Preparation for rest

4/24/2022, Hebrews 4:1-16; BCBC/IOUC; Rev. Paul Wang

  Introduction

There are two different expressions of rest in the Bible,  one refers to rest, and the other refers to the condition and state of being in Christ.  The rest we are talking about today refers to the second kind of rest, which God has prepared for His people.  Let’s look at the first point:

 The nature of faith

Since it refers to the situation in Christ, it certainly refers to the scope of the gospel.  Since it is the scope of the gospel, how can it be separated from faith? So what does the nature of faith have to do with rest?  First, grace is reserved.  Paul is not expressing the structure of grace here by the logical reasoning of Greek philosophy, but by expressing the foundations of the gospel through the ancient channels of Hebrew theology.  It is not that we love, but that God first loved us.  Because Abraham obeyed God and believed, God counted it as his righteousness.  There is no need for a reason to choose, and reservation is also a trace of God’s miracles alone.  God called Abraham before the very beginning of His creation.  He left Ur, and his route to Haran had already been drawn.  The lamb that replaced Isaac was already tied under the tree.  The salvation of you and me today is also determined by God in the dark, do you believe it?

Second, attitude to life.  We are saved by grace through faith.  When we know that God has a promise for us to enter into His rest, Paul said,  “We should fear”!  Is there anything the world is afraid of today?  Yes!   People are afraid of not having food,   not having money to spend, not having a job,怕沒有退休金、not having a pension, being isolated, not being understood, being alone, being afraid of telling a lie and no one will believe him, not being able to keep wearing a mask, In the end, being afraid of death!   Strange, the only thing is that he has no reverence for the God who can decide his life and death!  In fact, faith is to receive God’s grace with a very cautious heart.  God is love, and there is no fear in love.  But the attitude of receiving love must be godly.  Otherwise, you may “fall behind”.  Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is to be entered!  The kingdom of heaven is not an individual act, but the collective advance and retreat of the body of Christ!

Finally, into the assurance.  People have come to church,  they have also prayed to accept Christ and received baptism.  However, still not live in Christ,  but the old self!   Paul said that “the message they heard was of no value to them,”  To put it bluntly, it means that they have heard the word but never live out of it, or seldom did it.  Looking a little deeper, what they do is not commensurate with what they believe.  God says you must repent, but that is easy to say, but difficult to do!  The point here is not whether our actions are perfect, or how strong our sense of morality is.  It is the continuation of our entry into the kingdom of God,  just as Jacob wrestled with God at the Ford of the Jabbok and persevered all night knowing he could not.  Do not give up, but also grasp the blessings of God, and become a good talk.  Let’s look at the second point:

   The mystery of rest

What exactly is rest?   What is the relationship between the rest in creation and the rest in salvation?  First, rest in creation. Rest in creation is “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”  This is familiar to everyone, and it is also our earliest understanding of rest. Rest in creation seems to have nothing to do with man,  but God’s own rest.  Because God’s great work of creation is complete,  He is going to rest.  However, God’s people should imitate God.  Therefore, God’s rest is also expressed in the rest of the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments.  God’s progressive revelation leads God’s people step by step to gradually understand the mystery of rest.  God led the Israelites out of Egypt through Moses, and brought rest into God’s passover and salvation for the Israelites out of Egypt.

Second, rest in deliverance. Before Christ Jesus came into the world, our understanding of salvation was still vague.  The concept of the rest of deliverance arises in gratitude to God for saving them from Egypt.  Of course, there are also ungrateful people who are greedy for Egyptian food and seafood.  This is the same as when we believe in the Lord today but are not thankful, and we often miss the pleasures we once had in sin.  God once split the earth in the wilderness and devoured the lives of more than 20,000 scumbags.  After entering Canaan, God’s people continued the sacrificial rest that began in the wilderness, which is to express their obedience and love to God through sacrifice.  In fact, it also includes sin offerings, especially burnt offerings, which also have the function of redemption.  However, when sacrificial rest is functionalized and programmed, it is easy to degenerate into superficial rest.  The representation of faith becomes the cause of the wrath of God.

Lastly, rest in grace.  But who calls God to be love?  He felt that we were nothing but dust,  and Jesus even called on the Father to forgive us for our sins to crucified.  Say, “They don’t know what they do!”  Can they not know? Just because of God’s love,  He redefines our ignorance!  Thus, Paul reveals here: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God.  (Hebrews 4:9)”  If there is any mystery of rest, it is the greatest mystery!   It is God who saves a Sabbath of rest for all who believe in Him!   This is God’s salvation!   Please note that this rest of grace is not given to us by God to lie down.  But call us to “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.  (Hebrews 4:11)   Let’s look at the third point:

Christ’s foretaste

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. The road we are going to walk,  He has walked in advance.  First, the Lord is the true way. Paul said, For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  (Hebrews 4:12)  Clearly, in Paul’s description of the Word of God, the meaning of person has been given.  This is also the reason why we say that the Lord Jesus Christ is God’s living Word,  because He is the living Lord, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, watching and interceding for us. The messages the apostles preached in the early church  caused many priests, scribes, and Pharisees at that time to tear their clothes and grieve. What they framed was not others, but the Lord who created them!

Second, God truly knows.  When people come before the Lord, they must not play tricks.  He knows our folly, weakness, ignorance, etc.!   Paul said:  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  (Hebrews 4:13) Do you think that if you play some tricks behind your back,   say some gossip, or do something bad, the Lord won’t know?   In today’s international relations, look at the Russian-Ukrainian war,  US-Russian relations, NATO EU,  China-Russia without limitation,  Indo-Pacific New Front, etc. how many conspiracies and how much deceit!    Even the church, for the sake of power, reputation, status,  forming sects, 、flattering, and not speaking the truth,    do you really think that the Lord does not know?

Finally, the Lord is true love.  If Christ hadn’t come,  we would still be vague about God.   However, is it still unclear that the Lord has already become flesh and has sacrificed His life on the cross?   ”In fact, the ones shouted, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”  These people were completely clear about what the Lord said and did!  But the presence of the Lord threatens their authority, their vanity, and their feelings!   Even Nicodemus did not dare to take the stand for the Lord in the Jewish Sanhedrin!  On the contrary, Pilate, who tried to excuse the Lord many times,   also became an ironic landscape.  Today, such things are also commonplace in church “power struggles”!  Does no one look up to the Lord?  Paul said: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15)”

 Conclusion

Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord is our support!  “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)” The rest that the Lord has prepared for us is to let us receive the salvation that Christ has foretasted by faith, and walk with God because of the way, truth, and life He has lived out!

 Let us pray……

1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 

2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.  

3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger,  ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 

4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”  

5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 

7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:  “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 

9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;  

10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[e] just as God did from his. 

11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 

13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,[f] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 

16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.