Are you experiencing God’s rest right now? Are you resting in God’s presence?
Today, God is calling us to encounter Him. He is urging us not to be satisfied or deceived by superficial religion, but to experience a deep, personal relationship with Him. He is calling us to throw aside our sin and come to Him for grace and mercy. He wants to give us rest. Are you resting in Jesus today?
Today, we’ll see how Hebrews 3-4 interprets and applies the Old Testament story of Israel for us and calls us all into a vibrant, life-giving relationship with God.
Read Hebrews 3:7-4:16. As you read it, look for:
- What “God’s rest” is not.
- What “God’s rest” is and how we enter it.
- Why this is so important.
What “God’s rest” is not.
- It is not God’s rest from the work of creation (4:3-4). Ever since God first made the world, He has been resting from creation. Not that He’s tired, but this rest means He is no longer creating the world. “His works were finished from the creation of the world.” When God created the world, He worked. But on the 7th day He rested, and so the whole of human history has been during this time of God’s rest from creation. But God says, that this is not the “rest” He is referring to.
- It is not the Promised Land (4:8). Joshua led the people into the land, which was called the “resting place” for Israel. We just read Joshua in our Bible reading plan for this year. In Joshua 1:13, it says, ‘The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ After a long sojourn in the wilderness for 40 years, they finally arrived in the promised resting place, the land of Canaan. But this also was not the “rest of God” that He is talking about.
This second point is really profound! Joshua led the people into the Promised Land, the “resting place.” Yet hundreds of years later, in Psalms 95, David says that Israel may still not be in the true rest of God. In other words, in David’s day, they were literally living in the physical land (the “resting place”). Yet David realized that God intended something much deeper and more personal. So, he urges his fellow Israelites to listen to God and enter into God’s true rest. “Just because you live in the promised land of Canaan doesn’t mean you are really in the true rest of God.” David is saying to those who are physically in the land, “you may still be in the wilderness spiritually.”
For us, I think the challenge is the same, for both non-Christians and Christians alike. For the Christian, you may be involved in various Christian activities and they may be meaningful ones, but are you resting in God? Going to church, reading the Bible, getting baptized, sharing the gospel, being a missionary, or whatever, does not mean you or I are really living today in the rest that God wants to give us. Therefore, He says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
What “God’s rest” is and how we enter it
Listening to God with a soft heart. Not resisting the gospel. (3:7-8)
Ceasing from our works, especially religious attempts to be good enough or to do enough. Resting in God and His salvation. (4:9-10. The reason I think it is especially talking about religion is that the whole book of Hebrews is an argument against continued forms and rituals of Judaism, showing how Jesus has done for real what all the forms of the Old Covenant did imperfectly and partially).
Entering this rest by faith. At a most basic level, it means that when we hear what God is saying, we believe Him (4:3). What is God saying to you recently or today?
Living in God’s real presence. (I’m bringing in thoughts from Hebrews 10 and 12 here, but they are critical to understand that we are talking about the real salvation we have through Christ and of the whole point: draw near to God. Be in God’s presence! Be sure to look at Hebrews 10:19-22 and 12:18-24).
Why this is so important
The book of Hebrews makes very clear that this salvation in Christ is God’s “final answer.” Jesus is not a symbol pointing us to something or someone else. Actually, it’s the opposite: everything else points to Him. He is the real deal. The salvation He offers is the true salvation, which means it is the only salvation. That’s why Hebrews often repeats stern warnings “not to refuse him who speaks,” “not to fail to reach it” and so forth.
Stated positively, Jesus offers real salvation, the real way to reconnect with God, real access to God Himself. Stated negatively, if we reject Jesus, there is no hope for us. In Revelation, the last book of the Bible, it says of those who will not turn to Jesus, that “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” This eternal judgment is described as “no rest, day or night.” (Revelation 14:11)
That is why we need to listen to Jesus. He said, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” And here in Hebrews 3:7 and 4:3. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…we who believe enter that rest.”
It says “we who believe,” but believe what? That Jesus is our high priest, who has gone through the heavens, and that because of Him, we can come into God’s presence and ask for grace and mercy. That’s what we are to believe. Look at how God says it in 4:14-16.
In closing, spend some time in prayer, perhaps using these questions as a guide:
(1) Read Hebrews 3:7. God, am I listening to You and experiencing Your rest? Or am I satisfied with religion, with a superficial association with Jesus or the Bible? What are the enemies in my own heart that are drawing me to sin and heart-idolotry? Help me repent and turn from those and help me long for You.
(2) Read Hebrews 4:1. Father, are there any friends in my life who come to mind when I read this verse? How can I encourage them today to enter Your rest, to really grasp this part of the gospel, which is the very heart of the matter? You want us to cast aside any sins and distractions and live in Your presence – that’s the whole point of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection. How can I practically help this friend or friends to understand and want this kind of relationship with You today?
