I saw this memory on my Facebook page from a couple of years ago. I wrote religion teaches the steps to perfection; a new creation means discovering your perfection, in Christ. It reminded me why I started blogging this series on Rest in September 2021. Check out my blog page to read all the posts on the Pillars of Rest. However, my journey toward deeper levels of rest started in 2014.
One of my favorite books in the bible is Hebrews. Chapter 3-4 speaks of the promise of rest.
Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still remains and is freely offered today, let us fear, in case any one of you may seem to come short of reaching it or think he has come too late. 2 For indeed we have had the good news [of salvation] preached to us, just as the Israelites also [when the good news of the promised land came to them]; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not united with faith [in God] by those who heard. Hebrews 4:1-3
It was always God’s plan for His people to enter His rest. From the beginning of Creation. We also see man was completed on the seventh day of the Sabbath. Your life started in rest. It should be flowing out of rest. God rested from His work because the perfection of Creation was presented. That includes you!
Why is this such an important Kingdom principle that I would write about this topic for six months now?
Trust = Rest
Reading the book Hebrews 4 talks about the Rebellion of the people of God and how they provoked God in Meribah. You can find the story in Exodus 17:1-7
It tells of Israelites complaining that God was not taking care of them, and they needed water to drink. How could God lead them to the desert and not take care of them? They have just witnessed the provision of manna and meat, yet they complain about not seeing water provided. They provoked God to anger through their unbelief. The time they remained in the wilderness was the Israelites’ creation.
The plan was for them to move through the desert into the promised land, The Land of Rest, and milk and honey. However, their unbelief and distrust in God led to them walking around for 40 years. Of course, God still took care of them. But the duration was their doing.
Trust and Resting in God goes hand in hand. Why do we still doubt God when we have seen Him come through so many times? What do you need to lay down to yield in the knowledge that God has your back?
Leading
The [presence of the] Lord was going before them by day in a pillar (column) of cloud to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, so that they could travel by day and by night. He did not withdraw the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from going before the people. Exodus 13:21-22
The cloud was the covering and the leading. Completely protected under the cloud, in the presence of the Lord. When the cloud moved, the people needed to move. The favor and provision of the Lord were with them while they remained under the cloud.
Hebrews 3: 7-8, 15. 4:7 repeats the same words: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. It references back to Psalm 95:7-8. A repeat. What is interesting about this scripture, it says – do not become Spiritually dull. They stop trusting the leading of the presence. The Awe and wonder of what God did for them quickly faded from their minds. The more we are in Awe of who God is. The more we will be aware of His presence. His presence was always with them, but they became so used to it and entitled to it that they missed the magnitude and magnificence of what God was continuing to do. They missed the signs because they became dull to the presence.
In the same way, if we are led by the Spirit we should be at rest, knowing that we won’t be led astray and that all will be provided. Those who have an ear, let them hear. The sons are led by the Spirit of God.
Law and Redemption
The 4th commandment God gave the Israelites was a day of Sabbath. It was not an option it was a command. It was not only the day of Worship to God. It was the thing right after you shall have no other God. God takes resting in Him very seriously. Scripture says that we should strive to enter.
Therefore we should be diligent to enter into that rest so that no one should fall by the same example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:11
What are you placing above God? Rest in and fully rely upon Him. If we are out of this place we are giving in to how we want to create. Whatever you start in the flesh, you have to maintain in the flesh. Whatever you start in spirit, you have to maintain it in the spirit. Another way of saying this is. Whatever you create through toiling, you will sustain it in toiling, but whatever you create in rest will be sustained in rest.
We could not fulfill the law in our flesh. Christ came to fulfill the law and set us free from the bondage of the Law. He is the gate you enter through into Rest.
Jesus said: “I AM THE LIVING GOD, The Gate; if anyone will enter by me, he shall live and shall go in and out and shall find the pasture.” John 10:9
He opened the gate for you to enter through. While celebrating redemption in this month of The WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE. Will you make it a habit every day to enter this place? To learn how to abide, rule, and create from this place?
