By Ezekiel Kimosop
INTRODUCTION
Hebrews 4:1-10 speaks about the promise of our rest in Christ Jesus. It is a beautiful passage that reveals to us that our true rest does not consist in observing the seventh day but in abiding in Christ in eternal fellowship.
Being in Christ brings divine assurance of hope to every restless soul. We enter into His rest, an experience that stands for the true, divine Sabbath that mirrors God's rest from His works in Genesis 2:1-3.
In order to appreciate the context of Hebrews 4:1-10, we need to go back to Hebrews 3 and pick out the thoughts of the writer that inform his concluding remarks in our passage of context.
A little historical survey of the wilderness journey would perhaps be useful at this point.
When the children of Israel rebelled against God in the journey to the promised land, they went in circles through the wilderness for 40 years, a journey that Bible scholars say could have taken them less than two weeks to complete.
Only two faithful men, Caleb and Joshua, out of the original number that left Egypt, entered the Promised Land. These two heroes of the faith stood against the storms of unbelief and defended God's glory and honor among the twelve spies sent by Moses to spy the Holy Land [see Numbers 13-14].
The two men gave a positive minority report saying that the people should arise and invade the land because God will give them victory (Numbers 13:30). The rest of the spies gave a discouraging report, saying that the land was full of giants and that they were like grasshoppers before them.
The people wept and some sought to return to Egypt (Numbers 14:1-4). God was sorely displeased by the people's unbelief and He swore that only the two men shall enter the Promised Land (Numbers 14:40). Some actions have eternal consequences!
The rest of the people perished in the wilderness because of their rebellion unbelief and apostasy [cf. Hebrews 3:16-19]. None, not even faithful people such as Moses, Aaron, or Miriam could enter the promised land, yet they were great leaders that are celebrated in Scripture [cf. Micah 6:4]!
Miriam died in the wilderness of Zin (Numbers 20:1) and Aaron died at Mt Hor in Moserah (Numbers 20:28; Deuteronomy 32:50; Joshua 24:33).
Moses saw the promised land from Mt Pisgah in the plains of Moab [present day State of Jordan] but God did not permit Him to enter the Land because of his personal disobedience. God reveals the reason for Moses' exclusion in Deuteronomy 32:51 that says "because you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not hallow Me in the midst of the children of Israel."
Earlier in Deuteronomy 3:27-28 God commanded Moses, saying, "Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. 28 But command Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you will see."
That was the far that Moses got. He died in the plains of Moab and God buried him (Deuteronomy 34:1-8).
The wilderness journey experience and God's dealing with His covenant people remind us that while God is holy, loving and merciful, He is a just God who will punish the disobedient and the wicked no matter how highly placed they are in society. No one is immune from God's righteous wrath. Only Christ's blood can cleanse sin and open the door to His rest.
LESSONS FROM HEBREWS 3
Now back to our passage of Hebrews 3.
Hebrews 3:1-6 is a tribute to Jesus' faithfulness to the Father and for this godly response, God appointed Him as High Priest in the order of Melchizedek forever (Hebrews 5:6, 10, 6:20).
Jesus was greater than Moses. His eternal priesthood ranked above Aaron's. Unlike the two great men, Jesus was and is a Son in His Father's house, a true and faithful heir to the things of God. We too shall be joint heirs with Christ if we remain faithful in our walk with God. We should therefore enter His rest [cf. Galatians 3:28-29].
Hebrews 3:7-19 exhorts us to faithfulness in our walk with God and outlines the negative illustration of the rebellion of the children of Israel who perished in their unbelief, something we do well to learn from.
Someone said that a wise man learns from both his mistakes and the mistakes of others but a fool cannot learn from any mistake!
We are exhorted to remain steadfast in our faith in God and to hearken to His voice (Hebrews 3:15).
CONCLUSION
Entering Christ's rest implies ceasing from the confidence of the flesh and completely trusting Jesus Christ in our walk of faith. We cease counting on our self confidence. Instead, we fully trust and submit to God's unmerited grace in Christ Jesus. There is the "now" and the "yet to come" concerning our rest in Christ.
In the "now" dispensation, we walk with Jesus Christ even as we struggle with the snares of Satan in this present evil world. The journey is difficult, with booby traps and thorns along the dreary paths but Jesus has an encouraging message for us: He who endures to the end shall be saved (Matthew 10:22, 24:13; Mark 13:13).
In the world to come, our rest in Christ shall be complete. We shall dwell in His glorified presence forever, never again to experience pain or grief. 1 John 3:2 says "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."
In the life to come, we shall be Christ's redeemed people and He will eternally be our God. Revelation 21 conveys to us a glimpse of the life to be experienced by the glorified Church. It is a blissful, serene and comely place that every soul yearns to dwell in [cf. Revelation 21:9-27].
Jesus is the way to that blissful nirvana. God proclaims three times in the Gospels that "He [Jesus] is my beloved Son. Hear Him" [Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35].
Do you hear Christ speaking? His voice is only heard in the written Scriptures and discerned through the illumination of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
Hear ye Him and enter ye His rest.
Shalom
© Ezekiel Kimosop 2021
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