself by that name.
To Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
he was known as El-Shaddai or God Almighty.
Does this have to do with the whole deliverance thing,
that God now needed to be revealed as Deliverer.
It does, but let me give you a little descending order here…
This is the best I can understand this… it’s TG opinion-
Psalm 91.
1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!"
Psalm 91:1-2 NAS
Psalm 91 gives us an image of God’s names…
It says the one who dwells in the shelter of The Most High…
The Most High = ‛elyôn (el-yone')
From H5927; an elevation, that is, (adjectively) lofty (comparatively); as title, the Supreme: - (Most, on) high (-er, -est), upper (-most).
El ‛elyôn …
these are not different Gods obviously
but they are different aspects of God’s nature.
El ‛elyôn … means that God is the Most High
if He is the Most High than He can see everything…
He is the Most High so there is nothing above Him…
Next He is expressed as the Almighty or El shaddai
El shaddai (El shad-dah'ee)
From H7703; the Almighty: - Almighty.
Meaning that God is all powerful…
So God is Most High
God is Most Powerful
Then the next expression we see is Yahweh or the LORD
2I will say to the LORD
When we see the word LORD written in all capital letters
That is called a tetragrammaton*…
This is God’s personal name.
It comes from the root hâyâh (haw-yaw')
that means “to be” , “He is,” “to exist”
“I AM that I AM”
Edit fkj:
*Tetragrammaton (from the Greek τετραγράμματον, meaning "[a word] having four letters") refers to the Hebrew term יהוה, the name of God depicted in the Bible.
יהוה is composed of four Hebrew consonants, and it occurs 6,828 times in the approved consonantal Hebrew text of the Bible.
These four letters are usually transliterated from Hebrew as IHVH in Latin, JHWH in German, French and Dutch, and JHVH/YHWH in English. This has been variously rendered as "Yahweh" or even occasionally as "Jehovah", based on the Latin form of the term.[4], while the Hebrew text does not clearly indicate the omitted vowels. In English translations, it is often rendered in capital and small capital letters as "the LORD", following Jewish tradition which reads the word as "Adonai" ("Lord") out of respect for the name of God and the interpretation of the commandment not to take the name of God in vain.
It does, but let me give you a little descending order here…
This is the best I can understand this… it’s TG opinion-
Psalm 91.
1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!"
Psalm 91:1-2 NAS
Psalm 91 gives us an image of God’s names…
It says the one who dwells in the shelter of The Most High…
The Most High = ‛elyôn (el-yone')
From H5927; an elevation, that is, (adjectively) lofty (comparatively); as title, the Supreme: - (Most, on) high (-er, -est), upper (-most).
El ‛elyôn …
these are not different Gods obviously
but they are different aspects of God’s nature.
El ‛elyôn … means that God is the Most High
if He is the Most High than He can see everything…
He is the Most High so there is nothing above Him…
Next He is expressed as the Almighty or El shaddai
El shaddai (El shad-dah'ee)
From H7703; the Almighty: - Almighty.
Meaning that God is all powerful…
So God is Most High
God is Most Powerful
Then the next expression we see is Yahweh or the LORD
2I will say to the LORD
When we see the word LORD written in all capital letters
That is called a tetragrammaton*…
This is God’s personal name.
It comes from the root hâyâh (haw-yaw')
that means “to be” , “He is,” “to exist”
“I AM that I AM”
Edit fkj:
*Tetragrammaton (from the Greek τετραγράμματον, meaning "[a word] having four letters") refers to the Hebrew term יהוה, the name of God depicted in the Bible.
יהוה is composed of four Hebrew consonants, and it occurs 6,828 times in the approved consonantal Hebrew text of the Bible.
These four letters are usually transliterated from Hebrew as IHVH in Latin, JHWH in German, French and Dutch, and JHVH/YHWH in English. This has been variously rendered as "Yahweh" or even occasionally as "Jehovah", based on the Latin form of the term.[4], while the Hebrew text does not clearly indicate the omitted vowels. In English translations, it is often rendered in capital and small capital letters as "the LORD", following Jewish tradition which reads the word as "Adonai" ("Lord") out of respect for the name of God and the interpretation of the commandment not to take the name of God in vain.
So God is Most High
God is Most Powerful
God who is personal
The last one is Elohiym (el-o-heem')
My God
'ĕlôhıym (el-o-heem')
Plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: - angels, X exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.
So God is Most High or El ‛elyôn
God is Most Powerful or El shaddai
God who is most personal or Yahweh or LORD
from the others, even though Abraham is called ‘the friend of God’ (we read in Exodus 33:11 ) where it says Moses talked to God as a man speaks to his friend face-to-face ‘paniym el paniym’
Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face,
just as a man speaks to his friend
When Moses returned to the camp,
his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man,
would not depart from the tent.
Exodus 33:11 NAS
Moses has this ultra-personal encounter
in the very personal presence of God…
There isn’t any evidence that Abraham
had that kind of encounter…
he has the encounter with the three parts of God
at the oaks of Mamre in Genesis 18.
But there is no evidence that Abraham
But there is no evidence that Abraham
had this kind of personal encounter as Moses
who had an intensely personal encounter at a burning bush.
That’s pretty personal, and He says I AM – this is who I AM.
So it’s:
So God is Most High or El ‛elyôn
God is Most Powerful or El shaddai
God who is Most Personal or Yahweh or LORD
And Elohiym which is God the Creator so Most Creative
Elohiym again is in the plural meaning at least three
so it represents God in His creative capacity.
So it’s:
So God is Most High or El ‛elyôn
God is Most Powerful or El shaddai
God who is Most Personal or Yahweh or LORD
And Elohiym which is God the Creator so Most Creative
Elohiym again is in the plural meaning at least three
so it represents God in His creative capacity.
Old Testament Survey Week 5
The Rest of the Rest
One of the great themes of the Old Testament
is the theme of rest…
It is really important that we understand
that this is God’s objective…
Remember there were three things
necessary for God’s plan to make Israel a nation:
A people
A Law
A Land
This whole concept of ‘rest’
is tied up in the establishment of God’s people
as a nation, that will demonstrate to the world
how to live a life that honors and glorifies God.
.
Pictures of rest are woven all through the Old Testament.
It was God’s intention to bring His people
to a place of reconciliation and rest
in their relationship with Him
Rest is a condition of inner quiet
that allows our hearts
to be at home in God.
