Hebrews 4:1
Part iii
The Chapter of God’s Rest
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. (Hebrews 4:1)
To be completely transformed into a new creature is one of the marvelous mysteries of God. The Holy Spirit comes upon us to possess us and purchase us through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The promises that were given to Abraham were completed in the fullness of time in the Lord Jesus Christ; however, Abraham did not see the fulfillment of both the promises of his earthly seed (as the sand of the sea), and his heavenly seed (as the stars of the heavens). The divine power of God does not allow itself to be subject to man in any way. By the work of the divine Spirit of God we are brought into a relationship with God by the finished work of Christ on the cross. He has delivered us from ourselves in that we were children of Adam. Adam dies at the cross, and therefore, he is no longer in possession of my flesh. Christ (the new man in heaven) the perfect, holy, righteous man in heaven now possesses me, he liveth in me. And this is the wonder of God’s rest. God’s rest can only come from Him who is wonderful.
Many Aspects of God’s Rest
When you read Hebrews Chapter 4 you are seeing many aspects of God’s rest. The last prime number of a single digit is number nine; this shows in the numerical sense a complete fullness. The word rest is mentioned nine times in Chapter 4 of Hebrews, and in Hebrews Chapter 4 we have the only chapter in the entire book that is dedicated to God’s rest. God’s rest is only mentioned two other times in the book of Hebrews, and that is in Chapter 3 (3:11, 3:18). Both of these references are directed to the children of Israel in their wandering journey where they would not enter into God’s rest. Chapter 4, therefore, can clearly be identified as the chapter of God’s rest. The question that confounds most is, How can I enter in to God’s rest and yet live on earth and labor for Him?
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:23)
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? (Romans 8:24)
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (Romans 8:25)
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (Romans 8:26)
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:27)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Rest — the Tangible
In Romans 8 Paul describes the eternal hope that we have in Jesus Christ, and in that hope that we have we enjoy the finality of it, even now. For our hope is centered in Jesus Christ. And He is not only the fullness of the Godhead bodily, but it is He who fills all in all. Everything is complete in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That is why hope is evidence of things not seen. Like the apostle’s testimony in Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. With God’s rest, with God’s hope, with God’s faith they (rest and hope) show me the tangible finality of God’s dwelling with man in perfect rest in the new heaven and the new earth. We believe this simply because God through His Son, Jesus Christ, has given us the faith of the Son of God to give us surety in our hope, in our faith, and in our rest in the Person of God. We should remember that all these things were brought about by God. He is the divine Being, and Jesus Christ is the outward reflection of His divine Being as the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. (Hebrews 1:3a ) Once we come to the divine revelation by the Spirit of God that there is nothing in us that is desirable of God, we can than understand why all must be of God. And when we submit our total worthlessness to God then He fills us with the worthiness of Christ. We are brought into God’s rest because everything is complete for our soul, past, present, and future; and our soul will be eternally kept by God Himself. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3) We must continually remember the apostle’s motivation by the Spirit of God. He was concerned for all of Israel, that included the Jews in Jerusalem, in Samaria, in Asia Minor, in Rome, and as far as the words could reach throughout the history of man, and as far as the Spirit of God traveled and convicts the hearts of men. The gospel was delivered to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, (or Gentiles); therefore, being a Jew in Paul’s day you knew the promises that were given to Abraham. And bringing these promises to the mind of the Jew established an authority both with Abraham and with God. In many ways Abraham was used as a symbol of rest; the term, Abraham’s bosom, is a place of rest. Paul wanted them to see that in Jesus Christ was all the fulfillment of God’s rest.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11:29)
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:30)
In Matthew 11 we have the words of the Lord Jesus. He is calling for those who will follow Him to enter into His rest. This is not only a rest for the heart and the spirit, but it is a rest for man’s soul. We have something in God’s rest that is complete in Jesus Christ, and yet future in the eternal state in the eternal rest of God. This rest was purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Travail: wearing effort, labor, sorrow, toil, pain — of body and mind
For in Him He saw the travail of His own soul to give us rest for our souls. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.(Isaiah 53:11) Let’s look at the travail of His soul. The travail of His soul, God going into death to bring newness of life to those who were dead in Adam. God giving Himself on the cross of shame so that man might live in the fullness of God’s glory in Jesus Christ. The travail included everything that was against man, everything that sin produced, and everything that the devil induced. This was the travail of His soul, but overcoming this: we have a further statement in Isaiah that His soul shall be satisfied. Glory to God in the highest!
