BRDC 773

HEBREWS 4:1-9

A BETTER REST

Old people have a real longing to rest. My own body is now going on 71 years old, and the thing just doesn't work like it did just a couple of years ago. Rest is a necessity because the body is geared to a day of light and darkness and the light is given for activity and the night is given for rest. The body grows steadily weaker all during life because of the dying and replacing of cells, and because of degenerative diseases, many of which we are unaware of.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 describes the aging process. Listen to the preacher describe it: "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; 2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: 3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, 4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; 5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: 6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. 7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. 8 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity."

The preacher calls old age "the evil days". "When the vision begins to fail, the sun, moon, and light grow dim." Hands and arms are "keepers of the house," and they begin to shake and tremble. The grinders are teeth which become fewer and fewer until they make less and less noise. The voice becomes weak and low and high pitched. There is a fear of high places. Pink blossoms fade to white. The thought of the strength of a grasshopper is depressing to an old man. The caper berry is desire - desire for an appetite for food. The long home is the grave. The "silver cord" is the cord that suspended the light in the temple, and refers to the spinal column which is a burden in old age. The "golden bowl" is the skull, "and implies that the individual is acting like a person with a fractured skull." The wheel refers to the heart. 1 Thanks to Dr. Jean Sloat Morton for the information in this paragraph.

In old age life truly becomes a burden, and rest is of utmost importance. Hebrews 4:1 speaks of rest. Listen: "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." Young people whose bodies are pulsating with the energy and enthusiasm of life should not be burdened with thoughts of dying, but death in youth is a very definite possibility. Young people should be reminded over and over at appropriate times that death is something that they must face at some point in time. Sinners must prepare for death in youth because of the possibility that they will never get old for one thing, and secondly, they must prepare for death in youth because in old age, it is virtually impossible for a person to be brought to the point of repentance and faith. And so we have the peculiar situation where one must prepare for rest before he needs it.

The rest we speak of is, of course, eternity in Heaven. The book of Hebrews speaks much of rest. Rest is spoken of in Hebrews about 12 times. There are three ways in which rest is used in Hebrews. First of all, there is the Canaan rest spoken of in 3:11. God would not permit the unbelieving Jews to enter into Canaan, and He calls it a rest. But the Jews would have gone into Canaan into years of bloody warfare. How could there have been a Canaan rest for the people of God? Those who went over into Canaan rested upon the Lord for their security and peace of mind. Even in warfare, there is a rest for the people of God for He is always faithful to His own. We can rest upon His unchanging grace and watch care. We may be defeated; we may be killed, but we have an inner peace that comes with resting upon the unchanging Lord.

Then there is the creation rest spoken of in chapter 4 and verses 3 and 4. Listen to these two verses: "For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works." The seventh day rest is that of the Lord after creation. We have that rest because Jesus Christ has done all the work. We rest upon the salvation that was perfected for us when He gave up the ghost on the cross. Nobody works for his salvation today. We rest upon the merit of the Father's only begotten Son. We rest upon the favor the Father has for His Son.

Then there is the future rest which is eternity in Heaven with the Lord. This is the Sabbath rest that awaits those of us who are saved. That is the rest that is spoken of in verse number 9. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." What a prospect! Eternity with God. Eternity in a place that was made for us. No backbiting. No gossip. No lust. Many people hear that and think of Heaven as such a dull place that they really don't get excited about going there. I wouldn't be much interested in going to a place where there was nothing to do but sit around and try to be good. But Christ Jesus is creating a place for us. It is a place tailor-made to make us happy for eternity. He Who created us certainly knows what would make us eternally happy, and that will be our Sabbath rest.

But verse 1 must not be overlooked. Verse 1 says "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." These first century Jews are warned that they must take great care that they do not deceive themselves that by being children of Abraham, they somehow merit salvation, or that their nationality helps a little bit toward their salvation. They must "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" All people everywhere should have this same fear that they have polluted their faith with some thoughts about being righteous in themselves. The child of God is created unto good works, but in Christ Jesus. We can do no genuine good work except the Lord make it possible. If we do a good work and claim that we did it in ourselves, then we rob the Holy Spirit, because good works are His fruit. Beware.

I fear that more people than we realize are lost in darkness because they think that they are doing something that will please God, when they either are not saved, or they think doing those good things will help them to be saved. God tells us through the pen of the prophet to the Hebrews that we should fear coming short because we have not absolutely trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation and perseverance. When a sinner is good or righteous, then God is insulted and offended because that person is not recognizing and acknowledging that only God can enable us to perform true works of righteousness. People do good works for all sorts of reasons, and all of those reasons are wrong if God is ignored.