Rest

Deuteronomy 3:17-20 – Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah. I commanded you at that time: “The Lord your God has given you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of the other Israelites. However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you, until the Lord gives rest to your fellow Israelites as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.”

Ezekiel 47:8 – He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh.

Hebrews 4:1,3,9-11 – Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it…Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world…There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

Application:

• ·         Arabah is here the waterless region between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea.
• ·         God’s promise to bring His people into circumstances of “rest” in His creation, while conditional, was open-ended. Through the Messiah’s reign, God’s promise of rest will ultimately be fulfilled in the new creation.
• ·         Just as entering into rest in Canaan demanded faith in God’s promise, so the ultimate “Sabbath-rest” is entered only by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God rested from His work on the seventh day of creation, and thus His rest is already a reality. The rest God calls us to enter is not our rest but His rest, which He invites us to share.
• ·         God’s rest may still be entered by faith in His Son.
• ·         Believers cease their efforts to gain salvation by their own works and rest in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
• ·         “Make every effort” is not a call to earn one’s salvation by works but an exhortation to enter Sabbath-rest by faith and not follow Israel’s sad example in the wilderness.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV