Sabbath Rest

Joshua 11:23; Hebrews 4:1-13

Joshua and his people rested from war… and yet there was still more to be done. God recognizes our need to rest and recover. He created us that way, and gifted us with cycles and seasons of rest. Joshua’s rest and Sabbath Day are both shadows of the rest that we find / will find in Jesus.

Desperate for Rest

Snowboarding with kids on Tuesday. Absolutely amazing day, and by the end they were exhausted… but I got to go on the actual chair lift with each of them and we went on one full family ride. There was a lot of falling, but a lot of fun. Really a perfect day.

We gathered our things. Returned the kids’ rental gear. I reach into my pocket for the keys…

Pocket is empty. Jacket is empty. I start doing the frantic pat-down. I search the backpack even though I know I didn’t put it in the backpack.

The kids shoes are in the car, so we walk up to the lodge in their socks! Moments ago they were tired and satisfied. Now they are tired and freaking out! “Dad, I just want to go home!”

“I know, I am so sorry!” I run to the pro shop, nobody turned in keys. I run to the lift operators, nothing. I have that Tile thing, and it says “last seen in this area” with a circle around the whole valley. Helpful!

I start walking around the slopes, hoping I will reconnect. I check the pro shop again. Nothing. Then they close… and we have nothing. Kids are crying “We just want to go home!!!”

What do you even do? I look it up on the internet. Call a locksmith. He can be there in an hour.

From a perfect day… to breakdown. Desperate to distract the kids, I bring them over to the bar. He sells candy bars and soda and I get them some treats. And I ask the question I have been asking everyone on the mountain “has anyone turned in car keys.”

He smiles and says “for a Toyota?” “Yes…” And he lifts up my keys from behind the bar. Easter miracle.

We have never been so happy to get in our car. I almost cried, no lie. The kids collapsed in. And we got to go home!

It was a beautiful day. Learning new things, striving and struggling… but it wasn’t complete until we were home and until we got to rest.

Anybody here tired of struggling and striving? “Look God, the trip was fun, but I am ready to rest now!”

Joshua and the Struggle

Joshua and the people of Israel have been wandering for 40 years and then at war for many years, maybe more than a decade!

They have been dreaming of “home”… but they have never had one. The big promise of God was that they would have “homes”, a “promised land”, houses that they don’t have to build and fruit that they didn’t plan. But there is a word that captures all of it.

The destination of the people of Israel isn’t a location: it is a way of life. Rest in the Presence.

Exodus 33:14

14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

It isn’t just being in the land… that is the location. It is about a whole way of life in the land. Or more, a way of life with the Lord. Rest in the Presence of God.

And even in the wandering, even before they are in the land, God teaches them a way of practicing that rest. He teaches them the Sabbath day, manna doesn’t come that day, that day is holy and set apart, it’s origin in creation, but schooled into the people during the Exodus.

Now for 40 years they have been practicing the rest, and at last, in Joshua 11, they get to enter into a fulfillment of that promise of rest to the people.

Joshua 11:23

23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.

All that striving. And at last they have an end to war.

Except they Didn’t

Joshua is somewhat hyperbolic in the idea that they were “done”. Later in the book we will see that there are still cities left to conquer. There are still tribes who haven’t claimed there inheritance. Indeed, the people of Israel never fully take hold of the entire Promised Land.

They enter into “rest”, but it is again partial and temporary. The land has rest from war… but more war is coming. What they have is a foretaste of a greater rest to come. And the weekly Sabbath remains as a gift, to practice that coming rest in the Presence of God.

Rest That Remains

The author of Hebrews looks back to those who were led out of Egypt by Moses. Those who sinned and died in the wilderness, unable to enter the promised land, unable to enter the “rest of God” because of unbelief.

Hebrews 4:1-13

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,

‘They shall not enter my rest,’”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said,

“They shall not enter my rest.”

6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

The Fear of God… am I good enough?

Have I lost my key to heaven?

“strive to enter that rest”? That is a funny phrase, isn’t it? How does this work? The language of this first part of Hebrews is a language of striving, even a language of fear. Remember verse 1

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

That is the great fear of mankind: “I am not going to get in.” I won’t get to go home. I have lost my key and I am stuck here in the cold, in the striving, in the work, with no end and now reward. And it’s really my fault because I didn’t work hard enough… or I did it wrong… or I am just wrong and bad and not enough.

Does anyone else get tired of striving? Of worrying about whether we are good enough? Of being terrified that we have lost our key… or maybe we never had the key… and after our little trip here is done, are we going to get to go home and rest?

Hebrews 4:14-16

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The confidence of rest.

With “confidence” draw near to the throne of grace.

Because he died for our sin. He died for our unbelief. He died for our unsteady hearts, our questions, our doubts and our fears. He died for our insecurities.

And then he rose again. A living high priest who intercedes on our behalf.

And that high priest says to you: Come to me all you who are weary and burned and I will give you rest.

Sing – Come Unto Me

This is the rest that is coming, of which every other “rest” is a shadow. Rest in the presence of Jesus. Knowing that we are saved. Knowing that we are loved. Knowing that we are clean and forever “good enough” because He is perfect for us. Knowing that we are forever alive because He is alive.

We can practice entering that rest every day. Because of his death and resurrection you are free from “earning”, free from striving to be “good enough.” His death has made you “good enough”, perfect even. And in his resurrection is your promise of eternal life in his perfection, remade in his image.

We practice entering that rest in a special holy way every Sabbath – resting into the presence of God. Abiding in him and him alone. We still need the Sabbath because we aren’t fully in that rest yet. We still strive, we still strain, it is here and not yet, we are being sanctified, but we are not yet perfect.

We practice rest. We practice entering into His presence. For that is the ultimate destination of Creation, of you and I and all who call upon His name. Rest in the Promised Land in the Presence of our Savior.

Practicing the Presence

And today we are going to practice the presence in another way. In remembrance of his death and in celebration of his resurrection victory.