Rest - Part 3: Reap What Was Not Sown (Reflection from Heb 3 and 4)

While studying Hebrews 3 and 4 on the rest of God, I kept hearing these words in my mind: "Reaping where you have not sown". 

As I pondered on these words, a verse popped up in my mind "Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed", from Matt 25:24. 

The version in Luke 19:21 goes like this: For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’


Totally unrelated to Heb 3 and 4, but I obediently read up on the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Minas. 

The lord/ master in the parables was described as a hard and austere man. What has that got to do with the Lord's rest? I wondered and couldn't figure out what the Holy Spirit wanted to show me or teach me. 

I then went back to reading Genesis, the stories of the creation of the earth. As I read the accounts of God's creation and that Sabbath rest on the very first 7th day, something dawned on me. 

Gen 2:2-3 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. 


This revelation hit me. 

Adam would be the very first man who 'reaps where he has not sown'.

Adam was the very first man who reaped what he has not sown. 

Everything has already been given, ready to be harvested, ready to be taken as food for the body. 


Gen 2:5 For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground;

And yet there was every herb that yields seed, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, which to man it shall be food (Gen 1:29). 


We all know that the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind (Gen 1:12) on Day 3. Followed by the sun, moon and stars on Day 4, the living creatures in the sea and sky on Day 5 and the other living creatures on Day 6. 

Adam was created last, on Day 6. 

Think about it, beloved in Christ. 

Everything that was needed - light, atmosphere or the air (firmament with water above and beneath), dry lands and sea, herbs and trees for food, with their seeds in them, all living creatures which Adam were to have dominion over - were in existence before Adam came to being. 

Source: Internet

Adam did not create any of these things. Neither did he need to create any of them. He took no part in the creation work. 


If fact, we've all heard of this famous saying - The 7th day, which was Adam's (and in essence, man) first day alive, was a rest day. 


Indeed, that was Adam's first day. 

He was the first man who reaped what he had not sown and gathered where he had not scattered seed (Matt 25:24). Collecting what he had not deposited (Luke 19:21). 


What a first day! 

Reaping where he has not sown. Enjoying what he has not worked for. Because the Lord God has sown and prepared it all, for him. 


Beloved in Christ, could this be a 'normal Christian life'? A life of rest. 


Because it wasn't until the fall that this curse came upon Adam, upon man (Gen 3:17-19). 

Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread

What if our life is meant to be a life of rest? 

What if our days are meant to be like Adam's first day? 


Beloved in Christ, 

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. (Heb 4:9)

Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. (Heb 3:15) 

Let us be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. (Heb 4:11)

(I wrote about how, and why, some could not enter that rest here.)

For we who have believed do enter that rest (Heb 4:3). 

What's more, we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Our High Priest sympathize with our weaknesses. He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Heb 4:15) 

We shall become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. (Heb 3:14)


Beloved in Christ, 

He who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. (Heb 4:10)

May this be our reality. A life of rest. A life of reaping that which we have not sown, all that our Abba Father has given us. Hallelujah!

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