I love that song. Beautiful singing. We say this often, but I want to say it again. The most important instrument that we have is the voice of our congregation. And so, I love that our worship band does a great job of leading us to sing—not for us just to listen to them sing, but to lead us to sing. So thank you, Adam and band, for leading us in song.
So, if we have not met, my name is Aaron, and I’m the preaching pastor here, and we’re really glad you’re with us today. If you have a Bible with you, please open up the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter four. If you don’t have a Bible with you, fear not; there are pew Bibles kind of scattered throughout. They’re blue in cover, so if you just want to grab one of those. So, Hebrews four. In those blue pew Bibles, it’s on page 582. If you have one of your own Bibles and you have a hard time trying to find Hebrews, it’s kind of near the back of the scripture, maybe in the last few, you know, a little bit of the book. So if you want to find it there.
Hebrews four, the text we’re studying is going to be verses one through thirteen. At this time, I’m going to read the scripture, and then we’re going to work through the passage. So, Hebrews 4:11–13. Please follow along with me as I read the sacred text. That’s what the Bible says:
“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear, lest any should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as it did to them. But the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, ‘As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest,’ although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.’ And again, in this passage, he said, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience. Again, he appoints a certain day, saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 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 some sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from its sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
If that’s God’s word for us this morning, would you please pray with me?
So, thank you for bringing us together this morning. Lord, we see this just as a gift that we can be together—not just to sing your praises, not just to pray with each other, not just to fellowship with one another, but to hear from your word. And, Lord, that’s the thing we’re most eager for this morning—for you to speak to us through your word. Lord, please help me to be a good communicator. Please help me to rightly divide the word of truth. Please help the congregation to have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
In this helpful commentary on the book of Hebrews, Pastor-scholar Kent Hughes writes: “As Christians understand, there is no rest for the soul apart from Christ.” St. Augustine, in the fourth century, gave this truth an eloquent and classic expression in his Confessions: “Thou movest us to delight in praising thee, for thou hast formed us for thyself. Our hearts are restless till they find rest in thee.”
So today, as we gather together as a church, we pick up on our sermon series through the book of Hebrews this summer. We took a long, extended break to go through the book of James, but today, as we get together, we get back into Hebrews, and we come to actually one of my favorite passages in this letter—a passage that speaks directly to what we’ve been created for: the rest that alone can calm our restless souls, which is the rest that God offers to us through Jesus Christ and his great salvation.
Now, before we dig back into Hebrews, let me just give us a reminder of where we left off in our study. It’s been several weeks since we’ve been in it, so let me remind us where we were. The Book of Hebrews is a letter written to Jewish Christians who, you may remember, were struggling in their faith. The struggle was because of an increase in persecution. As these early Jewish Christians were struggling in their faith, it appears, by the contents of Hebrews, they were entertaining the idea of leaving Jesus Christ to go back to their Old Testament religion.
Throughout this letter, including what we’ve already covered, the author of Hebrews—which, by the way, maybe you remember, is someone who has been lost to history—spent much time encouraging his readers to persevere in their faith, even in the face of suffering. He encourages them to persevere, and as he does, he warns them time and time again of the consequences of leaving Jesus Christ by becoming an apostate. The author of Hebrews both encourages and warns his readers by helping these early Christians see that the Old Testament was always there to point us to Jesus, with Jesus being the fulfillment of all that came in the Old Testament scriptures. This meant for these early Jewish Christians that if they were going to go back to Jewish faith, actually, there was nothing for them to go back to. The Old Testament is always there to point us to Jesus.
Even more than that, as he wanted his readers to persevere in the faith, even in the midst of suffering, he wanted them to see time and time again through the Old Testament that Jesus is actually better—that he is superior to all things and that he is the one who is worth leaving all things and enduring all things in order to have him.
Up to this point in our study of Hebrews, we’ve looked at several things that the author reminds his readers how Jesus is better as it relates to the Old Testament faith. In chapter one, you may remember, Jesus is better; he is superior to the Old Testament prophets because Jesus, God’s eternal Son, is the definitive word of which God has spoken. Jesus is also better and superior to even the angels because, as the eternal Son, the second member of the blessed Trinity, Jesus is the one who created all things, including angels, whom he created to worship and serve him, to be his ministers—a flame of fire.
