Promised Rest for God’s People
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. The old has passed away. This is possible not just because of the work of the cross, but also what was given us through the cross.
Romans 8:32–39 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5:5–8 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Titus 3:4–7 But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
- Even Jesus rested Himself.
- He got alone with the Father.
- We want to be ready to do what God has called US to do.
Mark 6:30-32 Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile. He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone
Hebrews 4:1-16 Promised Rest for God’s People
God’s promise of entering HIS REST still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.
Entering into God’s rest isn’t automatic. As a believer, it is our responsibility to labor – to enter into the place of rest that God has given us. We enter into Gods rest through belief. Just as it was with the Israelites who came out of Egypt. God intended not only to bring them out of Egypt but also to bring them into the land of promise, but it didn’t happen, because of their unbelief.
2 For this good news that God has prepared THIS REST has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.
The Israelites didn’t hear the Gospel as we do, but they had a picture and type through the Passover lamb. They weren’t delivered because of any holiness of their own. They were saved from the death angel and from Egyptian bondage because they partook in the sacrifice.
God’s Word never fails. God’s Word holds tremendous power. The Word is eternal. Not one promise will God ever break. However, that power will not be released until we believe it.
Many people know God’s Word is true and pray for its power to be released in their lives. But it won’t happen through desire alone. We have to believe it. Many people are afraid to believe because they know true faith demands actions. It’s easier to just pray and then, if nothing happens in the physical, say, “We are waiting on God.” Or it must have been Gods’ will. But God is waiting for us to believe.
3 For only we who believe can enter HIS REST. As for the others, God said, In my anger I took an oath: They will never enter my place of rest, even though this rest has been ready since he made the world.
Adam and Eve were created last, at the very end of creation, and then moved immediately into the Lord’s rest. They didn’t have to plant the trees or wait years for them to bear fruit. The trees were already there with fruit on them. The climate was just right. Everything was perfect for them. They just rested in what was already done.
That’s the way it is in the new birth. Jesus has already purchased salvation and all its benefits for us. It’s already done. We don’t have to pray and ask God to heal us or prosper us. It’s already a done deal. We just need to rest in what has already been provided. There is a place we can reach where we aren’t striving to get God to bless us but are resting by faith in what has already been done.
4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: On the seventh day GOD RESTED from all his work.
This is a quote from Genesis 2:2, which says, “And on the seventh day God ended the work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all the work which he had made.” So, the rest spoken of in this chapter is being compared to the Sabbath rest that God took after creation. The Old Testament Sabbath was primarily a picture of the New Testament rest in Christ.
The Sabbath pictured our rest in the Lord in the sense that just like God created everything that Adam and Eve would need before they were created, likewise everything we would ever need was purchased for us before we were born again. We don’t have to ask the Lord to come and die for us. It’s already been done. We can simply receive our salvation. We don’t have to ask the Lord to heal us. It’s already been done. We can simply rest in the fact that it has been done and receive our healing. It’s the same with prosperity, joy, deliverance, and everything else we could ever need. The supply was made before we ever had the need.
5 But in the other passage God said, they will never enter MY PLACE OF REST.
This passage is referring to those who are not believers or believers that do NOT believe.
6 So GOD’S REST is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God.
This is yet another demonstration of God’s love. He has provided everything for us and it’s our responsibility to simply believe and receive it. I know it sounds too good to be true, but this is how much God loves us. His desire is that we have a personal relationship with Him. This type of thinking is also totally opposite to the way the world thinks and operates.
David spoke in Psalm 95:11 about entering into a rest. Therefore it is evident that the rest the Lord took after Creation. This rest wasn’t the first or the last rest. There was still a rest to be entered into in the days of David. And this was after the children of Israel had entered into the Promised Land. So, the occupation of the Promised Land wasn’t the fulfillment of God’s Sabbath rest either. The author was revealing that our trust and reliance on Christ’s completed work is the rest that was prophesied and is available to all believers today.
7 So God set another time for entering HIS REST, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.
I love that when God makes a promise that He never goes back on His Word. His promises are always yes and amen. (meaning they will happen).
David’s statement about entering into the rest of the Lord in Psalms 95 was made 400 years after the children of Israel had occupied the Promised Land. Therefore, the occupation of the land of Canaan could not have been the fulfillment of entering into the Lord’s rest. The rest that is available to us is only fulfilled as we rest in what the Lord Jesus has accomplished for us through His atonement.
8 Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another DAY OF REST still to come.
This is not speaking about Jesus, but this is a reference to Joshua. Jesus is the Greek version of the name Joshua. The writer was saying that if Joshua bringing the children of Israel into the Promised Land had been the fulfillment of entering into the Lord’s rest, then David wouldn’t have spoken of entering into the Lord’s rest in Psalms 95, 400 years later. The Jews’ occupation of the Promised Land was not the rest that David spoke of. There is yet another rest that is to come.
9 So there is a SPECIAL REST still waiting for the people of God.
I love this, that God said there is a special rest for us, His people. This is a wrap of the statements made in the previous verses; that the Old Testament prophecies and the picture of the Old Testament sabbath were a foreshadowing of the amazing rest that is now available to us in the New Testament through faith in Christ.
10 For all who have entered into GOD’S REST have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world.
Please note there are more details given on the podcast – this post is an outline of the teaching.
11 So let us do our best to ENTER THAT REST. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
So, this laboring to rest sounds a bit contradictory. To truly rest in the Lord takes effort on our part; that is where the laboring comes into play. Our human nature wants to do something to be worthy of the Lord’s blessings. But the truth is that we can never deserve the goodness of the Lord. We have to stop trying to get God’s love and blessings. Everything has already been given to us because of God’s love.
We need to simply REST in what Jesus has freely provided to us through grace. To quit relating to God based on our own works takes effort. We need to start trusting totally in what Jesus did for us; and knowing that is more than enough. We have to labor to rest.
12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
This REST is such a place of peace and joy with the Lord. One of the ways to ensure you can receive this rest is to labor in the Word. This passage about the Word is one of my favorites because it emphasizes that the Bible is not just any dead book. The Word of God is alive and it’s the ONLY thing that can separate our soul and spirit.
The soul and spirit are our heart and mind and they function as one. Only under the intense scrutiny of the Word of God can distinguish between them.
The relationship between soul and spirit is like the relationship between joints and marrow. The marrow of the bone is where blood (the life-giving force) is produced. But all the bones of the body are joined together by joints. Without joints, the body would not be able to function the way it does.
Likewise, our born-again spirits are the life-giving part of us. But our spirits are connected to our bodies by our souls. The life that is in our born-again spirits cannot reach our bodies except through our souls. Therefore, the renewing of our minds is essential to release the life that is in our spirits.
13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.
15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.