What does it mean to “rest”
Webster: refreshing ease after work or exertion. A period of inactivity, as during work. Relief from anything tiring or distressing, peace of mind. The repose of death.
The Biblical concept of “rest”
Hebrews 4:4 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”.
The word used here literally means a cessation of activity. God wasn’t so pooped from creating the universe that He needed to take a break; why did He rest, then? He rested because He was finished.
Hebrews 4:4-10 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;
5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”
6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,
7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
Ceasing from you own works
He who enters into God’s rest ceases from his own works as God did from His.
“Works” usually refers to good deeds or religious activity, done to gain the favor of God.
A Christian is to be rich in good works:
Ephesians 2:10 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
However, these works are not to be done with the purpose of earning brownie points with God. It is not the works themselves we are to cease from, but the purpose for which we do the works. We do good works because we are approved by God, not in order to gain approval from God.
God ceased from His works because He was finished, there was no more that had to be accomplished. We cease from our own works because we know the approval we seek has already been gained for us by Christ Jesus.
The Israelites in the Wilderness
Hebrews 3:7-19 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ “
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
15 while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
God was angry with the slaves He had delivered out of Egypt because they rebelled and hardened their hearts. God swore that they would not enter His rest.
What was their great sin? Even though they saw the miracles of God performed for them time after time, they still would not believe and obey. Vs. 19 – they could not enter in because of unbelief.
There are two types of unbelief; there is an unbelief due to ignorance, and an unbelief due to unpersuadableness.
Israel was unpersuadable. They heard God’s message, they saw His miracles, yet they refused to believe. It was tantamount to rebellion.
Numbers 13:1-2 1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”
Numbers 13:17-33 17 Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains,
18 and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many;
19 whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds;
20 whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
21 So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near the entrance of Hamath.
22 And they went up through the South and came to Hebron; Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23 Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.
24 The place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there.
25 And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.
26 Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
27 Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.
29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”
32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.
33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Up through vs. 30, the spies did exactly as they were commissioned to do; they accurately assessed the land and the strength of the people in it. Caleb was ready to go. But in vs. 31-33 the spies brought a bad, or evil, report. They concluded that they were not able to do as the Lord was commanding them. They were full of fear, and chose words that would transmit their fear to the people.: “The land devours its inhabitants. We were like grasshoppers in their sight.”
Numbers 14:1-10 1 So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night.
2 And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness!
3 Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”
4 So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;
7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.
8 If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’
9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”
10 And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel.
The people wept, and then wished that they had died in Egypt. Do you see how illogical and irrational fear is? They were afraid of dying at the hand of the Canaanites, so they wished they had died in Egypt instead, or out in the wilderness. Joshua and Caleb tried to comfort the people, and they had an accurate picture: the same God that delivered them out of bondage in Egypt by His mighty works was with them, but the Canaanites had no protection – the Israelites would eat them up. But the people wanted to stone them. Those who are in fear and unbelief always resent those who are in faith.
In vs. 19-20, the Lord is ready to wipe Israel out. He is slow to anger, but even the Lord’s patience has its limits. Moses intercedes, telling the Lord that His reputation is also at stake – that other peoples will say God wiped Israel out because He wasn’t strong enough to sustain them. And God listens to Moses (oh, the power of intercession, the righteous praying in behalf of the guilty!).
Numbers 14:28-31 28 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you:
29 The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.
30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.
31 But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.
In vs. 36-37, those spies who brought the evil report died of the plague that very day.
In vs. 40-45, the Israelites realize they have sinned, and decide they will go in to possess the land. But Moses tells them they better not go, because the Lord was not with them now. They didn’t get it. They went up anyway, and were routed. Their problem was that they did not believe God, which led to fear, and their fear led to rebellion and disobedience. Even their willingness now to go in to possess the land was not because they had developed a faith in God, it was because they were afraid of what God said He would do to them.
