When man was damaged by the fall, this rest was lost. At this point, we need to consider John chapter five, the case of the enlivening of the impotent man. John 5:9 says, “And immediately the man became well, and picked up his bed and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day” (Recovery Version). In enlivening the impotent man, the Lord did something which, according to the Jewish regulations, was not permitted on the Sabbath day. As a result, the Jews persecuted the Lord Jesus. Verse 16 says, “And for this the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He did these things on the Sabbath” (Recovery Version). On the Sabbath day, they sought to kill Jesus. Do you believe that anyone who is seeking to kill a person could be at rest? Do you think that all those persecuting Jews had rest in their hearts? I do not believe it. In verse 17 we see the Lord’s answer to the Jews: “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (Recovery Version). The Lord seemed to be saying, “You are keeping the Sabbath, but My Father is working. The Sabbath that He had on the seventh day has been lost because man has been damaged. As long as man has not been recovered, My Father is still working. Look at this poor man. He has been lost, spoiled, ruined, and corrupted by the enemy of God. How can My Father rest? You may rest according to your tradition, but you don’t have the real rest. While you say you keep the Sabbath, you don’t know what the Sabbath really means. You do not have rest, do you? Neither does My Father have rest. So, My Father is still working, and I am working too. This is why I am here. I have come here to do My work. Don’t you know that the Sabbath has been lost, that the Sabbath on which God was satisfied has been lost, destroyed by the enemy of God? Don’t you know that God lost what He had gained? My Father is working until now. Since Genesis 3, My Father has never stopped working because the man who satisfied Him has been damaged.” How we need to be impressed with the real significance of the Sabbath! The significance of the Sabbath is that God is satisfied with man when man expresses and represents Him. When there is a situation in which man expresses God and represents Him, that day is the Sabbath to God.
Now we need to return to the matter of the good land. Why was the good land a rest? Did the children of Israel rest in the good land? From the very day they entered into it they were fighting constantly. Then why did God call that land the rest, as He did in Deuteronomy 12:9? Superficially speaking, people say that the good land of Canaan was called the rest because the people made their homes in it and settled there. This thought is rather natural and superficial. The land was a rest because the temple could be built there. There, with the temple, God could have His expression and representation. When God is expressed and represented, there is satisfaction for both God and man, and that is the real rest.
The Sabbath rest in 4:9, as typified by the good land of Canaan (Deut. 12:9; Heb. 4:8), is Christ as our rest. Christ is rest to us in three stages. In the church age, He, as the heavenly Christ, the One who has expressed, represented, and satisfied God and who rests from His work and sits on the right hand of God in the heavens, is the rest to us in our spirit (Matt. 11:28-29). In the millennial kingdom, after Satan has been removed from the earth (Rev. 20:1-3), God will be expressed, represented, and satisfied by Christ and the overcoming saints. Then Christ with the kingdom will be the rest in a fuller way to the overcoming saints who will be co-kings with Him (Rev. 20:4, 6) and share and enjoy His rest. In the new heaven and new earth, after all the enemies, including death, the last enemy, are subdued to Him (1 Cor. 15:24-27), God will be fully expressed, represented, and satisfied by all His redeemed ones in Christ. At that time Christ, as the all-conquering One, with that glorious situation, will be the rest in the fullest way to all God’s redeemed for eternity. Thus, the Sabbath rest mentioned in 4:9 and typified by the rest of the good land of Canaan should only cover the first two stages of Christ as rest to us and should not include the third stage. The rest in the first two stages is a prize to His diligent seekers who are not only redeemed but have also enjoyed Him in a full way so that they have become the overcomers; whereas the rest in the third stage is not a prize but the full portion to all the redeemed ones. Therefore, Christ as rest to us in the first two stages, especially in the second stage, is the Sabbath rest mentioned here, the rest that remains for us to seek after and enter into diligently. It is in the second stage of Christ as rest to us that Christ will take possession of the whole earth as His inheritance (Psa. 2:8; Heb. 2:5-6) for His kingdom in the millennium (Rev. 11:15). All His overcoming followers, who seek and enjoy Him as their rest in the first stage, will participate in His reign at that time (Rev. 20:4, 6; 2 Tim. 2:12). It is then that they will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5; Psa. 37:11). Some will have authority over ten cities, some over five (Luke 19:17, 19). It is then that they will also partake of the joy of their Lord (Matt. 25:21, 23). That will be the kingdom rest, which is typified by the rest of entering into the good land of Canaan. The rest of the good land was the goal to all the children of Israel who were redeemed and delivered from Egypt; likewise, the rest of the coming kingdom is the goal to the New Testament believers who have been redeemed and saved from the world. We are all on the way now towards this goal.