The Rest of the Lord & The Arising

Royal Priesthood of Melchizedek

Understanding the rest of the Lord and comprehending how to enter into the rest that Christ has provided is a multifaceted spiritual dynamic. Let’s begin to examine more closely the rest of the Lord in a scriptural context. The rest of the Lord refers to a specific day, the Sabbath day (see Exodus 20:9-11). This is the first level of the rest of the Lord. God’s preordained rest is both complicated and yet so simple that a child a can attain the peace and divine protection that comes from entering into the rest of the Lord. Scripture sets the example for the rest of the Lord in the second chapter of Genesis.

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 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 (Genesis 2:1-3, emphasis added).

The rest of the Lord at times constitutes a spiritual rest.

As with many spiritual aspects of Christ’s Kingdom, the rest of the Lord also has many applications and dynamics. Yes, there is a Sabbath rest or Sabbath day. Traditionally in Christ’s time the Sabbath day was the seventh day, Saturday. Today many religious people practice the worship of God and recognize the Sabbath day as Sunday. Again, it appears that in the Kingdom of God at times it can be both/and. We will look at the importance of the Sabbath rest in more detail later, but I wanted to mention it here.

However, I believe that the author of Hebrews, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, outlined a deeper place that is available to us as we are diligent or labor to enter into the rest of the Lord. Jesus rested from His work when He finalized His mission on earth. The Lord ascended upon High to sit at the right hand of the Father, and Jesus has entered into a season of eternal rest.

The Lord demonstrated for us that we are to enter into a similar lifestyle. We are to rule and reign upon the earth just as the Lord originally intended for us (see Genesis 1:26-28). We are also called and privileged to enter into the rest of the Lord. This dual ability is a facet of our spiritual DNA and our heritage as saints engrafted into the family of God. We can rest in the Lord. We can seek to live our lives as royal priests according to the order of Melchizedek. Once we understand this personal calling, we can literally emulate Christ and enter into the rest of the Lord and also enter into the heavenly places and dimensions (which is another aspect of the rest of the Lord).

We are called to “come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). We are called to be transformed into the very image of Christ. In other words, we are destined to be transformed by the ministry and power of the Holy Spirit into royal priests according to the order of Melchizedek. Why? So “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ (vv. 14-15). God is calling you and me to be transformed and recreated spirit, soul, and body until we fully reflect Christ into our spheres of influence. So let’s begin to examine the promise of entering into the rest of the Lord by examining God’s rest in the Scriptures.

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest” (Hebrews 4:1-5).

It is important that we understand how we can be transformed and recreated spirit, soul, and body until we fully reflect Christ into our spheres of influence. Therefore, we need to have some basic understanding of the priesthood of Melchizedek. Psalm 110 gives us some powerful insights about Melchizedek and understanding concerning the rest of the Lord.

The author of Hebrews, in chapter 7, verse 17, quotes Psalm 110. I want to look at these scriptures in more detail to help our understanding of our role as royal priests after the order of Melchizedek. Psalm 110 gives us a more detailed description and more information about the dynamics or characteristics of the duties of the royal priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek. Let's examine Psalm 110:1: “The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."

We need to understand the magnitude of the invitation given to us here. Yes, this was spoken to Christ by the Father. However, in the prophetic anointing in which King David was writing, he also spoke these words and promises to you and me as joint heirs with Christ. The Scripture is alive. We are born to grow and to mature into the very image of Christ. We are designed to have our minds renewed and transformed into Christlike minds.

King David, who was a type of royal priest according to the order of Melchizedek, penned these words for you and me too. Remember that David was a king and also ministered unto the Lord as a priest. These roles are two of the most important attributes of the royal priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. He carried power, anointing, and authority in the spiritual realm and also in the natural realm. King David understood this dynamic. David was anointed by God to serve Him in two dimensions, as was Elijah, Elisha, Moses, and also Jesus Christ. We too can be anointed by God to serve Him in two dimensions.

Rising above the Storms of Life

When God invites you to sit down at His right Hand, He is asking you to sit down in unity and friendship with Him at His seat of power, both in the spirit and the natural realm. To sit at the right hand of God means to sit with Him at His hand of power, flexibility, or dexterity. He is calling us to sit beside Him upon His throne of power, grace, and glory. We have a standing invitation to enter into the rest of the Lord and rest by God’s side. That is the very place that the Messiah is at this moment. Jesus is our example. Jesus Christ is at rest, yet He is also interceding for you at this very instant.

