It only took 15 minutes of commercial drive-time talk radio to remind me that the world needs rest. Ads for “My Pillow,” “Sleep-number beds,” sleep apnea treatments, and the list goes on. I get it. I had some aches and pains getting seriously in the way of my rest last night. While it is amazing how we can muddle through with poor rest, not enough rest, and even some extended periods of little or no rest, the truth remains that we all need rest to thrive. Ultimately, without rest you die.
And God, in his wisdom, made us in this way so that we would understand our need for REAL rest. Eternal rest, spiritual rest. How important is it, that the all-powerful God, who doesn’t need rest (cf. Ps 121), established a day of rest, the Sabbath, at the end of his creative week? The writer of Hebrews points us to the ultimate rest we all need, a rest that only comes from the living God (3:12), and is only found in Christ (v.14), and only by those who trust in his obedience to the Father by following him (4:1-10).
Our problem is that we cannot perfectly obey like Christ, and so we are given the ironic challenge to “strive to enter that rest” (v.11). How can that work? Our striving is different because of Christ, and Hebrews eventually boils it down to faith. We no longer strive to acquire rest for ourselves, because we can’t – Israel’s failures to keep the Law showed us that. We humble ourselves and come to God’s throne seeking mercy and grace, and find it through Jesus, our perfect, eternal High Priest. He more than perfectly understands our human frailty, but unlike the earthly priests who could never fix that problem, Christ himself “became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (5:9).
By the way, since the clues indicate Hebrews was written to (Jewish) Christians, we are reminded that rest is not a need exclusively for the lost, one that is suddenly fully met upon conversion. Believers have an ongoing, daily need for rest.
Do you need rest today? Walk in faith, turning away from deliberate sin (10:26), and a heart hardened by rebellion (3:7,15, cf.4:7), drawing near with a true heart (10:22), humbly but confidently looking to Jesus, our Mediator (9:15), the founder and perfecter of our faith (12:2).
(Deep breath) Ahh!
