Hebrews 4

Rest.... we need it, we want it, indeed we long for it like water in the desert.

Rest - the Greek word here is "katapauo"  meaning to settle down, abode;  "kata" - down, in place or time and "pauo"  meaning to stop, restrain, desist, come to an end or cease... The rest is a place - a home; or it is a time - a day, the sabbath...

Verse 1 tells us to "fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it".    Only those who hear the "good news" and respond "by faith" will profit - will enter His rest.  (v2-3)

God Himself, created rest when He "rested on the seventh day from all His works".  The writer of Hebrews teaches this, " .. His works were finished from the foundation of the world" . God established not only a time, a sabbath, but a place - an abode, for His people to enter into.  That rest is available only to those who believe and obey.

The Israelites lost their chance to enter God's rest "because of disobedience".  They refused to believe that He would do what He had promised, to give them the land.   Their unbelief led them to rebel and doomed them to 40 years in the wilderness until all the adults had died.  Yet, entering the promised land itself, is not the "rest" that God wants us to enter into.

God calls us to hear His voice and to not "harden" our hearts... to rest from our works and enter His rest.  Verse 11 " Let us therefore be diligent to enter the rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience."  ( obstinate, rebellious, unbelieving, unpersuadable )

So the key to entering God's Rest is to hear and to believe.  We must take His Word and unite with it by faith.  "So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ" ( Romans 10:17)

To believe, to have faith ... is to commit oneself to trust; to entrust yourself to Christ for your spiritual well-being; a complete reliance on Him, on His truth... it is rest from our own works.

The "word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." (12-13)

I can entrust myself, my past, present, and future, my body, soul, and spirit.. my heart, the core of my being... to The Living Word.  He sees all of me.  He sees even the hidden parts of me that I don't even understand... and He will use His Word to bring me to Himself,  fully and in every way. The work has been done already...

My great high priest, Jesus, the Son of God,  I hold fast to my confession, that You are my Lord and my Savior.  That You alone became the propitiation for my sin, so that I am made whole in You.   You sympathize with my weaknesses and You bring me to the throne of grace, that I might draw near and receive mercy and find grace to help in my time of need.  In You, Jesus, I enter God's rest. Daily I take up my cross and follow You, entrusting myself to Your keeping.  Father, let it be so.