Relevant Verses: Gen. 2:1-3; Jer. 45:1-5; Mark 6:30-32; Gen. 4:1-12

Leading Question: If life in Bible times was much more pastoral and leisurely than our fast-paced modern world, how can an ancient world like that help us today?

Our lessons for this quarter all fall under the general heading of “Rest in Christ.” We will focus on our need for rest and how Christ can help us fill that need. We will seek to apply biblical passages to the practical issues of our day.

Let’s begin with our leading question and explore the question of how a book from an ancient world can even apply to our world at all, much less help us. Modern books date very quickly. Why shouldn’t we expect that to be the case with the Bible too?

Let’s see if a quotation from C. S. Lewis can help us:

“The earliest converts were converted by a single historical fact (the Resurrection) and a single theological doctrine (the Redemption) operating on a sense of sin which they already had – and sin, not against some new fancy-dress law produced as a novelty by a “great man,” but against the old, platitudinous, universal moral law which they had been taught by their nurses and mothers. The “Gospels” come later, and were written, not to make Christians, but to edify Christians already made. (The Screwtape Letters [1961], ch. XXIII.3

Question: Do questions of sin and salvation transcend time and place bringing religious people
onto common ground? What about non-believers? What about people of varied faith traditions?

Key Biblical Passages. In this lesson we will focus on four quite different biblical passages:

Genesis 2:1-3: 2: God creates a rest day:

1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2 And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

Jeremiah 45:1-5: God promises preservation and rest for Baruch, Jeremiah’s Scribe:

1 The word that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah: 2 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3 You said, “Woe is me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.” 4 Thus you shall say to him, “Thus says the Lord: I am going to break down what I have built, and pluck up what I have planted—that is, the whole land. 5 And you, do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for I am going to bring disaster upon all flesh, says the Lord; but I will give you your life as a prize of war in every place to which you may go.”

Mark 6:30-32: Jesus commands his disciples to come apart and rest:

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

Genesis 4:1-12: God declares that Cain will be a “restless wanderer” [NIV]:

1 Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer [ NIV: “a restless wanderer”] on the earth.”

Genesis 2:1-3: 2: God creates a rest day. The official study guide puts the question very nicely:
“Why would God create a rest day before anyone was even tired?”

Comment: In our day we are easily exhausted in spite of our many labor saving devices. Perhaps “rest” is about more than just recuperating from exhaustion. God built into our lives cycles of rest, every day at night and once a week on Sabbath.

Jeremiah 45:1-5: God promises preservation and rest for Baruch, Jeremiah’s Scribe:

Comment: In the days of Jeremiah, as Jerusalem was careening toward exile – Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 587-586 – Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe, had complained to the Lord: “Woe is me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.”

Through Jeremiah, the Lord spoke to him, promising, that in spite of all the trauma, God would give him his life “as a prize of war in every place to which you may go.” Note that this promise was given in the 4th year of Jehoiakim, about 605 or 604, with some 20 years of suffering before Jerusalem finally fell.

Question: Is that promise of deliverance one that all of us can claim?

Comment: A favorite promise from Jesus is the one that invites everyone to come to him for rest “because my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:30). Note that the yoke is easy and the burden is light – yet there is still a yoke and still a burden. God does not promise freedom from trials, but help in our trials.

Mark 6:30-32: Jesus commands his disciples to come apart and rest.

Comment: As the disciples returned from their “authorized” mission journey, Jesus commanded them to “come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” Mark adds that so many people had been coming and going that they “had no leisure even to eat. So they went away in a boat to a deserted place by themselves.”

Question: Is it possible that those who work directly in ministry may need rest and isolation more than people involved in “ordinary” labor?

Genesis 4:1-12: God declares that Cain will be a “restless wanderer” [NIV].

Question: Was the Lord being gracious, merciful, or just when he declared Cain to be “cursed from the ground” and that he must leave home?

Comment: By the time that God had finished sentencing Cain, Adam and Eve had lost both of their sons: one was murdered, the other exiled.

Many Christians assume that Cain’s sacrifice was not accepted because it was a fruit offering rather than an animal sacrifice. Yet a careful reading of the sacrificial codes indicates that a non-animal offering was an option for those who were poor (cf. Lev. 5:11-13). Apparently Cain had brought an offering with a wrong spirit and that was why it was not accepted.

Anger continues to be one of the most deadly emotions. Patience is on every single New Testament virtue list and anger is on none of them. But the Lord can heal our anger if we come to him: “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). That is how we find rest in Christ.