In chapter two, which we already covered, Jesus is better and superior to any man, including the first man, Adam, whom God created to have dominion over the earth. In his incarnation, the eternal Son took on human flesh, where for a little while the eternal Son, Jesus, was made a little lower than the angels. Yet in his incarnation, unlike Adam, unlike the rest of mankind, unlike you and me, Jesus did not sin. He did not fail to do what God the Father sent him to do. Because Jesus, as the great God-man, did not sin through his suffering and death on the cross in our place, mankind would find salvation—salvation from their sin, death, and the devil. In Hebrews two, Jesus, the great God-man, proved to be the propitiation for our sins, as well as our great and merciful high priest, who is not ashamed to call his people his very own.
In chapter three, which we also looked at, Jesus is better and superior to even the great Moses, who is the par excellence of the Old Testament. Jesus is better than even Moses because he is the builder of the faith, who has much more glory than even Moses. Then, where we left off last time—which I’ll talk quite a bit more about today—Jesus is better; he is superior because it is through him, through Jesus alone, faith in Jesus Christ, that we find rest for our souls—a rest marked by fellowship and relationship with God the Father, which is, say it again, what we’ve been created for. Without rest in Jesus, there is no relationship with God, and we find ourselves restless and under God’s judgment of sin.
Okay, so as we turn back, look with me at our text starting in verse one. As you look back, there are going to be a couple of things to notice. First, just notice this is going to be a pretty weighty text for us. This will require us to engage with a little bit more focus and a little bit more attention. This week, as I was thinking about this passage, and even while we covered up to this point, my mind kept going back to Hebrews 5:12, which we get to very soon here. This is a passage where the writer gives a little bit of a push to his first readers, saying, “You know what? Actually, you should be a little bit further along in your faith than you currently are,” because at this point, they were still only needing spiritual milk meant for children, rather than eating solid food, which they should have been able to digest at this point.
So, as I thought about that verse in Hebrews 5 as it relates to our passage, it feels like the writer is kind of done giving them milk, and he’s just going to force-feed them some solid food. That’s why we need a little bit more focus and attention today. This is a lot of spiritual meat for us to chew on here.
Second, as you look back, just also notice that the theme of rest really does run through our passage. Not only does it run through this passage, but our text actually runs through the entire scripture, which our text picks up on. In this sermon, we’re going to run through the theme of rest a couple of times today. First, we’ll walk through it as it comes up in our text, and then second, at the end, I just want to try to succinctly retrace this theme as it runs through scripture, particularly the Old Testament, hopefully to summarize our passage.
For now, please look with me, as mentioned, at verse one, where we read the words: “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.” Now, just a couple of thoughts here. First is the word “therefore.” As I mentioned previously in our study of Hebrews, the word “therefore” is a word that almost acts like a hinge, where on one side of the “therefore” is some type of important information. Then, on the other side of the “therefore” is the application of that important information—where that information is actually driving us to.
On the front side of the hinge of the “therefore” is where we left off last time, several weeks back, which mentioned information concerning rest. To better understand our passage today, let me just further revisit where we left off concerning this important information. In our passage last time, if you want to take your eyes up there, the author of Hebrews was pleading with his readers to persevere in their faith. As he’s pleading, he used the Old Testament Psalm, Psalm 95, to plead, encourage, and warn his readers.
Psalm 95 is a great psalm of praise towards God—praise towards God and his great salvation, praise towards God and the joy that is found in him as the one who cares for his people—all things which communicate how the Lord is superior and greater, why he is the only one who satisfies. However, Psalm 95 not only communicates the satisfying greatness of God; it also gives a strong warning for not praising God, for not seeing the Lord as the satisfying greatness.
In this strong warning in Psalm 95, the psalmist gave an illustration that these first readers of Hebrews, the Jewish Christians, would have been very familiar with: the illustration of their ancestors who did not praise God—specifically when their ancestors were in the Exodus out of Egypt on the way towards God’s promised land. On this journey to the promised land, time and time again, their ancestors did not see the satisfying greatness of God. Rather, time and time again, their ancestors rejected the Lord in unbelief and disobedience. As their ancestors rejected the Lord, Psalm 95 reminded his readers that God, in his anger, swore that they would not enter into his rest, which we’ll talk about more in just a second.
As the author of Hebrews continues to pick up on that warning of Psalm 95 in our text today, he continues to stress that to his readers. For now, in our text, the writer of Hebrews, on the front side of the hinge, uses Psalm 95 to remind his readers of something they’ve already been familiar with—to plead with them to pay attention to the scriptures. As the psalm declares, “Today, if you hear the voice of God, do not harden your hearts” like their ancestors did in the day of Moses during the Exodus. Rather, today, in that moment as they read through Hebrews, they were to respond with faith towards God—not pushing God off, not ignoring God, not ignoring his word, not just getting around to it when things are a little more convenient, and not walking away from him, which is mentioned in the intro we’re tempted to do. But today, in that exact moment, if you hear the voice of God, respond by entering into his rest.
So, that’s on one side of the hinge: encouragement. God offers rest to all who come to him by faith, and also a warning of rejecting God and not entering his rest. Therefore, in our text, the application of that encouragement and warning we see, “While the promise of entering his rest still stands,” that it is still available to you. The application is to respond to God. Respond with that healthy and holy fear, which is further encouragement. But also in verse one, respond to God because of the warning, “Lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it,” with “it” referring to God’s rest.
Okay, so let’s notice that second, take note in our text how the encouragement to rest is a current, active encouragement in the text: “While the promise of entering his rest still stands.” This is actually pretty important to our passage today—meaning, the rest did not end with the time of Moses specifically entering into the promised land at the end of the Exodus, which we’ll talk about more in just a bit. But take note that there is a rest that is still available, and for these first readers, this might have been a little surprising for them to hear and think through. Perhaps they felt they were already living in the promised land and because they already were in God’s rest.
The author of Hebrews writes that this rest still stands; this new rest might be a little confusing to them. Perhaps maybe this is why they felt it was actually okay for them to leave Jesus. As Jewish Christians, they already were in God’s rest, living in the promised land.
Third, let me also just quickly mention here in verse one what I actually just mentioned: this is another warning from the writer of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews is filled with a lot of encouragement—encouragement to help spur believers on in their faith to persevere. As mentioned in previous sermons, Hebrews is filled with several warnings. These are real warnings, significant warnings, terrifying warnings—warnings that are meant to help believers, to help us to persevere in our faith—warnings that prove the genuineness of our faith if we hear them. For those who have faith in the Lord, who have trusted in him, where the Spirit of God dwells inside, they will hear the warnings of Hebrews, and they will respond with perseverance to run the race set before them.
However, in Hebrews, without the Spirit living inside, without genuine faith in the Lord, one cannot and will not hear and heed the warnings. This is a real warning for us in verse one—a warning that out of fear, lest any would fail to reach God’s eternal rest—a warning that if they failed to hear and respond to God, they would actually prove to be like their ancestors during the time of Moses, who did not reach the promised land but died in the wilderness in unbelief.
Okay, keep going. In verse two, this harkens back to the people in the time of Moses, where we read these words in Hebrews: “For good news came to us just as it came to them.” The good news that came to them, to the people in the Exodus, was God’s saving power—the good news that led them out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt and put them on the pilgrimage to the promised land. The good news that came to us is the author referring to the message of Jesus Christ, God’s saving power through Jesus, his eternal Son, who came for us in our salvation. As Jesus came to die in the place of sinners, only to rise again from the dead to free his people from the bondage of sin and to set them on a pilgrimage to the eternal promised land that is to come in heavenly places.
We see that although God is the giver of good news—the good news that was given to them and the good news that is now given to us—we see that this good news, the good news of God’s salvation, really was actually not good news to the people of Moses’ day. As we read, they heard the message, this message of salvation, but it did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who did hear, who did listen—meaning it was not actually good news to them. They did not hear and heed the voice of God in ways that drew them to faith and into the promised land. Rather, as they heard the good news of God, they hardened their hearts. They rejected the Lord time and time again.
