A promise remains of entering His rest

Hebrews 4 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Believer’s Rest

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. ² For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. ³ For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; ⁵ and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” ⁶ Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, ⁷ He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” ⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. ⁹ So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. ¹¹ Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. ¹² For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³ And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The focus of today’s text is entering the rest of God. The writer begins:  Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.  We need to know and understand what the rest of God is, before we can know whether we have or have not entered into it. The writer makes several comparisons or examples. First, he says: although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”    God rested from His work of creation. God didn’t retire. He didn’t sit down in His easy chair never to work again. God’s rest was a time to enjoy what He had created. The whole universe, all of creation still depends on the active works of God. He balances the effects of the sun. He maintains the course of the earth’s rotation and its turning on its axis. He uses the force of gravity to maintain that orbit and to keep us standing on the earth’s surface. God has not stopped creating. He creates each new life. He says:  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you” (Jeremiah 1:5) The rest of God was not a permanent stoppage of His work, it was to look on and enjoy what He had created. The rest of God we are to enter is not a stoppage of all our work, it is for us the creation to stop and look on and enjoy, to appreciate and worship our creator.

The text continues:   since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,  He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”  For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.    Joshua led the nation of Israel into their promised land. In Joshua 21:43-45 it says:     So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it.  And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand.  Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.      There was a rest from their enemies which the Lord provided the Israelites. He brought to pass every promise He had made. We too have been given and granted promises from God. We too have an inheritance which we are to possess, a shelter and a rest from our enemies. In Isaiah 54:17 God says:  “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.”      That is the heritage we have in Christ. We have been given all the promises of God, none of His promises will fail. Yet it says that Joshua did not give them their rest in God. There is another day, there is more that they and we have been given. God’s rest is even more.  

The text says:   For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.      “Just as God did from His”     We are to rest as God did. It is not a rest of slumber. If God had rested completely, all that He created would have returned to the chaos from which He created it. There is a natural scientific law, the law of entropy, which says that all things will naturally tend to break down, to go from a state of order to disorder. This basic scientific principle contradicts the theories and speculations of those who believe that all of the order and structure of creation could have come through a random sequence of events, through coincidence. For us though it reminds us that if God did not rest completely and we are to rest as He did, then we are to find our rest in doing His works. Ephesians 2:8-10 says:    For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.      It is not by our works that we are saved, not by our own struggling and striving, but rather by the grace of God. Yet when we are saved, we are recreated in Christ, to do the good works of God.  Jesus Himself says this about His rest:   “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)    The rest of God, found in Christ, is found or obtained in being yoked to Him. A yoke is an instrument of work not slumber. The rest of God is a peace and a comfort we find in walking and working with Him.    When we are yoked to Christ, the burden is easy and light, because Jesus Himself is doing the hard work. He has in fact already done the work. It is easy to walk in the finished work of Christ.   The difficult times come when we move in our own strength or our own agenda, opposed to God’s will. Before he became a servant of Christ, yoked to Him, Jesus confronted Paul saying: 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' (Acts 26:14)

We each have that same choice, to either enter the rest of being yoked to Christ, walking and working with Him, or to strive and struggle, working in our own strength, kicking against the will and the promises of God. The text says:    Therefore, since 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 One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.    Jesus Himself knows every struggle we face. He knows every temptation. He Himself has already faced them and He has overcome. He faced temptation without sin and He overcame the enemy. Why then would we not want to draw near to the one who has overcome? Why would we want to walk without Him? He knows the way. He is the way. Jesus says:   “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6) To find and enter the rest of God, we must enter through and with Christ.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, thank You for Your rest, not a rest of slumber or inactivity, but a rest that comes from walking and working with You. Thank You that as You rested to look upon Your creation, so too I can find rest drawing near and looking upon You. I gladly take Your yoke upon me to walk and work with You.   Amen