I’ve always struggled with having a correct understanding of rest from a biblical perspective. Some of the many questions that come to my mind when contemplating this are “what is the defining difference between rest and laziness?”, or “what does the biblical command of Sabbath look like for us today?”, or even “how are both work and rest presented as good things in scripture, yet not contradictory?”. Recently I’ve been spending a lot of time in the book of Hebrews as I lead our students through this book chapter by chapter. In chapters 3 and 4, the author of Hebrews talks about this rest, and when I read in Hebrews 4:11 “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest…”, many of these questions resurface.
Here are some of the things I have learned from looking at the concept of rest as presented in the book of Hebrews. First, the author of Hebrews makes it clear that rest comes from God, and has been modeled by Him and offered to His creation since the foundation of the world (Hebrews 4:3-10). This is not a new concept; God designed us in a way that requires rest, and freely offers it to us.
Second, the author of Hebrews quotes from Psalm 95 multiple times to show us that Israel failed to obtain the rest offered to them in the promised land. For Israel to enter the promised land, it meant more than just entering a piece of real estate. It meant enjoying and entering God’s plan of salvation and inhabiting the very place where God set his dwelling. So to enter the rest provided by God is equated with entering the presence of God and dwelling with Him! It brings to mind Psalm 27:4 where David says the one thing he longs for is being in the presence of God (Caleb’s paraphrase).
Third, the author of Hebrews emphasizes the word “today” throughout these chapters, showing us that we can have immediate access to that rest! This rest comes through salvation in Jesus, our brother (Hebrews 2:11-12) who is able to help us in our temptation (Hebrews 2:18) because he is our great high priest who has been tempted in every way we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15-16). So when he commands us to “strive to enter that rest”, he means we must work against all of our efforts to prove our righteousness and strive against all our efforts to justify ourselves. It is through Jesus alone that we can enter the rest and presence of God “today”.
I am still on this journey of better understanding the concept of rest in scripture, and have a long way yet to go. I am just now beginning to mine the depths of some of the treasure hidden in the book of Hebrews. But these are some of the things I have been learning recently in my ultimate journey to be conformed to the image of Christ, and I hope and pray that it is helpful to you in your journey towards the same destination.
In Christ Alone,
Caleb Hecox