The Promise of Rest

GOD’S PROMISE OF REST Spring Valley Mennonite; October 13, 2019; Hebrews 4:1-10 This was a busy week. Five separate meetings, a home construction project, study and sermon preparation, Ministerial Alliance responsibilities—I was busy. But I’m sure many of you could match or exceed my list of activities. Our American culture is characterized by Busy-ness. Sometimes we only rest when our bodies tell us, “No more!” We recall the words of Socrates, “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” I found a poem that speaks to the busy and restless life, by poet Rik Batasa: “bored as barren a body that is bone-dry, a walk in the desert, dry as dust, Moistureless existence lips parched, a thirsty soul, a life waterless Busy, busy, busy, that is what you are. Beware, for soon in seeking life busy, busy, busy, you lose it.” Our culture seems to be characterized by almost frenetic activity. Author George Guthrie laments, “The face-paced, problem-prone, project-oriented existence many of us live resists the spiritual life, pushing away recognition of God’s voice with its invitation to rest. …In the crush and rush of weeks that flash before our eyes we sacrifice the important for the urgent, the personal for the professional, the private for the public image needed to keep our opportunities to do more and more.” Today, our passage from God’s Word speaks of a rest from God available in both the present and future for those who activate the promise with faith. We are also warned about the dangers of failing to enter that rest, as did the Jews in the wilderness. Follow along as we read the first three verses of Hebrews chapter 4. Let’s first explore: I. THE FAILURE TO ENTER REST BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF In light is the example of Israel’s failure to trust God at Kadesh-Barnea. They fell short of realizing the blessings of the Promised Land because of their unbelief. Moses made it clear that the rest for Israel was Canaan: Deuteronomy 12:9-11: “For you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the Lord you God is giving you. When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, then it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God shall choose for his name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the Lord, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God… These words were spoken by Moses 40 years after the failure of Israel at Kadish-Barnea. The warning in Hebrews is for his readers as well as for us today: make sure we do not follow their example of unbelief. This is one of several passages which seem to warn that we might fatally lose our way on our spiritual journey, that we are constantly in danger of losing our salvation. We are warned, “Let us fear” lest we should fall short of reaching that rest. I don’t believe losing salvation is an issue for a true believer who has come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. But think of the audience he is addressing, or of any group, like ours, who reads these words: there is always the possibility that there is someone listening who has heard the gospel but has not made the decision to follow Christ. It is never good to assume that someone who regularly hears the word of God has responded favorably. So, the Holy Spirit through this author often covers the possibility that there are church attenders who are not yet believers. The author reflects the reality that we have limitations on what we can know about someone’s status before God. Our only measure is what we observe in how they live their lives, but even that is not always completely clear. But we ARE told to look within ourselves, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5b, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” First John adds, “This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” These verses speak of how the inner reality of one’s relationship with God can be seen in outward actions. This is how we personally have the assurance we are true believers. If our lives never demonstrate Christlikeness, then we should ask ourselves “why?” So, we are admonished to “fear lest we fall short,” realizing the gravity of the possibility of that we might not be a true believer. Our example of Israel demonstrates that others by unbelief lost the blessing of entering into the Promised Land rest. The truth is made personal to us in seeing that the promise of rest still remains. The whole Bible is the story of God’s plan to restore the rest that Adam and Eve enjoyed before sin entered the picture. This brings into focus the question, II. “WHAT EXACTLY IS MEANT BY THIS REST?” Is this “rest” speaking of heaven, or of the present peace we can experience in a relationship with the Lord Jesus? A couple clues to the answer: the word “Today” in Psalm 95, on which this passage rests--“Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me”—speaks of a present time of opportunity. Also, if the rest is totally in the future, how could they be said to have fallen short now; in other words, if the rest is totally future, then everyone presently, if they are still living, have fallen short of that rest. You and I have not entered into our future rest if heaven is the full meaning of this rest. The best explanation is that this rest is something the Christian enters and experiences now, but that the fullest extent of the rest is in our future destination of heaven. Thus this “rest” begins when we are converted, is