There are three kinds of rest:
Rest for God
Rest in God
Rest we receive from God
9So there remains a Sabbath rest
for the people of God.
Hebrews 4:9 NAS
Sabbath means ‘rest’ so a Sabbath rest is literally a ‘rest – rest’…
Here is the problem,
that allows our hearts
to be at home in God.
There are three kinds of rest:
Rest for God
Rest in God
Rest we receive from God
9So there remains a Sabbath rest
for the people of God.
Hebrews 4:9 NAS
Sabbath means ‘rest’ so a Sabbath rest is literally a ‘rest – rest’…
Here is the problem,
we are missing the rest of the rest.
There is some portion of rest
There is some portion of rest
that we have not entered into…
So there is still a special rest waiting
for the people of God.
Hebrews 4:9 NLT
9So then, there is still awaiting
a full and complete Sabbath-rest
reserved for the [true] people of God;
Hebrews 4:9 AMP
As it is, however,
there still remains for God’s people
a rest like God’s resting on the seventh day.
Hebrews 4:9 TEV (Today’s English Version)
We have left behind
the rest of the rest.
We have literally walked away
from the rest God desires us to experience
We are commanded to observe the Sabbath.
That Sabbath is not just a legal day,
That Sabbath also has to do with
the presence of Christ resting in us.
A really good book
Your Forgotten Self: Mirrored in Jesus the Christ
by David Robert Ord
Rest is an Invitation:
He talks about the Christ within us
and how we need to flow
from a place of rest as we experience
His presence within us
and allowing that presence to flow through us.
We have walked away
So there is still a special rest waiting
for the people of God.
Hebrews 4:9 NLT
9So then, there is still awaiting
a full and complete Sabbath-rest
reserved for the [true] people of God;
Hebrews 4:9 AMP
As it is, however,
there still remains for God’s people
a rest like God’s resting on the seventh day.
Hebrews 4:9 TEV (Today’s English Version)
We have left behind
the rest of the rest.
We have literally walked away
from the rest God desires us to experience
We are commanded to observe the Sabbath.
That Sabbath is not just a legal day,
That Sabbath also has to do with
the presence of Christ resting in us.
A really good book
Your Forgotten Self: Mirrored in Jesus the Christ
by David Robert Ord
Rest is an Invitation:
He talks about the Christ within us
and how we need to flow
from a place of rest as we experience
His presence within us
and allowing that presence to flow through us.
We have walked away
from rest and left it behind.
There is an invitation in the heart of God
for us to come to this place of rest.
It is part of who He is.
He calls us to participate in His Life
and that requires us to come
to a new place of understanding.
There are two parts to the invitation:
1- I must come to another place (leave behind something)
2- I must move on to something else (intimacy with God)
There is an invitation in the heart of God
for us to come to this place of rest.
It is part of who He is.
He calls us to participate in His Life
and that requires us to come
to a new place of understanding.
There are two parts to the invitation:
1- I must come to another place (leave behind something)
2- I must move on to something else (intimacy with God)
Jesus invites us to rest.
The kind of rest
He is talking about
has three facets:
Rest for God
Rest in God
Rest from God
Defining Rest:
complete dependence
refreshed and rejuvenated
quiet and still before God
undistracted
reflecting on what has been done
fellowship and a sense of belonging
Rest is being at home in God.
In John 14 Jesus says
if we keep His commandments
then They will come
and make their home in us.
15"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
23Jesus answered and said to him,
"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word;
and My Father will love him,
and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
John 14:15,23
This is allowing Christ to rest in me…
There is something about the whole aspect
of living in His presence that defines rest.
It has something to do with who He is!
I think we find rest
The kind of rest
He is talking about
has three facets:
Rest for God
Rest in God
Rest from God
Defining Rest:
complete dependence
refreshed and rejuvenated
quiet and still before God
undistracted
reflecting on what has been done
fellowship and a sense of belonging
Rest is being at home in God.
In John 14 Jesus says
if we keep His commandments
then They will come
and make their home in us.
15"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
23Jesus answered and said to him,
"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word;
and My Father will love him,
and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
John 14:15,23
This is allowing Christ to rest in me…
There is something about the whole aspect
of living in His presence that defines rest.
It has something to do with who He is!
I think we find rest
when we connect with who God is.
This is why God becomes so upset
when we make the Sabbath just a legal regulation…
when we allow that to happen we totally miss God
We can get to the point
that the only thing missing
in our relationship with God - is God!
We can have a relationship with doctrine,
or with understanding, or thoughts
or relationship, or laws or rules
but don’t have a personal relationship with God.
God wants to lead us to a place of
rest that is for God
a rest that is in God
and a rest that is from God.
Look what Jesus says,
28"Come to Me,
all who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest.
What is Jesus saying?
When the Pharisees
were talking to the people,
Jesus said,
‘Look you are putting a heavier load on them
than they carried before.’
‘You just put heavy loads on the people
and you are robbing them of rest.’
Weary and heavy laden in this context
has to do with things that are legalism,
He’s not just talking about actual burdens
but the legalism imposed on the people by the Pharisees
as recorded in Matthew the eleventh chapter..
29"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
30"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30 NAS
The yolk He is referring to is a system of teaching…
As in the “Yolk of the Torah.”
His yolk is a yolk of grace and compassion…
It is only when we come to Him
that we experience true rest…
He has to give me rest.
We have a tendency to work hard
so that we can “earn” rest.
It’s kind of an American thing…
we work our way into a vacation.
We kill our selves fifty weeks of the year
so we can take two weeks off for vacation.
This is not just about time off,
its about a state of mind
and being connected and being at home in God
Rest is somehow just being at home in God
We can be at home in God if we are working in a steel mill.
Why, because He says take My yoke upon you
not the yoke of legalism
But learn from Me, my nature, who I am…
I’m gentle and humble of heart…
And then you will find rest for your souls
your mind, your will, your emotions.
This whole chapter (Matthew 11) by-the-way
is a really good chapter to meditate on.
We are a very restless society.
Rest is something we choose…
Rest is something we enter into…
Rest is something we receive…
It is all about getting intimate with God.
Do you know that in contemporary America
the average person,
moves fourteen times in their lives.
No wonder we sell so many shoes in this country.:-)
We don’t connect…
We don’t connect with God…
We don’t connect with each other.
We are an incredibly disconnected people.
We are connected only when it comes
to climbing up the corporate ladder.
How does this have anything to do
with the Old Testament and the people of Israel?
