For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Entering God's rest means ceasing from one's own works just as God ceased from His. The call is therefore to labor to enter that rest lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief, while the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to divide soul and spirit and joints and marrow and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. Unbelief can keep people from entering God's rest just as it kept the Israelites from entering theirs.
Israel's wilderness generation was barred from that rest because they repeatedly grieved God and failed to trust, follow, and submit to His leading. He would have brought them to the promised land at once had they submitted to His leading. Only two, who wholly followed Him, were spared that judgment that they should not enter. The same warning applies now: God's people must submit to His leading and obey if they are to receive what He promises.
The rest is entry into the promised land and reaching the heavenly Canaan, on whose very borders God's people now stand. The Sabbath is linked to this rest as the sign that distinguishes God's people as they come out from the world to enter the heavenly rest, just as it distinguished Israel coming out of Egypt to enter Canaan. It signifies their relationship to God and honor for His law and sets loyal subjects apart from transgressors.
Entering the rest means more than stopping physical labor. The Sabbath is a sweet foretaste of the Sabbath above, not merely a cessation of work or break from work. Entering requires advancing onward and upward to purity and holiness by faithfully improving entrusted talents, accepting and appreciating increased light, and taking a high, noble stand in self-denial and self-sacrifice to be channels of light. Light not faithfully followed leaves dimness, deadness, and formality that cripple energy, and those who do not advance retrograde at the border and fail to enter rest.
The rest is not a heaven of inaction or eternal indolence, for heaven is a place of interested activity with no place for gratification of sloth. It is glorious relief for the weary and heavy laden who have fought the good fight of faith, when with the youth and vigor of immortality they no longer contend against sin and Satan. The hard, wearisome earthly path of toil is honored by the Redeemer's footprints and safe to follow.
Entering God's rest means ceasing from one's own works just as God ceased from His. The call is therefore to labor to enter that rest lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief, while the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to divide soul and spirit and joints and marrow and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. Unbelief can keep people from entering God's rest just as it kept the Israelites from entering theirs.
Israel's wilderness generation was barred from that rest because they repeatedly grieved God and failed to trust, follow, and submit to His leading. He would have brought them to the promised land at once had they submitted to His leading. Only two, who wholly followed Him, were spared that judgment that they should not enter. The same warning applies now: God's people must submit to His leading and obey if they are to receive what He promises.
The rest is entry into the promised land and reaching the heavenly Canaan, on whose very borders God's people now stand. The Sabbath is linked to this rest as the sign that distinguishes God's people as they come out from the world to enter the heavenly rest, just as it distinguished Israel coming out of Egypt to enter Canaan. It signifies their relationship to God and honor for His law and sets loyal subjects apart from transgressors.
Entering the rest means more than stopping physical labor. The Sabbath is a sweet foretaste of the Sabbath above, not merely a cessation of work or break from work. Entering requires advancing onward and upward to purity and holiness by faithfully improving entrusted talents, accepting and appreciating increased light, and taking a high, noble stand in self-denial and self-sacrifice to be channels of light. Light not faithfully followed leaves dimness, deadness, and formality that cripple energy, and those who do not advance retrograde at the border and fail to enter rest.
The rest is not a heaven of inaction or eternal indolence, for heaven is a place of interested activity with no place for gratification of sloth. It is glorious relief for the weary and heavy laden who have fought the good fight of faith, when with the youth and vigor of immortality they no longer contend against sin and Satan. The hard, wearisome earthly path of toil is honored by the Redeemer's footprints and safe to follow.