50C March, 1973
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50C March, 1973 We have tried just about every- thing now to find fulfillment. We've built vast cities, and we've sent men to the moon. We've put up mighty dams, and we've split the atom. You name it, we've done it. Music. Art. Chess. Dancing. Golf. Gardening. Racing. Foot- ball. Crime. Drinking. Radio. Collecting antiques. Religion. Boxing. Drugs. Sex. TV. PTA meetings. Sunbathing. Gambling. The stock market. Bingo. The list is endless. And yet we're still not satisfied. We still remain restless, incomplete be- ings, ever seeking completion. The difference between rest- lessness and rest is really quite a simple thing, however. An infant lying in a crib can be a very restless creature. Yet cradled in his mother's arms, he quickly becomes content and happy. Secure in the knowledge that he is accepted and loved by another in whom he can trust, the child rests in peace. The following pages have a simple message. They explain how Jesus Christ came to bring us the rest, the fulfillment, and the acceptance we all need. Cover/Gail R. Hunt Photograph by Randy Dieter/Image "Come unto me, ... and I will give you rest."—Jesus. THE INVITATION By Edward Heppenstall JESUS CAME to satisfy the deepest long- which He Himself experienced should man, which Christ wrought on the ings of men's hearts. He came to pro- be experienced by each of us. cross. It teaches that His death is vide a solution to the problem of sin. What is this rest which comes from alone of sufficient value to reconcile He alone offers to all freedom from God? The Book of Hebrews speaks of God and man. All other religions de- fear, anxiety, and unrest. He guaran- it as God's own rest into which He is clare that salvation must be purchased tees peace and rest in the midst of dis- inviting men to enter. The fourth or worked for in some way. God's appointment, trial, temptation, and chapter of Hebrews brings out three method of salvation from the very en- disaster. other important facts about this rest: trance of sin has had only one prin- Long ago He declared, "Come unto First, it can be experienced only by ciple: salvation by faith in the com- me, all ye that labour and are heavy faith (verse 2); second, it is in some pleted work of Christ. "Once . laden, and I will give you rest. Take way related to the finished work of hath he appeared to put away sin by my yoke upon you, and learn of me; creation (verse 3); and third, it is sig- the sacrifice of himself." Hebrews for I am meek and lowly in heart: and nified by the Sabbath of creation 9:26. No religious or moral actions of ye shall find rest unto your souls." (verse 4). men can add to Christ's infinite sacri- Matthew 11:28, 29. Verses 9 to 11 sum up the real fice. Salvation is a gift of God. It must The rest which Christ offers is not meaning of this passage: be received by faith alone. that of calm, quiet circumstances, "There remaineth therefore a rest places of ease, or the rest of idleness. [keeping of a sabbath, margin] to the Just before Christ died on the cross It is a rest which belongs to Him, and people of God. For he that is entered that Friday afternoon, He cried out, it can be obtained only by coming to into his rest, he also bath ceased from "It is finished." What had He finished? Him. It is a gift from God to all who his own works, as God did from his. At that moment Christ completed the believe in Him. Let us labour therefore to enter into work of redemption for man. He fin- In His last bequest to His disciples that rest, lest any man fall after the ished the work which His heavenly and to all who follow Him, Jesus said, same example of unbelief." Father had given Him to do. Nothing "Peace I leave with you, my peace I more was left to be done. He then died give unto you: not as the world giveth, Paul emphasizes that God's orig- and rested in the tomb through the give I unto you." John 14:27. inal rest was based upon completed Sabbath until the morning of the first Jesus spoke these words the day be- work. God worked when He created day of the week. On the cross God fore His crucifixion. Wicked men were the world in six days. When He had wrought in Christ a work of redemp- plotting His death. Judas was there. completed that work, He ceased from tion which avails for all the world— He had already sold his Lord for His labors and rested on the seventh past, present, and future. He is the thirty pieces of silver. Soon all Christ's day. "And on the seventh day God "Lamb slain from the foundation of disciples would forsake Him and flee. ended his work which he had made; the world." (Revelation 13:8.) Within a few hours He would go to and he rested on the seventh day from As the first Sabbath of this world is Gethsemane, to trial, and to the terri- all his work which he had made. And the sign of the completed work of ble death of the cross. God blessed the seventh day, and sanc- creation, so the Sabbath when Christ Christ knew all that. Yet He had tified it: because that in it he had rested rested in the tomb is the sign of the perfect peace. from all his work which God created completed work of re-creation. The Jesus was always that way. He ex- and made." Genesis 2:2, 3. Sabbath is God's way of reminding us perienced that poise of soul and peace But what does this have to do with week by week that the rest we human of mind which men and women need Christianity? beings seek and need is His own rest more than anything else—more than One ultimate truth sets off Christian- which He graciously wants to share money, more than pleasure, more than ity from all other religions and tests with us. fame or worldly acclaim. all men. Christianity is based upon the But how are we to enter into God's And it was His desire that the rest completed work of redemption for rest? THESE TIMES is published monthly (except July and October, when semimonthly) by the Southern Publishing Association of Seventh-day Adventists, 2119 24th Avenue, North, Nashville, Ten- nessee 37202, U.S.A. Second-class postage paid at Nashville, Tennessee. Subscription price, $6.00 a year. Copyright, Southern Publishing Association, 1973. Volume 82, No. 3. March, 1973. 4 THESE TIMES/March 1973 Christ's great invitation reaches out to each of us: "Come unto me, . and I will give you rest." Here alone is the answer. We must turn away from every other means of salvation and come to Jesus, who alone can give us the rest we seek. When we look to Him by faith, ac- cepting the fact that He died for our sins, God imputes to us His completed work. He declares that because of Christ's death we deserve eternal life. Whether we believe it or not, the work for our redemption is a completed thing. The moment we seek to add to it, that moment we are looking to our- selves. When we try to do something to be accepted by God, things go wrong, and we feel rejected. And so we try to do something to change our situation. But this is not Christian. It is pagan. Heathen people believe that when the crops fail, the gods are angry with them. The gods must be appeased. They must do something. But the cross of Christ reveals that we are accepted by God just as we are. At the cross we find security in the supreme value that God has placed upon us. Every other method of seek- ing self-worth and security leads to self-centeredness, which in turn leads to tension and unrest. In the cross we can accept the marvelous value God has placed upon us in Christ. Thus we find a true sense of self-worth with- out having to seek for it ourselves. At the same time we find true humility in our understanding of God's love. And thus when we accept Jesus' work on the cross as the all-sufficient means for our salvation, He gives us His own peace, the "peace of God, which passeth all understanding." Photograph by Don Skaggs "We are living like rabbits in a hutch, afraid of the hawks who are waiting outside."—A New Yorker who had been robbed twice on the street within three months. GOD'S SOLUTION TO MAN'S PROBLEMS By Caleb Rosado MAN IS A paradoxical creature! On the one hand, he is able to conquer space and achieve great wonders in the area of science, and yet for the little prob- lems that are plaguing mankind—ten- sion, worry, relaxation, stress—man has found no solutions. As a matter of fact, man through his achievements has become more a part of the problem than a part of the solution. Time, with its cohorts—the calendar, the clock, the appointment book—has become the dictator. Man has not only enslaved his environment; he has also become a slave to his en- vironment! God did not intend it to be this way.