As “foreigners” in the land
This is why God becomes so upset
when we make the Sabbath just a legal regulation…
when we allow that to happen we totally miss God
We can get to the point
that the only thing missing
in our relationship with God - is God!
We can have a relationship with doctrine,
or with understanding, or thoughts
or relationship, or laws or rules
but don’t have a personal relationship with God.
God wants to lead us to a place of
rest that is for God
a rest that is in God
and a rest that is from God.
Look what Jesus says,
28"Come to Me,
all who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest.
What is Jesus saying?
When the Pharisees
were talking to the people,
Jesus said,
‘Look you are putting a heavier load on them
than they carried before.’
‘You just put heavy loads on the people
and you are robbing them of rest.’
Weary and heavy laden in this context
has to do with things that are legalism,
He’s not just talking about actual burdens
but the legalism imposed on the people by the Pharisees
as recorded in Matthew the eleventh chapter..
29"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
30"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30 NAS
The yolk He is referring to is a system of teaching…
As in the “Yolk of the Torah.”
His yolk is a yolk of grace and compassion…
It is only when we come to Him
that we experience true rest…
He has to give me rest.
We have a tendency to work hard
so that we can “earn” rest.
It’s kind of an American thing…
we work our way into a vacation.
We kill our selves fifty weeks of the year
so we can take two weeks off for vacation.
This is not just about time off,
its about a state of mind
and being connected and being at home in God
Rest is somehow just being at home in God
We can be at home in God if we are working in a steel mill.
Why, because He says take My yoke upon you
not the yoke of legalism
But learn from Me, my nature, who I am…
I’m gentle and humble of heart…
And then you will find rest for your souls
your mind, your will, your emotions.
This whole chapter (Matthew 11) by-the-way
is a really good chapter to meditate on.
We are a very restless society.
Rest is something we choose…
Rest is something we enter into…
Rest is something we receive…
It is all about getting intimate with God.
Do you know that in contemporary America
the average person,
moves fourteen times in their lives.
No wonder we sell so many shoes in this country.:-)
We don’t connect…
We don’t connect with God…
We don’t connect with each other.
We are an incredibly disconnected people.
We are connected only when it comes
to climbing up the corporate ladder.
How does this have anything to do
with the Old Testament and the people of Israel?
As “foreigners” in the land
they needed to get their rest from God.
The people were encouraged to
remember all God had done for them
over and over again…
but the kept forgetting time after time.
They needed the rest of God as a time
to reflect on His goodness and mercy toward them.
The more prosperous they became
(by God’s hand)
the quicker they forgot God.
This is especially true in that section of Deuteronomy
chapters four through eight,
where God continually reminded them
that when they entered the Promised Land
they were not to forget
who gave them all they possessed.
This was the whole point
of God’s instructions to the Israelites at Gilgal;
that they were to return with their children
to recount the deliverance of the people from Egypt,
so that generation after generation
would not forget what God had done for them.
An interesting point with regard to Gilgal…
gilgâl (ghil-gawl') wheel or circle (return to – roll away)
gil gal which is actually repeated syllables
if you look at it in Hebrew
gal gal which means a circle
God, as to His nature – who He is…
He is not a triangle… He’s a circle --
It is literally a picture of God dancing within Himself
[perichoresis: It refers to the mutual inter-penetration and indwelling within the threefold nature of the Trinity, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.]
Do you realize how many times there are circles in the Bible?
Every time you see something that says “gal” …
They come into the Holy land
and they create a circle of stones at Gil gal…
Where did Jesus minister?… in gal alee
Where was Jesus crucified?... gal gotha
We see all these circles in scripture
and they are little signitures of God
and discriptions of His nature.
God is saying we must remember
who and what He is.
There is a rest for God
There is a rest in God
There is a rest that comes from God
Rest For God
Rest for God is a rest we must choose..
Shabbat, the Hebrew word for Sabbath means
to cease from work
and actively
for the purpose of connecting
with the Father’s heart.
This is like the Father
stepping back and celebrating creation.
God was not tired after the sixth day
He was pausing to take in the magnitude of His creative works…
If you created a masterpiece,
wouldn’t you step back and admire it?
Shabbat Resting/
ceasing from, step away, cease, pause
“Rest” in Greek = ana-pausis
from which we get the English word pause.
An interlude or intermission
The interesting thing here is
that God continued to create after the seventh day…
Jesus says in the New Testament
that the “Father is still working.”
17But He answered them,
"My Father is working until now,
and I Myself am working."
John 5:17 NAS
This kind of rest is
a rest where we connect
with the presence of God
Rest is a part of God’s nature.
When God created the physical universe as we know it
He paused to step back and look at what He had done
We have to do the same thing…
Rest is a place of recharging
Rest is a place where
we come to an understanding
of who the Lord is
If we look in Hebrews 4:8-13
8For if Joshua had given them rest,
He would not have spoken of another day after that.
9So there remains a Sabbath rest
for the people of God.
10For the one who has entered His rest
has himself also rested from his works,
as God did from His.
11Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest,
so that no one will fall,
through following the same example of disobedience.
12For the word of God is living and active
and sharper than any two-edged sword,
and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit,
of both joints and marrow,
and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13And there is no creature hidden from His sight,
but all things are open and laid bare
to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Hebrews 4:8-13
Rest is associated with the Word of God
and the Word of God is seen as a weapon
So rest has something to do
with spiritual warfare as well
Resting in Him is part of our warfare
When Manna was given
The people were encouraged to
remember all God had done for them
over and over again…
but the kept forgetting time after time.
They needed the rest of God as a time
to reflect on His goodness and mercy toward them.
The more prosperous they became
(by God’s hand)
the quicker they forgot God.
This is especially true in that section of Deuteronomy
chapters four through eight,
where God continually reminded them
that when they entered the Promised Land
they were not to forget
who gave them all they possessed.
This was the whole point
of God’s instructions to the Israelites at Gilgal;
that they were to return with their children
to recount the deliverance of the people from Egypt,
so that generation after generation
would not forget what God had done for them.
An interesting point with regard to Gilgal…
gilgâl (ghil-gawl') wheel or circle (return to – roll away)
gil gal which is actually repeated syllables
if you look at it in Hebrew
gal gal which means a circle
God, as to His nature – who He is…
He is not a triangle… He’s a circle --
It is literally a picture of God dancing within Himself
[perichoresis: It refers to the mutual inter-penetration and indwelling within the threefold nature of the Trinity, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.]
Do you realize how many times there are circles in the Bible?
