WE WHICH HAVE BELIEVED DO ENTER INTO REST

 

"There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." (Hebrews 4:9, 10 NKJV). 

It is very rewarding, after spending hours mowing and trimming the grass, edging around the walkways, and mulching the flower beds, to sit down with a cold drink in hand and rest from one's labors.  It is good also, after feeling the stress and activity of one's job all year long, to just get away on vacation and relax for a time.  Such times of rest are all the sweeter to us because we feel that we have earned them by our labors.  God’s view of rest is not the same as our view of rest, however.  God has a different rest that He has promised to His people.

 In the Old Testament (under the old covenant), God commanded the Israelites to cease from all their work and rest every seventh day of the week.  "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:10, 11).  God asked man to honor Him and cease from his own labors for just one day out of seven, spending his time worshipping and meditating on his Creator.  Unfortunately, this came to be too much of a "burden" to Israel, and they found ways to do as they pleased on the Sabbath.  The religious leaders of Jesus' day violated the letter of the law when it was convenient, but were critical of Jesus when He would heal or cast out devils on the Sabbath.  But, yes, God has a different rest that He has promised to His people.

 The seventh day of the week on the Jewish calendar is Saturday, not Sunday.  To truly keep the law of the Sabbath, we would need to observe Saturday as our day of rest.  Many Christians have applied the ordinances of the Jewish Sabbath to Sunday, the Lord’s Day, and will not do any physical labor or shop from merchants who are open on that day.  They spend the day in church and in Bible study and even prepare food to eat the day ahead, or fast all day.  While I admire the devotion behind their efforts, I believe that God had something much better in mind for His people. 

 God established the Sabbath Rest when He, through His Word, spoke all things into existence in the first six days of creation.  After He had completed all His works, and set all things in motion, God sat down to rest on the seventh day.  He was at peace with what He had made, and was content that things would proceed according to His purpose until His ultimate plan of redemption was fulfilled.  He felt no need to “tweak” things, add updates, or make corrections.  His plan was perfect in every detail.  God does not fret over the condition of the world, though I am sure that it grieves Him greatly.  He knows that things will wrap up just as He has foreseen and that His Son Jesus Christ will finally be glorified, and His will done on earth even as it is in heaven.  From the beginning, however, God intended His Sabbath Rest to be more than just the observance of a day of the week.  Paul chided the churches in Galatia when he wrote, “…how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” (Galatians 4:9-11).  He also wrote to the Colossian believers regarding Sabbath keeping when he said, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:16, 17).  In other words, Paul was saying that the Sabbath day of rest was simply a type and shadow of something much more important, and that thing was Christ Himself!    

Jesus said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30).  It is exhausting trying to live the Christian life by one's own willpower and strength.  It is a yoke that we are not engineered to be able to bear.  We need a Savior every moment of every day.  It isn't just about honoring God one day a week.  It is a matter of devoting ourselves to God every moment of every day of the week.  It is learning to cease from doing things by our own strength, and letting God work through us.  "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10).  Jesus is our Sabbath Rest!  There is nothing that we can add to the finished work of Christ.  It is a matter of standing on the ground that He has won for us, and not allowing the enemy to deceive us into thinking that it is not ours to occupy.  Faith is the victory!  It is no longer a question of overcoming sin and temptation in our life, it is a question of resting in the victory that Christ has already won for us, and not giving it up.  God has given us the power to overcome sin through Christ our Lord.  We must trust in this grace and stand on the ground that He has purchased for us with so great a price.  It is they WHO HAVE BELIEVED who enter into God's rest (Hebrews 4:3). 

Please do not misunderstand me to say that as Christians we are not to do anything.  Quite the contrary!  The true believer will find himself or herself very busy with the work of the Lord, but it will be the Lord Himself initiating and directing that work.  He gives us the power, wisdom, and anointing to accomplish it.  It will not originate from our emotions, intellect, or will.  It will come at the direction of the Holy Spirit as He communes with our spirit and speaks God’s will to us through the Word of Truth.  He will open opportunities for us to share the Gospel Message with others in a multitude of ways.  These labors will bring us joy, rest, and humility because we will recognize that it is God Who is working in us to do His perfect will.

In Paul's letter to the Ephesian church, the apostle outlines the victory that God has secured for us in Christ.  He emphasizes the finality and totality of that victory when he reveals that God has set His Son Jesus Christ at His own right hand, and has put all things under Christ's feet.  He is above all power, might, dominion, principality, and every name that is or ever can be named.  He has finished the work that His Father sent Him to do, and has now entered into eternal rest with the Father.  Sitting down with the Father suggests the finality of His labor - nothing more needs to be added.  The really astounding thing, however, is that God has placed us in Christ, and has set us down together with Him in His throne.  "But God...hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4, 6). 

God identifies us with His Son.  Having been born again, we are now considered to be "in Christ," and He in us.  This means that as Christians, all that Christ has done, He did for us and in our place.  Did Christ overcome sin?  Then we have power to overcome sin in Christ (“I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13).  Was Christ crucified?  Then we have been crucified with Christ (“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Galatians 2:20).  Did Christ rise from the dead?  Then we, too, are raised to new life in Christ through faith (Romans 8:11).  Did Christ defeat Satan, ascend up to the throne of God, and receive power and authority over all the forces of the enemy?  Then we, too, have promise of all of that in Christ our Savior.  In fact, Christ is the Tree of Life and the True Vine from Whom we draw all the fruits of righteousness and holiness.  This is the ultimate rest that God has promised to His people.  It is only when we have entered into this rest with Christ that we can live for Him.  In the natural, we work, and then we rest.  In Christ, we sit first, and then find the power to enter into His work.  When God created the heavens and the earth, He worked six days, and then rested the seventh.  Man was created on the sixth day, so man’s first day was God's sabbath rest denoting that this is where we must all begin if we would do God’s will.  Our works require exertion, produce stress, and breed pride.  God’s works bring us peace, confidence, and rest in our inner man.  Scripture tells us, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” (Hebrews 11:4).  Abel’s offering to God was acceptable because it involved blood and was a sweet savor - a foretaste - of Christ’s future sacrifice for mankind.  The gift had nothing to do with Abel’s labor or works.  Cain’s offering, on the other hand, was all about his works.  He plowed, he planted, he cultivated, and he harvested.   All of it was symbolic of man’s works outside of Christ.  For this reason, God rejected Cain’s offering.  By this we know that we cannot be accepted before God on our own merit or efforts.  We can only be accepted “in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6).  “For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.” (Isaiah 30:15).

