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Monday 14 December 2009

Hebrews 4:1

This promise to "enter His rest" seems strange to us, producing images of passivity in our mind. In the same way we have very little concept of what Sabbath is all about, tending to (i) think of it just as a day when we go to church; (ii) think it irrelevant; or (iii) change it into a legalistic nightmare. It is interesting that so many of Jesus' conflict with the religious authorities happened on the Sabbath, and centred on the Sabbath. Jesus saw the Sabbath as a day on which to set people free, not to bind them up.

Entering His rest means entering into peace with God. Life for the most part is, to varying degrees, a battle. This is because we are not at peace with God. We need to rest from our own work and trust in Him. Now all went wrong because of our sin, hence the battle. We do not achieve perfect unity with God in an instant. When we are united with God we will still do stuff. Jesus had perfect peace with His Father, and He did a lot, and achieved more than any of us.

We need times of rest. Times when we deliberately set aside all our concerns. This is an act of faith, saying that even though we rest, we know that God still provides. Note that this is just for one day. Resting from our labours every day is not faith, it is laziness!

However, the main point here in Hebrews is that the promise of entering God's rest still stands, the way is still open, so we had better make sure that we do not miss it.

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