God's Rest

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” Hebrews 3:7-11

This is quoted from Psalm 95:7-11 part of which says “do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,” the place of moaning and complaining because there was no water. Because of their adversity, they felt justified in challenging God’s authority over them.

“Therefore,” because we now know that Christ (Whose we are) is greater even than Moses, the Holy Spirit has an important message for us: “do not harden your hearts” against the Word of God (“His voice”).

   

“harden” make stubborn. “hearts” kardia. The thinking part of the soul. The mind. Hardening the heart means to reject truth. Refuse to believe.

“The rebellion” describes the attitude and actions of those who followed Moses out of Egyptian slavery. They believed God enough to obey the instructions to observe the Passover, and were saved by the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their houses. Then, having the freedom to leave the country, they followed the glory of Jesus Christ through the parted sea and into the desert. They had been freed from Egyptian oppression by the miraculous works of God, and were now out of the control of a pagan nation, and even so, they almost immediately began to whine because of their discomforts and fears.

God was put to the test by their unbelief, though they were His people! He had brought them out to redeem them and to establish them as a nation before Himself. He had performed miracles to get the attention of Pharaoh, and to finally overwhelm Pharaoh and his armies. He was leading them to their own land of promise, where all their needs would be met and they could conduct their lives in freedom to worship the One True God, as a people for His Name. He did all this, yet they did not trust Him to provide for them in the wilderness!

They were an arrogant people, driven by their emotions and their lust patterns. They confronted Moses and Aaron at every perceived adversity, as if there were a conspiracy against the Hebrews (“why have you brought us out here to kill us?” Exodus 2:14,16:3,17:3 Numbers 16:13). They didn’t miss a chance to revert to the paganism of Egypt when they became frightened in unfamiliar territory (the golden calf incident).

These were baby believers. They had received the atonement and had begun the journey with Moses’ leadership, but quickly cooled toward Moses and God when the going got tough. God called it rebellion and was provoked to wrath by their faithlessness. They were His, but they didn’t know Him. They always “went astray” in their hearts, rather than believing God’s Word for assurance. 

Why didn’t He just destroy them? Because they were His People. He had a plan and purpose for them, from eternity past. They would represent Him in the world as the descendants of Abraham, the man of faith. Well, not that Exodus generation, but their children would, after 40 years of training in the desert as they buried their parents and learned to Whom they belonged. Their parents were dying the sin unto death. Still saved, but not capable of earthly life as God’s people.

Deuteronomy 8:3-5: And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.

God’s “rest” is the total peace we have as believers in Him, no matter to what generation we belong. We call it “faith-rest,” because it is a relaxed mental attitude that results from KNOWING and BELIEVING God’s promises to us. You cannot trust what you do not know, so we must learn His Word, His plan and His grace provision. Then we must believe what we’ve learned about Him, no matter what is going on around us. God’s Word is more real than anything we see, hear or feel. With His promises in our souls, we can face whatever the world throws our way. To ignore or reject God’s promises to us is disobedience. God disciplines His children for disobedience.

God’s “rest” is moment-by-moment spiritual Sabbath. Every day. All day. He has done the work for our salvation and He has provided for our every need in this life. That was the lesson of the seventh day Sabbath of the Old Testament. We must relax and reflect on what God has done for us. We must remember Him and appreciate His perfect provision. He has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. Indeed, we don’t even know what needs to be done for us, but “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

We in the Church Age are given this example of the Exodus generation as a warning. Their failure to trust in God’s provision cost them their opportunity to enter God’s rest. Faith is what we know about God. They didn’t know Him, not because they lacked opportunity, but because they were stubborn, demanding and unappreciative. They clung to human viewpoint and emotionalism rather than learning divine viewpoint (the mind of Christ). Therefore they remained unstable and infantile in their relationship to God. Experience was their measure of spirituality, so they remained spiritually ignorant. Their hearts were hardened. Such a whiney, childish, negative people could not represent God’s integrity, so they died in the desert without ever entering the land of promise.

They never knew the peace and fulfillment of the abundant life God had purposed for them. We cannot, when we short-circuit our blessings by ignorance of God’s Word and lack of trust in Him. This is clear warning to us who have believed in Jesus Christ for eternal life. As long as we live in the earthly realm, we have Bible Doctrine to learn. The Mind of Christ. To refuse to learn and apply doctrine is disobedience. Furthermore, in the status of spiritual ignorance we can never reach our potential of peace and rest as the Royal Family of God. What a shame, to have all that in our grace package and to go to our graves ignoring it. 

God has a grace package of abundant blessings for each of us believers in this life. A great many of us are flailing about, spinning our wheels and begging God for blessing, when what He wants of us is total trust in what He has already provided. That’s obedience. The things we may be begging for (or demanding) do not compare to the glorious gifts He has for those who will relax and wait for His promises to be fulfilled in our lives.