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| Upon reading this verse if we were Jews, we would probably respond with, “But the Israelites did enter their rest, the Promised Land, and Joshua did give them rest! The book of Joshua says so.” But that is the clue to the real message. Did you notice what kind of rest the Holy Spirit has been talking about? “My Rest!” He did not say “their rest” but “My Rest” and “His Rest.” The unbelieving Israelites who died in the wilderness symbolize those who do not enter heaven but hell. Those who entered the Promised Land symbolize those who enter heaven because they believe. That is why King David hundreds of years later called us to enter God’s rest. We have a choice - the wilderness or the Promised Land. We can enter heaven by believing or we can stay in the wilderness or hell because of our unbelief. Finally - Rest! The Old Testament saints were waiting for Jesus, but those who did not believe in the wilderness would never get to the heaven. For us who have finally believed or trusted in Jesus Christ to forgive our sins, we can now rest!
Notice, we can rest as God did! The Sabbath was a day of doing nothing. God uses a unique Greek word here: “Sabbath rest.” It only occurs in Hebrews. It means once we believe, we have entered into rest and there is nothing more to do. In fact, we are to rest - to stop! We are to stop trying to gain His favor. We are not to work to gain His favor. Just believe! Just trust Him! You Cannot Escape! If we do not enter rest but keep trying to unfold our "chair," we will face judgment and punishment.
God will know what we really believe. We cannot escape His eyes. He knows your thoughts, motives and attitude - the real you! Conclusion. The message is clear! Do you believe that Jesus is God? Do you believe that Jesus died to forgive your sins? Do you believe that Jesus and only Jesus can forgive your sins? Jesus is not another prophet or another way. Jesus is the only way to peace with God.
Are you trying to gain His favor in order to enter heaven? If so, stop! God calls you to trust in Jesus today and to rest from your efforts. There is a fictitious story told about a time when Satan held a strategy session for stopping men and women from believing in Jesus. “What shall we do?” asked Satan. A daring demon stood and shouted, “I have it! I know what we can do! We can tell men that there is no life after death, that they die like animals.” Satan’s face fell as he answered, “It will never work. Man is not ignorant; even atheists admit at times they sense there is a tomorrow after death.” Another demon spoke, “What about saying there is no God or if there ever was He is dead - even if He did create the universe.” Satan replied in dismay, “That won’t work either; most of them know that there is a God, even though they don’t seek Him.” Other ideas were suggested and then finally one demon burst out, “I have it! I have it! I’ve got it now! Go tell them that God is real and the Bible is God’s Word. Tell them that Jesus Christ is God who forgives their sins when they believe in Him.” The crowd of demons were surprised and immediately thought it was a bad idea. Then the demon added, “Then tell them that this is not the best time to believe in Jesus. They can do it later. Help them make excuses for waiting like burying their father, making more money, it will be embarrassing, or maybe they are sick.” The demons danced in delight. They did have a plan!
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Book of Hebrews |