Chapter 22—Entering God's Rest
Bringing the land into desolation is a consequence of sin, but it also accomplishes a useful purpose:
Then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest because it did not rest in your sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it. (Leviticus 26:34–35)“The Lord rested on the seventh day” (Genesis 2:2). Rest is shabbat, the root of Sabbath. We are to “observe” and “remember the Sabbath” as a day of holiness, sanctification, renewal, and rest, and to “observe” it Failure to fully observe the Sabbath (including the Jubilee) is sin. “It is not your present Sabbaths that are acceptable to Me but the Sabbath which I have made, in the which, when I have set all things at rest” (Barnabas 15:8). “Ye shall hallow the Sabbath of the Lord with pure hands and with a pure heart . . . If my sons observe the Sabbath then I will bestow My mercy upon them” (Barnabas 15:1–2). If they don’t, desolation comes.
The earth groans under “the weight of its iniquity,” darkness, and confusion (D&C 123:7). “The land is full of adulterers. The land mourns because of the curse and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up. Their way of life has become evil and their power is not rightly used” (Jeremiah 23:10, HCSB). “All flesh is corrupted before me; and the powers of darkness prevail upon the earth” (D&C 38:11).
Knowing that men’s agency would be a great trial for her, the earth bears the burden of their wickedness. The cosmos and all of creation feel the weight of sin too. Since priesthood holds God’s creations in order, rejecting its power has consequences in nature. The earth will “reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man” (Psalm 107:27). Enoch saw the earth despising the chaos, longing to be unspotted by sin. With creation in disorder, she looks forward to the day she can be sanctified.
[Enoch] heard a voice from the bowels [of the earth], saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face? (Moses 7:48)When Enoch asked, “When shall the earth rest?” God said He will “come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance . . . and the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day the heavens shall be darkened and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake and also the earth; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men” (Moses 7:58, 60–61), so great that such “has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21, NKJV).
When that veil of darkness is rent, “he that is not purified shall not abide the day” because he is not “wise” (D&C 38:8, 45:57). The foolish have a comfortable but counterfeit form of rest. They “err in their heart and they have not known my ways” (Psalm 95:10) so warning comes,
Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. (Micah 2:10)Etymologically, rest is to restore, repair, build up, or return to its original place or condition. Joseph had this in mind when he renamed the city Commerce as Nauvoo. Nauvoo “is of Hebrew origin, and signifies a beautiful situation, or place, carrying with it also the idea of rest; and is truly descriptive of the most delightful location.”
But men have sought another refuge, one that “is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down. Since it is made of deception, a flood will sweep it away” (Isaiah 28:17, NLT). “Except ye repent . . . ye shall attempt to flee and there shall be no place for refuge” (Helaman 15:2). A refuge (H4268) is a shelter, a place of hope or trust. Its first use in the Bible is telling: “The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms, and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee” (Deuteronomy 33:27). “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man” (Psalm 118:8, NIV) is the center verse of the Old Testament.
Under Mosaic law, six Levite “cities of refuge” served as sanctuaries for those who shed blood by ignorance or accident (not premeditated). Levitical laws allowed the victim’s nearest relative to avenge the death. The guilty’s only chance for safety was to immediately flee to a city of refuge. Because the crime was so serious, a refugee was protected only if he remained in a city of asylum. If he was in Jerusalem, he must lay his hands on the altar’s horns (symbolic of priesthood power) until the High Priest died. Only then was the refugee absolved and free to return home.
Cities of refuge are powerful types of the atonement of Jesus Christ, the great High Priest. Sinners were to enter these divinely appointed cities without delay. Accessible to everyone, refuge cities were conveniently located within a day’s journey in Israel. They were the only hope for an unintentional sinner willing to stay within the Lord’s bounds.
With three cities of refuge west of Jerusalem and three to the east, the six peripheral cities were like branches on the menorah with Jerusalem as the center. Jerusalem was the seventh city of refuge, the center place of refuge that all other cities pointed to—the ‘city of peace.’ Redemption and forgiveness could be found even in the most trying circumstances, made possible by the power of Christ’s atonement.
God’s hiding place is a place of shelter, refuge, or rest. Refuge means ‘bosom’ (H4224, H5641). Hebrew pictographs show it as a tent or house, a place where one is “hidden in the arms and cherished.” Its adoptive roots mean to bind or embrace, profound imagery once found in the endowment before men removed it.
