Entering His Rest

Hebrews 3:7-4:1

The book of Hebrews is a beautiful and deep revelation of Jesus through Jewish history and Old Testament scripture.  In Hebrews Chapter three and four, the writer begins to draw parallels between accepting Jesus Christ, and entering God’s holy rest, drawing parallels to the Sabbath.  At Mount Sinai, God calls the seventh day the Sabbath, and calls His people to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  All work would be done in six days, and the seventh day was to be set aside for rest.  Later God elaborates that it was for a sign that God will sanctify His people, and separate them from the nations. 

As the believer accepts Jesus Christ through faith, and is obedient to His word, he enters God’s rest.  As we are born again into a living hope, we shed our carnal ideas of succeeding, or reaching salvation, through our own works.  For the Jew, this includes striving to achieve holiness through the Law.  We are able to enter a rest from striving because we have been made righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ that has washed whiter than snow.

For all those who hope in Jesus Christ, there is also a Sabbath rest waiting in eternity.  Just as God rested from His works on the seventh day of creation, we shall receive rest from the toil of the world, and fleshly temptations, when Jesus Christ returns at the end of this age.  All those who have kept the faith of Jesus Christ in their hearts shall be transformed, no longer tied to a body of flesh, but given a new spiritual body.  The toil of the old earth will be ended, as a new heaven and new earth, free from sorrow and pain, replaces what has been.  As God’s light shines eternally, and all those who believe and confess Jesus see God face to face, a new glorious rest will be revealed to the human race.  Today, may you rest in the righteousness achieved through Jesus Christ, and may you look ahead to the rest that will come at the end of the age.