THIRD QUARTER 2021
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #4
JULY 24, 2021

“THE COST OF REST”

 

 

I was intrigued by this specific lesson’s title, “The Cost of Rest.” Isaiah 55:1 says “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” What price could rest possibly have? Does it even have a price tag? Isn’t rest free and available to all because it is simply a matter of choice to rest or to not rest?

 

The Bible passage for this week’s lesson centers on the events relating to King David and his affair with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12). At first glance, the lesson seemed to have little to do with rest and the cost to obtain it. What is rest in the context of this passage? Is the cost of rest the efforts David put forth to ease a guilt-stricken conscious by desperately trying to cover up his transgression? Or is the cost of rest the consequences of sin that come as a result of trying to satisfy a restless spirit that has strayed from the protective precepts of God’s kingdom of love?

 

The ultimate cry for rest from the human heart is freedom from the burden of sin. The following passage gives a verbal illustration of the natural state of restlessness that we all experience.

 

Every man’s experience testifies to the truth of the words of Scripture, “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest.... There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” Isaiah 57:20, 21. Sin has destroyed our peace. While self is unsubdued, we can find no rest. The masterful passions of the heart no human power can control. We are as helpless here as were the disciples to quiet the raging storm. {DA 336.4}

 

Like David, we often seek after other “rests” to ease the storms in our unconverted heart. But these are just illusions of rest or, as Jeremiah put it, “broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13). Our attempts to find rest of our own making are as Adam and Eve’s attempts to create clothing out of fig leaves to cover their shame. Isaiah 64:6 accurately describes our condition and our attempt to find rest, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” But we are not left without hope.

 

He who spoke peace to the billows of Galilee has spoken the word of peace for every soul. However fierce the tempest, those who turn to Jesus with the cry, “Lord, save us,” will find deliverance. His grace, that reconciles the soul to God, quiets the strife of human passion, and in His love the heart is at rest. “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven.” Psalm 107:29, 30. “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.” Romans 5:1; Isaiah 32:17. {DA 336.4}

 

Christ bids us in Matthew 11: 28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” True rest (rest from sin) can only be found in Christ and is something we are unable to provide for and of ourselves (we are naturally restless). Romans 6:20-23 says, “For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

 

Christ will give us rest. Christ will free us from the burden and end result of sin (death, separation from God for eternity). Christ will give us the gift of righteousness and the fruits that follow unto everlasting life. True rest is the gift of having the new mind Christ desires to place within our very being (Philippians 2:5, 13). True rest is simply abiding in the True Vine which results in the full ripening of the Fruits of the Spirit in our character. But a gift is freely given … so what is the cost?

 

We now enquire, What was the price paid for man’s redemption? Was it gold or silver, or the most costly sparkling diamonds of earth? - Oh no, it was the life of the only begotten Son of God. And this not only embraced the death of Christ, but He must live for man, and conquer for man with all the disabilities of the fallen race upon Him. In doing this He runs the risk of losing His own existence as well as the existence of all He had created and upheld. In proof of this overwhelming truth, I will present the “Testimonies” and the Bible, with but little comment. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Romans 8:3. GCDB February 5, 1893, page 140.1

 

“The Love of God is Greater Far”

by Frederick Martin Lehman

 

The love of God is greater far

Than tongue or pen can ever tell.

It goes beyond the highest star

And reaches to the lowest hell.

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,

God gave His Son to win;

His erring child, He reconciled

And pardoned from his sin.

O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure —

The saints’ and angels’ song.

 

When hoary time shall pass away,

And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall;

When men who here refuse to pray,

On rocks and hills and mountains call;

God’s love, so sure, shall still endure,

All measureless and strong;

Redeeming grace to Adam’s race —

The saints’ and angels’ song.

 

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made;

Where every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the score contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

 

~Anya Kinsley