Entering God's Rest

Reflections for this date are based on the following scripture passages:
Hebrews 4	Hebrews 5	Hebrews 6	Exodus 9	Exodus 10	Psalms 25

Hebrews chapter 4 has an interesting discussion about entering God's rest which is described in verse 4 as the rest God entered into on the seventh day of creation when His creative activities were completed.  It might be said that we are now living during the seventh day of creation in which God's rest from His labor is ongoing. But God extends an invitation to those He created to join Him in His rest, a rest that has a two-fold meaning.

The first part of this meaning is a cessation of labor in attempting to work for our salvation. We need simply to accept what God has already done for us and take rest in it for our salvation. The second part to the meaning of God's rest is His eternal rest which we enter after our labor on earth is finished. A rest we enter based on our acceptance of God's work of salvation through Jesus. So we enter the first rest to gain entry to the second rest.

A picture of this is provided us in God's dealings with the Israelites through the exodus and entry into the promised land. God provided them deliverance from Egyptian bondage, a picture of the deliverance He provides all of us from the bondage of sin. But it was more than a deliverance from bondage. It was also a deliverance that made possible their entry into God's rest, which is pictured for us in the life God had planned for them in their land of promise. Their journey through the wilderness, then, might be likened to our journey through life on earth.

The Israelite's journey through the wilderness was to be a journey of faith in which they depended on God for all their needs, including protection from their enemies. Might this also picture for us God's protection for us against our enemy the devil?  Those God brought out of Egypt did not make this journey in faith, however, and were not allowed to enter God's rest - the promised land. They did not rest from their labor of trying to do everything themselves instead of depending on God's provisions for them, and therefore did not enjoy the final rest He had prepared for them. They died in the wilderness never seeing the land of promise.

The question presented to us in Hebrews 4 is the question of whether we will cease from our labor of working to gain our own deliverance or rest in the deliverance God has prepared for us through Jesus Christ? It is only by resting in His deliverance that we will obtain the final rest God has prepared for us.