This is part 1 in a series, "Twenty Things the Bible Teaches about Rest" and covers the first ten points. Some of these are taken from the Old Testament books of the law. While I realize that the law was given specifically to Israel, there are still many principles that can be drawn from the law and applied to our lives as Christians. I pray God blesses and encourages you through this study.
1. Genesis 2:1,2
God gave man the example of rest.
“1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”
2. Exodus 23:10,11
God designed that the land (ground) should rest. In this way, He made provision for the poor and for the animals.
“10And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: 11But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.”
3. Exodus 23:12
God designed that the animals and the servants should rest.
“Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.”
4. Exodus 34:21
We need rest even when schedules are cramped, busy, and hectic.
“Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.”
5. Deuteronomy 5:14
God designed that the servants and the work animals and the “strangers” should rest. “Strangers” or foreigners were welcome in the land, but they were required to earn their keep. But God provided rest, even for them.
“But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.”
6. II Samuel 7:11
God gives rest from our enemies.
“And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies….”
7. II Chronicles 14:11
The Lord is our rest. We can rest on Him even in battle.
“And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.”
8. Job 3:18; Psalm 16:9; Revelation 14:13
God gives His children rest in death. Death is not a door to sorrow for them, but rather it is a door to everlasting rest.
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.”
9. Psalm 37:7
God gives rest when the wicked are multiplied and iniquity abounds.
"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass."
10. Psalm 125:2-4
God gives the righteous rest by protecting them from the wicked.
“2As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever. 3For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. 4Do good, O LORD, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts.”