You may (or may not) have noticed. I’ve been “absent” for the last few weeks. Allow me first to apologize for that. I’ve been going through something in my personal life and it needed all my attention. The “something” is not “over” yet, but it is becoming a tad more managable. That said, I’ve asked our illustrious leader if I can do something a bit “new” here. Would you like to know more?
How about a little Tuesday morning Bible Study to get you up and going? Monday (a dreaded day for many of us) is over and done with. It’s time to face the rest of the week with the Good News.
I’ve blogged before on the importance of the Sabbath…of taking a Sabbath. I’ve been teaching the same at the Bible Study group I lead. It’s led me to some really deep reading and pondering on this very issue. Sabbath is about REST. REST is about stopping the WORK that you do in order to allow your body to catch up and then to allow your spirit to become in tune with God again. (Which often becomes off-kilter when one is pushing one’s body to the nth degree.)
Read this scripture with me: In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.(Isaiah 11:10)
“In that day” Isaiah writes.
In “what” day, I wonder.
To answer that question, we must turn back a page (if necessary) to the opening of the 11th chapter, a chapter which describes Messiah, the One we often refer to as Jesus. There it says, “The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him…”
This word, rest, is a different kind of “rest” that what we read in Isaiah 11:10. This word is “nuwach” and means: to settle down and remain, to cause to alight.
I am immediately reminded of Matthew 3:16, which reads: After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water…and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on him.
According to Isaiah 11, which the Spirit of God “lights” on the Messiah, He will bring wisdom and understanding, council and power, knowledge and fear of the Lord.
Jesus–this very same Jesus who had the Spirit of God “light” on Him–said, “Come to me, all you who are burdened and weary, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Again, we see different words for “rest.” Even though also in Greek, they are still a different word than what is found in Matthew 3. This first “rest” is “anapauo” and means “to cause or permit one to cease from any movement or labour in order to recover and collect his strength.” It also means (and I LOVE THIS): “to give one’s self rest.”
The second word for rest found in Matthew 11 is “anapausis” and means “an intermission, a cessation of any motion, business or labor.”
Now think about this: How are these two words alike in meaning? How are they different?
What does it mean to you that you can go to the One the Spirit of God rested upon–the One filled with wisdom, understanding, council, power, knowledge and fear of the Lord–and He will impart on you, rest.
I look forward to reading your comments. Let the discussion begin.
5 Comments
Eva,
I would have commented sooner but have been away from the computer due to my parents visiting.
I love this kind of thing–esp. since I am working on a book on Sabbath. I want to print it out and use it for my quiet time tomorrow–which I will have after sending kids off to first day of school and putting mom on a plane back to Calif.
So often we bring a doing mentality to our faith. But Jesus’ invitation is to rest. And he’s the one who does the most important work, not us!
I’ll comment more tomorrow.
K
Oh Eva, I had to get out my Greek Lexicon and my Hebrew for this one. I know I’m the light-hearted one in this group, but actually I’m the summa cum laude Bible College graduate–go figure! I actually did a paper on this in college, so I’m going to dig it up! Thanks for making us “think” while we’re learning to “rest.” I love you for that. Welcome back…I missed you!
I’m all ears . . . this sounds good. The whole “Sabbath” idea is new to me; I used to be involved in a ministry on Sundays which started around 4:30am and ended around 10pm. That after a long Saturday in the same ministry. In recent years, Sundays have been my day to catch up on things. But lately I’ve been trying to clear them to do this Sabbath thing. So . . . I’m ready to learn more!
I personally believe that God does not fret over which day of the week we choose as our Sabbath, as long as we take ONE day off. He knows and understands that there are people like ministers, worship leaders, Sunday school teachers, police officers, doctors, nurses, et al, who must work on SUNDAY. He is asking for us to take a “7th day.”
Connie: I’ve missed you all too! Thank you! Eva
True, very true - I don’t think the day of the week matters. But the rest of our weeks as college students were as regulated as the weekends. Sundays just happens to work for me at this point in my life, but it could just as well be any other day.