God's Rest

 

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.

—Hebrews 4:1

 

Today’s verse speaks of entering a place called God’s rest through faith. If we are to enter God’s rest, we must know what it is. 

“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 2:2-3).

“God’s rest” was how He responded to the completion of His perfect work. He called His creation “good”, and He called His ultimate creation of man, “very good”. God’s rest is His reaction to His finished creation. 

In Genesis 2:3 God “sanctified” the seventh day. It was “made holy.” This is the first time “made holy” is referred to in the Word. It is an important fact that God made His rest holy. There is a connection between rest and holiness.  

 

Spiritual rest is the result of knowing God has made us holy through the redemptive and finished work of Jesus. If you want to live a holy life, you start by believing Jesus alone is the One who made you holy. 

God’s work was to “speak” His creation into existence. Just like the old creation came into existence by God’s Word, the new creation is conceived in the incorruptible seed of His Word. If God’s work was to speak life to His creation, then our work is to believe what He has said. 

After the feeding of the five thousand, the disciples asked Jesus, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

In Matthew 17:15 God said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him.” (Matthew 17:5).

God instructed us to hear Jesus because the same God who spoke us into creation speaks through His Son.

Jesus spoke: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live”(John 5:24-25).

 

How do we go from death to life? By hearing God’s Word and believing it in our hearts. 

 

Hebrews 1:2-3 speaks of Jesus, after purging our sins, He sits down on His Father's right hand. He rested from His work for the redemption of man just like His Father rested from His work of speaking mankind into existence. Jesus sat down because the purging of our sins and our sanctification was completed.

The finished redemptive work of Jesus comes to live in the spirit of each born-again believer. In our born-again spirits, we are at peace with God. Don’t you want to experience this peace controlling your life? To enter His rest of peace of mind and heart, we must believe the new creation He has made us. We believe by faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word. We renew our minds with God’s Word until its seed of truth is conceived in our hearts. 

God’s rest is not ceasing from work. We, too, must work. It is our work to be renewed in our minds by His truth. It is our work to create fertile soil in our hearts for His incorruptible seed. It is our work to guard the seed of the Word planted by faith in our hearts. It is His work that brings the seed to fullness of life in us. Spiritual growth is believing what He has given us and allowing it to transform our lives into God’s image of us.

God rested from creating the old. Jesus rested from creating the new. We have the promise of entering the rest of God. 

Hebrews 4:1 says not to let fear keep us from entering God’s rest. To me, His rest is a place in Him where even though fear comes against us, it cannot control us. It is a place where the enemy may try to control us, yet we fight with the peace of God Jesus won for us. While I will never be perfect in my flesh, His rest is a place where I work out the incredible gift of the salvation I have received in Him. It is a place where I choose to walk in the Spirit, and the flesh is defeated by Him. It is a place where I have the power to choose His life over death, His blessing over curse, and where all His spiritual fruit flows without hindrance.

The intricate beauty and purposes of God’s Word are always being revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. Thank you for allowing me to share today. But don’t take what I say at face value. God has His revelation for you in His Word. The Holy Spirit may reveal to you a different perspective on a Scripture from someone else. If it is His revelation of God’s truth, your revelation of truth will be confirmed throughout other Scriptures and will not compromise the surrounding content of the text or other Scriptures. 

The power of the spoken Word of God brought you into existence, and the power of the spoken Word in your life will continue to speak life to you. We are growing in God this year at our church! Grow in Him! Get in God's Word!

 

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