Every time you see something that says “gal” …
They come into the Holy land
and they create a circle of stones at Gil gal…
Where did Jesus minister?… in gal alee
Where was Jesus crucified?... gal gotha
We see all these circles in scripture
and they are little signitures of God
and discriptions of His nature.
God is saying we must remember
who and what He is.
There is a rest for God
There is a rest in God
There is a rest that comes from God
Rest For God
Rest for God is a rest we must choose..
Shabbat, the Hebrew word for Sabbath means
to cease from work
and actively
for the purpose of connecting
with the Father’s heart.
This is like the Father
stepping back and celebrating creation.
God was not tired after the sixth day
He was pausing to take in the magnitude of His creative works…
If you created a masterpiece,
wouldn’t you step back and admire it?
Shabbat Resting/
ceasing from, step away, cease, pause
“Rest” in Greek = ana-pausis
from which we get the English word pause.
An interlude or intermission
The interesting thing here is
that God continued to create after the seventh day…
Jesus says in the New Testament
that the “Father is still working.”
17But He answered them,
"My Father is working until now,
and I Myself am working."
John 5:17 NAS
This kind of rest is
a rest where we connect
with the presence of God
Rest is a part of God’s nature.
When God created the physical universe as we know it
He paused to step back and look at what He had done
We have to do the same thing…
Rest is a place of recharging
Rest is a place where
we come to an understanding
of who the Lord is
If we look in Hebrews 4:8-13
8For if Joshua had given them rest,
He would not have spoken of another day after that.
9So there remains a Sabbath rest
for the people of God.
10For the one who has entered His rest
has himself also rested from his works,
as God did from His.
11Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest,
so that no one will fall,
through following the same example of disobedience.
12For the word of God is living and active
and sharper than any two-edged sword,
and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit,
of both joints and marrow,
and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13And there is no creature hidden from His sight,
but all things are open and laid bare
to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Hebrews 4:8-13
Rest is associated with the Word of God
and the Word of God is seen as a weapon
So rest has something to do
with spiritual warfare as well
Resting in Him is part of our warfare
When Manna was given
there was enough given on the sixth day
so that they had enough for the Sabbath.
This is an example of the sufficiency of God’s grace.
God rested because the work was completed (kalah)
kâlâh (kaw-law')
A primitive root; to end, (to cease, be finished, perish) (to complete, prepare, consume): - accomplish, cease, consume (away), determine,
There was nothing left to be done.
1Thus the heavens and the earth were completed,
and all their hosts.
Genesis 2:1 NAS
There is a resting from work…
3Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,
because in it He rested from all His work
which God had created and made.
Genesis 2:3 NAS
Blessing, sanctification and rest go together.
Man was created on the sixth day
The seventh day was a day of rest
There was a evening and morning
of each day except the seventh…
The Hebrew day started in the evening
and went to the morning
because of the concept of
going from darkness to light
there was no conclusion given,
indicating that man was created to live in rest.
The Sabbath rest is something we must choose.
This is an example of the sufficiency of God’s grace.
God rested because the work was completed (kalah)
kâlâh (kaw-law')
A primitive root; to end, (to cease, be finished, perish) (to complete, prepare, consume): - accomplish, cease, consume (away), determine,
There was nothing left to be done.
1Thus the heavens and the earth were completed,
and all their hosts.
Genesis 2:1 NAS
There is a resting from work…
3Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,
because in it He rested from all His work
which God had created and made.
Genesis 2:3 NAS
Blessing, sanctification and rest go together.
Man was created on the sixth day
The seventh day was a day of rest
There was a evening and morning
of each day except the seventh…
The Hebrew day started in the evening
and went to the morning
because of the concept of
going from darkness to light
there was no conclusion given,
indicating that man was created to live in rest.
The Sabbath rest is something we must choose.
It is coming to an end of our work as God rested.
2By the seventh day God
completed His work which He had done,
and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work which He had done.
3Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,
because in it He rested from all His work
which God had created and made.
Genesis 2:2-3 NAS
Rest in this passage is associated with
holiness,
sanctification
and blessing
The whole idea of rest
is a time of coming aside with God.
Rest is not just taking a nap,
it is for the purpose of connecting with God.
For the purpose of living in His presence
For the purpose of understanding who He is.
That’s also called holiness, or sanctification.
You can’t separate blessing and sanctification, holiness, and rest…
Those things are just woven together throughout scripture.
The greatest form of Spiritual Warfare
is for us to be at rest in Christ
in a state of connection with God.
The Enemies main preoccupation
is to get our attention off of God
and interrupt our connection with God
so that we are paying attention to
life, circumstances and self.
His whole purpose is to get us to look at us
instead of looking to God.
This is the very definition of iniquity –
to look at self and not God.
Satan twisted the whole concept of Godly Rest
and made it a legal formula….
What were they (the Pharisees) looking at…
were they connected with God?.. No!
they were looking at themselves.
Oh you’re carrying a tool (on the Sabbath)…
Oh it’s two minutes after sundown and you are walking down the road..
2By the seventh day God
completed His work which He had done,
and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work which He had done.
3Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,
because in it He rested from all His work
which God had created and made.
Genesis 2:2-3 NAS
Rest in this passage is associated with
holiness,
sanctification
and blessing
The whole idea of rest
is a time of coming aside with God.
Rest is not just taking a nap,
it is for the purpose of connecting with God.
For the purpose of living in His presence
For the purpose of understanding who He is.
That’s also called holiness, or sanctification.
You can’t separate blessing and sanctification, holiness, and rest…
Those things are just woven together throughout scripture.
The greatest form of Spiritual Warfare
is for us to be at rest in Christ
in a state of connection with God.
The Enemies main preoccupation
is to get our attention off of God
and interrupt our connection with God
so that we are paying attention to
life, circumstances and self.
His whole purpose is to get us to look at us
instead of looking to God.
This is the very definition of iniquity –
to look at self and not God.
Satan twisted the whole concept of Godly Rest
and made it a legal formula….
What were they (the Pharisees) looking at…
were they connected with God?.. No!
they were looking at themselves.
Oh you’re carrying a tool (on the Sabbath)…
Oh it’s two minutes after sundown and you are walking down the road..
Even today in Israel
if you are driving down the road during Shabbat
they will throw rocks at you –
(which by the way means
they are doing work on Shabbat!)
This rest for God
is a choice we make
to honor God.
Jesus says in Mark
that the Sabbath was made for man
not that man was made for the Sabbath.
