Good News Digest - Edition #65 - July 18, 2012 Prophetic Insights to Daily Living
The Rest - Hebrews 4:1
The word "rest" is a very interesting word. It can 
mean a number of different things to different people in different situations. For example, to a musician a rest means an interval of silence in a piece of music. To a laborer it means an opportunity to take a break and refresh himself before going back to work. To God it means trusting him to do his work and ceasing from your own labor to accomplish something that he has said is possible in His Word.
Our problem today is that we are so much like the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for forty years looking for the land "flowing with milk and honey" that God had promised them through 
Abraham. See Hebrews 3:10,11 - 10So I was angry with them, and I said, 'Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.' 11So in my anger I took an oath: 'They will never enter my place of rest.'" Then in verse 19 it says "So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest."
It is clear from Hebrews 3:19 that the opposite of "rest" is unbelief. All the promises of God "are yea and amen" (2 Cor. 1:20) and we can have them all if we believe. The only time God tells us to fear is in Heb. 4:1 - Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Then we see in Heb. 4:3 "For we which have believed do enter into rest . . ."
We need to clarify here that "rest" does not refer to physical labor. This is what Heb. 4:9-11 says: 9There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 
10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. The word "labor" in verse11 sounds contradictory but it isn't. It comes from the Greek word "Spoudazo" which means: be diligent. (See Strong's Concordance)
So, in conclusion, if we want to receive the promises of God we must first find out what they are and then be diligent to enter into his rest by believing that he means what he says. If we can belief that God sent His Son to die for us surely we can believe that he will fulfill all the other promises he has made to us. Amen!
Hal Mitchell
Ready Writer Ministries
Halmitch@cox.net
PS
Don't forget to click on Great is Thy Faithfulness in the sidebar on the left for a wonderful rendition by Cece Wynans. You will be blessed!
y
No comments:
Post a Comment