“Choose Ye This Day Whom Ye Will Serve”
True believers “look forward to Him for a remission of their sins, that they might . . . be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest” (Alma 13:16, 29). Preparation to enter His rest is His gospel. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me . . . Ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:28–29). We are given six days to labor and “do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest” (Exodus 23:12). Work is required in God’s plan. Rest doesn’t mean to stop working. To God, rest is realizing the harvest after much work and toil, a wholeness that can only come from accomplishing what we set out to do. To labor is to serve, cultivate, or be subject to someone (H5647). To work ties to malak, a commissioned messenger (H4399, 4397).
Restoration and renewal are rewards of the Sabbath. Rest is not a ritual, but the reward of performing God’s work effectively. Knowing the work required, we can understand that the Sabbath, or the day of rest, is about returning to God who can made us complete and whole. It is the center of His work and the source of His glory (Moses 1:39).
God has in reserve a time, or period appointed in His own bosom, when He will bring all His subjects who have obeyed His voice and kept His commandments into His celestial rest.
This rest is of such perfection and glory that man has need of a preparation before he can, according to the laws of that kingdom, enter it and enjoy its blessings. This being the fact, God has given certain laws to the human family, which, if observed, are sufficient to prepare them to inherit this rest.Knowing this life is the time to prepare, the righteous “diligently strive to enter into that rest” (Hebrews 14:11) and “hold out faithful unto the end, that [they] may be crowned with crowns of celestial glory and enter into the rest that is prepared for the children of God.”
Those who endure to the end find judgment a blessed event. Christ, having satisfied the demands of justice on their behalf, judges them with mercy. “Whosoever repenteth and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these shall enter into my rest” (Alma 12:34). “Be ye taught of God, seeking diligently what the Lord requireth of you, and act that ye may be found in the day of judgment” (Barnabas 21:6).
No unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who (1) have washed their garments in my blood, because of (2) their faith, and the (3) repentance of all their sins, and (4) their faithfulness unto the end. This is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and (5) come unto me and (6) be baptized in my name, that ye may (7) be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may (8) stand spotless before me at the last day. (3 Nephi 27:19–20, numerals added)Teaching the need for, and the way to enter, His rest is the purpose of priesthood. Their duty is to “persuade such as are out of the way to repent and turn to God and live . . . to reclaim the backslider; to bring back the wanderer; to re-invite into the kingdom such as have been cut off, by encouraging them to lay to while the day lasts, and to work righteousness, and, with one heart and one mind, prepare to help redeem Zion, that goodly land of promise, where the willing and the obedient shall be blessed.” This obligation is serious. “Souls are as precious in the sight of God as they ever were; and the Elders were never called to drive any down to hell, but to persuade and invite all men everywhere to repent, that they may become the heirs of salvation.”
A trumpet is put into the hand of every one of you, some means of awakening them—some instrumentality of reaching them with the appliances of salvation—your prayers, your thoughts, your contributions, your personal labors, something, whatever it is, this is the trumpet that you hold in your hand, and God who gave it bids you blow . . .
Give the alarm of danger, and sound the note of safety, while there is one nation, nay, one individual that has not heard. Cease not till the voice of peace and salvation has fallen on every ear . . . ‘This honor is to all his saints.’ He demands this service; He commands this duty, and to Him we will have to render an account for the manner in which it is discharged.“Righteousness must be the aim of the Saints in all things, and when the covenants are published, they will learn that great things must be expected from them.” But did they seek this knowledge? Our salvation depends on it. “Salvation is for a man to be saved from all his enemies” in this world, including his own vices or beliefs that oppose Christ’s gospel. We must have “knowledge to triumph over all evil spirits . . . Until a man can triumph over death, he is not saved. A knowledge of the priesthood alone will do this.”
Repent, repent, is the voice of God to Zion; and strange as it may appear, yet it is true, mankind will persist in self-justification until all their iniquity is exposed, and their character past being redeemed, and that which is treasured up in their hearts be exposed to the gaze of mankind.
I say to you (and what I say to you I say to all), hear the warning voice of God, lest Zion fall, and the Lord swear in His wrath the inhabitants of Zion shall not enter into His rest.God’s great work gathers all who “seek to bring forth and establish my Zion [and] keep the commandments in all things” (D&C 14:1, 6). We obtain “all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who hath called” us (2 Peter 1:3), but many fail to return to His path. Waywardness and idolatry cost the children of Israel dearly when God removed the “holy order and the ordinances thereof” from them.