27Jesus said to them,
"The Sabbath was made for man,
and not man for the Sabbath.
28"So the Son of Man is Lord
even of the Sabbath."
Mark 2:27-28 NAS
Sabbath rest is not about legalism…
it’s about transforming
Sometimes we choose not to rest
because we are afraid
of that transforming intimacy…
we are afraid that we are going
to have to become something else.
There is a rising kingdom within us,
as we carry Christ more and more in me,
Christ is more and more seen
to the spheres of influence around us.
Reference:
Your Forgotten Self
Mirrored in Jesus Christ by David Robert Ord
Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is within us…
it is at hand that
As you go, preach this message:
'The kingdom of heaven is near.'
Matthew 10:7 NAS
The scripture says,
9So there remains a Sabbath rest
for the people of God.
10For the one who has entered His rest
has himself also rested from his works,
as God did from His.
Hebrews 4:9-10 NAS
That does not mean that there is nothing else left to do…
in the sense that we rest and never perform tasks again…
what it says is that
we need to stop thinking ‘either activity, or not activity’ –
if you are driving down the road during Shabbat
they will throw rocks at you –
(which by the way means
they are doing work on Shabbat!)
This rest for God
is a choice we make
to honor God.
Jesus says in Mark
that the Sabbath was made for man
not that man was made for the Sabbath.
27Jesus said to them,
"The Sabbath was made for man,
and not man for the Sabbath.
28"So the Son of Man is Lord
even of the Sabbath."
Mark 2:27-28 NAS
Sabbath rest is not about legalism…
it’s about transforming
Sometimes we choose not to rest
because we are afraid
of that transforming intimacy…
we are afraid that we are going
to have to become something else.
There is a rising kingdom within us,
as we carry Christ more and more in me,
Christ is more and more seen
to the spheres of influence around us.
Reference:
Your Forgotten Self
Mirrored in Jesus Christ by David Robert Ord
Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is within us…
it is at hand that
As you go, preach this message:
'The kingdom of heaven is near.'
Matthew 10:7 NAS
The scripture says,
9So there remains a Sabbath rest
for the people of God.
10For the one who has entered His rest
has himself also rested from his works,
as God did from His.
Hebrews 4:9-10 NAS
That does not mean that there is nothing else left to do…
in the sense that we rest and never perform tasks again…
what it says is that
we need to stop thinking ‘either activity, or not activity’ –
that’s the legal definition of rest.
The kind of rest we are talking about
is being at home in Christ
and Christ being at home in us.
Generally find it easy to invite the Lord to our house…
But, do we find it equally easy
to come to the Lord’s house?
When we go to His place… we have to trust Him
Rest and Trust go together!
We don’t rest because we don’t trust
The kingdom does a transforming work in us
and that work is seen by the world around us.
Rest in God
There is a rest in God as well…
So there is a
Rest (Shabbat ) for God
is resting to come into His presence
and connecting with God…
but there is also a rest in God as well.
Rest (Nuach) in God
Resting because we are in Christ
This is a place of deep abiding trust
where we can feel the power and strength of the LORD.
Rest “In God” comes from the Hebrew word “nuach”
Nuach, meaning to settle down
with no more movement,
to come to a sense of inner ease and security
Nuach is Noah’s name Nuach = Noah
Resting in something
A picture of Noah resting in the safety of the ark.
The ark is a picture of Jesus
and Noah is at rest in the ark
as we are to rest “In Christ”
and raised us up with Him,
and seated us with Him in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 2:6 NAS
There is a connection with comfort
from a related Hebrew word nacham
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
2 Corinthians 1:3 NAS
comfort paraclesis
one who is present along side us.
14And He said,
"My presence shall go with you,
and I will give you rest."
15Then he said to Him,
"If Your presence does not go with us,
do not lead us up from here.
Exodus 33:14-15 NAS
The thing that gives us rest is God’s presence.
The thing that brings us into His presence is rest.
Naomi was the mother-in-law of Ruth
and she wants Ruth to end up in a place of rest.
1THEN NAOMI her mother-in-law said to Ruth,
My daughter, shall I not seek rest or a home for you,
that you may prosper?
Ruth 3:1 AMP
She wants Ruth to be at a place of rest or a home
and having all that she needs.
Rest and home go together…
Again, rest is being at home together with God
14And He said,
"My presence shall go with you,
and I will give you rest."
Exodus 33:14 NAS
Israel failed to enter this rest of God
because they did not trust Him
1Therefore, let us fear if,
while a promise remains of entering His rest,
any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
2For indeed we have had good news preached to us,
just as they also;
but the word they heard did not profit them,
because it was not united by faith
in those who heard.
3For we who have believed enter that rest,
just as He has said,
"(C)AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,"
although His works were finished
from the foundation of the world.
Hebrews 4:1-3 NAS
The condition for entering into God’s rest
is faith and believing.
We who believe
in the goodness of God’s nature
will enter into rest.
Jeremiah chapters 33 -34 talks about the same thing.
He says basically you don’t trust Me.
Because you don’t trust me,
you are going into exile.
Is not this,
which causes God’s people to be in “exile”
out of fellowship with God even today?
He says, “I invited you to come to the table…
I’ve done everything necessary –
I’ve carved out this land for you…
given you houses you didn’t build…
wells and cistern that you didn’t dig…
you’re going to eat fruit from vines you didn’t plant…
That’s called the grace of God…
Yet they (and often we) still don’t trust Him.
Israel did not enter the rest
because they were disobedient.
disobedient in Greek = a-patheia
apathy, willful unbelief, disagreement
apeitheia (ap-i'-thi-ah)
From G545; disbelief (obstinate and rebellious): -
disobedience, unbelief.
How about this they simply didn’t care!
Is this not a picture of contemporary America…
This is difficult to admit,
The kind of rest we are talking about
is being at home in Christ
and Christ being at home in us.
Generally find it easy to invite the Lord to our house…
But, do we find it equally easy
to come to the Lord’s house?
When we go to His place… we have to trust Him
Rest and Trust go together!
We don’t rest because we don’t trust
The kingdom does a transforming work in us
and that work is seen by the world around us.
Rest in God
There is a rest in God as well…
So there is a
Rest (Shabbat ) for God
is resting to come into His presence
and connecting with God…
but there is also a rest in God as well.
Rest (Nuach) in God
Resting because we are in Christ
This is a place of deep abiding trust
where we can feel the power and strength of the LORD.
