Work Shop The Rest of God

The writer of the Book of Hebrews warns his readers, experienced Jewish Christians, to be careful that they do not come short of the rest of God. Just what is the rest of God? The writer proceeds, in the fourth chapter of Hebrews to present three aspects of the rest of God.

The first aspect has to with God's work being finished from the beginning of the world. The second aspect has to with the Sabbath day. The third aspect is associated with the possessing of Canaan Canaan. Whoever would enter the rest of God must cease from his own works. The rest of God is that state of being where we refrain from our own ambitions and do what God is commanding at the moment. The greatest liberty any believer can achieve is the point at which God's greatest desire is his greatest desire. Such a state of rest and freedom is not attained overnight, but it indeed is attainable if we will diligently pursue it.

The rest of God is based on the fact that God in six days created all events, all people, all things, all circumstances, through to the coming down of the new Jerusalem to the earth. Our own life and destiny is a part of the finished work of God. Then God rested. We are to enter that rest by ceasing from our own plans and looking to God for all we think, say, and do. The Lord Jesus does nothing apart from the Father. We are to nothing apart from Christ. When we are abiding in Christ, doing His perfect will at all times, we then are in the rest of God, the eternal Sabbath. This is the only kind of life worth living. This is an important part of our Canaan Canaan, our land of promise.

But numerous enemies are entrenched in the good things God has for us, particularly in the nations of the earth and the farthest reaches thereof. They are entrenched even in our own body, soul, and spirit. So in order to dwell in untroubled rest in God through Christ we have to continually pray and believe God until we are able to conquer every enemy that would keep us from rest in God.

Primary Scriptures

So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. (John 8:28)

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. (John 15:4)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:10)

Essential Points of Emphasis

Having begun as a Christian we should not die in the wilderness of unbelief and disobedience. We should press forward in faith each day until we are living in the perfect center of God's will through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Suggested References

Going to the Father; The Rest of God; Three Aspects of the Rest of God

Follow up Activities

Answer Review Questions for this topic. 35

List additional Scriptures which support this concept.

Summarize this topic in your own words in one paragraph.

Back to Work Shop