LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
How To Find Rest (3)
Rest is found in Christ and in his church. Both realities-being in Christ and being in the church-are foreshadowed in the history of Israel. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, he did so with the goal of bringing them into the land of Canaan. However, that generation that came out of Egypt did not enter Canaan, but died in the wilderness because of their unbelief.
When they said: "We will do all that God hath commanded", they showed a complete ignorance of themselves, which determined their long wandering in the wilderness, that they might know the true condition of their hearts. They did not enter into the rest of God, because of their unbelief.
So also, one can perfectly well be a born-again Christian, without having yet entered the promised land. One can know the works of God, the cares of God over his people, but not know God himself, nor his ways. It is a state of immaturity, in which that of lesser value attracts, and where it is not possible to see the great purposes of God.
Then, a day comes when God grants the Christian His grace and introduces him into the good land, leaving behind the aimless wandering, to enter to take his inheritance, which is Christ. The good land abounds in riches and delights. The Christian feels that he has experienced a new grace after the new birth; now he can say that he truly knows the Lord, and that this vision satisfies him completely.
However, there is still more, for it was not God's purpose that Israel should enter Canaan as a chaotic crowd. The people were to be settled, distributed in order, by tribes and families; they were to be transformed into a theocracy expressing God's anticipated purpose for them. When this is fulfilled, those people become a house and a kingdom for God.
In the same way, beyond the vision of Christ, it is necessary that those who have seen the Lord be built up as a kingdom and as a house of God. Not just a group of saved believers who do as they please, but a harmonious, articulate, Spirit-led assembly, reflecting the magnificent glories of Christ.
When the Christian finds the church, that is, the visible assembly, where Christ dwells and where the saints shout for joy, then his heart finds perfect rest. Such is the reality of Christ and the church; such is the believer's rest.