This is the two-hundred-tenth lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.
“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following in their example of disobedience.” Hebrews 4:9-11
It was one of the harshest winters in memory in the Ardennes, also one of the most intense battles of World War II. Later they called it the Battle of the Bulge, because the German offensive took Allied forces completely by surprise. In the end, however, the line held—only bulged in the middle.
On Christmas Day, General McAuliffe’s men were hunkered down in the town of Bastogne, Belgium, completely encircled by German troops. They had been besieged by 17 different assaults on the town and relentlessly bombed. But when presented with the option of surrendering by German envoys, General McAuliffe’s response was a single word: “Nuts.”
Bombs fell all Christmas day and night, but the following day the 4th Armored Division of General George Patton arrived—the reinforcements the Allied troops had been hoping for all along. Within a month this battle was over, and the march to Berlin began. It was the beginning of the end.
The Bible describes life as full of battles, and that is one reason we need Sabbath. We need the bombing to stop. We need reinforcements to arrive.
When Hebrews 4 says that God has fulfilled “Sabbath-rest,” it’s referring to Christ, who is called the great high priest later in that chapter. Because he came, everything is different.
It’s not by accident that one of the most-quoted sayings of Jesus is: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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.”
Who has not read those words and felt the tension inside loosen a bit? You read it, and then you read it again because you know this is what you need. You know it is right.
On the first Christmas the real reinforcements arrived.
MAKE IT REAL
Take a piece of paper and write down Jesus’ words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” List five times in your life when you were weary and burdened. Then complete this sentence: “Lord Jesus, the next time a burdensome time of my life comes, please be my reinforcement by…”
___________
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Mel Lawrenz (@MelLawrenz) trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s teaching pastor. He has a PhD in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel’s many books include Spiritual Leadership Today: Having Deep Influence in Every Walk of Life (Zondervan, 2016). See more of Mel’s writing at WordWay.
The post How to Live the Bible — Rest From the Battle appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.