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Sleep Peacefully
My wife called me at 12:30 in the morning and I knew something was wrong.
(This is part three of a four part series. The rest of the parts will be collected on our Lord of the Sabbath page after they are posted.)
Joshua 21:44, Ephesians 6:12
We’ve been talking about how Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. Today I want to look at the third major Sabbath theme in the Old Testament. We find this theme in the Book of Joshua. In fact, the book of Joshua, which is full of all these battles and conflicts, it ends with this beautiful statement. That God gave Israel rest from all her enemies. (Joshua 21:44)
The sense of this rest is the sense of being able to sleep at peace, because you know you are perfectly safe. Now, a few weeks ago, I was on a trip out of town and my wife called me at 12:30 in the morning, and right away I knew something was up. You see, she was just getting settled down for bed and someone rang the doorbell. And instantly she was alert and awake and wondering what is going on, who’s at the door, who is messing with me? And maybe it’s a result of watching too much true crime on Netflix, but from that point on, neither her nor me could get any sleep. And my wife spent the rest of the night with her aluminum bat close at hand, just in case someone were to try to storm the fortress.
What is robbing you of your peace? We think of our lives and how easily anxieties and fears, concerns about safety, concerns about the future can rob us of our peace. God wants you and I to have peace, but so often we lose our peace and not only because of financial stressors and physical stressors in our life, but we have to always be alert to what’s really happening.
Your battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)
We’re fighting against the devil who will rest at nothing to rob you of your peace in Jesus. He’ll attack you any way he can. He attacks us through busy schedules. He attacks us through fear, through dangers. And in this world where oftentimes we live in fear, Jesus is your Lord of the Sabbath. He’s the Lord of crushing your enemies under his feet.
In fact, that’s what the book of Joshua shows us all throughout that battle after battle, all the Israelites had to do was show up. But the battle belonged to the Lord. The Lord was the one who fought the battle. The Lord was the one who won the victory and he gave it to his people. Just like he gave his people that feeling of peace and security.
Your Jesus is the Lord of Sabbath who crushes his enemies under his feet. And of all the victories God has won for you. The greatest victory was the victory of Jesus hanging on the cross, or Jesus rising Easter morning to descend into hell and crush the devil’s head once and for all. He [the devil] is beaten. And for you, he [Jesus] wants you to rest, knowing all of your enemies have already been defeated by Jesus. Your sins are forgiven. Death is destroyed. The devil’s crushed under Jesus’ feet. You are safe. Amen.