The Mystery of God’s Rest
In Hebrews Chapter 4, verse 1 we are presented the mystery of God’s rest to those who believe in His beloved Son. We are also shown the results of not being obedient to the gospel of God’s dear Son. For He is the only way we can enter into God’s rest. The Lord Jesus told us in the Book of Matthew that we would find rest for our soul. This is not in the future, it is now, and also will be fulfilled in the future. Isn’t it marvelous that the God of eternity can at one time see all that is in eternity. There is nothing hid from the eyes of God, Hebrews 4:13 confirms this. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. You see, therefore, that past, present, and future only apply to God’s dealing with man. His eternity belongs to Him, and therefore, God has all things open before Him at all times.
Blessed [be] the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen. (Psalm 41:13)
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou [art] God. (Psalm 90:2)
Thy throne [is] established of old: thou [art] from everlasting. (Psalm 93:2)
But the mercy of the LORD [is] from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; (Psalm 103:17)
Blessed [be] the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD. (Psalm 106:48)
We have established that there is a rest for the people of God both now and in the future eternal state when all will be at rest. We enjoy our rest now though we labor for the Lord in that our soul has found peace and rest in God’s Christ. Can we imagine any greater gift than God’s rest to an earth dweller? The child of God is here on earth to fulfill the purpose and will of God. (Romans 8:28) He is here to be a witness to the earth, and a window to heaven to reveal the glories of God’s Christ both through the written word, and by the Spirit of God that dwells in you. God’s grace has finished man in Adam, for in Christ’s death on the cross, Adam was put to death figuratively once and for all. In Christ we have the end of all flesh.
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. (Genesis 6:6)
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. (Genesis 6:7)
In Genesis 6 we have the fulfillment of man’s wickedness before the flood. God repented Himself that He had made man. He had set Himself, and was about to destroy all flesh, both man and beasts. This was to be the end of man. It amazes me that we find this in Genesis 6, the number of man, and then in verse 6, the end of all men, then in verse 7, the completion of that end. Let’s put our hands on our heads and cry out, All is lost! If it were not for verse 8, where would we be? Man would have perished from the earth, but one man, Noah by name, found grace in the eyes of the Lord. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. (Genesis 6:8)
The Book of Genesis is considered by many as the seed plot of the entire Bible. For there are many things that are brought before us that are carried through the Scriptures, and have future fulfillment. In Noah we have one man, and this man is the reason and the accomplishment of salvation for the future of man on the other side of the flood. In Noah, and in the flood, we see both death and resurrection delivered into a new world, and a new order; however, Noah was just a man, but there was one to come who was more than just a man. One would come, the Son of God, in all His perfections to give Himself not only for the transgressions of the world, but to take out of the world a people for Himself. Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Everything was open before God. He saw that Noah was a righteous man, and because of his standing before God man was saved through Noah to a new world order. Christ would come to save us to a heavenly order. Noah was delivered through the flood to the earth. We are delivered by the death of Christ from the earth to heaven. If we return to the Book of Genesis, Chapter 6, verse 5 we will see the complete failure of man in his transgressions against God, and how his transgressions was open and visible to the eyes of God. God has His eyes upon man throughout man’s history. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. (2 Chronicles 16:9) In this verse we have the continued path of man, but we also have the continual presence of God watching over man. In Genesis 6:5, and in 2 Chronicles man cannot hide his transgressions from an Almighty God. God is also looking for a man, like Noah, whose heart is set on God.
In the cross of Christ, through His finished work, man could now find grace in the sight of the Lord. In the cross of Christ the grace of God was verified in Noah. It was verified in all of the Old Testament saints who loved God. At the time of Christ’s crucifixion grace was qualified, and now we (who love the Lord) rest in that grace.
