InHebrews 4, the writer of Hebrews makes a striking paradoxical statement. In verse 9, he says, “There remains a rest for the people of God. And those that have entered His rest have ceased from their works even as God did from His.” However, before we get too excited, verse 11 follows, “Let us therefore labour (be zealous, exert ourselves, strive diligently) to enter into that rest.”
If you are like me, one question you’ll come away with is, “Sir, are we resting or are we not?” Today, I want to explore that tension.
The writer of Hebrews draws from the story of the Israelites who, he says, never entered into God’s rest, even though He had promised them rest in Canaan. That promised rest is a typology of not just the destination of salvation in Christ, but also of a picture of life in Christ (continuous journey of faith). That rest was encoded in a promise and also in instructions, but unbelief and disobedience kept Israel out.
The story paints a clear picture of God’s disposition toward unbelief and disobedience. The children of Israel were not disobedient because of ignorance; they were disobedient because they didn’t believe. Egypt had created a structural loop in their minds that made it almost impossible to believe the person of God and believe Him at His Word. Their hearts carried the residue of bondage even after their bodies had left Egypt.
The writer of Hebrews described their response to God with heavy words- they tried God, provoked Him, irritated and embittered Him. As the true Israel of God, rest remains our inheritance even today and nothing grieves God like a child that doesn’t walk in or lay hold of his inheritance in God.
There are 2 kinds of rest: There is the destination of rest– which is Canaan and akin to coming into Christ- and there is the journey in rest– which is living in the light of the promises we have in Christ and instructions on the faith lane. God wants all His children (believers and unbelievers alike) to experience both. The barriers to entry into our inheritance of rest is unbelief and disobedience.
We must understand that unbelief is not ignorance; it is misplaced belief. Unbelief will lead to disobedience because it is only when you believe He is, that you can believe that He rewards those that serve and seek. If you don’t believe that He is, there’s no motivation to obey. The children of Israel had left Egypt but were still under the influence of Egypt. They had been translated from darkness into light but still carried that darkness about in their minds and hearts; a thick, stubborn darkness that prevented them from allowing the light of God’s Word pierce through.
Some people may have experienced the first layer of rest which is salvation in Christ. They are now in light geographically but they are still contending with darkness experientially. However, please hear me and hear me well: total rest is your inheritance in God. Your rest is your lived realities encoded in spiritual terms.
How do you step into rest? The text shows that rest is not passive. We step into rest by labouring into it. The irony is that when you labour into rest, you are saved from a different kind of labour. There is a labour that exhausts, frustrates and drains; it is called the labour of the flesh. It measures productivity by activity, worth by busyness and it only seeks to ascribe to you what you have worked for. It is labour that leaves you tired but not transformed.
Rest doesn’t discount labour, it aligns it and produces a precision factor. It anchors your soul in God’s finished work, steady in faith, unmoved by contradiction and sustained by divine reality. Sometimes the work of believing in God’s finished works is the real work. That work requires meditating into revelation and praying in alignment with revelation.
The labour to enter rest has 2 loops:
- The Labour of Revelation
Rest is impossible without revelation. We cannot rest in what we have not seen. This is the deepest spiritual work. It is studying God’s Word, meditating on His voice, unlearning old beliefs, wrestling with truth, allowing the Holy Spirit to shift our lenses/paradigms and rewire our motives. When God’s light becomes our logic, God’s promises become real to us.
2. The Labour of Obedience
Rest is not passive, rest is active. As I said earlier, the children of Israel did not enter because of disobedience sponsored by unbelief. Our believing is proven in our doing. The Labour of Revelation refines our beliefs so that our faith can stand and act. The Labour of Obedience prays, listens for instructions and takes faith-inspired actions whether that is marching around the walls of Jericho or being still to see the salvation of God. God invites us into rhythms of obedience not to burden or ridicule us, but to align us in our cooperation with grace.
So friends, there remains a rest for the people of God. The lounge of rest can never be crowded out or timed out. There’s still space for you in the rest of God and you can step in today.
I pray that the God of all peace secures you, anchors you and brings you into every promise He has spoken over you.
Have a blessed week.
For His glory and His renown,
Olayinka Adebayo
@layinkadebayo
Push Buttons is a weekly devotional of The PowerPoint Tribe.