For us to hear in the text this reminder that the good news of God’s salvation is only good news for those who believe, who are trusting in the Lord—trusting in Jesus Christ. It’s only through faith, through belief, through trust—that’s how the message of good news is applied to our hearts, friends. It’s a good news that we must receive through faith. It’s not enough to know about the good news or to maybe hear someone talk about the good news. For it to be good news in our hearts, rather by faith it must be applied, it must be received. We must trust in the good news. That’s the only way we can enter into God’s rest. This is what verse three of our text is telling us: “For we who have believed”—who by faith trusted in the message of the gospel—“it is them who enter into rest.”
But as the voice of God has said, “Those who do not have faith, who do not believe, who do not receive the message of salvation,” as I swore in my wrath, “they shall not enter my rest.” That’s actually the third time the author gave this warning of not entering into God’s rest. Actually, twice it came up in our passage last time, now here. It says clearly that the author of Hebrews wanted his readers to hear this warning—to hear and receive the message of salvation—to hear the warning and respond, because if not, they will not enter into eternal relational rest with God.
In verse three, those who do not believe the good news of salvation, we see we’re not allowed to enter into God’s rest, even though God’s works were finished from the foundation of the world. And this work here is referring to God’s work in creation. We know that’s what he’s referring to because of verse four. If you want to take your eyes there, the author wrote, “For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way.” This is a reference to the final day of creation as recorded at the beginning of Genesis, where on the seventh day, God rested from all of his works. Just a couple of quick thoughts here.
First, this rest is the start of the theme of rest in scripture. So, rest is actually there from the beginning. This is something that’s going to go all the way through the Old Testament, something we’re going to circle back to at the end of our time here. But just take note, there’s rest with God at creation. Second, this resting with God on the seventh day wasn’t because God was dog tired after a full week of creation. At the end of his work at creation, he just needed a break. He needed to rest. He needed to take some time to sit in his favorite chair, you know, kick up his feet and relax. Or it wasn’t like a rest that he decided, “You know what? I need a little bit of vacation now.” Or maybe he finishes his work, so he rests in ways that he’s finally able to retire.
Rather, what this is speaking to is the resting of God on the seventh day. This is a picture of God enjoying his creation, where God lived in harmony, peace, and fellowship with his creation, in particular with mankind, who is the pinnacle of his creation. So that’s the rest in Genesis—a rest that God had on the seventh day, a rest of fellowship. Friends, that’s our design all the way from the beginning. That’s how we’ve been hardwired. Having the image of God placed on each of us, that’s part of God’s finished work, found at the foundation of the world for us to find our rest in God. That’s why Augustine wrote, “We are restless until we find our rest in thee.”
However, even though from the very beginning we’ve been created to rest, to have fellowship with God, because sin entered into the world in Genesis three, as we read through the rest of the scriptures, we see that that rest has been broken. Peace and harmony with God has now been severed because of our sin. By the way, this is why we are restless when left to our own. This is also why we need the message of salvation to save us from our sin—from our restlessness—to save us in ways that restore us, redeem us back to peace, harmony, relationship, and rest with our God.
Because without God’s salvation, the good news has come to us. Once again, in verse five, we see for the fourth time the same warning: “They shall not enter my rest.” Now, clearly this is a warning that’s really important to the author of Hebrews. Clearly, he does not want us to miss this. He keeps going back to it time and time again for us to keep chewing on it, with hopes that the readers would hear it in ways that respond to the warning.
In verse six, you want to take your eyes there: “Since therefore it remains” —meaning the promise of rest—“since therefore the promise of rest still remains for some who by faith enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter it because of disobedience.” There’s the author continuing to point his readers back to the people in Moses’ day. He’s stressing this illustration for us to see that the rest in Moses’ day, pictured in the promised land, was not a rest they could enter because of sinful disobedience characterized by a disobedient life.
But for us, friends, there is good news. There is another rest—a better, superior rest that is still available—a rest that is available for all who, by faith, enter it—which is verse seven of our text. “Again, he appoints a certain day today,” saying, “Today, this moment, there is a current rest available.” The author wrote it as a current rest that King David actually wrote about, even though King David came long after Moses, long after the entrance into the promised land.
This is the voice of God speaking through the words of David, which should be familiar words to us by now: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” This rest that David wrote about that came long after Moses—once again, this is a new, different, better rest. In fact, the rest that the promised land rest was actually pointing us to the entire time—pointing us to help prepare us for this better rest that is to come. We know this is a better rest because of what the author wrote in verse eight. “For if Joshua”—which, if you may remember, Joshua, Moses’ protégé, is the one who led God’s people across the Jordan River into the promised land—“if Joshua had actually given them rest, God would not have spoken later on, through David, of another day, of a different rest to come.”
Now, here, the author is talking about Joshua 1:13, if you want to look it up later on. As God’s people crossed the Jordan into the promised land, Joshua records that God was now giving them rest, which goes back to what I said earlier. This is maybe why it’s surprising for the first readers, Jewish Christians, to be reminded that there’s actually a rest that still stands—a different rest. They may have thought that Joshua had already given them rest. However, if that was the ultimate rest that they needed, verse eight tells us, then God would not have spoken of another day later on, but because God has spoken of a different rest that was to come in verse nine: “So then our text tells us there remains a Sabbath rest for God’s people.”
I’ll just take note of that Sabbath rest. I think this is meant to take our minds back a little bit, at least to the Old Testament law. Remember the commandment to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy? This is the day that God gave to his people to hearken back to the rest that they enjoyed with him at creation. The seventh rest is also a time of renewal and restoration, where on the Sabbath they were to rest from their work, which our text in Hebrews actually picks up upon.
Wherever has entered into God’s rest, he also rested from his works as God did from his—meaning it’s not by our effort, it’s not by our religious works or our own self-righteousness by which we enter into God’s rest. That’s not the message of good news that God offers to us, friends. It’s not good news if God tells us, “Hey, somehow, if you can do enough right things, you can work your way back into relationship with me and somehow earn your salvation.” That would not be good news because if that were true, we could never do it. What could we ever do to earn the right to achieve rest with God?
Rather, the good news is that we rest from our works in ways that we are trusting in the Lord and what he has done for us. So, in verse eleven, let us therefore strive to enter that rest. For us, the word “therefore,” once again, is a hinge. So how important this information is that God offers a Sabbath rest to his people. Therefore, our application is we are to strive to enter that rest.
Let me hit pause here. I just want to mention two quick things. First, this striving to enter rest in verse eleven. This is not a contradiction to what was just given in verse ten of resting from works. He’s not now saying in verse eleven that we have to strive to do works to enter rest after he just told us in verse ten that it’s not our works. Rather, this striving in verse eleven is a striving of faith. It’s a striving to trust in the Lord—to trust in his promises, to trust in his great salvation—striving to trust, follow, and obey Jesus. Striving to do so even in the midst of suffering and persecution, striving even if it brings great cost. Friends, that’s the striving.
The Pillar Commentary in the New Testament speaks towards this. The striving uses words like eagerness, diligence. The striving is making Jesus the top priority of our life by keeping our eyes on him to see, believe, and trust that Jesus is better. That’s our striving.
Second, just notice that the text says, “Let us strive,” meaning this striving is something we actually are to do together. Together, we are to strive to help keep Jesus as our priority. You know, for us, in our language that we use as a church, this is one of the most important reasons why we seek to connect. We connect with one another not just to have fun—hopefully we are doing that—but more than that, we connect to strive to help one another to persevere in the faith—to help each other to keep our eyes on the prize that is Jesus Christ.
So in our text, no one, none who fill this building, none who are part of the RVC family, may fall into the same disobedience that the people in Moses’ day did when they did not hear the voice of God, when they hardened their hearts in the wilderness, when they did not help each other to strive to follow after the Lord by faith, so God swore they would not enter his rest.
Finally, where we’ll end today is perhaps maybe the most famous verses in the book of Hebrews. This is one of the great reasons why we strive in our faith. The text tells us, “For the word of God”—which is where we find our call to rest, where we find what obedience and disobedience looks like—the word of God, where we see Jesus Christ, that word of God—it’s living, it’s active. As the living, active word of God comes to us, we see it comes sharper than any two-edged sword. As this sharp sword, this living, active word of God pierces to the division of our soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
And no creature is hidden from its sight; rather, all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. I’ll say it again: through his word, God will judge all mankind—the living and the dead—including all of us in this room, all who fill up our church family who call Red Village Church their own. He will judge us all based on his living, active word by whether or not we hear the voice of God and by faith obey in ways in which we are trusting in Jesus, or if we reject the voice of God by hardening our hearts into deeper and deeper disobedience.
As I close, I have just a couple of thoughts I want to leave with this, and then we’re done. First, in light of this text, friends, let us strive to continue to go back to God’s word time and time again. That really is one of the models that we have in the book of Hebrews, including our passage this morning. In our text last time and our text this time, what do we see? We see the author continue to circle around over and over again—the same information in Psalm 95, the same information concerning God’s people in the time of Moses, the same encouragements, the same warnings that are there where multiple times the author actually quotes the same few verses. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden it,” as he swore, “they will not enter my rest.”
As Christians mature, we seek to eat solid food. Within that part of eating solid food is simply to chew on the same truth over and over and over again. We don’t have a new religion where we’re trying to learn new things; we just go back to the same things over and over again—to chew on them over and over again—which is what Hebrews continues to do all throughout this letter. Particularly in the weeks to come, we’ll get to the Old Testament priesthood.
But today I think it’s good for us to recognize just how important that is: to go back to the same truth, to drink from the same well, to hear the same encouragements, to hear the same warnings found in God’s living and active word—to chew on them, to chew on the truth, trusting that God is doing a piercing work in our life to bring us to salvation, to persevere us in salvation, to keep us in salvation, to convict us in ways that we’re laying aside every weight and sin that clings so closely so we may run the race set before us, looking to Jesus.
By the way, I’ll say it again: this is one of the real ways that we strive to connect as a church. This is how we strive to help each other to chew and re-chew on God’s word—to go back time and time again to God’s living and active word that he’s given to us, this word that points us to his surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ.
Second, let us strive to make God’s rest the theme of our life. For us, let’s strive to let rest be the theme of your life. I think it’s important for us just to see how the theme of rest runs through scripture. It’s important to see that theme because, as I mentioned earlier, this is what we’ve been made for—to have this rest, which is not a rest sitting in your favorite chair or going on vacation or finding retirement, but the rest that’s found on the seventh day as God rested with his creation in peace, harmony, and fellowship.
Now, this rest with God that he had with creation, as mentioned, was lost when sin entered the world in Genesis three. So as sin entered the world, rather than being at rest with God, mankind, by nature and by choice, when left to our own, God’s living and active word tells us that we’re actually at enmity with God, separated from him, under his just judgment, unable to enter his rest.
So the great question of the Bible from Genesis three on is simply: how do we find rest again? How can rest be restored? How do we find our rest? Through all the Old Testament, there are all kinds of pictures of rest—pictures that actually don’t fully satisfy the answer to this question of how we get our rest back. Pictures that actually point us the way to find the true rest. I’m not going to give you all the different pictures of rest in the Old Testament, but I do want to give you just a handful, just to kind of whet your appetite for personal study on this great theme.
A few of what I’m going to give you are actually from our text in Hebrews. So let me ask you one last time: when sin entered the world in Genesis three, the question is, how do we get rest back? In Genesis six and following, it actually looked like the question was going to be answered through a man named Noah. Remember him? His name actually means rest. As you know, the story of Noah, there’s a great flood where God judged the world. As the flood waters subsided, Noah’s family came out of the ark—almost like there’s a restart to creation, a restart to creation through Noah, this man of rest.