We see this role of Jesus in Hebrews 7:25: “Therefore He [Jesus] is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” That is exactly what I saw in the vision of the dark storm. Those who looked upon Jesus Christ could easily reach out and receive His help and salvation. Jesus would empower them to rise up above the storm when they looked to Him. He was inviting them to enter into a place of rest and power with Him in the heavenly realms. Jesus was seeking to empower them in both the natural realm and the spiritual realm or dimension. Remember, God is a multidimensional Being! You could say that God was seeking to release an anointing to those who choose to rise above the storm. That is the hour that we are living in today. We can enter into the rest of the Lord to overcome the storms of this life.

What does it look like to actually rise above the storms of life and to be seated or ascend into the heavenly places? Jesus illustrated this aspect of the royal priest according the order of Melchizedek in Acts 1:9: “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” The Lord actually gave you and I a visual illustration of what it means to minister in the anointing of a royal priest after the order of Melchizedek. The Messiah literally ascended into the heavenly realms and entered into the rest of the Lord. Christ sat down beside the right hand of the Father as outlined in Psalm 110:1. Jesus is at this hour resting from His finished work in triumph and in total victory. The Lord also wants us to rest in triumph and in total victory.

We see Jesus Christ literally fulfill the promise of God found in Hebrews 4:9-16 and Acts 1:9. Let’s also look at these passages briefly because Christ demonstrated how we can literally enter into the rest of the Lord by ascending into heavenly places: “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9-11). The Lord ceased from His work and mission on the earth when we literally ascended into the heavenly realms to sit at the right hand of the Father. This is also the passage of scripture that Jesus spoke to me in the heavenly realms. He instructed me to tell His people to be diligent to enter into His rest at this hour. He cautioned me that many may fall because of their unbelief.

We will learn in Psalm 110 that the right hand of the Father is the place of ultimate power and authority. Remember, Jesus also gave you and me this same ultimate power and authority (see Matthew 28:18-20). When we learn to enter into the rest of the Lord and emulate Christ, we can begin to minister in the anointing of heavenly power and authority. This is a kingly anointing and is synonymous with the anointing or mantle of Melchizedek. God can anoint and empower you with authority in both the natural realm and also in the spiritual dimensions.

The Sword of the Lord and

The Refining Work of the Holy Spirit

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:12-13).

When we learn to open our hearts and spirits to the living God and allow the Holy Spirit to divide between our soul and spirit, we can begin to learn to enter into the rest of the Lord. One aspect of being diligent to enter the Lord’s supernatural rest is permitting the Holy Spirit to help us separate our spirit from our soulish nature. We are really talking about learning to be led by the Lord’s Spirit and submitting to the Holy Spirit’s refining process of sanctification and cleansing.

When we allow the Spirit of God to minister to the deepest hidden recesses of our soul and heart, we will experience supernatural healing and deliverance. We will be delivered from our ungodly and worldly mindsets and beliefs. We will be set free from hidden yokes of darkness that we may not be aware of. Our souls will be brought into submission to our regenerated (renewed or reborn) spirit, which is created in the likeness of Christ. As a result we will spark and ignite the metamorphosis and transformation process of being recreated in a Christlike character. Then we will have the same privileges and supernatural ability to actually ascend into the heavenly realms to receive revelation and divine direction for our lives and ministries. We will be transformed and empowered to recreate Christ in our spheres of influence. Then we will be empowered to emulate Jesus and pass through the heavens, coming boldly to God’s throne of grace, power, and mercy.

This great privilege is outlined in Hebrews 4:14-16: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” It is in the very presence of God thatwe can truly begin to enter into the rest of the Lord.

When we enter into God’s presence, His glory comes. When we are diligent to rest in His glory, our lives will be supernaturally transformed. In this place our transformation and sanctification will be complete and lacking no good thing. Learning to be diligent to enter into the rest of the Lord and to linger and luxuriate in God’s presence will transform us spirit, soul, and body. That can be translated as receiving total salvation. This process is the supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit.

We will ascend vertically into the heavenly realms and receive supernatural revelation. Then we will pass back into the earthly realm or dimension. We will then be empowered and enlightened as to how we should release the anointing and power of heaven in this dimension upon the earth. At other times we will be empowered to see and discern between two dimensions at once. We will be on the earth and in heaven at the same moment of time.

That is exactly how the Messiah ministered in such supernatural power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. John 5:19-20 outlines this aspect of Christ’s ministry as royal priest according the order of Melchizedek, as Jesus spoke, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.”

