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God has had a plan for all time to have His people at rest with Him.
God’s 7th Day Rest -
God rested from the labor of creation, but He is still working. His rest was the accomplishment of a goal and the satisfaction with it.
2. The Sabbath Rest - The Sabbath (Day, Year, Year of Jubilee) was given to man as a test to see if God’s people would cease from their self-sufficiency and rest in God’s promised care and provision. Moses “testified to the things that were to be spoken later” (Heb. 3:5). Paul tells us that the Sabbath was “a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Col 2:17) Christ is our Sabbath Rest. Heaven is our eternal Sabbath Rest in the presence of God (4:9).
3.The Promised Rest to the Israelites in Numbers (Exodus 6:8) - The Promised Land was to be a land of resting from wandering.
What kept the majority of the Israelites from entering Canaan?
Unbelief in the promises of God. They did not believe the “good news”. They believed the “dangerous reality” of the reports from the 10 spies rather than trusting in the sure word of God. They did not trust in the goodness of God - though they had seen His glory and many miraculous signs. They trusted in what they “knew” and wanted to go back to Egypt. This is rebellion and disobedience.
How did Joshua and Caleb enter Canaan?
Believing in the promises of God, patiently waiting for God’s timing, then fighting to conquer the land. Caleb was 40 years old when he went to spy out the land. Joshua was probably similar in age. They waited 40 more years for a generation to die in the wilderness. When they went in to take possession of the land, they were 80 years old - at least 20 years older than any other person. Numbers 14:21-30
Here we have an illustration of how we must “strive to enter the rest.”
Believing, waiting, fighting the fight of faith.
4. The Promised Rest of Salvation (Heb. 4:3; Matthew 11:28-30)
Jesus’s offer of rest (Matt 11:28-30) is sandwiched between warnings to people and cities who did not believe the “good news” (Matt 11:5) that Jesus preached to them and to confrontation with Keepers of the Law who did not understand what that the Law was pointing to Him. He declared “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (Matt 12:8). To those weary of laboring under the law’s demands (Acts 15:10), He said, “Come to me and I will give you rest.” This is the rest of faith in the good news that Christ died for our sins. He continues, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” This is the obedience that follows trust.
What keeps people from resting in Christ’s finished work on the cross?
“For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest” (Heb. 4:2,3).
Unbelief. Humans want to believe that they are good enough to earn their salvation. We want to do something, contribute something to our salvation. We think they are too sinful, too undeserving. The author of Hebrews is going to spend a long time talking about the finished work of Jesus and how there is nothing we can add to it. Will you quit working to earn God’s favor? Will you believe that God views those who are in Christ as righteous? This is the good news.
Will you listen to the good news, believe it and rest?
5. The Promised Rest of Heaven
This is the rest that God has had planned from the beginning. This is the rest that the Sabbath Day shadowed. This is the rest that entering into the Promised Land illustrated. This is the rest that Salvation promises. This is when the saints “rest from their works as God did from His” (4:10). “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’” (Rev 14:13).