In His economy, God always acts in a gradual way. Firstly, God had Adam and then, gradually, He had Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham with his descendants, and then the children of Israel. But that was not the end. After this gradual development, Jesus, the second man, came. When the Lord Jesus was baptized, God was happy and satisfied, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). When God said that He was pleased with His Son, it meant that He was satisfied. At that time, the Lord Jesus was the Sabbath rest to God. Not only did God rest in Him, but so many of those who followed Him also rested in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus was the Sabbath rest to God and His followers. Both God and His followers rested in Him.
The Church is the enlargement and the expansion of Christ. If Christ was God’s Sabbath, then how much more extensive should the church be as His Sabbath? If Israel was God’s Sabbath, then the church must be even more of a Sabbath to Him. If the Lord Jesus in the flesh was God’s Sabbath, then the church, the Body of Christ, must be an even greater Sabbath to God. Although I have heard that when we come to the Lord Jesus we have rest, I have never heard that we also may have rest when we come to the church. Today I want to announce to you the glad tidings that the church is your rest.
No place is as restful as your own home. Is not the church your home? If the church is your home, then the church must certainly be your rest. Is not the church God’s house? Since the church is God’s house (1 Tim. 3:15), then the church must be God’s rest today.
In this age, the age of the church, Christ is our rest. But do you not realize that the church is the enlargement of Christ? If Christ is our rest, then what about the church as the enlargement of Christ? If the individual Christ is our rest, then what about the corporate Christ? How can we forget the enlarged Christ or neglect the corporate Christ? Not only is the individual Christ our rest but also the corporate Christ. Not only the Head but also the Body is our Sabbath rest. Recently the Lord burdened me, saying, “You must go and tell My people that the church is their rest today!” Never have I seen so clearly as in these days that the church is today’s Sabbath rest.
Let us now consider the reasons why the church today is the Sabbath rest. Firstly, according to Genesis 1 and 2, in order for God to have His Sabbath rest, He must have His expression and representation. In other words, God’s Sabbath needs a man in His own image with His dominion. Immediately after the creation of the first man, the old man, God had a Sabbath because God had secured a man to express and represent Him. Should God not also have a rest after the creation of the new man? The church is the new man (Eph. 2:15; 4:24). If God enjoyed a Sabbath rest after the creation of the old man, He must have a greater rest after the creation of the new man. We are not in the age of the creation of the old man but in the new age, after the creation of the new man. God has a new Sabbath because He has secured a new man to express and represent Him. According to the principle established by the first mention of the Sabbath rest after the creation of man, there must be a new and better Sabbath after the creation of the new man. We are in this new Sabbath today.
Secondly, in Deuteronomy 12:9 we are told clearly that the land of Canaan was a rest to Israel because it was a rest to God. The land was God’s rest because there He could have His habitation and there He could put His name (Deut. 12:5, 11). The name is just the person himself. When God said that He would put His name there, it meant that He would put Himself there. When God said that His name would be there, it seemed that He was saying, “My name is just Myself. For My name to dwell there means that I shall dwell there. I shall set Myself there and make My habitation there. That place will be My dwelling place, and My dwelling place is My rest.” Is not the church God’s habitation today? Is it not God’s house? Ephesians 2:22 says that God’s habitation is in our spirit. Ephesians 2:15 mentions the new man and Ephesians 2:22 speaks of God’s habitation. For both the new man and the habitation there should be the Sabbath rest. Is not the church the new man? As long as the church is the new man, we have the Sabbath. Is not the church God’s habitation? As long as the church is the habitation of God, we also have God’s rest.