experienced in a close walk with God, and will be fully realized in heaven. This is confirmed by the words in verse 3, “For we who have believed enter that rest…” III. THE COMPARISON WITH GOD’S SABBATH REST Read vv. 4-5. This rest, God’s rest, is equated with the rest God had on the seventh day of creation. It is significant that each of the first six days had a beginning and an end, a morning and an evening. The seventh or sabbath day had a beginning and continues. The rest is not one caused weariness nor is it the rest of inactivity; God wasn’t tired and needing a rest, the rest signified that the work of creation was finished. It is the rest of completion. As verse 3 states, “His works were finished from the foundation of the world.” MacArthur describes the situation existing on the seventh day of creation: “When God had finished the creation, He said (briefly paraphrasing Gen. 2), “It’s done. I’ve made a wonderful world for man and woman. I’ve given them everything earthly they need, including each other, for a complete and beautiful and satisfying life. Even more importantly, they have perfect, unbroken, unmarred fellowship with Me. I can now rest; and they can rest in Me.”1 For the Jews, the sabbath was instituted as a symbol of the true rest brought in Christ. Jesus fulfilled the symbol, bringing true rest, and thus the sabbath was set aside in the New Testament. Colossians 2:16-17, “Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ” MacArthur continues, “Adam and Eve were completely righteous when they were created. They walked and talked with God as regularly and as naturally as they walked and talked with each other. They were at rest, in its original and its fullest sense. They relied on God for everything. They had no anxieties, no worries, no pain, no frustrations, no heartaches. They did not need God’s forgiveness, because they had no sin to be forgiven of. They did not need His consolation, because they were never grieved. They did not need His encouragement, because they never failed. They only needed His fellowship, because they were made for Him. This was their “rest” in God. God completed His perfect work and He rested. They were His perfect work and they rested in Him. But something terrible happened. When Satan began to impugn God’s word and integrity and love, Adam and Eve chose to believe Satan. They trusted him rather than God. And when they lost their trust in God, they lost His rest. And from that time until now, man apart from God not only has been sinful but restless. The entire purpose of the Bible and the entire working of God in human history have one theme: bringing man back into His rest.” Unquote. To bring man back into His rest, God had to remove the barrier to rest, man’s sin. This is why Jesus came, to provide a way back into God’s rest. Jesus said, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Rest is another word for life, and Jesus came to bring new life to men. IV. THE PROMISE OF REST STILL REMAINS Read vv. 6-10. Building on his discussion (Since therefore), the author moves to an implication: The rest remains and was not closed when Israel disobeyed. God again fixes a time at which one can enter His rest: Today. The reasoning follows: David lived long after the episode in the desert when Israel failed the test through unbelief. By choosing to believe and obey, the Holy Spirit spoke through the Psalmist David in Psalm 95 promising the rest still remained. This was true even though 40 years later Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land. So God’s Rest involved more than the physical possession of the Land. As we listen to God’s voice, respond in faith and belief, we can enter into God’s rest. It is a spiritual state of new life through Jesus’ completed work on the cross. Verse 10 states that this rest involves a cessation from our works, as God did from His. I see two applications from this verse: first, Salvation is by grace through faith, not a result of works. Man is infinitely creative in forming alternative pathways to find God, however he defines “God.” Every religion other than Christianity involves doing something to earn salvation or favor with their gods. Only Christianity is based on what God did for man. Man reaches up for God, but never can bridge that gap. God reached down through Jesus Christ and provided a bridge. Our sin separates us from God; Jesus died and paid the penalty for our sins. That is the first application of ceasing from our works. Salvation is a free gift, totally unearned and undeserved. A second application from the verse “the one who has entered His rest has ceased from his works” is that the fullness of our rest in God will come when the work He has given us is done, and He takes us to heaven. We each have an appointed task on earth as believers. When that is finished, our life will be finished. Jesus instructed His disciples in John 9:4, “We must work the works of Him who sent me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work.” Today is the day of salvation. There will come a day when there will be no more opportunity, and only judgment awaits. No one knows the day of their death, and after that there will be no second chances. “Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.” If we have come to know Jesus, we can experience present peace and rest as we trust Him, casting our burdens on Him and leave them there! We look forward to when Jesus returns and we enter into our final eternal rest in heaven.