Rest in Christian preaching signifies both physical refreshment and the deeper spiritual peace found in God, contrasting earthly toil with heavenly repose (Hebrews 4:9-10). Illustrations often use images of recreation, release, and the pilgrim's journey to portray rest as renewal, God's presence, and the ultimate eternal Sabbath beyond this life.
Rest and recreation refresh body and mind, enhancing their effectiveness and sweetness.
RECREATION, Benefit of Lute-strings sound all the sweeter for being sometimes let down; and fields sowed every year become barren. So it is with both body and mind.
Recreation is necessary and beneficial, like a bow needing release to remain useful.
RECREATION, Need of A primitive Christian, playing with birds, vindicated his conduct by comparison with the bow, which, if constantly bent, becomes useless. "Recreation is a second creation."
The Wandering Jew legend illustrates eternal unrest as a consequence of rejecting Christ.
Legends of the Wandering Jew run thus: When Jesus was led to death, oppressed by the weight of the cross, he wished to rest himself near the gate of the house of Ahasuerus. This man, however, sallied forth, and thrust him away. Jesus turned towards him, saying, "I shall rest; but thou shalt move on till I return." And from that time he has had no rest, and is obliged incessantly to wander about. Another version is that given by Matthew of Paris, a monk of the thirteenth century: When Jesus was led from the tribunal of Pilate, to death, the doorkeeper, named Cartafilous, pushed him from behind with his foot, saying, "Walk on, Jesus, quickly: why dost thou tarry?" Jesus looked at him gravely, and said, "I walk on; but thou shalt tarry till I come." And this man, still alive, wanders from place to place in constant dread of the wrath to come. A third legend adds, that this wandering Jew falls sick every hundred years, but recovers, and renews his strength.
True rest is for heaven; earthly life involves toil until the eternal sabbath.
He that would rest must work. Rest is for heaven, toil is for earth. There will be no Monday in heaven; and we shall not have to begin the old round of toil afresh as soon as the sabbath's peace is past. There will be an everlasting sabbath.
Closer proximity to God brings greater inner peace and less disturbance.
The nearer the soul is to God, the less its perturbations; as the point nearest the centre of a circle is subject to the least motion.
True rest is found in coming to Christ, as shown by Princess Elizabeth's final moments.
The Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I, was found dead one day, with her head leaning on the Bible, and the Bible open at the words, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Her monument in Newport Church consists of a female figure reclining her head on a marble book, with the above text engraved on the book.
Heaven is a place of perfect rest, free from toil and labor, unlike earthly life.
O weary sons and daughters of Adam! you will not have to drive the ploughshare into the unthankful soil in heaven; you will not need to rise to daily toils before the sun hath risen, and labor still when the sun hath long ago gone to his rest: but ye shall be still, ye shall be quiet, ye shall rest yourselves. Toil, trouble, travail, and labor are words that cannot be spelled in heaven: they have no such things there; for they always rest. Spurgeon.
The pilgrim's difficult path ends in heavenly rest and thankfulness.
The pass of Gleneroe in Scotland is reached by a long, steep, and winding path; but at its top is a stone with the inscription, "Rest, and be thankful." Such is the pilgrim's path; but at its end is heaven, on whose gates may be read a similar inscription.
True rest comes from loving God and others, surpassing wealth, fame, and power.
An old legend says, that Rabbi Judah and his brethren, the seven pillars of wisdom, sat in the temple on a feastday, disputing about rest. One said, that it was to have attained sufficient wealth, yet without sin; the second, it was fame and praise of all men; the third, it was the possession of power to rule the state; the fourth, that it consisted only in a happy home; the fifth, that it must be in the old age of one who is rich, powerful, famous, surrounded by children's children; the sixth said, that all that were vain, unless a man kept all the ritual law of Moses. Then Rabbi Judah said, "Ye have all spoken wisely, but one thing more is necessary: he only can find rest, who, to all these things, addeth this, that he keepeth the tradition of the elders." There sat in the court a fair-haired boy, playing with his lilies in his lap, and hearing the talk, dropped them with astonishment from his hands, looked up, and said, "Nay, nay, fathers, he only loveth rest who loves his brother as himself, and God with his whole heart and soul. He is greater than wealth and fame and power, happier than a happy home, happy without it, better than honored age, he is a law to himself, and above all tradition." The doctors were astonished. They said, "When Christ cometh, shall he tell us greater things?". And they thanked God; for, they said, old men are not always wise; yet God be praised, that out of the mouth of this young suckling has his praise become perfect! T. Parker.
Earth offers no lasting rest or home, as illustrated by the Indian chief's failed refuge.
There is a tradition of an Indian chief who with his tribe fled before the prairie-fires, till he had crossed a broad river; when he struck his tent-pole into the ground, and cried, "Alabama!" (Here we may rest!) He was no prophet. Hostile tribes overpowered them; and they found only graves where they sought a home. This is, maybe, a parable of the soul: for it, earth has no Alabama.
Peaceful rest amid burdens is priceless, as Augustus desired the bed of a debt-burdened man.
Augustus the Emperor, hearing that a gentleman of Rome, notwithstanding a great burden of debt wherewith he was oppressed, slept quietly, and took his ease, desired to buy the bed that he lodged on. His servants marvelling thereat, he gave them this answer: That it seemed unto him to be some wonderful bed, and worth the buying, whereon a man could sleep that was so deeply engaged. Spencer.
The Sabbath replenishes strength and vigor, enabling better work during the week.
The sabbath is God's special present to the working-man; and one of its chief objects is to prolong his life, and preserve efficient his working tone. In the vital system, it acts like a compensation-pond: it replenishes the spirits, the elasticity, and vigor, which the last six days have drained away, and supplies the force which is to fill the six days succeeding; and, in the economy of existence, it answers the same purpose as, in the economy of income, is answered by a savings bank. Dr. Blakie.
Sleep refreshes the body and mind with pleasant dreams and relief from labor.
May Morpheus shed his benignant influence upon your eyelids that are now heavy with watching, and diffuse a pleasing languor through your limbs that are fatigued by labor! May he cause the most delightful dreams to sport around you, fill your imagination with gay ideas, and keep far from you whatever might chase them away too soon! Fénelon.
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