Here is a small paper I did on the rest of God from the Passage Hebrews 4:1-3 while at Calvary Chapel Bible School... ----The Rest of Godby Greg Gordon“Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his Rest, anyone of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good tidings preached unto us, even as also they: but the word of hearing did not profit them, because they were not united by faith with them that heard. For we which have believed do enter into that Rest; even as he hath said, As I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my Rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” – Hebrews 4:1-3The Gospel of God has been preached from days old through God’s mighty works and provisions, and the people believing on these things with faith were counted as partaking of the promise of the Rest of God. What is the Rest of God? How did people enter into it? And how can a person fail to enter in? These are some questions, which are worth meditating on and trying to answer. In the preface to a commentary on Hebrews the godly Andrew Murray states really the thrust of why many don’t know the Rest of God, or fall short of it in our day; “the main difficultly lay in the want of religious earnestness. Their case was very much what has been the story of almost every Church, and what marks the state of the greater part of Christendom at the present day.” Therefore we need to go through with God and enter into all that He has for us lest we fall short of our benefits and position in the life of Jesus Christ whose Spirit we partake with daily. First let us look at the Rest of God seeing how it is shown in this passage of Hebrews and also as a spiritual principal found across the Scriptures. The Rest of God simply put is a person, that being Jesus Christ. But it is not just accepting Christ but entering into a belief in the Gospel of God that takes us beyond our natural capacity to Rest into a heavenly Rest. A type of this is shown as God Rests from His creative work on the seventh day and also for us as our summation of salvation shall enter into an eternal Rest in the bosom of God Himself. But even now on this earthly plane we can enter into a Rest in Christ, a place where our life is so hid in Christ in the heavens that our existence becomes heavenly. Rest is the opposition of work or activity, and it is said that Christ died once for all that all have died and therefore those who live should live for Christ alone and not for themselves. Therefore the Rest of God is apart from the selfish desires and works of men; a place where God will be glorified when we strive to enter. Rest is defined by the commentator, Matthew Henry as “of entering into a covenant-relation to Christ, and a state of communion with God through Christ, and of growing up therein, till we are made perfect in glory.” Now this Rest being shown by God is a wonderful place to enter into by the Gospel of God but at the same time is shown to be a place where a person much persist and desire full-heartily to enter. Belief being the paramount and really only access way into this Rest is made very clear in the Scripture passage in Hebrews. John Calvin stated logically that if “Unbelief alone shuts us out; then faith alone opens an entrance.” So to enter into Rest requires belief not just in general but in the object of God’s ‘good tidings’ or more commonly phrased ‘Gospel’. God has made the way open to His Rest to all that would hear the Gospel and believe therefore being obedient to that heavenly calling. The fact that this Gospel is given so widely and unreservedly speaks much more of the wonder of partaking in something so free and glorious. Surely God is still offering this Rest in the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘come eat and drink with no money and be satisfied’ this being said over 2,000 years ago still rings true today in hearts of people that enter into the Rest believing.Now lastly the most frightful and pitiful side of this wonderful meditation is that though God has a Rest and offers it freely, that people can still fall short of it to their destruction. The Scripture passage that we are pondering starts off with the chilling words ‘Let us fear’ this being the warning given to all that would desire to partake of the Rest that God offers. We cannot enter this Rest frivolously not understanding the God’s Rest in whom we are entering. God gives the solemn requirement of those who believe to have this belief marked upon their hearts in a life of Rest leading to Rest; ‘choose this day whom you will serve’ (believe). In God’s Rest is shown grace and mercy, but apart from His Rest or the promise of it lies a fearful expectation of things to come. This warning of falling short of His Rest cannot be emphasized enough, so we need to realize that salvation and Christian life is something that is ongoing and does not stop until we are taken into His eternal Rest in the bosom of God. The old Methodist, John Clarke shares this concern of falling short in these words, “The verb ‘come short’ is applied here metaphorically; it is an allusion, of which there are so many in this epistle, to the races in the Grecian games: he that came short was he who was any distance, no matter how small, behind the winner. Will it avail any of us how near we get to heaven, if the door be shut before we arrive? How dreadful the thought, to have only missed being eternally saved! To run well, and yet to permit the devil, the world, or the flesh, to hinder in the few last steps! Reader, watch and be sober.” How much more can we all individually in our day as the Church of Jesus Christ take heed to these words and the testimony and ensamples of God’s dealings with the Jews and the Church. Are we falling short of this day by day abiding and believing in the promises of God? Let the living God sift your heart daily while it is still called ‘Today’. Now is the day of Salvation let us be found abiding in Him, knowing Him and being known by Him.Prayer: Lord lead me into Thy Rest daily while it is still called ‘Today’. Give me a believing heart that is reckoning and ultimately relying on your promises of life day by day. Let not my heart become cold and dull through unbelief. Make me to love Thy commandments and enlarge my heart that I may walk in Your ways. Amen.
