A Rest For God's People | The Institute for Creation Research

A Rest For God's People

"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" (Hebrews 4:1).

Hebrews chapter 3-4 discusses an intriguing concept: the rest for the people of God. Our text exhorts us to fear, lest we miss the rest. What is this rest that the author discusses and how do Christians give diligence to enter into it?

Hebrews 3:8-11 is an exact quote of Psalm 95: "Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness. . . . So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest." These Jews had seen the miracles, been spared the death angel, were baptized through the Red Sea, and been led to the Promised Land. Yet their spiritual experience fell short because they rebelled at a critical point, and their life became a wandering in the wilderness.

But this concept of failing to enter into God's rest has a broader application than this historical context. Hebrews 4:8-10 tells how Joshua (here rendered as "Jesus") later led Israel into their promised rest. But David wrote Psalm 95 a great many years after that. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9).

The apostle Paul wrote: "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come" (I Corinthians 10:11). Our spiritual life parallels the Jewish experience. Do we fall short of God's best because we shrink back in unbelief? Do we prefer to make decisions based upon what our earthly senses tell us, rather than resting in God's promises? "For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His" (Hebrews 4:10). A promised land of blessing and victory awaits those who rest in God and simply trust Him. DW

The Latest
NEWS
Creation's Easter Message
While many Christians still consider the creation doctrine a fringe issue, a proper understanding of the Christian message finds creation at its core...

NEWS
ICR Veteran Don Barber Retires
Don Barber   After 34 years with the Institute for Creation Research, Director of Enterprise Technology Don Barber will retire...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
The Sanctity of Life | Creation.Live Podcast: Episode 23
Abortion is a big issue culturally and in the church. How can believers love our neighbors and act as the hands and feet of Christ when it comes...

NEWS
Plant Receptors Are Designed to Control Immunity and Development
God has designed plants to continuously track their environment.1 They do so with specially designed detectors (also called receptors) on...

CREATION PODCAST
Homo Naledi: The Lies Behind Evolution's Rising Star | The Creation...
Homo naledi, once evolution's 'rising star,' was considered to be a prime example of human evolution. But is it really proof? Or...

NEWS
A Subsurface Ocean on Mimas?
Scientists have analyzed data obtained from the Cassini spacecraft and concluded that irregularities in the orbit of Saturn’s moon Mimas indicate...

NEWS
In Theaters March 20 & 21: The Ark and the Darkness
Is Genesis true? What about Noah’s Flood? How did Noah fit the animals on the ark? Wasn’t it a local flood? Have you asked these questions? Though...

NEWS
Enigmatic Fossil Plants
The pre-Flood world thousands of years ago was unlike the world of today.1 Unfamiliar animals and plants were common, and there were a lot...

NEWS
Surprisingly Colorful Fossil Snail Shells
Finding organic compounds such as flexible dinosaur collagen and complete bone cells1,2 is becoming common, much to the shock and consternation...

NEWS
March 2024 ICR Wallpaper
"He is not here; for He is risen, as He said." (Matthew 28:6 NKJV) ICR March 2024 wallpaper is now available for mobile, tablet,...