day seventeen: enter His rest

1Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.[a] 3Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

"So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'

"[b] And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work."[c] 5And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest."
6It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:

"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts."[d]

8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

(Hebrews 4:1-8)

The book of Hebrews talks a lot about "rest". A subject that is extremely important in American culture. Most people I know are over-scheduled, overly stressed and under-rested.

He who burns his candle from both ends is not as bright as he thinks he is.

God made the necessity of sabbath rest one of His ten commandments! The implication is that a society that is restless and workaholic is one that is as abusive and sinful as one that values adultery, stealing and dishonesty. Our culture may very well be the most restless and workaholic in human history.

There are two meanings of the word "rest" as used by the writer of Hebrews:

1. the "rest" of entering the promised land and
2. God's "rest" on the seventh day of creation.

He uses them interchangeably in this passage, giving the impression that the two, though separate in meaning, are inseparable in the way we apply them.

The rest of the promised land was literally "liberation from slavery". God told them to remember that they were once slaves in Egypt but that they were liberated by His mighty hand, and therefore, on the seventh day, they were to take a "sabbath rest" in celebration.

When we rest it is as if we are saying, "I am free from you work, you are not my master, I am not your slave, I can put you down at any time!" The sabbath establishes the proper order of things. It is your way of declaring that God is on the throne of your life and nothing else.

The second meaning here is very important. God's rest on the seventh day was not rest because God was weary or tired or out of breath. God does not sleep or slumber, nor does He get tired. The Bible says that when God finished His work, He stepped back and said, "It is good." In other words, this kind of rest is a deep sense of satisfaction that your work is complete. It is a satisfaction with who you are and who God created you to be.

Before their sin in the garden, Adam and Eve were in perfect rest and satisfaction with who God created them to be. They were naked but felt no shame. They had the "rest". They had shalom- they lived in peace with God and each other. With their sin, they lost their rest and felt shame, guilt and fear. They hid themselves from God. We have been hiding in a kind of restlessness ever since.

God's rest is a deep spiritual rest and is a kind of rest that can only be found as we find our deepest satisfaction of who we are and who we were created to be in our relationship with the Creator. It is only found as we see that all of our striving after things and need for accomplishement and desire for attention and our endless struggle to find significance in our own work and in our own glory are nothing more than our tireless attempts to cover our nakedness. It is our way of trying to find our shalom. But they are only fig leaves.

We will only find peace as we enter His rest. As we accept His work in our lives and see that all of our striving is for nothing.

Till to Jesus' work you cling
By simple faith,
Doing is a deadly thing--

Doing ends in death.
Cast thy deadly doings down,
Down at Jesus' feet;

Stand in Him--
in Him alone,
Gloriously complete.