The Fullness of Time
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: (Galatians 4:3)
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Galatians 4:4)
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:5)
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6)
In the fullness of time we learn that God sent forth His Son, that from heaven’s glory God had determined in His wonderful counsels that He would send forth the Son of His Love, His beloved Son, in a particular window of time that would bring forth all the fullness of God to man. When man raises his doubt about the Son of God, he is attacking God Himself. For man dwells in a world that lies in wickedness, and man will believe his own lies to keep him from the presence of God in Jesus Christ. Man lives in a sphere of hypocrisies. Doctors stand over an operating table for six to eight hours at great expense to save an infants life while in the next building doctors are ripping life out of the womb and dashing their heads upon the stones. I’ve been on this planet for seventy-two years, I was born at the close of the second world war, and during my lifetime while man has been talking about peace there has been continual war over the entire world. Man believes his own lies, and will not believe the truth of God. When God offers salvation through His beloved Son, man rejects God’s Son, in fact, man killed the prince of life. When God offers grace to man, man perverts that very grace. Man thinks that he can disannul all the work of God in the finished work of Jesus Christ; and yet, what does man know? The fullness of time came not because of man, but in spite of man. When Christ came into this world man, as a whole, was not looking for the true knowledge of God. Instead man was bathing in his sin and dressing himself in his own intelligence apart from God. The fullness of time was not man’s time, but God’s time. He offered man the preciousness of His perfect and glorious Son, Jesus Christ, as an offering for sin. Man then and now has refused that offering. Prior to the cross man had rejected God, who could forget God’s speaking to Samuel saying, For they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. (1 Samuel 8:7) Man, therefore, has a long history of rejecting the God of creation. God in the fullness of time sent forth His Son, and as man had done in the past they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. Since the cross to our present day man has rejected the Christ of the fullness of time. Man will continue to reject Him until He comes with great power and glory to overthrow the powers of the world. And even though He will reign in power over the world after His thousand year reign man will once again rebel against the Almighty God. And God will destroy not only the rebellious nations, but this world will pass away and give way to a new heaven and a new earth. This will be the final rest of God. This will be the place that every soul who loves God and has been purged from sin and this evil world will dwell with the holy and righteous God for eternity. From before the world — the books were written. When the Lord Jesus was in the garden He cried out to His Father and said, And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. (John 17:5) The Holy Spirit reveals the eternality of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that His disciples were sleeping at this time. He was alone in the garden with His Father bearing the heavy weight of His death that was before Him. He knew exactly what was coming in the hours ahead in the next day. So much so that if it were possible He wished the cup of His sufferings and death would pass from Him; however, in the determinate counsels of God, not one minute, not one second, and not one hour would His suffering change. This was determined before the foundations of the world. It was written in the book of God’s grace, for grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament in the Book of Psalms, we have mercy and truth met together, and in the New Testament we have grace and truth come from the bosom of the Father. Now we return to God’s rest. What I have just written engulfs that rest for it is the Person who is God’s dear Son that embodies this marvelous rest and we are placed in that rest by God, His eternal rest. As the children of God we ask this question, Who are we, where do we belong, and who do we belong to? We are the children of God born out of the blood and water that came from the Savior’s side. We have been transfigured into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Colossians 1:13). We are already partakers of God’s rest because He has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. We have been created to be not only the children, but the sons of God as joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We have the grace of God upon us, we are now heavenly citizens, the Bible declares by the Spirit of God that we are no longer of this world. We are in our Savior and the realm that we see in the heavens above. The Bible tells us that we will be conformed to the image of His dear Son.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:49)
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)
These verses only give us a partial description of who we are, and who we will become in the future glory of the Person of Christ. Let us consider this question, Where do we belong?
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.(Colossians 3:2)
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, (Hebrews 12:22)
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,(Hebrews 12:23)
And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:24)
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.(Hebrews 11:13)
For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.(Hebrews 11:14)
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. (Hebrews 11:15)
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)
Through the marvelous work of God’s grace when the Holy Spirit created us in the newness of life in Jesus Christ, we became a new creation with a new city whose builder and maker is God. We became heavenly citizens and not citizens of this earth. That which was before is no longer for we were bought with a price, and that price is the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:20)
These last two verses answer the question, Whom do we belong to. It is quite evident that we are bought with the price of and by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. These two verses in 1 Corinthians are not verses of choice. These verses show the position of God in relation to the purchased possession. Christ has given all for the pearl of great price, and we have been purchased by Him. It is not a matter of our choice, it is the complete will and determinate counsels of the Almighty God. God is sovereign in all things. You cannot detract from His will by denying His sovereignty. He is sovereign in all things including Chapter 4, verse 1 of the Book of Hebrews. He is sovereign in His rest; therefore, His rest and our rest cannot be changed. The fulfillment of God’s rest and our rest will come in the eternal state. The earthly man will never understand the mind of the Spirit or the voice of the Spirit. Only one who has entered into God’s Christ and God’s rest will have an understanding in God’s rest. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. (Hebrews 4:1) Amen.
© Copyright 2016, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)