Spurgeon: January AM
* 01/18/AM
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."
--Hebrews 4:9
How different will be the state of the believer in heaven
from what it is here! Here he is born to toil and suffer
weariness, but in the land of the immortal, fatigue is never
known. Anxious to serve his Master, he finds his strength
unequal to his zeal: his constant cry is, "Help me to serve
Thee, O my God." If he be thoroughly active, he will have much
labour; not too much for his will, but more than enough for his
power, so that he will cry out, "I am not wearied of the
labour, but I am wearied in it ." Ah! Christian, the hot day
of weariness lasts not for ever; the sun is nearing the horizon;
it shall rise again with a brighter day than thou hast ever seen
upon a land where they serve God day and night, and yet rest
from their labours. Here , rest is but partial, there , it is
perfect . Here , the Christian is always unsettled; he feels
that he has not yet attained. There , all are at rest; they
have attained the summit of the mountain; they have ascended to
the bosom of their God. Higher they cannot go. Ah, toil-worn
labourer, only think when thou shalt rest for ever! Canst thou
conceive it? It is a rest eternal ; a rest that "remaineth."
Here, my best joys bear "mortal" on their brow; my fair flowers
fade; my dainty cups are drained to dregs; my sweetest birds
fall before Death's arrows; my most pleasant days are shadowed
into nights; and the flood-tides of my bliss subside into ebbs
of sorrow; but there , everything is immortal; the harp abides
unrusted, the crown unwithered, the eye undimmed, the voice
unfaltering, the heart unwavering, and the immortal being is
wholly absorbed in infinite delight. Happy day! happy! when
mortality shall be swallowed up of life, and the Eternal Sabbath
shall begin.