Entering God's Rest...

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God worked for six days. Then He rested. During those six days He created not only the physical creation but also the Kingdom of God, all the way through to the coming down of the new Jerusalem to rest upon the new earth—and beyond. At that time the names of His elect were written in His book. Since this is true, our task in life is to press into that to which we have been predestined. As Paul said, we are to grasp that for which we have been grasped.

(7/18/2010) My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalms 139:15,16)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)

It seems to me that the passage above implies that mankind is divided into those who have a special calling, an election assigned to them, and those who do not.

There have been many arguments in time past about the possibility of an elect who are predestined to be saved. These arguments are vain, for the following reasons:

First, the elect are not called to be saved but to be brothers of Christ, being conformed to His image. Second, the Scriptures teach with utmost clarity that there is the Church, the new Jerusalem, the elect, and then nations of saved people who walk in the light of the new Jerusalem.

Third, being predestined to and called does not mean that we are going to attain to our high calling no matter how we live. It is entirely possible for us to lose our crown of life and righteousness. The Scriptures teach this fact also with utmost clarity.

Since any believer can validate the above three facts by searching the Scriptures, I would like to pass on to the present burden: entering the rest of God.

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. (Hebrews 4:1)

Entering the rest of God is the thesis of the Book of Hebrews, although the range of topics in Hebrews does not always appear to be related to this primary thesis. It is evident, however, that Hebrews has largely to do with pressing on past the initial works of redemption.

As far as the elect are concerned, the goal of their life is to enter the rest of God. This means we must believe that God has called us to be a member of the royal priesthood. Therefore we are not to scheme how we may arrive at some other goal of our own choosing. Our task in life is to seek Christ constantly, to lay aside all else, as did the Apostle Paul, and grasp that for which we have been grasped.

To enter our assigned role in the Kingdom of God necessitates our patiently enduring numerous tribulations. Our most intense desires remain unfulfilled while we wait as cheerfully as we can in God's prison. As the Prophet mentioned, "We are shut up and cannot come forth."

Every one of those who are called to be the brothers of Christ must experience the sufferings of Christ, the sufferings of the cross. Our personal cross is not a delight. It is painful at times. If we fasten on it, it will grind us to powder. We must continue to think of our blessings, what we do have and can do, and not what we do not have and cannot do.

There are those who have been called to the royal priesthood, the governing body of the Kingdom of God, who come quite a ways toward their goal. Then the stress becomes too much for them and they lash out in the flesh. How disappointing this is to the Lord who had such high hopes for them.

We can come out from the bondage of the world spirit, and put to death the sins of our flesh as the Spirit points them out to us. But it is that third area at which some believers draw the line. They are not willing to give up their personal desires and obey Christ as He leads them toward the goal God has set before them.

What often happens is that the believer is placed in a situation in which people do not meet his or her standards. The believer becomes so enraged at the seeming injustice he is suffering that he no longer can hear the quiet voice of the Spirit.

When we find ourselves becoming angry with people, that often is a sign God is using them to perfect us. Why should we be angry with the tools God uses? That does not make sense. Let us rather look to Jesus to see what He wants us to do.

We must accept the fact that we are not going to be treated fairly in this present world. The Lord Jesus was not treated fairly. Pilate handed Christ over to be crucified when Pilate could find no reason for doing this. Christ was entirely innocent, and Pilate knew it.

This sort of injustice will be our lot until we, like Christ, give ourselves over to the will of God. Only then will we be able to hear that still, small voice of the Spirit and know what the next step on our journey is to be.

We always are to pray, and keep on praying, that God will give us the desires of our heart. And He will, in His time. But we must not give in to our fleshly impulses and take matters into our own hands, as Satan counseled Eve to do. The minute we do this we no longer can hear what Christ is saying to us through the Spirit.

I do not doubt there have been many ministers of the Gospel who have explained clearly the rest of God and how we are to press into it. However, I have not heard this subject preached. This suggests to me that it is in our day that the Lord Jesus is explaining to His disciples this all-important subject.

Well then, what exactly is our goal, our rest and God's rest in us.

Perhaps the strongest of the Old Testament types, concerning the goal of the Christian discipleship, is Canaan, the land of promise. The Israelites were saved out of Egypt in order to have their own home in Canaan, the land of milk and honey.

But what does Canaan stand for? I would say it stands for the rest of God, that is, the condition in which our life is focused on doing Christ's will at every moment. It stands for pressing past our natural life and entering the resurrection Life of our Lord. It is God's intention that we find perfect righteousness, love, joy, and peace in the very center of His Person and will.

So many Israelites died in the wilderness and never attained to their goal! The writer of Hebrews warns us about this and urges us not to stop moving forward until we have entered God's rest.

Beyond all doubt, one of the greatest hindrances to a clear understanding of the Kingdom of God is the traditional belief that the spirit Heaven is the land of promise, the fulfillment of the symbolism of Canaan. It assuredly is not! While there certainly is a spirit Heaven, where Christ, His saints, and the holy angels may be found, residence in Heaven is not the rest of God, the goal of the Christian redemption.

First of all, there is no passage of Scripture that points toward residence in the spirit world as the goal of redemption. Second, we would have to wait until we die in order to enter God's rest.

When we die, we are not faced with walls of Jericho, so to speak. The land is not divided up among us. We do not have to drive out the enemy. The entrance of Israel into Canaan is nowhere near being a type of the rest spoken of in the fourth chapter of the Book of Hebrews.

To go to Heaven is a change of place. To enter God's rest is a change of personality, a change of what we are. Contrary to popular belief, dying and going to Heaven does not change what we are. The only way we can be changed is by interacting with Jesus on a daily basis.

I don't believe the term "Heaven" is found in the writings of Paul. Paul expressed a goal. Paul's goal is to attain to the resurrection that is out from among the dead, the first resurrection. This is the resurrection of the members of the royal priesthood. They will be raised when the Lord next appears.

This first resurrection must be attained to, as Paul pointed out so clearly in the third chapter of the Book of Philippians. To maintain that Paul was laying aside all else so he would be qualified to go to Heaven when he died is so unrealistic as to be not worthy of discussion.

Truly, the venerable tradition that our goal is to go to Heaven prevents any logical thinking concerning the salvation we are to work out with fear and trembling.

There is a multitude of Christian people who look to the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. There is a smaller number who have learned to walk in the Spirit of God to a lesser or greater extent.

Now Jesus is looking to see how many will press forward until they find rest in God's Person and will. Doing so requires that we abandon our own plans for our life in favor of resting in that plan written in God's book during the original creation. The plan is to make man in God's image. The number of those who have enough faith to trust God to this extent may be quite small.

But to him who overcomes the desire to preserve his own life in order that he may enter God's Person to this extent, will be given all things of the new creation. God will be his God and he will be God's son.

Let each of us then pray that for eternity we will be found abiding in the very center of God's Person and will. There we always shall have righteousness, love, joy, and peace.

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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