REST IN GOD
Hebrews 4:1-11
Two artists attempted to paint a picture of peace. The first drew a beautiful scene. He painted an ocean still as a pond, showing a graceful sailboat passing by. Overhead the sky was blue, flecked with light, fluffy clouds. And on the shore children played in the shallows and made castles in the sand. It was a picture of peace.
The second artist’s picture was nearer to the truth. He depicted a wild and rocky shore against which angry billows burst in towering clouds of spray. The sky was black with the storm, and the surging waves towered and heaved, But far up on a rocky crag, hidden in a cleft of the rock and sheltered from the wind, sat a bird, safe and secure in her nest, looking out with a serene and untroubled eye at all the turmoil beneath. It was a picture of peace indeed.
It is a fact that we live in a warring, restless, troubled world. The peace and rest offered by the world is a far cry from that which is offered to us in Jesus Christ. He provides for us a peace and a rest that the world can never give to us (John 14:27). As we think of God’s peace and rest we must remember the warning contained in chapter three. "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." They did not enter into the promised rest for two reasons. They did not enter because they hardened their hearts and because of their unbelief.
Many people harden their hearts to God’s voice, and as a result miss our on God’s best for their lives. Through rebellion, drifting, unbelief, and sin their hearts become hardened to the truths of God that are available to us in Christ Jesus. The inspired writer uses three historical events that illustrate for us the rest God has in store for His children.
I. CREATION REST (4:4-5)
These verses refer to Genesis 2:1-3. To say that God rested on the seventh day does not mean that He stopped all activity, but that His creative work was fully completed. It is as if God sat back and enjoyed what He had created.
My wife cannot rest until the project she is working on is fully accomplished and she can step back, look at it, and say, "there, now." On the seventh day God stepped back and said "There now." The seventh day was given to Israel not to be a burden, but to just stop and enjoy God. A day of rest is needed for each of us, just to rest in the Lord. Yet man’s sin made the seventh day to be a burden.
This rest of creation is a type of redemption rest. It reminds the Christian of the work completed by Christ, who has entered into this rest, and that one day he will share in God’s rest when his own work is finished on the earth.
II. CANAAN REST (4:6-8)
Through Moses God led the children of Israel out of Egypt in order that He might lead them into the land of promise-Canaan. Yet that first generation out of Egypt forfeited their right to enter into God’s rest because of rebellion. They forfeited that rest at Kadesh Barnea. They spent the next 40 years wandering and dying in the wilderness. Only Caleb and Joshua of those over 20 had the faith to enter into the promised rest land.
Andrew Murray points out two stages in the life of Israel after their deliverance from Egypt.
First, there was the wilderness stage. “with its wanderings, its wants, its unbelief, its murmurings, its provocations of God, and its exclusion from the land of promise and rest.
Second, there was the land of promise, with rest instead of the desert wanderings, with abundance instead of want, with victory instead of defeat.
These two stages symbolize the stages of the Christian life. In the first stage, we only know Jesus as our Savior from Egypt in His work on the Cross for atonement and pardon. In the second stage we know Jesus as our glorified Priest-King in Heaven, who, in the power of the endless life, sanctifies and saves completely, writes God’s laws in the heart, and leads us to find our home in the holiest of God’s presence.
That rest was offered again after the death of Moses. Through Moses, God led Israel out of Egypt, but it was Joshua who chosen to lead the people into God’s rest land. Joshua is the O.T. parallel to the name "Jesus."
This is not to say Israel had no conflicts in Canaan for there were many battles to fight. The land had to be conquered. However, the book of Joshua generally is one of victory in the midst of conflicts. Battles were fought and won because basically they rested in the arms of God. Then there came a time when the people were given “rest” all around. (See Joshua 22:4 and 23:1-6.)
The rest of Canaan is a picture or type of consecration rest, that is, of the rest which comes from a surrender of the mind, will and heart to God which enables the believer to conquer sin. Joshua gave the children of Israel rest from their enemies but the Israelites in the wilderness through unbelief never entered into this rest.
Jesus is our heavenly Joshua who leads us into the land of rest.
III. CALVARY REST (4:9-11)
There remains a rest for the people of God. When Jesus died on the cross, His cried out "It is finished." He fully accomplished the work that The Father gave him to do.
A. Calvary Rest begins when by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ we enter into the experience of salvation. Just as the blood of the Passover Lamb was the means of Israel’s redemption from Egyptian bondage, so the Blood of Jesus Christ was the means of our redemption from the bondage of sin. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Your sin and mine. Salvation comes to us when we by faith in Jesus Christ experience the New Birth. Have you entered into Calvary Rest?
B. Calvary rest is to be enjoyed in the now. As far as his standing is concerned the believer has already entered into that rest. You and I don’t have to worry about whether we are saved or not. If we have been born again we have become partakers of Jesus Christ and His rest is available to us in the now and may be enjoyed in the now. More and more as we journey through the Book of Hebrews, we shall see what our Lord Jesus Christ is doing for us in the now.
However, often the believers state does not correspond to his standing. For example, many lack full assurance of salvation, many live defeated lives, and many are still enslaved by besetting sins. Most Christians live below the poverty level in the things of the Spirit. God’s rest must appropriated by faith. (V.11) "Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience." To be diligent also means "to strive." To strive to rest is to be confident in the promises of God found in His Word.
C. Calvary rest will be fully realized in the future when we get to heaven. The word translated “rest” in verse nine is a different word. It is the word, sabbatismos (sabbatismov", 4520), “a Sabbath-keeping,” is used in Heb. 4:9, RV, “a sabbath rest,” KJV marg., “a keeping of a sabbath” (akin to sabbatizo, “to keep the Sabbath,” used, e.g., in Exod. 16:30, not in the NT); here the sabbath-keeping is the perpetual sabbath “rest” to be enjoyed uninterruptedly by believers in their fellowship with the Father and the Son, in contrast to the weekly Sabbath under the Law. Because this sabbath “rest” is the “rest” of God Himself, 4:10, its full fruition is yet future, though believers now enter into it. In whatever way they enter into divine “rest,” that which they enjoy is involved in an indissoluble relation with God.” Hebrews 4:2 gives us two essential ingredients that are absolutely essential for entering into God’s rest. First, we must Hear the Word of the Gospel. Second, we must also believe the Word. Hearing without faith is worthless. The Word reveals the need for faith and points out the object of our faith.
CONCLUSION: A missionary in Africa offered a ride in the back of his pickup truck to a national who was walking along, struggling beneath the weight of a very heavy load. The African gladly accepted the ride. After a few miles the missionary glanced it his rearview mirror and was astonished to see the man standing stiffly upright in the back of the truck, still holding his load on his shoulders. The missionary stopped the truck to see why the man was still carrying his load. "I didn’t know the truck could carry both me and my load," was the man’s reply. Calvary rest frees us from the burden of our all our sin. Calvary rest comes to us when we lay our sins on Jesus.
