June 9

Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world. — Heb 4:3 BSB

To rest is to lean upon something, isn’t it? Spiritually, we need to lean on something too. The Lord has given us this figure: “Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved?” The idea of a rock on which the Church is built or a foundation that God has laid in Zion points to the same concept—dependence. When the soul begins to lean upon Jesus and depend entirely on Him, it enters into the sweetness of His invitation.

Haven’t we leaned upon a thousand things before? And what did they turn out to be? Broken reeds that ran into our hands and pierced us. Our own strength, our resolutions, the world, the church, sinners, and even saints have often proved to be broken reeds. The more we leaned upon them, the more they pierced our souls. The Lord Himself has to wean us from the world, from friends, from enemies, and from ourselves to bring us to lean wholly upon Him. He will remove every prop, sooner or later, so that we may lean entirely on His person, love, blood, and righteousness.

There’s another idea in the word “rest”—termination. When we walk, run, or move, we are still progressing toward a goal. But when we reach the end of our journey, we rest. Spiritually, as long as we’re trying to establish our own righteousness or laboring under the law, there’s no end to our efforts. But when we come to the glorious person of the Son of God, resting in His atoning blood, dying love, and perfect righteousness, and finding them sweet and suitable, then we find true rest. As the Apostle says, “We who have believed enter into rest.” The legal labors have ended, and all hopes and expectations now flow into and center on Jesus. There, they terminate—just as a river finds its end in the boundless ocean.