#213: Eternity: our quest for final rest
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God (Heb 4:9)
This month, we have consistently looked at the topic “Rest” It is such an important concept that spans through the scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible (and as well, time) spans from rest to rest. Rest actually existed from the beginning and it spans on to the end. It was mankind that stepped out of it.
In our first article, we saw that God was the initiator of rest and right there at the beginning, He brought man to share in it. God rested when He finished His work of creation, examined it and saw that it was good. His work remains good up till today. Man only fell out of that work right there at the beginning. The good news is that even as man fell out and faced the consequences of his actions, God established a way back and he began to reveal it as man advanced and as each generation succeeded the former.
This brought us to the idea of the Shabbat where we saw God resounding a reality that had already existed and that always existed to the children of Israel. The article reveals that there was more to this law of the Shabbat than a mere bunch of rules to keep. There was a yearning in the heart of God towards a reality which He wanted Israel to celebrate and hold on to.
The theme of the Jubilee which was considered in the third article revealed God showing a steady pattern of things that had existed, things that were, and things that were to come. This pattern of sevens was displayed throughout scripture always bringing up the idea of rest - for on the seventh day God rested. We saw that even though God showed this pattern to the children of Israel, many of them didn’t seem to follow or pay attention to Him. They always disobeyed God time after time and it took them away from their land. Even when God came in the flesh, He bore witness to these things for He came to release, redeem, restore, reset and bring rest to His people.
In our fourth article, we saw Jesus make another clear declaration in which He seems to give an idea of how one can walk into this rest. He made clear that He gives rest and any man who comes unto Him finds that rest. This brought us to the concept of grace, making us see that it was not according to our efforts that we got rest but by our coming unto Jesus and leaning on Him. As many as came unto him found that rest. They became witnesses of this reality throughout the rest of the New Testament.
To round up the series on rest, we will look at a wee section of the book of Hebrews (Heb 3:7 - 4:11). Here, the author compares the journey of the Israelites to the promised land with the journey of every believer to eternal life (our promised land) - I John 2:25. The comparisons are highlighted below:
The Israelites were saved from bondage in Egypt
They journeyed through the wilderness
Their destination was Canaan
Their liberation from Egypt was in some sort, a form of rest from the toils of slavery; they also enjoyed pockets of rest in the wilderness, but there was a final rest for them - the promised land.
We are also on a journey.
Though we enjoy the benevolence of God’s grace in our walk with Him, our journey does not end here. Grace is only practical on earth. In eternity, there is no need for grace because rest will be experienced in its fullness as in the beginning when God Nuakhed in His creation and man Nuakhed in God’s presence.
The aim of Hebrews 3 and 4 is to make believers know that just as not everyone that came out of Egypt entered into the promised land, so also it will be for eternity. Hence, we must strive to enter that rest. Revelation 21 and 22 give the description of the day of eternal rest. Among the many attributes, the one, I would want to lay emphasis on is vs 5 of chapter 22
And night shall be no more…and they will reign forever (Rev 22:5)
And so, just as the evening and the morning did not end the seventh day in the creation account (it continued on and on), so also would be the day of this eternal rest. It shall be a day without end because there will be no night.
Right from when man fell from grace and lost out on the rest He enjoyed, God has been working out our way back to that rest. It gets consummated in eternity. Grace is a shadow of our eternal and true rest. This is not to say that grace is useless, neither does this demean its efficacy - but to let us know that as we enjoy the blessedness of grace, we should remember that it is a reminder of the life that awaits us and we should rightly use the grace of God to contend for our faith so that we enter into eternity.
In closing, meditate on these verses from Hebrews 3:
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day as long as it is called “today", so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (vs 12-15)
And from Hebrews 4:
Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His. Let us, therefore, strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. (vs 1,9-11)
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