The saints' everlasting rest!
(Jared Waterbury)
"There remains therefore a rest for the people of God." Hebrews 4:9
All earthly Sabbaths are not worthy to be compared with that eternal rest, where the unfettered, unpolluted soul shall worship the Lamb without interruption and without end!The body will there not impede, but augment our happiness; for it will be a spiritual body, which can no longer be the medium of temptation, and which shall experience no fatigue.
Nor will sin, O blissful thought, be there, to dim our eye or to pollute our worship.
We shall not only see God - but see Him with unobstructed vision.
We shall not only love Him - but love Him with unwavering affections.
We shall not only praise Him - but praise Him in pure, exalted strains forever.Glorious rest! Let us rise and hasten towards it with renewed vigor, for "Here we have no continuing city."
PRAYER
Blessed be your name, O God, that You have prepared and reserved an everlasting rest for Your people. This poor world, You have taught us, is the scene of our toilsome pilgrimage - that we are not to expect our Heaven here. Yet O, how often are we building tabernacles on earth! We act as if this world were to be our permanent abode. Enable us, O God, to cast the eye of faith forward to the rest that remains for the people of God. Give us such views of its alluring glories, as shall make the brightest scenes of earth look dim. Let us see the enthroned Lamb! Let us see the pure company of the glorified saints and angels. Let us have a sweet foretaste of the celestial joys. Then, O God, shall we cease to desire the honors or the pleasures of this vain world. Then shall we forsake its attractions - allured by visions of so much superior luster. Amen.