Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matt. 11;28-30).

God realized he did not make robots that could work thousands of hours non-stop like well oiled manufacturing machines. For this reason, he provided a season of rest. God gave Israel the sabbath, a fitting reward after years of hard bondage in the fields of Egypt. When he gave them Canaan, he gave them a land of rest.

However, David spoke 500 years after Israel entered Canaan, said God promised another rest. They had kept the 7th day sabbath rest for years. They likewise dwelt in the promised land for hundreds of years. Yet, God offered them another rest.

"Today, if you will hear His voice: "Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness." (Psa. 95:8) David calls upon Israel to take heed to the first generation who came out of Egypt and hardened their hearts, causing them to fall short of entering God's rest.

The meaning of the text remains obscure until further light is shed upon it by Paul in Hebrews. According to chapters 3 and 4, the terminal generation of Israel, now in the church of the Lord yet looked for a hope of rest. They had been scattered from the promised land, treated as strangers.

They were on a journey to another promised land of rest. See the exhortation in Hebrews 3:7-19). Having cited this admonition from the previous generation who came out of Egypt, Paul then reminded the church, they had a promise of entering into God's rest, (4:1). At that very moment, they were being driven from the land of Canaan, from the old promised land! Likewise, they must take heed lest they fall short of this new one.

This was God's ultimate rest. All the rests of the Old Testament were but mere types and shadows of this one. Hence God asks, "What house will you build for Me? Or what is the place of My Rest?, (Acts 7:49)

The land of Canaan, a small piece of real estate, fell far short of what God truly intended for his people. "For if Joshua had given them rest then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God." (Heb. 4:8-9).

Isaiah spoke of the time of this rest in connection with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Israel's last days, (Isa. 28:12). The presence of the Gentiles who spoke in foreign languages to Israel by the power of the Spirit, was the sign from God that both Israel's judgment and salvation had drawn near, (Isa. 28:11; 1 Cor. 14:21-22).

It is this rest, which the Lord comes to offer those who were burdened with sins and a yoke of bondage they could not bear. Christ said his yoke was easy and his burden light. Thus, all the patriarchs and faithful of the Old Covenant, looked forward in faith to the times of refreshing where the weary could rest in the salvation of Christ.

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland, (Heb. 11:13-16, 39-40). They were looking for a place of rest. None found it in Palestine.

But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." (Heb. 11:16).

It is this city to which the church had come in chapter 12. "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels," (Heb. 12:22) This near city and promised land followed upon the destruction of the old heaven and earth of Judaism, (Matt. 24:3, 29-35; Rev. 21:1-3).