Unfinished Thoughts On The Soul (3)

 

Return to Your Rest

 

Where do our souls live?

 

Where are we headed today?

 

As our souls return to our Father through the Lamb, we learn to live in that City whose Builder and Maker is God (Hebrews 11:8 – 16). This means that the One and only Light of the soul is our Father and the Lamb (Revelation 21:23; 22:5). We do not wait for a future day for this to be so, we learn to live by the Light of God and the Lamb Today. It is today that we are not to harden our hearts and souls, it is today that we are to hear His Voice and obey, and it is today that we enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:1 – 9).

 

Entering into His rest means that we cease from our own works, even as God did from His on that first Sabbath; indeed, now we come to know and see that Jesus Christ is our Sabbath and that we abide in Him (Heb. 4:10; John 15:1ff). We can do nothing in and of ourselves, only as His Life flows in us and through us can we live and bear fruit (see also Galatians 2:20).

 

Our souls come to know our Father and the Lamb as our Temple (Rev. 21:22). All the images of Tabernacles and Temples in Scripture are lifted upward and subsumed in the Godhead, we enter into Him and He enters into us. The Incarnation is consummated in the Marriage of the Lamb, for the Marriage Supper is more than a shared meal, the Marriage Supper is the prelude to a consummation, the Nature of which is beyond us, it is beyond us because it is hidden in Christ – there is a reason marriage bedrooms have doors that are shut.

 

When the soul comes home to the Father and Lamb it does so with these words ringing without and within:

 

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them” (Rev. 21:3).

 

Now friends, as we live in that City we must surely know that we must live in the Light of the Lamb and the Father, and we must surely know that nothing can be hidden, nothing should be hidden; that there should be no subterfuge, no shades of meaning, no “spin,” no guile. We must surely know that the wrath of man has no place in this City, that the violence of man will not be admitted to this City, that the greed and selfishness and pride of man will not enter the City or the Temple – for God is All in all.

 

To enter into this City is to dwell on the Holy Mountain in which “they shall neither hurt nor destroy.”

 

The souls of those purchased by the Lamb belong to this City, we are citizens of this City. This City is not only our future destiny, we are to breathe the air of this City today, to walk the streets of this City today, to fellowship with the inhabitants of this City today, to live in the Temple of this City today, to follow the Lamb of this City today.

 

If the Lamb (and the Father) is the Light of this City, then all of life is to be lived in the Light of the Lamb – all of life today. The Lamb shines His Light in our hearts, minds, and souls. He shines His light on all around us. We do not “see” as others see (2 Cor. 4:18; 5:7; Heb. 11:1), we do not judge as others judge, we do not discern and evaluate as others evaluate – our eyes are fixed on the Lamb, the Sun of Righteousness…and there is no righteousness apart from Him…all pretense to righteousness is as filthy rags…it is disgusting. This is true whether it is personal, institutional (religious or other), national, ethnic, economic, or philosophical. O how foolish we are to look anywhere other than Jesus Christ for identity, for righteousness, for fulfillment, for a place for our souls to live and abide.

 

As we live in this City, the Name of our God is on our foreheads, the Name of the Father and the Lamb (Rev. 22:4; 14:1; 3:12), indeed, even the Name of the glorious City is written upon us. This City comes down upon us out of heaven, we enter the City and the City enters into us.

 

Shall we not cry with the psalmist, “Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you”? (Psalm 116:7).

 

Are not our deaths precious to our God because through them we come home to Him and our City? (Psalm 116:15).

 

Do we not anticipate rejoicing in the presence of the saints? (Psalm 116:14, 18, 19).

 

Is not the House of God and Jerusalem (Psalm 116:19) that City we see in Revelation chapters 21 – 22?

 

Yes, the LORD has indeed rescued our souls from death and our eyes from tears (Psalm 116:8; Rev. 21:4).

 

Let us say today, and tomorrow…to ourselves and to one another, “Return to your rest, O my soul! Return to the City of God!”