| And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." |
"Rest in Peace", the most common phrase you can find on head stones, reflects the deepest desire of all man.
When God created man, man had the Spirit of God in him (Gen 2:7), and he had free access to God's presence, there is no sin in man and he had peace with God and the peace of God in him. Man was in perfect rest in the perfect world.
However, all this changed after Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They sinned and the Spirit of God has to leave man, and man no longer have the peace of God in him. Guilt and condemnation set in and man lost his peace with God (Gen 3:10). Man lost his rest.
Nonetheless, God can never stop loving man because man was created for Christ (Col 1:16) and Christ is love (1 Jo 4:8). He wants to bring man back into His Rest by restoring man back to be able to be in His presence (Exd 33:14).
During the forty years of wandering in the wilderness before the law was given through Moses, the children of Israel were under pure grace. They were fed by God, just like Adam and Eve, with manna from heaven, until, just like Adam and Eve, they chose law (the tree of knowledge of good and evil) over grace (the tree of life). God was constantly with them during these forty years, as pillar of cloud in the day and column of fire at night, regardless of whether they are stationary or on the move.
Although the Israelites murmured, complained and rebel against God in numerous occasions during this period, none died for these sins. However, once the Israelites chose to have law (Exd 19:8) over grace (Exd 19:6), God immediately barred them from coming close to Him, except Moses and the priests (Exd 19:19).
Today, we are redeemed by Christ, fully restored to His righteousness and have the constant presence of God in us, for He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hbr 13:5), and He will constantly give us rest, AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment