Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Hebrews 4:1-16

The note for today is: "Find time today and everyday to rest in the Lord."

This chapter talks about two kinds of rest: God's rest and the rest he insists that his faithful followers take part in.

So what is God's rest?

God rested after his created the world. And then, when he had completed all things necessary for a smooth running of the world which he handed over to Adam, administratively, God rested on the seventh day.

But in verse 3 there were differences in this command to rest: 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 work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest."

In order for me to be able to wrap my thoughts around this, I have to backtrack a bit to the time when the Israelites were gifted with manna from heaven. God specifically told the Israelites (Ex. 16:31) that they were to pick up only enough manna for the Today.

It required a lot of faith to resist hoarding. Some of the Israelites did hoard. Guess they weren't sure that God would keep his promise to supply them with the nutritious manna that fell from heaven.

The problem was that in their hoarding, their disbelief was met with a bunch of manna that got worms in it when it was stored.

It was like God saying to them, "Look, I told you people that I would give you fresh manna every day. You are supposed to have faith in my promises and not hoard any manna for tomorrow."

Okay, so now fast forward to God's promises here in Hebrews that the people who have faith in him are to rest on the seventh day. I repeat, in verse 3, God said, "Now we who have believed enter that rest ..."

This command continues in verses 8-10: For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.

There it is as plain as day: work as hard and as furiously as we want, but on the seventh day, we are to rest. So put your feet up and enjoy your day of rest and have faith that God will give you energy aplenty for tomorrow to get your work started up again.

God wants us to show evidence of the faith we have in him.

Farmers have a saying that work done on Sunday has to be re-done on Monday. For that reason, you seldom see farmers out in the fields working on Sunday.

And don't think you can ever sneak around and do something that God wouldn't be aware of. Read this in verse 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.

And are we ever tempted? You bet we are!

Consider this: We have Jesus, the Son of God, who encourages us to hold onto the faith that we say we have.

Jesus, as our high priest, has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

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