Jesus: Our Rest

-Roy Lessin, Jesus Name Above All Names

But the Levitical priests...shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causes (them to) sweat. -Ezekiel 44:15-18 AMP

In the Bible, a single word can be like a powerful spotlight that reveals to our spiritual eyes a truth of gigantic proportions. The word sweat in this passage is one of those words.

Sweat represents the work, the labor, and the natural efforts of our flesh. It was not the manner in which the priests of the Lord were to minister to Him in the inner court. The inner court was the place of God's presence, where the glory of the Lord rested upon the mercy seat. 

Through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the way into the presence of the Lord has now been opened to us. The work of redemption is Jesus' work alone. Our own efforts (sweat) can add nothing to His finished work. What is true of our redemption is also true of our ministry. Both begin at a place of rest.

The apostle Paul tells us, "I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10 NKJV). Spiritual rest does not mean spiritual passivity. It is rest in action and not rest from action. God does not want us to serve Him out of the efforts of our flesh but in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit.

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©2011, 2021 Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow. Photo by Marina Bromley, used with permission. All rights reserved.