The title of this week’s lesson, “The Ultimate Rest,” implies that our rest here is only temporary. We rest in Christ today, but our rest is always in the context of a world of suffering, sorrow, and sickness. There is a day coming when we will enter eternal rest. All the heartaches of life will be over. Disease, disaster, and death will be gone forever.
Jesus gave the aged apostle John, exiled on the Isle of Patmos, a vision of Himself. This vision from Christ gave John encouragement and hope. In prophetic revelations, John saw the history of the Christian church and the climactic events at the close of this earth’s history. The book of Revelation ends with a new heaven and a new earth, ushering in God’s ultimate rest.
Before that ultimate rest, there will be specific signs pointing forward to Jesus’ return. In Matthew 24, Jesus outlines these end-time events that will occur with increasing frequency before His glorious second coming. Throughout the ages, the patriarchs and prophets looked forward to the Lord’s return without experiencing the “ultimate rest” that Christ promised. They died in anticipation of an event that would come, but they died in hope. In Revelation 14:6–12, the three angels’ messages, heaven’s last-day messages to prepare the world for the return of Christ, are proclaimed.
As the battle between good and evil rages on a global scale, Christ invites us to “watch” and “be ready” for His soon return and to be ready to enter His eternal rest.
Part II: Commentary
John informs us that he was on the island of Patmos when he received the visions that make up the book of Revelation. Patmos is a little island in the Aegean Sea between the coasts of Turkey and Greece. It’s about nine miles long. In John’s time, it was a rocky, barren Roman penal colony where prisoners were exiled. There was a small mining community there as well—and little else.
John was an old man, in his nineties, when he received the visions of Revelation. He had lived a long life in the service of his beloved Master. He probably had been living in Ephesus before being exiled to Patmos. Now he was separated from friends and family. He was frail, and it was doubtful he would ever get off this small, isolated island. But then in a blaze of glory, Jesus revealed divine truth to John that would enlighten and encourage God’s people for millennia. These last-day truths reveal the events that are soon to take place in this world to prepare God’s people for what is coming. Sometimes it’s in the greatest trials of our lives that God speaks to us most clearly. When we’re feeling lonely and discouraged, Jesus visits us just as He did John and fills us with the warmth of His presence.
The book of Revelation is a book about the Jesus who intervenes. He does not merely sit on His throne in heaven; He enters the affairs of life here on earth. He ministers to us in the trauma, the heartache, and the disappointments we face. When Jesus came down to speak with His beloved disciple, He illuminated rocky, barren Patmos with His glory. There is no place we can find ourselves that is beyond the reach of God. He will meet you with His presence wherever you are. Revelation is filled with hope. The One who is with us through His Holy Spirit now is soon coming in glory to take us home. John joyfully states, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him” (Rev. 1:7, NKJV).
Signs of Jesus’ Return
Jesus told His disciples about a time when Jerusalem would be surrounded by an attacking army and destroyed (Luke 21:20). This happened in a.d. 70 when the Roman general Titus invaded Israel and laid siege to the city. The Jewish historian Josephus describes the devastating effects of the siege. He says that the starving people “would often come to blows over a small piece of bread; children would often rip food from their parents’ mouths. Neither brother nor sister had mercy upon the other. A bushel of corn was more precious than gold.”—“The Destruction of Jerusalem,” trans. D. J. Muehlenbruch (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1922). There were instances during the siege in which parents boiled their children who had died and ate them. Josephus goes on: “Driven by hunger, some ate manure; some, the cinches of their saddles; some, the leather stripped from their shields; some still had hay in their mouths when their bodies were found.” The effects of the attack on Jerusalem by the Romans were gruesome and devastating. Before it was over, fire broke out, and thousands more died in the flames.
In the 1970s, archaeologists uncovered the home of an aristocratic family that was burned to the ground in the flames during the siege in a.d. 70. This home is a remarkable testimony to the intensity of the flames and to the total devastation and absolute destruction.
The Disciples’ Questions
When Jesus told His disciples about this coming disaster, they thought that something so destructive could happen only at the end of the world. For this reason, they asked Him, “ ‘When will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ ” (Matt. 24:3, NKJV).
