THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF REST
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
MARK 2: 16-28
Key Verse
“And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath”.
Mark 2: 27-28
INTRODUCTION
We all look forward to a life of activity and full of fun. Then we love to take a break from what we have been doing and then, rest,
Sleep can be very sweet, especially when you have pleasant dreams. But it is especially good when you know you are resting in the arms of those you love, and all the others you love and who care for you are around you. Resting with God is more than just sleeping. We are awake and we delight to be with God, talking to Him, listening to Him, and growing in our understanding.
The Lord Jesus Christ was the God who created the heaven and the earth and everything in it. He created mankind on the 6th day of the week and then He rested for He was pleased with everything that He had done. God declared that everything created was good and so He ceased His work and rested on the 7th day of the week.
God declared that this day as a holy Day, and God separated this day from all others so that man can be with God in a special way. God blessed that day. God did that to set an example for mankind, for He wanted men to work 6 days of the week, make the world even more beautiful, look after the animals that God had created, and then rest on the 7th day. On that 7th day a man would have special communication and worship with God and focus on the fact that God was the Creator and the One who had made man.
God called the 7th day the Sabbath Day and it was very important to God that man would listen to His instructions about what to do on that day and how he should help all others to enjoy fellowship with God.
But there were some people named the scribes and Pharisees who developed a lot of rules about what a person could do on the Sabbath Day. These rules were complicated and instead of being a blessing made the day a burden. They developed 39 different rules and some of them were very burdensome the people who lived in Israel came to regard the Sabbath as a burden and a difficult time, rather than the time of rest and peace and joy which God intended. The prophet sent by God kept telling the people that the Sabbath day should be a time of blessing and joy rather than a burden but the rulers made life very difficult for the people.
When Jesus pointed out to the scribes and Pharisees that they were misinterpreting what God wanted on the Sabbath, they were very offended and they hated Jesus and wanted to kill Him, for they wanted the people of Israel to listen to what they were saying rather than listening to what God had instructed them. But Jesus did not back away from the false teaching of the scribes and Pharisees and told them that God had created the Sabbath in order to benefit man. God had not created man so that this Sabbath would take precedence or priority over doing good, healing people, and having joy and happiness in their relationship with God.
So we know that God wants man to work but He also wanted man to rest. God wants us to have a special day to focus on Him, to remember to love God and to love others and to do good for others just as God had done good for mankind.
Sometimes it is easy to disobey God because we think that our way is better. But it never works out in our benefit. It is always better to do things and live the way that God has advised us to live.
We must remember that God loves us and He will always do what is best for us. God created us to have fellowship with Him and to rest with Him and enjoy the beauty that He has created and wait for the time when He would fulfill the even greater promises that He has made to us.
Obedience to God will always be a great benefit for us and so we have to encourage all the people we meet, to listen to God, obey what He has commanded, thank Him for His goodness toward us, and trust in Him. Why do we do this? We follow what God has instructed because we know God will never forsake those that come to Him, and He will always protect them and bless them.