Hebrews 4:3
For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
The works of creation were completed from the foundation of the world. That finished work does not sustain itself by its own energy or continue by its own inherent power. God continually upholds life and sustains everything He has made. His energy is still exerted to uphold what He created through the working of the Father and the Son, continually using His laws as instruments, so that nature remains the servant of her Creator and not an independent mechanism acting by itself.
The promise of entering God's rest is still left open and is entered by those who believe. The gospel was preached to present believers as well as to ancient Israel, but the word preached profits only when mixed with faith in those who hear it. The rest promised includes the seventh-day Sabbath rest, because God rested the seventh day from all His works. The coming great issue will be over the seventh-day Sabbath, which God requires to be reverenced.
Israel was kept from entering God's rest by unbelief after repeatedly grieving God, and He swore they would not enter His rest, except for the two who wholly followed Him. Their long wandering in the wilderness was not God's desire and lasted longer than He intended. He would have brought them sooner and directly to the promised land if they had submitted to Him and accepted His leading. They had been taught God's ways repeatedly and could have known them, but they rejected the truth, turned from God, and followed human wisdom not directed by Him.
The same warning applies now, that people can fail to enter God's rest through unbelief as Israel did. Persistent refusal to heed God's warnings leads to destruction. God's people must trust in Him alone rather than seek help from those who do not serve Him. Christ leads them to victory, but the promise is not fulfilled to those who fail to obey Him.
Mere profession of faith does not make men Christians. Lest they seem to come short of the promise, they must give more earnest heed to the things heard, open the Word in study, compare Scripture with Scripture, put away the spirit of controversy, and each seek the light and knowledge he needs. Those who believe do enter into rest even now, known in calm, sweet, holy joy, firm unshaken love for one another, strength and success, and the power of God manifested with healing of the sick. Entering that rest means advancing with increasing light onward and upward to purity and holiness by faithful self-denying self-sacrifice and faithful improvement of entrusted talents, accepting and appreciating the light given and becoming channels of light to the world. Those who receive abundant privilege and opportunity but grow dim, dead and formal and fail to advance will retrograde and fall short on the very borders of the heavenly Canaan instead of entering God's rest.