If you’re anything like me — or any other human on earth — you’re tired and weary of the coronavirus, the election, politics in general, fires, hurricanes, the recession, unemployment, uncertainty, hey, even 2020! To be honest, Jesus can come for His born-again believers right now and I’d be thrilled to be with Him in eternal rest in heaven (that’s the rapture). Obviously, He still has work for us to do here on earth. God wants to fill up heaven. That’s going to be our eternal resting place.
Jesus told us…
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Matthew 11:28-29 NLT
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”
John 14:1-3 NLT
That, my friends, is our confident hope!
The writer of Hebrews in chapter 4 reiterates the idea of a place of rest. Let’s check it out…
Hebrews 4
God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. 3 For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,
“In my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest,’”even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. 4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” 5 But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
6 So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts.”8 Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. 9 So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
Hebrews 4:1-11 NLT
The writer quotes Psalm 95 a lot. Let’s take a look at all of it….
1 Come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is a great God,
a great King above all gods.
4 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the mightiest mountains.
5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land, too.6 Come, let us worship and bow down.
Psalm 95 NLT (bold emphasis mine)
Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
7 for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
the flock under his care.
If only you would listen to his voice today!
8 The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
as they did at Massah in the wilderness.
9 For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
even though they saw everything I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,
‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.
They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11 So in my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”
Pay Attention to God’s Response
This is interesting. It starts with praising God, then God responds. His response applies to us today. Many have turned away from God. Their hearts have been hardened. People refuse to obey His Word. If you fast forward to the Book of Revelation, you’ll see that not everyone will get into Heaven. The writer of Hebrews didn’t have the Book of Revelation, the Gospels or any of the New Testament letters, he did, however, have the Jewish Old Testament scriptures. That’s what he had to reference. So, it really does help if you read the Old Testament as well as the New.
Back to Hebrews
12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
Hebrews 4:12-13 NLT
The Word of God, aka the Bible, is “alive and powerful… sharper than the sharpest 2-edged sword.” We see God’s Word described as a sword in another place…
…take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:17 NLT
See, knowing the Word of God, the scriptures, helps you fight the devil and spiritual forces. If you don’t study the Bible daily and get to know God, you give Satan a foothold in your life. You don’t want that.
God Sees EVERYTHING!
There is nothing that you’ve ever done, are doing or will do that God hasn’t seen or will see. Do you think that you’re good enough to get into heaven? Unless, you’re born-again, you’re not. The only way into heaven is through Jesus. We are accountable to Him and Him only! Confessing to priests does absolutely nothing! Continuing in Hebrews 4…
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Hebrews 4:14 NLT
And I repeat what Jesus told us in Matthew 11 again…
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Matthew 11:28-29 NLT
Jesus is Our High Priest!
Earthly priests cannot save us. Pastors and preachers should guide us to Jesus and no one else. It is only through His mercy and grace that saves us and helps us when we need it. Not through Mary, or the saints, or a church or the sacraments. Only through Jesus!
If you’re not sure if you’re saved or not, if you truly want to be born again and have the assurance of salvation, receive the Holy Spirit, feel His Shalom — a peace that surpasses all understanding, and get a 1-way, non-stop ticket to Heaven after you die, or that you won’t be left behind at the Rapture, which can happen at any moment, this is what you have to do…
