Enter His Rest

What is this “rest”?

Firstly, One thing is clear, the blessing of God’s rest is available for us today, and is not a glimmering hope of future glory (Hebrews 4:1, 6, 9).

In the Old Testament we see other forms of rest promised and provided by God. The Israelites were invited to enter into God’s creative rest by not working on Saturdays and trusting that God would provide for them - In a world of subsistence living, this was unheard of. Yet as the Israelites expressed faith in God in this way, it was a testimony to the other nations that their God was real and powerful and faithful to his people.

But this wasn’t the only rest God offered Israel in the Old Testament. He also offered them the Promised Land and rest from their enemies. He said he would go before them and defeat their enemies so that they could live securely in the land he had given them. All they had to do was trust him and go into the land—and he would protect them so that they could settle in the land and live securely, but they forfeited this rest because they refused to trust God’s promise by going into the land. The subsequent generation did trust God, and following Joshua they entered this rest.

But even this wasn’t the ultimate rest that God offered his people. 400 years later, with the Israelites living securely in the land, David in Ps.95 speaks of yet another rest that God’s people could enter - Now Jesus the Messiah has come, and his rest of salvation is available to everyone who responds to His call.

How do we enter it?

Hebrews 4 tells us that the key to entering God’s rest is faith—unwaveringly believing in his promises and grace-filled nature (Hebrews 4: 2, 3). God has done all the work, and all of what He has accomplished is directly for our benefit.

Hebrews chapter 4 tells us what this faith looks like:

Vs.10-13 explains the NATURE of this faith, that it is not merely a sub-conscious opinion (that most Christians have, and only when things are going well), but rather, it's a conscious effort to abandon the “wisdom” of man and to actively search for the promises of God. Truly believing that He is good and 100% faithful to every single one of them, and to REST in His GOODNESS and FAITHFULNESS without wavering (no matter how difficult times may seem to get).

Vs.14-16 explains the OBJECT of this faith – a great Saviour (Jesus Christ) who sees our nakedness behind any covering, and sympathizes with us in our weakness. A Saviour Who intensely desires to give mercy and grace as we understand His Rest, and draw confidently to receive it!

Listen closely—this is the hardest part to get:

Faith involves both ceasing from your works and making every effort (Hebrews 4:10, 11). This sounds like a nonsensical paradox but this is not the case. There is a sense in which biblical faith involves both passivity and effort.

It requires passivity in the sense that you stop depending on your own resources and depend instead on God’s resources.

Yet it requires effort to choose to depend on God. We instinctively rely on our own efforts and resources instead of on God’s. This is the heart of what it means to be fallen. Faith is counter-intuitive. To walk by faith (as a fallen human being) is a deliberate choice that is usually against our feelings and “wisdom” - It was counter-intuitive for the Israelites to not work on Saturday when they didn’t have excess food. It was counter-intuitive for the Israelites to go into a land full of strong enemies.

So what, then, "persuades" us that we need to stop trusting our own resources and instead depend upon God and his provision?

The answer is God’s Word – which is LIVING AND ACTIVE (Hebrews 4:12, 13). When our hearts are soft and receptive to God's Word, our eyes open to see how desperately we need to depend upon his provision. His Word supernaturally reveals the discrepancy between what we have and what God wants us to have, and it creates a healthy “tension” that motivates us to close that gap by DEPENDING ON GOD.

To try and convince people that God’s Word changes lives is very difficult. This is because it is not an intellectual issue, but an experiential one – i.e. softened hearts (Heb 4:7) with the desire to listen (Heb 4:2) will enter His rest. God's Word is not just "information" available to download, but His Word actually "does stuff" within you because it's truly "Living and Active".

The miracle of salvation has been done already; it’s about listening, trusting and resting in Him.

This rest is constantly available to us—are we consciously laying hold of it?