The Application to Us
Hebrews 3:7-13 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ “
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
We are warned not to fall into the same example of unbelief and rebellion as the Israelites. What was it exactly that the Israelites were guilty of?
- The spies brought discouraging words to others. Deut 1:28
- They were highly trained in the art of griping and complaining. They blamed God and the leaders (those that told them God’s word) whenever they encountered opposition or obstacles.
- They were always threatening to return to Egypt, their place of bondage. “I had it better off before I got saved”.
- No matter how many miracles God did for them, they still did not trust Him. They were unpersuadable in their unbelief.
- They were full of fear, and their fear caused them to rebel and disobey God’s command.
Hebrews 4:1-3 1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
What happened to the Israelites was written down as an example to us (1 Corinthians 10:11). We are warned lest we should miss entering God’s rest.
Notice in vs. 2, that just hearing the word is not good enough. The Israelites heard the gospel – i.e., good news – but it did not profit them. It did them no good. Why not? Because they didn’t mix it with faith.
“But I thought faith came by hearing the Word of God?” It does – if you receive it. The Israelites heard the Word but did not receive it. In Mark 4, the parable of the sower, we see how things can come in and steal away the word we have heard, preventing us from reaping the harvest of that word; i.e., the “profit”. [1]
But, we read in vs. 3, “We who have believed do enter that rest”.
The Wilderness Experience
There is an analogy we can draw from the story of the Israelites. Egypt represents sin, and Pharaoh the devil. Israel was in bondage to sin, working in the devil’s kingdom. God sent a deliverer (Jesus), to lead us out of sin, and to redeem us and give us a change of masters (that is what redeem means, it is a change of masters).
The “rest” that Israel was to have was the promised land. However, notice that when they finally did cross over Jordan after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, that they still had some fighting to do; it was not a complete cessation of work.
After we are born again, we still have some fighting to do: the good fight of faith. Many today see crossing over Jordan into the promised land as being analogous to death and going to heaven. But we won’t have any fighting to do in heaven. Heaven is like the peace and rest on all sides that Israel enjoyed after they had taken the land.
The deliverance from Egypt represents being born again. And after being born again, many Christians are wandering around in the wilderness. I have a question, was the wilderness experience God’s will for the Israelites? Is that what He wanted for them?
What was the purpose of the wilderness experience? Its main purpose was to kill off the unbelievers. Its secondary purpose was to train and mold the younger generation to trust God.
Even in the wilderness, Israel experienced some of God’s blessing and provision – the manna, water from a rock, the cloud of God’s presence that guided them and shaded them from the heat of the sun, the garments that did not wear out, the fact that there was no feeble or sick one among them.
There are three lands that people can live in:
Egypt represents the land of not enough. Israel were slaves under a cruel taskmaster. Nothing they had was theirs.
The wilderness represents the land of just enough. Israel had their needs met, barely. They were always in the state of being “rescued” from lack. It was a hard life. So many Christians have settled for the wilderness as their lot in life, as God’s will for them. They experience some of God’s blessing and provision, but God has so much more for us.
Did you know that the wilderness experience was unnecessary? If the other ten spies had taken the same attitude as Joshua and Caleb, and encouraged the people instead of discouraging them, that the whole nation could have gone directly into the promised land? The only time they had to spend in the wilderness was the travel time from Egypt to Sinai, the time they spent in Sinai, the travel time from Sinai to the Jordan where they were supposed to cross over, and the 40 days while they waited for the spies. All in all, only a few months.
The promised land was the land of abundance. A land flowing with milk and honey. A land where…
Deuteronomy 6:10-12 10 “So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build,
11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant–when you have eaten and are full–
12 then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
God’s will for Israel was for them to have an abundance – lands, houses, cities, fields and crops that they owned – all the things they did not have in Egypt. In the Promised Land, they would not have to live from miracle to miracle – God was going to bless the work of their hands.
But, it was not going to come on them automatically. They were going to have to fight for it, to go and possess their inheritance, to take it by force.
