The Bible is full of "pictures", of physical things that are intended to point us to spiritual realities. For thousands of years in the Old Testament, people furiously attempted to achieve "rest" from the Law by obedience to the Law. In my experience, this is something that people still struggle with, even many people who claim Christianity to be what guides their worldview. That's one of the problems with claiming a thing as something that orders one's worldview. It ought not to be a "thing"---but a person. The person of Jesus Christ.

I think that following "Christianity" is one of the reasons that "rest" is so often not experienced by even people who claim themselves to be Christians. The Bible doesn't just tell us that the Christian's "rest" is something to be looked forward to in heaven, but that it is to be enjoyed now-----today. "Rest" comes with a soul's confidence in, and contentment with one's relationship with Jesus Christ.

I believe it's a tool of the enemy that many, if not most Christians are so busy that they become too distracted to experience the rest that knowing Jesus is supposed to give them. After all, if the enemy can't keep one from becoming a Christian, he takes pleasure in contributing to one's ineffectuality for Christ. It is no secret that while we live here--while we make this sojourn--that the physical and spiritual are interactive. Of course the spiritual matters much more, but one can affect the other. It seems that physical rest in the Bible is prescriptive for a reason, if we are to embrace and enjoy the spiritual rest which we are to have in our Savior. If we "rest" from some of our works, if we eliminate some of the many things crowding our schedules, we can enjoy more time with Jesus, and see growth added to our walk with Him. We can see meaning added to our lives. By making these eliminations we are not losing. We are gaining.