Transformation Glory

That is why Jesus often withdrew in prayer (see Mark 6:46; Matthew 14:23; John 6:15). He needed to enter into the rest of the Lord. Jesus needed to enter into the revelatory realm or the spiritual dimensions of God’s glory. Peter, James, and John saw Jesus transfigured by the glory of God on the Mount of Transfiguration (see Matthew 17:2). I believe that was a common occurrence in the life of Christ. In my opinion, Jesus was most likely transfigured by the glory of God on a regular basis. However, those visitations of God’s glory upon Jesus are not documented in the canon of Scripture. However, Scripture does document that Moses was visited by the glory of God on many occasions (see Exodus 24:16; 34:33-35; 40:35; Leviticus 9:23; Numbers 20:6; 2 Corinthians 3:7).

We see the fact that Christ was transfigured by the glory of God indicated in the book of Hebrews. This passage is also referring to the Lord’s role as a royal priest according to the order of Melchizedek:

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end (Hebrews 3:1-6, emphasis added).

At this point we need to remember that we are called to do greater works than Jesus Christ accomplished (see John 14:12). And if the Scripture shows that Jesus was counted by God as worthy to experience more of God’s glory than Moses, then we too should also expect to experience more of God’s glory than Jesus. How can we possibly hope to see this unfold in our lives? It is simple. We need to be diligent to enter into the rest of the Lord. We need to rest in God’s tangible glory and allow the Spirit of God to transform our lives just as Christ was transfigured upon the Mount of Transfiguration. We need to rest in the Lord and allow the Father and the person of the Holy Spirit to transform our lives too.

Jesus needed to have intimacy with the Father and the person of the Holy Spirit. Christ needed to ascend into the heavenly realms to see what His Father was doing and saying. Jesus needed to enter into the revelatory realms or dimensions of the Father’s glory each day. That is why Jesus often withdrew and prayed (Luke 5:16). Then when He descended back to the earth, He would repeat those same things that He heard and saw.

Let me try to word this more accurately or perhaps more aptly. Jesus would move back into the earthly dimension and repeat those same things that He had heard in the heavenly dimensions. He would reenact the same things that He saw in the heavenlies when He moved back into the earthly dimension or descended or stepped back into the earthly realm. The Messiah perfectly performed the Lord’s Prayer in these circumstances by executing and implementing upon the earth the same miraculous things that He saw and heard in heaven or in the heavenly dimensions (see Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2). In this way, Jesus also entered into the rest of the Lord while He walked and ministered upon the earth. The Father and the Holy Spirit did the miraculous work (see John 14:10). By the way, the heavenly dimensions are not necessarily “up,” they are all around each us at this instant. I believe that Jesus abided and lived in the Father’s glory every day, twenty-four hours a day. This is possible for us too.

Jesus was on earth but He was also in heaven simultaneously. We are too, but we do not realize it. We do not discern these spiritual dimensions as readily as God desires for us to perceive them. So our minds need to be renewed concerning the reality of the heavenly dimensions. We can emulate this aspect of Christ’s ministry as a royal priest according to the order of Melchizedek too. We can also be on earth but in heaven at the same time. This secret or hidden mystery of God’s Kingdom is actually quite amazing. Just like the Kingdom of Heaven, it can be both/and for us at times too. This kind of supernatural lifestyle can become normal for us when we learn to enter into the rest of the Lord and abide in His presence and glory.

I believe that Jesus honed His ability to enter into the rest of the Lord and the heavenly realms as He was growing up as a boy, adolescent, young man, and adult (see Luke 2:52). There is no doubt that Christ learned to develop a personal intimate relationship with His heavenly Father and the person the Holy Spirit as He was being trained and prepared for His final mission and ministry upon the earth. The Messiah learned how He could enter into the rest of the Lord and into the very presence and tangible transforming glory of God before He ever began to minister. It is possible that entering into the presence of the Lord and stepping into the rest of the Lord was much more important to the Messiah than any act or miraculous deeds of His ministry, except for the Cross, the Resurrection, and the Ascension.

The Creator of Heaven and earth is revealing hidden mysteries of the Kingdom to His friends who are learning to be transformed by the Spirit of God into a royal priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek.

This article was taken from Kevin Basconi's book "The Sword of the Lord & The Rest of the Lord".

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This article was written by Kevin Basconi, for King of Glory Ministries International, PO Box 903, Moravian Falls, NC 28654. kingofgloryministries.org -336-818-1210.

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