The Rest of God'

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The theme of the Book of Hebrews is that after having been saved and filled with God’s Spirit, we are to enter God’s rest. God’s rest is not Heaven and has little to do with Heaven. To enter God’s rest is to enter the finished work of God.

(7 /11/2005) God rested on the seventh day, the day of eternity that has no evening or morning. God did not rest because He was tired. God rested because His work in Christ was completed at that time—all the way through to the new Jerusalem. Every person was assigned a destiny. All was finished.

This means your life and my life was established from the beginning of the world.

This is true. However, the fourth chapter of the Book of Hebrews warns us that we can come short of our destiny. Although the work was completed from the beginning of the world, we can refuse to permit God to lead us in our foreordained path.

If the days ordained for us were written in God’s book, as it says in Psalms, then we have a basic choice to make. Should we conduct our life according to our own desires and wisdom, or should we look to the Lord Jesus constantly in order to determine what God has ordained for us?

The Apostle Paul was determined to grasp that for which he had been grasped. The truth is, each one of us has been grasped for a specific destiny. But in order not to come short of that ordained destiny we have to, as Paul did, count all else as garbage that we may gain Christ and attain to the resurrection that is unto life and glory.

I have come to the conclusion that salvation is unique for each person. God has a plan for each one of us. If we are obedient to God’s will for us, entering into His vision, His rest, we will be saved. But if we know God’s will for us and choose our own way, or are too busy to seek for His will for us, then we will not be saved.

What do I mean by saved, in this instance? I mean brought with joy into the Presence of God and the Lamb; being appointed a place in the new world of righteousness.

The writer of the Book of Hebrews was very firm in insisting that we not stop at the elementary principles of salvation but press forward until we are perfect in all the will of God; until we attain to that destiny appointed to the sons of God.

The writer of Hebrews, in the fourth chapter warned us about coming short of God’s rest.

He told us that this is the eternal Sabbath, the Sabbath in which Christ dwells eternally.

He informed us that God’s work was completed at the beginning, but that it is possible for us to miss God’s will for us.

He pointed out that Canaan is an Old-Testament type of God’s rest, signifying that we will be resisted as we strive to bring all of our personality into subjection to God’s will. The enemies in our own flesh will resist any such effort.

The writer made clear to us that the Word of God will penetrate our soul and spirit, joints and marrow, judging the thoughts and attitude of our heart, until every aspect of our personality is brought into subjection to Christ. He assured us that God sees into every detail of our life.

Many of us have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, and filled with God’s Spirit. Now we need to lay aside all else that we might press into that holy place in the centre of God’s will where the Lord Jesus always abides.

At night we continued our discussion of the rest of God, stressing that in view of the dangers facing the United States we must press, press, press into Christ each day and night from now on.