Rest “In God” comes from the Hebrew word “nuach”
Nuach, meaning to settle down
with no more movement,
to come to a sense of inner ease and security
Nuach is Noah’s name Nuach = Noah
Resting in something
A picture of Noah resting in the safety of the ark.
The ark is a picture of Jesus
and Noah is at rest in the ark
as we are to rest “In Christ”
and raised us up with Him,
and seated us with Him in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 2:6 NAS
There is a connection with comfort
from a related Hebrew word nacham
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
2 Corinthians 1:3 NAS
comfort paraclesis
one who is present along side us.
14And He said,
"My presence shall go with you,
and I will give you rest."
15Then he said to Him,
"If Your presence does not go with us,
do not lead us up from here.
Exodus 33:14-15 NAS
The thing that gives us rest is God’s presence.
The thing that brings us into His presence is rest.
Naomi was the mother-in-law of Ruth
and she wants Ruth to end up in a place of rest.
1THEN NAOMI her mother-in-law said to Ruth,
My daughter, shall I not seek rest or a home for you,
that you may prosper?
Ruth 3:1 AMP
She wants Ruth to be at a place of rest or a home
and having all that she needs.
Rest and home go together…
Again, rest is being at home together with God
14And He said,
"My presence shall go with you,
and I will give you rest."
Exodus 33:14 NAS
Israel failed to enter this rest of God
because they did not trust Him
1Therefore, let us fear if,
while a promise remains of entering His rest,
any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
2For indeed we have had good news preached to us,
just as they also;
but the word they heard did not profit them,
because it was not united by faith
in those who heard.
3For we who have believed enter that rest,
just as He has said,
"(C)AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,"
although His works were finished
from the foundation of the world.
Hebrews 4:1-3 NAS
The condition for entering into God’s rest
is faith and believing.
We who believe
in the goodness of God’s nature
will enter into rest.
Jeremiah chapters 33 -34 talks about the same thing.
He says basically you don’t trust Me.
Because you don’t trust me,
you are going into exile.
Is not this,
which causes God’s people to be in “exile”
out of fellowship with God even today?
He says, “I invited you to come to the table…
I’ve done everything necessary –
I’ve carved out this land for you…
given you houses you didn’t build…
wells and cistern that you didn’t dig…
you’re going to eat fruit from vines you didn’t plant…
That’s called the grace of God…
Yet they (and often we) still don’t trust Him.
Israel did not enter the rest
because they were disobedient.
disobedient in Greek = a-patheia
apathy, willful unbelief, disagreement
apeitheia (ap-i'-thi-ah)
From G545; disbelief (obstinate and rebellious): -
disobedience, unbelief.
How about this they simply didn’t care!
Is this not a picture of contemporary America…
This is difficult to admit,
The church needs to create
spiritual Mothers and Fathers
that look for something beyond themselves.
After a while it really doesn’t matter
we can only accumulate so much stuff!
We can have a lot or be broke…
it really doesn’t make that much difference
to what is truly important.
The bottom line is
what will make us
and our children more secure –
it’s not stuff or even money
it is the presence of God in our lives.
Their disobedience was based in the fact that
they did not know God and they didn’t trust God.
They didn’t trust God because they didn’t know God…
they didn’t know God because they walked away from God’s Table...
they didn’t rest in God..
they didn’t spend that time in rest with God
They made rest into something they had to do
(an attitude like the Pharisees)
instead of something that they were invited to do!
(a condition of our hearts resting in Christ)
6Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it,
and those who formerly had good news preached to them
failed to enter because of disobedience,
Hebrews 4:6 NAS
We are talking about a rest
so that we can be connected to God,
but also a rest in God…
we can’t come to that place of rest in God
if it is just some kind of legal thing ….
it is really a rest,
based upon trust,
based upon obedience…
not a legal obedience…
but based upon the understanding of the heart of God.
God created us to have a connection with Him
He brings us into a place of connection and holiness with Him
That’s what all those encounters in the Old Testament –
the burning bush
wrestling with an “angel”
and all that stuff was about…
He says, ‘I am the author of all life,
the Beginning and the End of all this…
I AM the whole point.
We could probably call the whole Old Testament “I AM the Point.”
When He said I AM that I AM – He was saying I AM the Point!
Another good Book
God is the Gospel by John Piper
of the most common words
in the Hebrew language is zâkar
zâkar zaw-kar' means to remember
it is the root of Zechariah
A primitive root; properly to mark (so as to be recognized), that is, to remember; by implication to mention; also (as denominative from H2145) to be male: - X burn [incense], X earnestly, be male, (make) mention (of), be mindful, recount, record (-er), remember, make to be remembered, bring (call, come, keep, put) to (in) remembrance, X still, think on, X well.
In the Gospel of Luke
spiritual Mothers and Fathers
that look for something beyond themselves.
After a while it really doesn’t matter
we can only accumulate so much stuff!
We can have a lot or be broke…
it really doesn’t make that much difference
to what is truly important.
The bottom line is
what will make us
and our children more secure –
it’s not stuff or even money
it is the presence of God in our lives.
Their disobedience was based in the fact that
they did not know God and they didn’t trust God.
They didn’t trust God because they didn’t know God…
they didn’t know God because they walked away from God’s Table...
they didn’t rest in God..
they didn’t spend that time in rest with God
They made rest into something they had to do
(an attitude like the Pharisees)
instead of something that they were invited to do!
(a condition of our hearts resting in Christ)
6Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it,
and those who formerly had good news preached to them
failed to enter because of disobedience,
Hebrews 4:6 NAS
We are talking about a rest
so that we can be connected to God,
but also a rest in God…
we can’t come to that place of rest in God
if it is just some kind of legal thing ….
it is really a rest,
based upon trust,
based upon obedience…
not a legal obedience…
but based upon the understanding of the heart of God.
God created us to have a connection with Him
He brings us into a place of connection and holiness with Him
That’s what all those encounters in the Old Testament –
the burning bush
wrestling with an “angel”
and all that stuff was about…
He says, ‘I am the author of all life,
the Beginning and the End of all this…
I AM the whole point.
We could probably call the whole Old Testament “I AM the Point.”
When He said I AM that I AM – He was saying I AM the Point!
Another good Book
God is the Gospel by John Piper
of the most common words
in the Hebrew language is zâkar
zâkar zaw-kar' means to remember
it is the root of Zechariah
A primitive root; properly to mark (so as to be recognized), that is, to remember; by implication to mention; also (as denominative from H2145) to be male: - X burn [incense], X earnestly, be male, (make) mention (of), be mindful, recount, record (-er), remember, make to be remembered, bring (call, come, keep, put) to (in) remembrance, X still, think on, X well.
