What is the rest of God?

The Christian Jews to whom the author of Hebrews was writing had been saved, had been filled with the Spirit, had seen the miracles of the Apostles, and had been persecuted to the point of having their possessions confiscated.

Most of us haven't come even this far.

Was the writer congratulating them on their stature in Christ and encouraging them with the soon coming of the Lord to take them to Heaven?

No such thing! The way the author spoke you would think he was addressing unsaved people who were rejecting the Gospel. But the internal evidence is that he was addressing "holy brethren."

They knew about repentance from dead works, faith toward God, water baptism, the baptism with the Spirit of God, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. They had experienced the heavenly gift of eternal life, had been partakers of the Holy Spirit, had tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come.

Now they were being warned about neglecting their salvation, about not holding their confidence resolutely to the end, bearing thorns and thistles instead of the fruit of righteousness, not assembling together, drawing back from the program of salvation—about failing to enter the rest of God.

It reminds us of the Apostle Paul who toward the end of his life was seeking to win Christ.

Our salvation is past, present, and future. When we neglect one of these aspects at the expense of the others, we are risking the fullness of our inheritance as man and as a son of God.

What is the rest of God? The rest of God is based on the fact that God finished all things on the seventh day of creation and we are not required to create our own heaven and earth. God is resting and we are to enter His rest.

It is the land of promise, the resurrection ground where we are eternally alive in the Spirit of God.

It is the eternal Sabbath where we cease from speaking our own words and acting according to our own pleasure, choosing instead to abide in Christ to the point we are crucified and Christ is living His Life in us.

What is the rest of God? It is that condition in which God's will and our will have become synonymous. The place where our greatest joy is to do the will of the Father.

No human being ever will find perfect peace, perfect joy, perfect love, perfect fulfillment, until he or she is abiding in untroubled rest in the bosom of the Father through Christ Jesus.

Let us through Christ conquer every enemy until God can find rest in us and we can find rest in God.