Oh, land of rest for thee I sigh!
The important discovery of this land of rest will nerve our arm for the great conflict of life. It will inspire us to work more earnestly and more incessantly for Jesus. It will sweeten every bitter cup of trial and tribulation that we have to encounter here below. It will distil a desire and a loftiness of aim in life, that we may at last reach the rest that remains for the people of God. The struggle with inbred sin will be more easily overcome, and every lust and evil passion will be completely conquered by keeping the eye steadily fixed on those glittering mansions,
Where the wicked cease from troubling,
And the weary are at rest.
Christ Himself will administer this rest to the believer in the Heavenly Kingdom. Just as He is the source of peace and quiet here on earth, so is He at this moment surrounded with the saints triumphant in glory, imparting perpetual peace in the paradise of God to all the bright spirits who loved Him on earth, and kept His commandments. Yonder they enjoy eternal Sabbathism.
Let us fear, therefore, lest haply a promise being left of entering into rest, any of you should seem to come short of it through unbelief. For indeed we have good tidings preached unto us, and we which believe do enter into that rest.
Alford, in speaking of the rest on earth that resembles the rest of Heaven, says: "Our Lord does not promise (here below) freedom from toil or burdens, but rest to the soul." The rest and joy of the Christian soul is to become like Christ. To the young men, who surrounded her dying couch, she said: "Avoid bad company, learn of Christ; seek to be like Him, little by little." It is no wonder King David said, "As for me I will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness."
But we are to behold the royal dignity of the Redeemer, and be brought forth into a large place because He delighted in us. Yes! to die is gain. Oh! wondrous change: To behold His illimitable power and partake of His consummate wisdom and knowledge. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; "that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple, for in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion. The Christian is secure at death; he has a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens."
Here we have a continual conflict; but yonder we are made more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Here we are sinful and short-sighted; but yonder we shall partake of His perfect holiness and inexhaustible love and Divine penetration in the Heavenly Kingdom. Yes to die is infinite gain.
The spiritual enjoyment of the soul in the land of light is indescribable. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." Yonder you shall behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.