In the Gospel of Luke
we find that John the Baptists father is named Zecharias – to remember…
Zecharias talks about God remembering his covenant with Israel
So we have looked at:
Rest (Shabbat ) for God
is resting to come into His presence
Rest (Nuach) in God
Resting because we are in Christ
We see that Israel didn’t enter into that rest
because they were disobedient
The next kind of rest
is the kind of Rest we receive from God
Rest (Shaqat ) from God
Shaqat
meaning tranquility and absence of conflict or war or anxiety.
To be still or undisturbed.
The absence of external pressure.
There is a sense of safety or security also.
Used in parallelism with Shalom
All of this has to do with connecting with God
So that I am resting in God…
and when I get to the place
where I am finally resting in Him…
suddenly I am so taken with Him
that I become totally unaware of all this other stuff.
We need to reflect on “Christ in me the hope of glory.”
We need to meditate on the fact that Christ is in us.
He is actually in me.
He has taken up a residence in me.
That doesn’t say anything about me…
It says everything about Him!
He is doing something inside of us
so that he can flow through us…
Our desire needs to be
that He simply comes through us…
This is a rest from conflict;
A place of tranquility and rest.
This rest starts as an outer decision
that winds up as an internal condition…
There is a decision made
to come to a place of rest
so that we can be connected to God
we make the decision to rest and connect with God
(as David said “My soul will praise the Lord.”)
That outer condition of Rest (Shabbat ) for God
leads me to another place where I become restful in God
Rest (Nuach) in God…
Now rest is not just about an external thing
but that I’m coming to rest inside of Him…
But ultimately I find my rest
The rest that I receive from God
Rest (Shaqat ) from God
This is the rest where I become unaware
of everything else trying to influence my life
and become consumed with being in God’s presence.
I am no longer subject to distractions and circumstances
That means that I can be doing anything
and be in a place of rest.
Just have a strong and intimate connection with Him…
so it is no longer I who works
but Christ in me.
20I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.
21I do not set aside the grace of God,
for if righteousness could be gained through the law,
Christ died for nothing!"
Galatians 2:20-21 NAS
It is not about me…
but about Him
The Christ comes out.
The problem with the nation of Israel
is that they never got to that place…
They were stuck outside
where they didn’t have a true relationship with God
but were in a performance based superficial relationship.
Very few of them ever got to the place
where they were resting in God.
David did…
I believe that Moses did…
Abraham did…
But most never got the place of resting in God.
There is this very interesting thing
in the account of Hezekiah
when the city is being besieged by the enemies of Israel.
There is an interesting teaching there
of how Hezekiah came to the place of inner rest
in the middle of all that warfare.
His purpose for the nation of Israel
what that they would be a missionary people…
they were to carry the presence of God…
Jesus is the fulfillment of all of that…
He is the perfect prototype
of what God wanted Israel to be…
Bill Johnson wrote,
that the reason Jesus could sleep in the boat
through the storm,
was because where he was
there was no storm.
He was at rest in the Father.
Zecharias talks about God remembering his covenant with Israel
So we have looked at:
Rest (Shabbat ) for God
is resting to come into His presence
Rest (Nuach) in God
Resting because we are in Christ
We see that Israel didn’t enter into that rest
because they were disobedient
The next kind of rest
is the kind of Rest we receive from God
Rest (Shaqat ) from God
Shaqat
meaning tranquility and absence of conflict or war or anxiety.
To be still or undisturbed.
The absence of external pressure.
There is a sense of safety or security also.
Used in parallelism with Shalom
All of this has to do with connecting with God
So that I am resting in God…
and when I get to the place
where I am finally resting in Him…
suddenly I am so taken with Him
that I become totally unaware of all this other stuff.
We need to reflect on “Christ in me the hope of glory.”
We need to meditate on the fact that Christ is in us.
He is actually in me.
He has taken up a residence in me.
That doesn’t say anything about me…
It says everything about Him!
He is doing something inside of us
so that he can flow through us…
Our desire needs to be
that He simply comes through us…
This is a rest from conflict;
A place of tranquility and rest.
This rest starts as an outer decision
that winds up as an internal condition…
There is a decision made
to come to a place of rest
so that we can be connected to God
we make the decision to rest and connect with God
(as David said “My soul will praise the Lord.”)
That outer condition of Rest (Shabbat ) for God
leads me to another place where I become restful in God
Rest (Nuach) in God…
Now rest is not just about an external thing
but that I’m coming to rest inside of Him…
But ultimately I find my rest
The rest that I receive from God
Rest (Shaqat ) from God
This is the rest where I become unaware
of everything else trying to influence my life
and become consumed with being in God’s presence.
I am no longer subject to distractions and circumstances
That means that I can be doing anything
and be in a place of rest.
Just have a strong and intimate connection with Him…
so it is no longer I who works
but Christ in me.
20I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.
21I do not set aside the grace of God,
for if righteousness could be gained through the law,
Christ died for nothing!"
Galatians 2:20-21 NAS
It is not about me…
but about Him
The Christ comes out.
The problem with the nation of Israel
is that they never got to that place…
They were stuck outside
where they didn’t have a true relationship with God
but were in a performance based superficial relationship.
Very few of them ever got to the place
where they were resting in God.
David did…
I believe that Moses did…
Abraham did…
But most never got the place of resting in God.
There is this very interesting thing
in the account of Hezekiah
when the city is being besieged by the enemies of Israel.
There is an interesting teaching there
of how Hezekiah came to the place of inner rest
in the middle of all that warfare.
His purpose for the nation of Israel
what that they would be a missionary people…
they were to carry the presence of God…
Jesus is the fulfillment of all of that…
He is the perfect prototype
of what God wanted Israel to be…
Bill Johnson wrote,
that the reason Jesus could sleep in the boat
through the storm,
was because where he was
there was no storm.
He was at rest in the Father.
Shaqat is a state of rest,
repose absence of conflict or war…
23So Joshua took the whole land,
according to all that the LORD
had spoken to Moses,
and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel
according to their divisions by their tribes
Thus the land had rest (shaqat) from war.
