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“Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,
“’As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,’ although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works’; and again in this passage, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, ‘Today,’ saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.’” (Hebrews 4:1-7 NASB1995)
What is this “rest” that God speaks of? It is most certainly our salvation (deliverance) from bondage (addiction) to sin and eternal life with God. And who are the “they” being spoken of here? They were the children of Israel who wandered in the wilderness for some 40 years but who died in the wilderness, and who did not get to enter into God’s eternal rest nor into the Promised Land, due to their disobedience, which God called “unbelief.”
For they were idolaters who craved evil things. And they were revelers and drunkards who acted immorally. And they were those who tested God and who grumbled against the Lord and Moses, God’s servant, thinking that God would not punish them for their rebellion and disobedience. And these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. And they were written down for our instruction as examples.
[See: 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16]
So, what is the message for us here? We need to be careful that we do not come up short of entering into God’s eternal rest. And how might that happen? The same way in which it happened to the Israelites who disobeyed God, who continued to walk in sin, in direct defiance of God’s commands, and for whom obedience to God and to his commands was not their practice. For they did not desire obedience to God, but they craved evil things.
And when this says here that the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard it, this is in the context of the Scriptures teaching that faith = obedience, and disobedience = unbelief. For faith in Jesus Christ is not lip service to God only, but it must be coupled with us denying self, dying to sin daily (in practice), and following our Lord in obedience to his commands, as a matter of what we practice.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).
So, today if you hear God’s voice speaking to you through his divine revelation in the Scriptures, taught in the correct biblical context, which tells you that faith in Christ, which is biblical faith, must result in us dying to sin and following our Lord in obedience to his commands, in the power of God, please do not harden your hearts and refuse his voice. By faith in Jesus, please surrender your lives to Jesus Christ, deny self, and die to sin, and walk in obedience to his commands, and you will enter into his eternal rest.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
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Entering Into God’s Eternal Rest
An Original Work / October 27, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love