The Israelites were unwilling to believe that they could do what God commanded. Furthermore, they did not believe He was a good God – they accused Him of deceit, of bringing them out of Egypt just so He could kill them. They gave in to fear.
We have a land of promise set before us – a land of abundance. But, like Israel, we will have to fight to possess it. It is not a physical fight, but a fight of faith. There will be opposition – demonic forces that want to steal, kill, and destroy you, and even some of the brethren who will try to discourage you that God really is not that good, that we can’t have such good things in our life. That the wilderness is His will for us.
So the choice is actually left up to us – do we settle for the wilderness experience of having just enough, or do we press on to the promised land to fight the good fight of faith to possess our inheritance of abundance?
Hebrews 4:11 KJV 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Confidence and Hope
The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians. Because of persecution, many were being tempted to leave Christ and go back into Judaism. Therefore we read many admonitions to “hang on until the end”.
Rest can be physical or mental.
Physical rest: letting the body relax, cease from strenuous physical activity.
Mental rest: This is actually more important. Being separate from stress, being at peace. You can be doing something physically active, but if your mind is at peace, it is felt as “restful”. Hiking around or riding bicycles in pretty places does this for me.
God desires us to be at peace, be free from anxiety, even when in the midst of stressful situations.
Philippians 4:11-13 AMP 11 Not that I am implying that I was in any personal want, for I have learned how to be content (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I am.
12 I know how to be abased and live humbly in straitened circumstances, and I know also how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance. I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want.
13 I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].
Hope, Confidence, and Trust – these are a crucial part of entering into God’s rest.
Hebrews 3:6 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Hebrews 3:14 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
Hebrews 4:14-16 14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Confession – homologeo, to say the same thing. We should be saying the same thing as God says in His Word, His promise.
Come boldly – knowing you have a right to, you have a place there – to obtain; to receive or to take what is offered.
Hebrews 6:11-12 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end,
12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Who are we to imitate? Those who through faith and patience inherit the promises – who get results.
Hebrews 6:19 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.
Hope is an anchor for the soul – it gives stability to our emotions.
Hebrews 10:23 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Hold fast our confession, again.
Hebrews 10:35-36 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
Even once we have done the will of God, we will still need patience and endurance to receive the promise – there may be a period of standing/waiting.
Fear, the Greatest Enemy
Hebrews 10:37-39 Wuest’s Expanded Translation For yet a little, a very little while, and He who comes will come and will not delay. Now, my righteous person shall live by faith. But if he draw back in fear, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But as for us, we are not of the shrinking-back kind who draw back to perdition, but of the believing kind who believe to the end of the saving of the soul.
Fear is a crippler. It will cause you to draw back, to hide, and to disobey God. What caused the Israelites to draw back? In the case of the ten spies, it was something they saw (giants in the land and fortified cities). In the case of the rest of Israel, it was something they heard (the bad report brought back by the ten spies). They chose to believe what they saw and heard rather than what God commanded them, and that fear caused them to draw back and disobey God.
God was not pleased with them. Why not? In the next chapter, in Hebrews 11:6, we read that without faith it is impossible to please God. Fear is the opposite of faith.
Faith is trust in God, and His love for us and willingness to do us good. Fear is trust in the devil, or in the power of this world to do us bad. Which do we trust the most?
Hebrews 10:39 talks about drawing back to perdition. Strong’s Concordance gives the definition as “ruin or loss (physical, spiritual or eternal) :- damnable (-nation), destruction, die, perdition, × perish, pernicious ways, waste.” Several translations use the word destruction.
John 10:10 says the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Fear, and the resulting drawing back, opens the door for the thief to do his work in our lives. On the opposite end of the spectrum, faith opens a channel for God to work in our lives.
Isaiah 54:11-17 11 “O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
16 “Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy.
17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.
Notice vs. 14: you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear. What happens if you are full of fear? Then you will be near to oppression – it will draw oppression to you.
How many times in the Bible are we told to fear not?
Hebrews 13:5-6 5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
6 So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