However, shortly after the flood waters subsided, we learned that Noah would not be the one to restore us to rest with God because Noah, like our first father Adam, sinned. Genesis tells us he got drunk and was naked.
Then, in the Exodus, it looked like a new creation, particularly when we see the tabernacle, which was meant to take our eyes back to creation. We also see more of this theme of rest, particularly in the Old Testament law that was given to Moses. In our text, the law is there—the command to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. The only place in the law we see that is in Exodus, and in the Old Testament law, there are also commands for the purpose of rest—specifically giving rest to the land.
However, as we read through the book of Exodus, we don’t see rest between God and man because time and time again, mankind continued to break God’s law, which Psalm 95 picks up on—the hardness of heart for God’s people in the Exodus. So the law in Exodus didn’t bring about rest. In our text, it isn’t keeping the law through our own self-righteousness or our own religious works that brings us into rest.
That’s actually why in Numbers, God’s people prayed that God would rest with them. The law did not satisfy; it did not bring him to rest. Keep going. After the Exodus came to an end as the people of God entered the promised land under the leadership of Joshua—as mentioned—they were told that they would have rest as they entered the land. However, if we read through Joshua, we don’t read rest. We don’t read peace and harmony; rather, we read of wars and battles. We read how God’s people continued to fail him. The picture of rest in the land didn’t satisfy.
It’s why David, who came so long after Moses and Joshua, spoke of a different rest. That rest of the land wasn’t enough. David spoke about this rest not just in Psalm 95, but also in other psalms as well, about finding rest in God. In addition, David, who came so long afterward, also spoke about his desire to find rest for the Ark of God, which you may remember represents God dwelling with man. David desired to build a temple for the Ark of God to find rest.
But as we read through the story of David, we know that he was not able to fully bring in rest. Even the great temple that was built did not give God’s people rest—the temple was destroyed.
But, friends, there is good news. As the writer of Hebrews wrote about, there is a rest—a rest that came long after David—that is still available to us even today. A rest by which God and man can live in peace, harmony, relationship, and fellowship—a rest found in the Lord Jesus Christ and his salvation. Friends, the theme of rest in the Old Testament—these are pictures meant to take us to Jesus. He’s the answer to the question of all the longings of our heart—the longings to rest.
Friends, it is Jesus who calls out, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” Hear this promise: “And you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Friends, why I love the theme of rest? Because that theme of rest that starts in the very beginning of the Old Testament, that runs through the Old Testament in all its various forms and pictures—all these pictures on one side of the hinge—they all are there for this application to take our hearts to Jesus Christ—to see him, to behold him, to treasure him, to rest in him—the one who died and rose again, who ascended back into heaven, who promises he will come back to bring his people of faith into his eternal rest, into the eternal promised land that is to come.
Where it is there, all of our longings of our restless hearts will be fully satisfied. We will enjoy fellowship with our Lord Jesus and with each other forever and ever—where in this rest all we will know forever and ever is joy and peace and harmony with our God.
Church, let us strive together to enter into that rest. Let us strive, even if it means we have to strive through suffering or persecution in our pursuit of Jesus Christ. May we strive together with great perseverance by longing to hear the voice of our God found in his word—to hear and continue to hear—to chew and continue to chew on his encouragements and his warnings—doing so in ways we’re laying aside every weight and sin that clings so closely, doing so by helping each other, praying for each other, encouraging each other to see and believe that Jesus is the one who is better—that he is the one who is superior—that he alone can satisfy our restless hearts.
Let’s pray. And as I pray, if you have yet to come to faith in Jesus Christ and you don’t have that rest, I’m just going to invite you to confess your sin and your need for him. And, friend, I’m going to invite you to do that right now—today. Don’t harden your heart. Do it today.
Let’s pray. Lord, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that through Jesus you offer rest. And, Lord, please help us as a little church family here to strive to enter that rest. Lord, I do pray if there are some here that have yet to enter that rest, that today they would hear your voice and hear in ways that they would not harden their hearts, but you would soften their hearts—that they may taste and see that you’re good, and that they would see that Jesus is better—that he is the one worth leaving all things in order to have.
I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.