Living in God’s rest

Hebrews 3:11 As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” We are looking at a quote from Ps. 95 where God warned Israel not to harden their hearts when God speaks. The author of Hebrews was also warning his readers not to drift away from what God spoke about Jesus (2:1) and to not harden their hearts to God’s word. This verse punctuated God’s response to those who harden their hearts. He swore that they shall not enter His rest. In Israel’s context, the “rest” was the Promised Land, where they would rest from their wandering in the wilderness and their day of trial. In our context, God’s rest is the promise of grace and mercy that God promises to those who hold fast their confidence and the boast of their hope firm until the end. What is the confidence and hope the author has been teaching? It is that Jesus is God’s son, appointed to come to earth and bring many sons to glory in a new world to come. He accomplished this great salvation by humbling Himself to become a man, giving His life to purify and sanctify us, and giving us access to God through union with Him. In short, we hold this confidence and hope by daily living with Jesus—abiding in Him through faith. That’s what living to love with Jesus is all about. As we abide in Him—hold fast our confidence and boast—we bear His fruit in our lives, which is love. His righteousness shines through our lives, and God continues His mission of drawing His sons to Jesus so He can bring them to glory. As we live each day to love with Jesus, we are entering His rest. The work has been done by Jesus and is still being done by Jesus. We live in a state of rest as Jesus promised to His disciples in Matt. 11:28-30. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. You will find that when you journey through life on your own agenda, you will have no rest. God has sworn that there will be no rest for those who ignore His word, and His word has been clear. Jesus is life (John 14:6). He commanded us to love one another as He loves us (John 13:34), and He said it is only possible by our abiding in Him and He in us (John 15:5). When we hold fast our confidence in His life in us and the boast of our hope of fruitfulness in Christ for the glory of the Father, we enter into His rest. We can live in God’s rest as we live to love with Jesus.