The Rest Of God

by TERRELL, J.D. | Category: Names That Need To Be Known | May 2006

Seeking, as this series of articles does, to explore the special significance of various descriptive terms used in Scripture of the people of God today, we are helped to focus on the remarkable variety and richness of these. This in turn leads us to appreciate more deeply the value the Lord places on a gathered-out community in worship and service for His glory.

The subject of �The Rest of God� in Scripture, while not strictly presenting a collective term descriptive of God�s people, is nonetheless specially applied to such a people in both Old and New Testaments, and sheds its own precious light on the delight and purpose which God has in His people. This is underlined by the fact that most of the New Testament discussion of this subject is given to us in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is itself the guide to the unique character of God�s people today, especially in their priestly service. It paints a picture of a godly condition in which such a people fulfils its unique place in God�s gracious purposes today: and it does this by comparing and contrasting Old and New Testament purposes of God, demonstrating the vast superiority of the New Covenant context.

So, what is the Rest of God in the Scriptures, and how can a sanctified and serving people come to enjoy this and be motivated by it to richer service? It is important at this point to underline again the unique association of this matter of God�s REST with the people of God. Hebrews 4:9 is a crucial verse here. �There remains therefore a rest for the people of God�. It is at this point that the author of the Hebrews epistle moves on from the experience of Israel, God�s Old Testament people, in respect of the Rest of God, to the Holy Spirit�s application of this truth to God�s New Covenant people - to those today who share in the privileges and position of house of God and kingdom of God among other important subjects dealt with in this series. The early verses of chapter 4 of Hebrews, following on from a lament on the failure of Old Testament Israel to enter into God�s Rest, says, �Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it�.

Now to help us understand the basic concept of the Rest of God it is important to note the meaning and significance of the Greek word mainly used in the Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 references. This is given by linguists as �resting down� and hence the thought of �abiding�; which in turn conveys a state of settled abiding. This is important, as we shall see, in today�s multiple and widely varying �homes� for a Christian�s service; involving so many disciples of the Lord Jesus in moving from group to group and from �church� to �church�. God�s purpose is for a place of settled abiding in Christian life and service.

The earliest model and example for us in this is found in the creation story of Genesis. Again our source of reference is in Hebrews - in chapter 4 verse 4 � �And God rested on the seventh day from all His works�. God�s own rest on the seventh day, the Sabbath, was to be an example and pattern for the people of Israel, especially in relation to the land of promise. That land was to be their settled abode to which God had led them through many trials and blessings, and only by settling all their hopes there, with its dwelling place for God at its heart, would they find permanent rest and fulfilment after their wilderness pilgrimage. We have, of course, to recognise the limitations of this as a type of spiritual experience in New Covenant times, for the Christian today is invited to enter into God�s rest for them immediately on receiving the blessing of redemption through faith in Christ and commitment through baptism, to serving God in His house and holy nation, subjects dealt with separately in this series of articles. The vital matter dealt with in Hebrews 3 and 4 is that of entering into God�s rest, and the spiritual dangers attendant on failing to do so. �Entering in� in this context means recognising, and progressively enjoying, the spiritually settled life-style of the people God has ordained for Christian service in our day; not simply making a starting commitment to that place, essential though that is. Readers would be well advised to ponder the words of Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 in particular; for it is here that this important, though often neglected, aspect of the service of God�s people in His house is expounded. Central to the whole matter is the warning, repeated several times in these verses, of failing to �enter into� God�s rest of settled and undistracted service; a failure which can overtake the disciple even after he or she has made a commitment to the place itself, and can greatly diminish his enjoyment of it.

God�s Old Testament people Israel had a fluctuating experience in the matter at different stages of their history in the land. Hebrews 4:7,8 shows this to have been so after the tragedy had occurred in which a whole generation who came out of Egypt had not even entered physically into the promised land, much less entering in a settled way into the spiritual privileges God had for them. This is typified by their failure to take possession, literally, of large tracts of the territory promised to them. It is primarily concerning their spiritual experience that teaching and warning comes down to us today. In the long years before David�s reign, notably in the days of the judges, the entering-in failure was conspicuous. Then there was a fresh appeal in Psalm 95 for a change for the better which we see in Israel�s condition for a period of years thereafter. �"Today,"� God pleaded, �"if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts"�. So now we know from Hebrews 4 that Psalm 95 and probably others around it in the Psalter were composed by David, though not so attributed in our Bibles. David�s bringing up of the Ark of God to what was to be truly its resting place for the nation settled in the land, namely to Zion, pictures God�s purpose for a people at rest in His purposes.

Which brings us to the solemn matter of the source of the failure to �enter in�.God�s plea in David�s day was, as shown above from Hebrews 4, that God�s people should not harden their hearts after having heard God�s voice and initially responded to it. Such a gracious and appealing God as ours speaks and speaks again in pleading for His people�s ear and attention. He does so in all generations and covenant contexts. The �today� of Psalm 95, as quoted in Hebrews 4, tells eloquently of God�s constant and unfailing appeal of love.

What then were the underlying sins inclining the people to hardening of heart; to a subtle and progressive insensitivity to the word and will of God? They were simply the �root� sins of unbelief and disobedience, �root� sins which produce �fruit� sins of heart hardening and departure from the living God. The sin was indeed a subtle and progressive evil, just as the �entering in� associated with God�s rest was, and is, a continuing and progressive grace of spiritual life. Such things, of course, concern the hearts of individual disciples of the Lord. But the emphasis in Hebrews is on a creeping collective spiritual malaise which can weaken the entire fabric of the life and service of those whose loyalty and devotion God delights in as a people for His own possession. God looks for His people to be continually entering into the glories of His house � �coming to Him as to a living stone ... you ... are being built up a spiritual house� (1 Pet.2:4,5); and of His kingdom � �through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God� (Acts 14:22).

Let us be aware that unbelief and disobedience are both sins of the human will, as well as resulting from neglect and carelessness. The Scripture depicts the matter in very solemn terms. �Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God� (Heb.3:12). It is to be hoped we have already made it clear that this is all speaking of a sanctified, redeemed people in their spiritual lives and in no way implying any question of loss of eternal life, the free gift of a covenant-keeping God to every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. But disciples in churches of God, comprising the people of God in the truly scriptural sense of �the faith� which was �once for all delivered to the saints� (Jude v.3) should be assured of their positional soundness concerning the house and kingdom of God. The glory of the Rest of God of which we are now speaking is summed up in the beautiful language of Psalm 27:4 -

�One thing I have desired of the Lord,

That will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD

All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the LORD,

And to inquire in His temple.�

Dwelling; beholding; inquiring. Not doubting, disbelieving the clear word of Scripture and in consequence drifting into disobedience regarding the commandments of the Lord.

Let us remember that the solemn and precious things we have considered concerning the Rest of God, flow in Hebrews 3, out of the stirring opening of that passage of the epistle where the Lord Jesus is presented as �the Apostle and High Priest of our confession� and �Christ as a son, over his house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end� (RV).

The high ways we have traversed,

And come to Zion�s hill,

Where God, our God, is with us,

His purpose to fulfil.

(C.M.Luxmoore)

TERRELL, J.D. | May 2006
Names That Need To Be Known