ENTERING GOD’S REST

by Lewis Zenovay Hrytzak

The scriptures state that God “rested on the seventh day from all his work” and that “He ceased from labor and was refreshed.” This raises some thought provoking questions. Does God actually get tired? And does God need to be refreshed?” Or do these sayings have a specific meaning for mankind? What do the scriptures show?

Genesis 2:1-3 states: “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

Not surprisingly, included in the Ten Commandments which God gave Israel through Moses, God required that Israel keep the Sabbath day. The fourth commandment God gave stipulated that: “the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.” (Exodus 20:10) In chapter 31:16, 17, God said to Moses: “So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever, for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.” The primitive root of the Hebrew word, Naphash’, meaning refreshed, has to do with breathing passively; (or figuratively, refreshed as by a current of air). It suggests well-being. Please note, God told Israel they were “to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant,” and that it “is a sign between [God] and the sons of Israel, forever.” How interesting that the Sabbath is a perpetual covenant – a sign. The question is, how is it a perpetual covenant or sign? What is the lesson God teaches, thereby?

In his letter to the Hebrews (4:9), Paul explains: “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” He then goes on to say: “For the one who has entered His rest [God’s rest] has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” (Heb. 4:10) In verse eleven of that chapter (after a reference to Israel’s disobedience and lack of faith), Paul offers this specific counsel: “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the example of disobedience.”

In the preceding chapter of Hebrews, Paul quotes Psalm 95:8-11, which states: “Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years; Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know my ways; As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My Rest.” Paul then asks: “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.” (Heb. 3:18, 19) Therefore, when God said of Israel, “They shall not enter my rest,” he put them on notice that they would not enter the Promised Land. How so? Well, that land represented God’s favor, protection and blessing – it was the equivalent of entering his rest.

When Moses addressed the older generation (in Deut. 30:19, 20) saying: “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse, so choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying his voice, and by holding fast to Him…,” he was implying a covenant relationship between God and Israel. Obedience and faith were required if they were to enjoy such a relationship with God. Therefore, entering the Promised Land was tantamount to “entering God’s rest.” Unfortunately, Israel kept rebelling against God, so he said: “They always go astray in their hearts” and “they shall not enter my rest.” True to God’s declaration, the older generation died off in the wilderness for lack of faith and obedience. They did not enter the Promised land. They did not enter God’s rest.

But what of those who did enter? Of these, Paul writes: “For if Joshua had given them rest, [God] would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” (Heb. 4:8-10) Here is positive proof that the geographical Promised land was merely incidental to entering God’s rest. The real criterion was faith and obedience. In other words, being in the Promised land did not of itself mean entry into God’s rest. Such entry could only be achieved if they remained loyal to God, and obedient to him.

Another example is that of Isaiah 66:8: “Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth at once?” Clearly, Isaiah’s use of the words ‘land’ and ‘nation’ (as parallel terms) is about a spiritual reality, rather than a geographical place. Furthermore, only faithful obedience to God will usher one into that spiritual reality.

The first few verses of Hebrews chapter 4, state: “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they did also, but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as he has said… concerning the seventh day: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works… therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, "Today", saying through David after so long a time just as he said before, "Today, if you hear his voice, Do not harden your hearts." In other words, the time to enter God’s rest is, “today!” – meaning, now, or at this time. It is also a term used in scripture to indicate the truthfulness of what is being said. This is why the writer gives this specific admonition: “Take care, brethren that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.” Please note that God’s resting from His work on the seventh day, and later giving the Sabbath law, was as a sign (or reminder) that we must rest from our own works, for by doing so we enter into His – God’s rest.

One question remains: How, or in what way, was the Sabbath “a perpetual covenant” or “sign” between God and the sons of Israel? The answer to that question has to do with God’s words to Israel: “Today, if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” This implies a covenant relationship with God, requiring obedience on the part of his people, of which the Sabbath was a constant reminder. To “hear God’s voice” means to listen to him and to obey him; to desist from doing things according to our own pleasure, and to serve God with all our soul, in complete faithfulness. It also means being obedient to our Lord and Master, Christ Jesus, whom God, our Heavenly Father sent into the world, and to whom he gave all authority, in heaven and on earth.

Israel had many wonderful laws, including the Ten commandments which they frequently failed to obey, so God spoke through Jeremiah, saying: “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the one I made with their fathers… my covenant which they broke…but this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” -Jer. 31:31-33. Israel was much like the man who owns a beautifully bound, gilt-edged Bible, but never reads it – paying no attention to the treasure it contains. For this reason, the New Covenant requires that God’s law be written, “not on stone tablets, but on fleshly tablets, on hearts,” and God does that writing – if we so desire. While birth under the Old Covenant made one a member of it, it is not so with the New Covenant. To be accepted into a covenant relationship with God, and to be part of the New Covenant, we must allow Him to write His laws upon our heart.

From the foregoing we see that the Sabbath was given to Israel as a “sign,” or “perpetual covenant” to remind them of the dire need to rest from their own works, and to enter God’s rest. This is why God sent his Beloved Son into the world – even as Jesus stated, at John 3:16. Our Heavenly Father wants mankind to enter into his rest, just as Jesus acknowledged, saying: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mat. 11:28, 29) Jesus quotes the very thought expressed by his Father through the prophet Jeremiah (31:25): “I will satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes.” This is God’s loving intention for mankind. It is the reason God sent his Beloved Son to earth. However, in order for God to draw us to His Son, Christ Jesus, we must be willing to have Him write his laws on our heart. And how do we do this? Paul gives this advice: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” (Gal. 5:16) To “walk by spirit” also means we desire to have God’s law written on our hearts by spirit, for that is how we are brought into the New Covenant foretold by Jeremiah, and that is how we enter God’s rest. To help us remain in God’s rest, Peter offers this advice in his second letter – he writes of “Grace, peace and knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” and further states: (read 2 Peter 1:4-8)

It conclusion, it would seem that God’s reference to his ‘resting’ (after his creation of things) was meant to impress upon us the great importance of resting (i.e., desisting) from our own works, and the need to enter God’s rest. Furthermore, the Sabbath day was a ‘perpetual covenant’ or ‘sign’ of the need to enter God’s rest, in order to come under His protective care. To provide for this, God sent his Beloved Son, Christ Jesus, into the world to lay down his life for mankind. The Sabbath is a perpetual reminder, not only of the need to enter God’s rest, but that God invites us into a covenant relationship with Him and His Son. How grateful we can be that, in this age, God has reached out to us and drawn us to His Son. Let us show gratitude by living a life of faith and loyalty to our Heavenly Father, and his beloved Son, our Lord and King, Christ Jesus.