Joshua 11:23 NAS
Shaqat , to rest upon something, be at the table…
Often translated as quietness…
15For thus the Lord GOD,
the Holy One of Israel, has said,
"In repentance and rest (nuach-in Him) you will be saved,
We can never really be healed
until we are in Him
in a place of trusting Him
a place of intimate relationship with Him…
until we are there we will never experience inner healing…
but will only be managing emotions.
The LORD is trying to lead us
to a place where we will be at rest in Him.
In quietness (shaqat) and trust is your strength."
But you were not willing,
Isaiah 30:15
The key words here are
Repentance – turning around, turning away from something and going towards God
Repentance is turning away from the mere external stuff
on the outside (religiosity)
and turning toward the LORD
(intimate open and honest relationship with God).
1Therefore let us leave
the elementary teachings about Christ
and go on to maturity,
not laying again
the foundation of repentance
from acts that lead to death,
and of faith in God
2instruction about baptisms,
the laying on of hands,
the resurrection of the dead,
and eternal judgment.
3And God permitting, we will do so.
Hebrews 6:1 NAS
This is a picture of Moses’ tabernacle…
repose absence of conflict or war…
23So Joshua took the whole land,
according to all that the LORD
had spoken to Moses,
and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel
according to their divisions by their tribes
Thus the land had rest (shaqat) from war.
Joshua 11:23 NAS
Shaqat , to rest upon something, be at the table…
Often translated as quietness…
15For thus the Lord GOD,
the Holy One of Israel, has said,
"In repentance and rest (nuach-in Him) you will be saved,
We can never really be healed
until we are in Him
in a place of trusting Him
a place of intimate relationship with Him…
until we are there we will never experience inner healing…
but will only be managing emotions.
The LORD is trying to lead us
to a place where we will be at rest in Him.
In quietness (shaqat) and trust is your strength."
But you were not willing,
Isaiah 30:15
The key words here are
Repentance – turning around, turning away from something and going towards God
Repentance is turning away from the mere external stuff
on the outside (religiosity)
and turning toward the LORD
(intimate open and honest relationship with God).
1Therefore let us leave
the elementary teachings about Christ
and go on to maturity,
not laying again
the foundation of repentance
from acts that lead to death,
and of faith in God
2instruction about baptisms,
the laying on of hands,
the resurrection of the dead,
and eternal judgment.
3And God permitting, we will do so.
Hebrews 6:1 NAS
This is a picture of Moses’ tabernacle…
There are three pairs of things here…
repentance from dead works
and faith toward God
(heading toward more and more rest)
that’s pair one:
That is the outer court of the temple –
the place where flesh was burnt – put to death
Then it talks about
baptisms and washings
which is about” the Holy place in the tabernacle
The realm of the Spirit and spiritual gifts…
Then it talks about the
resurrection and eternal judgment
which refers to the Holy of Holies –
the place of intimacy – living with God from His rest.
We can never really be healed
until we are in Him in a place of trusting Him
The scripture says my power is perfected in weakness
And He has said to me,
"My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is perfected in weakness "
Most gladly, therefore,
I will rather boast about my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ
may dwell in me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 NAS
There is a rest for God
that will lead to a rest in God
and a rest that we will receive from God,
from our enemies.
I choose to rest
I enter into the rest
and then I receive rest
11Moab hath been at ease from his youth,
and he hath settled (shaqat) on his lees,
and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
neither hath he gone into captivity:
therefore his taste remained in him,
and his scent is not changed.
Jeremiah 48:11 KJV
There is a rest for God…
which leads to a rest in God…
which will result in a rest from God…
so that we will have no fears
or enemy attacks that will cause us concern…
we will be so focused on the Lord.
I choose to rest (shabbot)
then enter into (nuach) rest in Christ
and receive (shaqat) rest from God
28"Come to Me,
all who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest.
29"Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
30"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30 NAS
There is another attitudinal thing that is required
for us to enter in to rest
which is something which Israel apparently did not have …
the attitudinal thing required for rest is humility.
God says, remember when you enter into the land,
don’t forget who supplied all this for you.
This is all about Me…
Humility is not false shame…
Humility is not what we don’t do or think of ourselves…
Humility is the enthronement of Christ.
Humility it is putting Christ in His proper place.
One of the best ways to come into rest
is by dedicating oneself to continually meditate on the Scripture.
Psalm 63 talks about meditating during the night watches...
Psalm 1 speaks of meditating on God's word day and night...
We need to get into the place
where we are hungry
for the presence of God in our life
that we might see the presence of God
through our life.
-30-
repentance from dead works
and faith toward God
(heading toward more and more rest)
that’s pair one:
That is the outer court of the temple –
the place where flesh was burnt – put to death
Then it talks about
baptisms and washings
which is about” the Holy place in the tabernacle
The realm of the Spirit and spiritual gifts…
Then it talks about the
resurrection and eternal judgment
which refers to the Holy of Holies –
the place of intimacy – living with God from His rest.
We can never really be healed
until we are in Him in a place of trusting Him
The scripture says my power is perfected in weakness
And He has said to me,
"My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is perfected in weakness "
Most gladly, therefore,
I will rather boast about my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ
may dwell in me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 NAS
There is a rest for God
that will lead to a rest in God
and a rest that we will receive from God,
from our enemies.
I choose to rest
I enter into the rest
and then I receive rest
11Moab hath been at ease from his youth,
and he hath settled (shaqat) on his lees,
and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
neither hath he gone into captivity:
therefore his taste remained in him,
and his scent is not changed.
Jeremiah 48:11 KJV
There is a rest for God…
which leads to a rest in God…
which will result in a rest from God…
so that we will have no fears
or enemy attacks that will cause us concern…
we will be so focused on the Lord.
I choose to rest (shabbot)
then enter into (nuach) rest in Christ
and receive (shaqat) rest from God
28"Come to Me,
all who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest.
29"Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
30"For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30 NAS
There is another attitudinal thing that is required
for us to enter in to rest
which is something which Israel apparently did not have …
the attitudinal thing required for rest is humility.
God says, remember when you enter into the land,
don’t forget who supplied all this for you.
This is all about Me…
Humility is not false shame…
Humility is not what we don’t do or think of ourselves…
Humility is the enthronement of Christ.
Humility it is putting Christ in His proper place.
One of the best ways to come into rest
is by dedicating oneself to continually meditate on the Scripture.
Psalm 63 talks about meditating during the night watches...
Psalm 1 speaks of meditating on God's word day and night...
We need to get into the place
where we are hungry
for the presence of God in our life
that we might see the presence of God
through our life.
-30-
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