The Day of New Beginnings

Entering God’s Rest

 

In Hebrews 3 and 4, we have a dilemma. On one hand, we have the writer setting before us the promise of a Sabbath Rest for the people of God. On the other hand, we find the statement, “I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter my rest.” The phrase, “They shall not enter My rest” occurs no less than three times in these chapters. What is really being spoken here?
 
The Lord Himself has promised us Rest, and at the same time He impedes us from entering into it. First, we must understand the Sabbath Rest is not a state of effortless bliss, but a realm in God in which we come to dwell. To enter His rest means ceasing to live in our world and beginning to live in God’s world. The writer says, “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” Entering His rest is ceasing to produce anything apart from God. It’s learning to participate in God’s works. Heb. 3:3 says God’s works were finished from the foundation of the world. This means His works are eternal, and for us to enter into God’s works, we must enter the realm of eternity with Him. The Sabbath Rest is entering the eternity of God. It’s a spiritual abiding place. “In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:1-3).” 
 
There is a Sabbath Rest for God’s people. There’s a spiritual abiding place we can enter and begin to participate in God’s works. The problem is, there’s an angel standing there with a flaming sword in his hand blocking the way! “So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life (Gen 3:24).” One might argue that Jesus removed the angel and opened the way to the tree of Life through His sacrifice on the cross. He certainly did! But are we partaking of it, or are we waiting to die and go to heaven? There is an entering into eternity right now that God wants to bring His people into. It’s ascending spiritually until we sit with Him in the Heavenly places (Eph. 1:20).
 
Now, what about that angel? “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable (1st Cor. 15:50).” Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The old, Adamic nature cannot enter into the realm of eternity. We cannot enter into God’s world while the Adamic nature dominates our life. God has sworn that those who don’t embrace the cross and crucify the self life will not enter His rest. They won’t enter the realm where His works were finished from the foundation of the world. Jesus alluded to this truth in the parables He taught. 
 
Luke 13:
24* "Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
 25* "Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, 'Lord, open up to us!' then He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know where you are from.'
 26 "Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets';
 27 and He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALL YOU EVILDOERS.'
 28* "In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.
 29* "And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.
 
“Strive to enter by the narrow door.” “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” These passages are saying the same thing. In the following parable of the wedding feast, it is the one without a wedding garment that is thrown into the outer darkness.
 
Mat. 22:
11* "But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes,
 12* and he *said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' And the man was speechless.
 13 "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
 14* "For many are called, but few are chosen."
 
Having on wedding clothes implies God’s righteousness worked into our lives. 
 
Rev. 19:
7* "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready."
 8* It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
 9* Then he *said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he *said to me, "These are true words of God."
 
Here in Revelation, the Sabbath Rest is expressed as the marriage supper of the Lamb. Further on in the book of Hebrews, this Sabbath Rest is described as a city which has foundations, a heavenly country (Heb. 11:13-16). These are all different ways of saying the same thing. Hebrews 12 says we have come to Mt. Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. All these descriptions point not to some place we go to when we die, but to a spiritual abiding place in God. 
 
When we try to enter God’s world, the eternal realm of Spirit, we are denied access if the cross is not operating in our lives. We are turned back as the image of the flaming sword in the hand of the cherubim implies. Just as there are many metaphors used to express the eternal realm, so there are many expressions used to describe the work of the cross in our lives. Following the exhortation to labor to enter His rest in vs. 11, verse 12 states: “For 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.” This is our access into the Sabbath rest. It’s the living word of God piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit within us.
 
Heb. 3:
18* And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?
 19* So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
 1* ¶ Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
 2* For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
3* For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.
 4* For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS";
 5* and again in this passage, "THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST."
 6* Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,
 7* He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS."
 8* For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.
 9* So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
 
The disobedience and unbelief that keep us from entering God’s world are addressed only through the chastening He puts us through. Heb. 5:8-10 says: “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered . And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation , being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” And again, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 6:19-20).” Jesus has entered within the veil as a forerunner for us, He is abiding in God’s rest. We are to enter with Him, following the same path of obedience. As the above passage indicates, Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered. 
 
The theme of Hebrews is following on to know the Lord and not shrinking back when the chastening comes to prepare us to live in God’s world. Hebrews 12 is the capstone of the book. It speaks of the chastening that comes to prepare us to walk in maturity as sons. 
 
6* For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
 7* If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
 8* But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
 
And what is the end result of this chastening? 
 
9* Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
 10* For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.
 11* All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
 
Back in 1st Cor. 15, we read that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The Adamic nature cannot enter into God’s rest. But as we come to share His holiness, as the work of the cross yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness in our lives, we find free access to God’s world.