He Was Made Restless So We Can Rest

He Was Made Restless so We Can Rest

Genesis offers us a day-by-day account of the creative work of God in making the world, as well as the rest he enjoyed after that work was done.

God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day. . . . On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation. (Genesis 1:31; 2:2-3)

God looked over what he had done and saw that it was good, so he could rest. But when we look over the work of our hands, the attitudes of our hearts, the words on our lips, and we realize that they are not good, we wonder how we will ever be able to rest.

The writer of Hebrews points the way: “All who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world” (Hebrews 4:10). There is only one way we can rest from our labor: by depending on the work of another whose works are infinitely good.

The writer of Hebrews wants us to understand that the reason we can rest is because of the work Jesus has done. When we enter into Christ, we can rest, not because we are good or because what we’ve done is good, but because Jesus is good. He has given us his own goodness as a gift.

Our rest is made possible because of the restlessness Jesus endured on the cross in our stead and the work he accomplished for our benefit. On the cross, Jesus writhed in agony, struggling for breath. But it was not mere physical agony. Jesus was experiencing the restlessness that is continual for those who persist in rejecting God. It was our restlessness he took upon himself, not his own. On the cross, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV). Jesus experienced the infinite restlessness we deserve so that we can enjoy his all-encompassing rest.

Jesus, only in you can I find the rest my soul craves. Only through being united to you can I be confident that God looks at my life and says, “It is good.” You have accomplished the work that I never could. So I choose to rest in you and your finished work, now and for eternity.