Torch, Spring/Summer 2011

26 TORCH | Spring–Summer 2011 Throughout history, these rules have been regularly broken and the consequences felt by many nations. Jared Diamond’s book Collapse outlines how the combination of poor land management and technological advances led to disastrous consequences first for the land and then disruption of entire cultures, including the Mayan, Anasazi, Rapanui, Rwandan, and Haitian societies. The U.S. narrowly avoided similar landscape disaster in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl period. In The Natural History of the Bible , Daniel Hillel outlines 3,000 years of dramatic landscape change in Israel. Keeping God’s commandment to give the land rest required the Israelites to rely on God alone as sustainer. That level of faith and trust was as difficult to achieve then as it is today. The Cost of Overwork Israel’s history shows the grave consequences the people incurred when they ignored the command to allow the land to rest. In 587 B.C., the Kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians and taken into exile for 70 years. This period ends when the temple was rebuilt between 520–515 B.C. and the final exiles returned to Israel. We often attribute the exile to the general godless ways of Judah, but 2 Chronicles 36:21 offers an explicit reason for the captivity: “The land enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.” Given the lack of any mention in the Old Testament, we may safely conclude that Israel never observed Shmita between David’s rule and the rebuilding of the temple. Not only had they neglected God’s command to care for the land He had given as a blessing, but they also had not trusted God to be their sustainer. Their wandering hearts and 420 years of shortsightedness cost them 70 years in exile. Though we’ve reviewed historical, biblical, and ecological arguments for the importance of Sabbath rest for the land, we still face the challenge of understanding how to integrate this knowledge into our daily lives. Are we who are living in the age of the Church and There Is a Rest by Pastor Bob Rohm, Vice President for Christian Ministries at Cedarville University “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” Renowned philosopher and theologian Augustine of Hippo said it well. What rest was St. Augustine talking about, and how can a person find it? Hebrews 4:9 clearly says that this rest is available today: “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” It is called a “Sabbath rest” because it is God’s rest reserved for His people. The Israelites heard the good news that the God of their fathers would lead them into the Promised Land and make them His treasured people if they would obey His voice and keep His covenant. History records that they did not respond in genuine faith, and they ended up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. It’s clear from their example that hearing the good news is not enough. The rest God promised is available to all who trust His Word and receive it with genuine faith — faith that evidences itself in persistent obedience to God. Psalm 95 urges us today not to harden our hearts as the Israelites did lest we experience a similar consequence. The absence of genuine faith kept an entire generation wandering in the wilderness, restless. God’s rest is available to all who will receive Jesus Christ, by faith, as their Savior. Jesus extends the offer to us today: “Come to Me, all 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). Good news: there is a rest for the people of God! WORDS OF TRUTH