Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Matthew 17:4
“Our rest is our heaven; and where we take our rest, there we make our heaven. And wouldst thou have but such a heaven as this? It is seeking rest where it is not to be found. Your labor will be lost; and if you proceed, your soul’s eternal rest too. Our rest is only in the full obtaining of our ultimate end. But that is not to be expected in this life; neither is rest, therefore, to be expected here…
Should a traveller take up his rest in the way? No; because his home is his journey’s end. When you have all that creatures and means can afford, have you that you believed, prayed, suffered for? I think you dare not say so. We are like little children strayed from home, and God is now bringing us home, and we are ready to turn into any house, stay and play with every thing in our way, and sit down on every green bank, and much ado there is to get us home.
We are also in the midst of our labors and dangers; and is there any resting here? What painful duties lie upon our hands! to our brethren, to our own souls, and to God; and what an arduous work, in respect to each of these, doth lie before
us! And can we rest in the midst of all our labors? Indeed, we may rest on earth, as the ark is said to have “rested in the midst of Jordan” — a short and small rest; or as Abraham desired the “angels to turn in and rest themselves” in his tent, where they would have been loth to have taken up their dwelling.
Should Israel have fixed their rest in the wilderness, among serpents, and enemies, and weariness and famine? Should Noah have made the ark his home, and have been loth to come forth when the waters were assuaged? Should the mariner choose
his dwelling on the sea, and settle his rest in the midst of rocks, and sands, and raging tempests? Should a soldier rest in the thickest of his enemies? And are not Christians such travelers, such mariners, such soldiers?
Have you not fears within and troubles without? Are we not in continual dangers? We cannot eat, drink, sleep, labor, pray, hear, converse, but in the midst of snares; and shall we sit down and rest here? O Christian, follow thy work, look to thy dangers, hold on to the end, win the field, and come off the ground before thou think of a settled rest. Whenever thou talkest of a rest on earth, it is like Peter on the mount, “thou knowest not what thou sayest.”
Richard Baxter (1615-1691) in The Saints’ Everlasting Rest (Grand Rapids: CCEL), Excerpt from Ch. 10 “The saint’s rest is not to be expected on earth,” 113-114.
After preaching in English and then in a second service with Russian translation at Revival Baptist Church in Vancouver, Washington, I resume my travels. I fly back home to Denver. Join me.
I don’t mean get on the same plane with me. I mean get out of your comfort zone and serve. Don’t set up a shelter on the proverbial mountain with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. This world is not your home.
But we like to spend time with God. We love to soak in the stories of Moses and Elijah. But time with them has a purpose: to empower us for mission. Get out there and serve. Follow thy work.
“Our rest is only in the full obtaining of our ultimate end.”