At one point in Jesus’ ministry, He said to His disciples, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.” (Mark 6:31).  St. Mark explains the reason for this, “…for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.”  The disciples must have been grateful for this consideration, and I’m sure that they were ready for a much needed break from the crowds that were constantly thronging Jesus.  They must have been hungry, tired, and ready for a mini vacation at this point.

“And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.” (Mark 6:32).  So far, so good.  I’m sure they felt that they had slipped away from the crowds quite successfully.  Things then went all “wrong,” however.  Scripture records, “…the people saw them departing, and many knew Him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto Him.” (vs. 33).  It appeared that the disciples’ chance for a break had been ruined.  It would have been hard for them not to feel some disappointment because of this.  They had certain expectations about how things were going to go for them, and now those expectations had been dashed.  Jesus’ reaction to this turn of events was quite different though.  “And Jesus, when He came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and He began to teach them many things.” (vs. 34).  Jesus was all about ministering to people’s needs, not being waited upon by others.  Love and compassion were at the heart of all He did.  The disciples needed to learn this important lesson. 

“And when the day was now far spent, His disciples came unto Him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed: send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.” (Mark 6:35, 36).  Jesus’ disciples were fearful that, as the day grew later, the chances of someone perhaps fainting from fatigue on the way home would be increased because they were in a desert place and had not eaten all day.

“He [Jesus] answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat.  And they say unto Him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?  He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see.  And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.  And He commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.  And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.” (Mark 6:37-40).  There was a lad there that had brought a lunch for himself consisting of some small loaves of bread and two fish.  The boy was willing to give up what he had to the Lord.  What is insufficient in our own hands can become more than sufficient when we offer it to the Savior.

“And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided He among them all.  And they did all eat, and were filled.” (Mark 6:41, 42).  In Jesus’ hands, little becomes much!  Notice that He put the disciples to work by placing the food back in their hands after He blessed it.  They then distributed it to the groups who were on the grass.  As they broke portions off to give to individuals, what they had in their hands would multiply!  This was not work at all, at least not their work.  They must have been enlivened, invigorated, blessed, and inspired as they experienced the miracle that was taking place in their own hands!  This was the Lord’s work, and they had just been allowed to enter into His work.  In this they found the rest that Jesus promised them.  The needs that would have been taxing for them to fulfill, Jesus was more than able to meet Himself.  They learned that day that they could always find rest in Him.  Rest is not the absence of needs or responsibilities.  It is the assurance that God has already met those needs through the abundant grace that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. 

“And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.  And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.” (Mark 6:43, 44).  We find in Christ an overabundance of riches and grace to more than meet every need!

The people were excited that Jesus could multiply the food in such a way, and so they asked Him what they needed to do in order to work the works of God themselves (John 6:28).  Jesus’ answer was simple.  He said, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him [Jesus], Whom He [God] hath sent.” (v. 29).  We must quit concentrating on what we can do, and focus on what He has already done.

We must remember that the Christian life is a progressive walk.  God speaks to us through His Word and reveals His nature to us.  As we behold the Lord more clearly, we also see where we are not like Him.  This brings us to a decision.  We can become offended at what we see, and refuse to receive the Lord's evaluation of us.  Sure, we can continue on as we were, but there will be a rift between our soul and the Father.   On the other hand, we can humbly accept what our loving Father has shown us, and receive grace and mercy from Him to change a little more into His likeness.  We always find that the formula is the same, though.  We must learn to sit before we can walk or even stand; we must learn to rest before we can work.  All to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Hebrews 3 echoes the 95th Psalm when it says, "To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." (Hebrews 3:7b, 8a).  Paul then compares the children of Israel as they were wandering through the wilderness under Moses with the believers of his day.  In the case of the Jews who followed Moses, they often hardened their hearts and provoked God with their unbelief.  God says, "I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known My ways.  So I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest." (Hebrews 95:10, 11).  When we go to the mirror, it is normally because we are willing to correct whatever it is that we see needs done: whether it is to brush our hair, wash our face, or shave.  If we are not willing to make the changes, then it is futile to even look in the mirror in the first place.  The Word of God is a powerful mirror that reflects the condition of our own soul.  When God shows us these things, we can then come boldly before the throne of grace and find mercy, and grace to help in time of need.  It requires faith on our part, however, if we want the formula to work.  Without it we cannot please God.  Paul tells us that being exposed to the preaching of the Word is not enough – it must be mixed with faith in them that hear it or it will not be effective (Hebrews 4:2).  It is God Who is perfecting His will in us.  It is God Who is working in us to affect both a willingness to do His will, and also the ability to do it. 

The less we have to bring to God naturally, the greater the potential for what He can do in us.  Our own natural talents and abilities can become a hindrance to us if we rely on those talents instead of on God.  As St. Paul tells us, “…ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

We tend to make serving God difficult, but He has always intended it to be simple – an easy yoke, a light burden, a rest.  "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3).  It is we who have believed who will enter into His rest!