The disciples were actually asking two different questions. Their first question, “ ‘When will these things be?’ ” refers to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. Their second question was: “ ‘What will be the sign of Your coming, and the end of the age?’ ” In His reply, as recorded in Matthew 24, Jesus blended the two events. He told about events that would lead up to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. These events would serve as a preview of what would happen just before His second coming. In Matthew 24, Jesus mentioned the signs that would precede His return. These signs reveal the nearness of His coming.
The Savior did not give us a date for His coming, but He did tell us about signs that would allow us to know when it was near. Jesus’ sermon on last-day signs focuses on four specific areas: (1) signs in the realm of religion, (2) international affairs, (3) nature, and (4) society. These signs include false spiritual revivals, global conflicts, wars, famines, natural disasters, pestilences, pandemics, rising crime, increased violence, waning morality, and finally the rapid spread of the gospel to the whole world.
Matthew 24 outlines the signs of Christ’s return; Revelation 14 is an urgent appeal to be ready for His coming.
Revelation’s Last-day Message
In Revelation 14, the three angels’ messages are rapidly proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people to prepare the world for His soon return. It is the message of the “everlasting gospel” of God’s amazing grace for an entire planet. It is a call in the light of the gospel to live obedient lives, glorifying God in all we do in the judgment hour. It is an appeal in an age of evolution to worship Him as the Creator. It is an end-time message of hope.
Jesus will stand for us in the judgment and present His righteous life in the place of our unrighteous life. The apostle John gives us this encouragement: “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1, NKJV). God’s final judgment is just. He can represent only those who surrender their lives to Him and by faith accept His life and death in their behalf.
Rejoice in the Lord Always.
Imprisoned in Rome, the apostle Paul wrote an encouraging letter to the believers in Philippi. Some Bible commentators have labeled the book of Philippians “the epistle of joy.” In this short, four-chapter letter, Paul uses the word “joy” or “rejoicing” repeatedly. The theme of chapter 1 is “Joy in Trials.” Chapter 2’s theme is “Joy in Humility,” chapter 3’s theme is “Joy in Surrender,” and the theme of Chapter 4 is “Joy in Gratitude.”
Paul learned to live in the joy of Christ because he discovered how to rest in Christ. He believed that Christ would strengthen him in every situation and supply his needs (Phil. 4:13, 19). His confidence was fixed on the divine reality that his “citizenship is in heaven” and that, one day, Christ would “transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (NKJV). He eagerly awaited the coming of the Savior Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:20, 21, NKJV). He could “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4:4) because he had absolute confidence of Christ’s care in the present and the fulfillment of Christ’s eternal plan in the future. His statement, “The Lord is at hand,” gave him the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:5, 7, NKJV). Along with the apostle Paul, we can rejoice that there is never a situation we face in which Christ does not provide immediate help for us today, hope for tomorrow, and the promise of ultimate rest in Christ for all eternity.
Part III: Life Application
Some time ago a friend shared this heart-wrenching story. Her eight-year-old son was dying of a rare blood disease. People around the country earnestly prayed for the boy’s recovery. They sought God for a miraculous healing. The child became progressively worse. The last few days of his life, his mom sat at his bedside constantly holding his hand and gently stroking his hair. When it became apparent that he only had hours left to live, she took him in her arms and sat in a rocking chair, softly singing the songs of heaven. Sometime after his death, we were talking, and she made this remarkable statement: “Although there is a deep throbbing pain in my heart, God has given me ‘a peace that passes understanding.’ ” When asked what a peace that passes understanding was, she simply responded, “When you do not understand, you can still rest in Christ’s love and care.”
As this series of Bible study lessons comes to its conclusion, whatever is personally going on in your life, Jesus longs to give you a “peace that passes all understanding.” He is there for you, today, tomorrow, and forever. His plans are greater than you can ever imagine. Remember Jesus’ words: “ ‘He who endures to the end shall be saved’ ” (Mark 13:13, NKJV). Trust His strength to see you through life’s challenges and be at peace.
