Resting In The Lord
Part 1: Entering Into Rest - Hebrews 4:1-10

Listen to this phrase, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” Listen once more, this time not just to a phrase but to a promise, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” I find myself taking deeper and greater comfort in hearing Hebrews 4:9 more and more especially after this past year and the older I get. I find a deeping need to believe in, to hope for, to know that there is a rest, a time of peace, a place of comfort, a refuge that I can retreat to, in order to recharge my soul. I need to hear, time and time again, “There remains a rest for the people of God.”

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest

God’s Rest

The Warning 1-3

Chapter 4 begins with a warning about missing God’s rest vs 1-3. “let us fear, lest any of you should seem to come short of it.”

This warning follows the example of those who had gone before them and who had missed God's Rest. Hebrews 3:16-19 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

This is the warning, but unbelief in God's promise caused those who came out of Egypt with Moses to miss God’s rest in the Promised land.

The Promise vs 4-9

We are told that God’s rest for his people remains. It is still waiting for any of God’s own to find the entrance and like weary travelers step through a door into a place of peace, comfort, and rest. God’s rest remains because long after the Exodus , in Psalm 95:7 God is still inviting his people to His promise of rest.,“For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice” Today, if we will hear could be the day we enter into His rest.

The Past, Present and Future Rest for God’s People

God’s Rest - Past was when God created the world and then on the seventh day rested. In vs. 4 “and God did rest the seventh day, from all his works”

God’s Rest – Present. Next the rest of God was promised to all who believe and trust in God, a rest for this lifetime, this present struggle. We see it in vs 7. Today if ye will hear his voice.

God’s Rest – Future. Then vs 9 tells us there is still a rest to come. There remains a rest to the people of God. This is the final rest, the rest of eternity, the rest of heaven and glory. The world for rest here, Sabbatism, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, literally it means a keeping sabbath, an eternal, everlasting Sabbath. The ultimate rest of God.

The Definition vs 10

We are told in vs. 10 what it means to enter God’s rest, “Hebrews 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.”  

God on the original Sabbath Day rested from His labor. He is no longer creating the Universe, yet the Universe continues to exist by that sustaining power of God.

Our rest in God must be the same. We must believe that God gives to us through the gift of His son and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit all that is needed to save us and to sustain us in His work. This is salvation followed by submission to His service.

Yet too many times, rest just doesn’t happen that way.  I don't find myself at rest. Why I am I as a believer, a person of God, missing the rest of God?

Leaving Labor

The reason we miss God's Rest is because just like the Israelites who missed the promised land, we don't believe the promise of God.

In order to enter into rest, I must leave my own work behind, I must cease from my own labors, as God ceased from His. Continuing in my own power is denying God's promise.  

Rest then is dwelling in God's power and promises alone.  I must face the question. Cannot the God who sustains the universe also sustain me?  Do I believe that, or will I miss rest in this present time, because of my inability to fully trust His promise of rest?