The Journey

This then brings me to the last point about God’s presence.

God’s Presence is Personal

Nothing could be more wonderful than knowing and sensing the presence of God, and that it’s God’s greatest desire that we come into His presence.

“Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.” (Psalm 100:2 NKJV)

This is probably one of the most beautiful pictures. That God want us to come into His presence, that is, to have a close and intimate relationship with Him.

What is interesting about this word “presence,” is that it literally means, “in the face of.”

This is the type of relationship that Moses had with God. After Moses dealt with the sin of idolatry it says that He went outside the encampment to the tabernacle of meeting, and the pillar of cloud of God’s presence descended and the Lord talked with Moses (Exodus 33:9).

“So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” (Exodus 33:11a NKJV)

Moses had a real and personal relationship with the Lord, where He talked with Him as one man speaks to another, that is, face to face.

And it is such a desire that God has for us, that is, He desires that we experience His presence in a real and personal way, so much so that He came to personally be with us as Matthew quotes the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 7:14.

“‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’” (Matthew 1:23 NKJV)

What a promise this is, that the Almighty, ever-present God came to earth. That the Lord, the 2nd person of the Godhead, the Messiah, Jesus, came and became flesh, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

And it’s in Jesus coming that we can now see the second aspect of God’s promise to Moses and to Israel upon this journey, and that is His rest.

God’s Rest

Now, on this journey where God promised them His presence and rest, their destination was the land of Canaan. Now, many a commentator has talked about this as the rest that will come once this journey of ours is completed. In other words, God’s rest will come when we arrive in heaven once this life is over. In fact, some of the old spirituals called it Canaan Land.

But this falls short of God’s promise, because God’s promise was that His presence would accompany them and, in His presence, there would be rest.

Now, in the Hebrew language, this word for rest is the word, “Sabbath,” which means to cease, desist, or rest. It is found in God’s law, the 4th commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy.

But the rest God promises is more than a day, or a physical rest. It is a spiritual rest. The writer of Hebrews says that on the seventh day God rested from all of His labors, and because of that there remains a rest for God’s people.

“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” (Hebrews 4:9-10 NKJV)

And so, it’s through God’s grace that there’s a rest for His people, it’s a rest where we cease from striving and let God take over. And that is truly the type of rest we all need.