Notes
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The title of this week’s lesson, “The Ultimate Rest,” implies that our rest here is only temporary. We rest in Christ today, but our rest is always in the context of a world of suffering, sorrow, and sickness. There is a day coming when we will enter eternal rest. All the heartaches of life will be over. Disease, disaster, and death will be gone forever.
Jesus gave the aged apostle John, exiled on the Isle of Patmos, a vision of Himself. This vision from Christ gave John encouragement and hope. In prophetic revelations, John saw the history of the Christian church and the climactic events at the close of this earth’s history. The book of Revelation ends with a new heaven and a new earth, ushering in God’s ultimate rest.
Before that ultimate rest, there will be specific signs pointing forward to Jesus’ return. In Matthew 24, Jesus outlines these end-time events that will occur with increasing frequency before His glorious second coming. Throughout the ages, the patriarchs and prophets looked forward to the Lord’s return without experiencing the “ultimate rest” that Christ promised. They died in anticipation of an event that would come, but they died in hope. In Revelation 14:6–12, the three angels’ messages, heaven’s last-day messages to prepare the world for the return of Christ, are proclaimed.
As the battle between good and evil rages on a global scale, Christ invites us to “watch” and “be ready” for His soon return and to be ready to enter His eternal rest.
Part II: Commentary
John informs us that he was on the island of Patmos when he received the visions that make up the book of Revelation. Patmos is a little island in the Aegean Sea between the coasts of Turkey and Greece. It’s about nine miles long. In John’s time, it was a rocky, barren Roman penal colony where prisoners were exiled. There was a small mining community there as well—and little else.
John was an old man, in his nineties, when he received the visions of Revelation. He had lived a long life in the service of his beloved Master. He probably had been living in Ephesus before being exiled to Patmos. Now he was separated from friends and family. He was frail, and it was doubtful he would ever get off this small, isolated island. But then in a blaze of glory, Jesus revealed divine truth to John that would enlighten and encourage God’s people for millennia. These last-day truths reveal the events that are soon to take place in this world to prepare God’s people for what is coming. Sometimes it’s in the greatest trials of our lives that God speaks to us most clearly. When we’re feeling lonely and discouraged, Jesus visits us just as He did John and fills us with the warmth of His presence.
The book of Revelation is a book about the Jesus who intervenes. He does not merely sit on His throne in heaven; He enters the affairs of life here on earth. He ministers to us in the trauma, the heartache, and the disappointments we face. When Jesus came down to speak with His beloved disciple, He illuminated rocky, barren Patmos with His glory. There is no place we can find ourselves that is beyond the reach of God. He will meet you with His presence wherever you are. Revelation is filled with hope. The One who is with us through His Holy Spirit now is soon coming in glory to take us home. John joyfully states, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him” (Rev. 1:7, NKJV).
Signs of Jesus’ Return
Jesus told His disciples about a time when Jerusalem would be surrounded by an attacking army and destroyed (Luke 21:20). This happened in a.d. 70 when the Roman general Titus invaded Israel and laid siege to the city. The Jewish historian Josephus describes the devastating effects of the siege. He says that the starving people “would often come to blows over a small piece of bread; children would often rip food from their parents’ mouths. Neither brother nor sister had mercy upon the other. A bushel of corn was more precious than gold.”—“The Destruction of Jerusalem,” trans. D. J. Muehlenbruch (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1922). There were instances during the siege in which parents boiled their children who had died and ate them. Josephus goes on: “Driven by hunger, some ate manure; some, the cinches of their saddles; some, the leather stripped from their shields; some still had hay in their mouths when their bodies were found.” The effects of the attack on Jerusalem by the Romans were gruesome and devastating. Before it was over, fire broke out, and thousands more died in the flames.
In the 1970s, archaeologists uncovered the home of an aristocratic family that was burned to the ground in the flames during the siege in a.d. 70. This home is a remarkable testimony to the intensity of the flames and to the total devastation and absolute destruction.
The Disciples’ Questions
When Jesus told His disciples about this coming disaster, they thought that something so destructive could happen only at the end of the world. For this reason, they asked Him, “ ‘When will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ ” (Matt. 24:3, NKJV).
