It goes on and on and on. The old saying is that there is no rest for the wicked, and if you consider it in an eternal sense, that saying is true, hell affords no rest, and the Lake of Fire cannot be comprehended by the sane man.
The man of God who serves the will of God for the glory of God will debate that word “rest” with you, for he knows little of it in this life. Perhaps sleep would be as close that he might come to it, and that depends on the dreams of the night.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matt. 11:29) We do Lord, but it is still a yoke.
The burden of a loved one who refuses to hear the words of the only way to salvation, the mocking and ridiculing of friends, family and coworkers. The harsh words and sideways glances, and if the Lord has placed upon you the blessing of being imprisoned, tortured and even facing death for His name, still there is no rest. How many of you reading these letters know the burden of the lost yet to be found, how many of you search diligently each day for our brothers and sisters in the cruel and wicked world where you are hated for His name sake? Are you compelled, are you driven, are you ever in a moment of rest outside of those occasional encouraging words?
We will be leaving soon, either in death or in the Rapture, and then the work, at least that part of it for us will be done, all those years of reaching out into this evil and wicked world will come to an end, perhaps a form of rest will come upon us then, but only I believe in that regard. I believe we will always hold some work position throughout eternity, we will always have a job, so to speak, and we will throughout eternity be consumed and driven to perform those tasks set before us to the best of our ability, and always for the glory of God.
But here, until that final moment of our life we will not know that full measure of rest, that awaits us when we get home. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28)
I believe there are far fewer that have been saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ than many would like to admit, and that only a small part of them are consumed by Him, especially in the area of reaching out to, of searching for the lost. I also believe this, unless you can see them burning, screaming in unbearable anguish, abiding eternally in utter and complete hopelessness you will never search for them.
There are tears in heaven from the eyes of those who realized these truths too late, those that were saved as if by fire, those who say the words “I wish I would have,” and them quite often.
But it will be too late for them also, there is no need to seek the lost in heaven, there are none.
“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35)
I believe this as well; all the lost sheep will be found and everyone of them by the grace and mercy of God through those who live their lives for Him. That should mean you, but does it? This burden allows no rest for the born-again believer until his or her final breath.
Ponder this conjecture if you will, did Paul witness to the executioner before he dropped his blade, did he spend his last breath trying to reach just one more?
