Rest Up

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

I find it interesting that the author of Hebrews calls the Promised Land a place of “rest.” Once they crossed the Jordan River, it seems to me the Children of Israel were constantly in a battle with their enemies. The Land flowing with milk and honey was also flowing with Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Gergashites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

Rest? You’ve got to be kidding! The Promised Land was more like a battlefield. How could it possibly be a place of rest? The answer lies in the biblical notion of rest. Biblical rest is not inactivity. You can be filled with worry while lying on a hammock in paradise and have no rest. You can be at peace in the middle of a challenging task and be completely at rest. 

Here’s the Good News the author of Hebrews wanted you to know: REST is available in Christ. When you trusted the finished work of Christ, you were accepted by God. Nothing more is needed for your salvation and wholeness. 

Where there is Good News, there is rest. To keep experiencing real rest in Jesus, keep your heart full of Good News. Jesus died for your sins so that you don’t have to. In Christ, you have every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies [Ephesians 1.3]. That’s the Gospel truth!

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Hebrews 4.9-10