The disciples were actually asking two different questions. Their first question, “ ‘When will these things be?’ ” refers to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. Their second question was: “ ‘What will be the sign of Your coming, and the end of the age?’ ” In His reply, as recorded in Matthew 24, Jesus blended the two events. He told about events that would lead up to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. These events would serve as a preview of what would happen just before His second coming. In Matthew 24, Jesus mentioned the signs that would precede His return. These signs reveal the nearness of His coming.
The Savior did not give us a date for His coming, but He did tell us about signs that would allow us to know when it was near. Jesus’ sermon on last-day signs focuses on four specific areas: (1) signs in the realm of religion, (2) international affairs, (3) nature, and (4) society. These signs include false spiritual revivals, global conflicts, wars, famines, natural disasters, pestilences, pandemics, rising crime, increased violence, waning morality, and finally the rapid spread of the gospel to the whole world.
Matthew 24 outlines the signs of Christ’s return; Revelation 14 is an urgent appeal to be ready for His coming.
Revelation’s Last-day Message
In Revelation 14, the three angels’ messages are rapidly proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people to prepare the world for His soon return. It is the message of the “everlasting gospel” of God’s amazing grace for an entire planet. It is a call in the light of the gospel to live obedient lives, glorifying God in all we do in the judgment hour. It is an appeal in an age of evolution to worship Him as the Creator. It is an end-time message of hope.
Jesus will stand for us in the judgment and present His righteous life in the place of our unrighteous life. The apostle John gives us this encouragement: “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1, NKJV). God’s final judgment is just. He can represent only those who surrender their lives to Him and by faith accept His life and death in their behalf.
Rejoice in the Lord Always.
Imprisoned in Rome, the apostle Paul wrote an encouraging letter to the believers in Philippi. Some Bible commentators have labeled the book of Philippians “the epistle of joy.” In this short, four-chapter letter, Paul uses the word “joy” or “rejoicing” repeatedly. The theme of chapter 1 is “Joy in Trials.” Chapter 2’s theme is “Joy in Humility,” chapter 3’s theme is “Joy in Surrender,” and the theme of Chapter 4 is “Joy in Gratitude.”
Paul learned to live in the joy of Christ because he discovered how to rest in Christ. He believed that Christ would strengthen him in every situation and supply his needs (Phil. 4:13, 19). His confidence was fixed on the divine reality that his “citizenship is in heaven” and that, one day, Christ would “transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (NKJV). He eagerly awaited the coming of the Savior Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:20, 21, NKJV). He could “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4:4) because he had absolute confidence of Christ’s care in the present and the fulfillment of Christ’s eternal plan in the future. His statement, “The Lord is at hand,” gave him the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:5, 7, NKJV). Along with the apostle Paul, we can rejoice that there is never a situation we face in which Christ does not provide immediate help for us today, hope for tomorrow, and the promise of ultimate rest in Christ for all eternity.
Part III: Life Application
Some time ago a friend shared this heart-wrenching story. Her eight-year-old son was dying of a rare blood disease. People around the country earnestly prayed for the boy’s recovery. They sought God for a miraculous healing. The child became progressively worse. The last few days of his life, his mom sat at his bedside constantly holding his hand and gently stroking his hair. When it became apparent that he only had hours left to live, she took him in her arms and sat in a rocking chair, softly singing the songs of heaven. Sometime after his death, we were talking, and she made this remarkable statement: “Although there is a deep throbbing pain in my heart, God has given me ‘a peace that passes understanding.’ ” When asked what a peace that passes understanding was, she simply responded, “When you do not understand, you can still rest in Christ’s love and care.”
As this series of Bible study lessons comes to its conclusion, whatever is personally going on in your life, Jesus longs to give you a “peace that passes all understanding.” He is there for you, today, tomorrow, and forever. His plans are greater than you can ever imagine. Remember Jesus’ words: “ ‘He who endures to the end shall be saved’ ” (Mark 13:13, NKJV). Trust His strength to see you through life’s challenges and be at peace.
Notes