Covenant terms are simple: if they turn to Him in all things, “humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways,” they will be His people and He will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14). Zion’s inhabitants must be able to endure His presence because He promises, “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people” (Leviticus 26:12).
Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God. But they hardened their hearts and could not endure his presence.
Therefore, the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory. Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also. (D&C 84:23–25)The choice existed from the beginning: wrath or rest, shame or glory, damnation or eternal life. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” but “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
[God’s work] shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other—either to the convincing of them unto peace and life eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil. (1 Nephi 14:7)The temptation is strong because “Satan desireth to have you” (3 Nephi 18:18). “Fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served . . . Serve ye the Lord . . . Choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served” or the gods of those in their land, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14–15). “Say unto this people, Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you” (Moses 6:33).
Baal competed with the living God but Israel merged the two into a god that could be worshipped alongside a love of money and the world. This god, they believed, brought them power and prosperity. With no option to remain neutral, all must choose.
“In the Garden of Eden gave I unto man his agency” and declared “they should choose me, their Father,” but if we refuse, “Satan shall be their father and misery shall be their doom” (Moses 7:32–33, 37). Rest is “the evidence of your Father in you” (Gospel of Thomas 50:3), but those who do not hear His teachings “are from your father, the devil . . . [who] abode not in the truth” (John 8:44).
The moment of decision is here. At the U.S. Capitol on 29 April 2015, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn boldly declared an urgent message to this nation, a solemn and serious warning that the rapidly accelerating apostasy and corruption must come to an end—now.
We have come to a most critical moment. As Elijah stood on top of Mount Carmel and cried out to Israel in its hour of decision, in between two altars and two gods, his voice now cries out to America and says to us, ‘Choose you this day whom you will serve.’ Seventy years ago, the chaplain of the United States Senate cried out in the same voice and said to this nation, ‘If the Lord be God, then follow him! But if Baal, then follow him . . . and go to hell.’
Tonight, America stands at the crossroads. And as Elijah came to the summit of Mount Carmel to make a declaration, we have come this night to declare that our God is not Baal . . . We have come to this hill to declare that there is only one God . . . the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob . . . He alone is the Rock upon which this nation has come into existence . . . We will not bow down to Baal.“How long will you waver between the two sides?” (1 Kings 18:21, WEB). “Ye that love the Lord hate evil” (Psalm 97:10) and those who love evil hate the Lord, for “no man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24).
“Who is on the Lord’s side?” (Exodus 32:26). Now is the time to declare our answer. In spite of many bold warnings, the nation made its decision.
In 2018 a reconstructed Gate of Baal was erected at the U.S. Capitol. But we need not follow the majority, for all must choose whom they will serve. Those who “serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12) are promised deliverance and rest, but those who refuse it will be brought into bondage.
If they shall (1) confess their iniquity, (2) and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, (3) and that also they have walked contrary unto me . . . if their (4) uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then (5) accept of the punishment of their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant . . . and I will remember the land. (Leviticus 26:40–42, numerals added)“We know not what we shall be called to pass through before Zion is delivered and established; therefore, we have great need to live near to God and always be in strict obedience to all His commandments.” His people are tried, that they may sacrifice as required to claim the glorious blessings.
“The earth shall rest” (Moses 7:64) only after Zion is established. By establishing Zion, earth will be prepared to receive its paradisiacal glory (Article of Faith 1:10). “The earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation and transgresseth not the law—wherefore, it shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it” (D&C 88:25–26). Burnings purify and transform the weary earth into a magnificent celestial sea of glass where God’s power and fulness will dwell forever.
Holy prophets encourage all to “come unto Christ and partake of the goodness of God, that they might enter into his rest” (Jacob 1:7). The righteous know it is worth every effort for Jesus Christ to “lead them up into heaven to the place which my Father has prepared for the elect, and I will give you the kingdom, and rest, and eternal life.”
Seeing we know these things and they are true, let us repent, and harden not our hearts, that we provoke not the Lord our God to pull down his wrath upon us in these his second commandments which he has given unto us; but let us enter into the rest of God, which is prepared according to his word. (Alma 12:37)
For footnotes and references, click HERE.