Christ said:
Mat 11:28 Come to Me, all
you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am [
a]gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke
is easy and My burden is light.”
Many believe and teach Christ's rest some how relieves our moral obligation to obey the Sabbath commandment, but is this what Jesus is teaching?
Jesus said this and still kept the Sabbath going to church reading God's word Luke 4:16 as the apostles did following in His footsteps keeping every Sabbath in the same manner decades after the Cross Acts 15:21 Acts 13:42 Acts 13:44 Acts 18:4 as the Sabbath is a holy convocation Lev 23:3 and we see that continuing on in the New Heaven and New Earth Isa 66:22-23
So what rest is Christ referring to?
Psa 38:3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger;
neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.4
For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
The rest Jesus is giving us when we come to Him is rest from our sins. Jesus came to save us
from our sins Mat 1:21 we are not saved in our sins Heb 10:26-30
Sin is:
1 John 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness,
and sin is lawlessness.
James 2:11-12 For
He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder,
you have become a transgressor of the law. quoting and contrasting directly from the Ten Commandments breaking one we break them all
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then?
Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary
, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
Rom 14:23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because
he does not
eat from faith;
for whatever is not from faith is sin.
We also see this play out in the last days
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever
; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
Compared to the antidote found in the next verse
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saint
s; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
If we understand Christ rest, it will help us understand Hebrews 4 much better as it is speaking of two rests, not one.
We are invited to enter into Christ rest, just like the Israelites, Heb 4:1 but many didn't enter due to disobedience (sin) even through the same gospel was preached Heb 4:6
Why the Holy Spirit is calling us "TODAY" to come our of our rebellion (sin) and enter His rest quoting directly from Psa 95
Heb 3:7
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in
their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
11
So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
Why there is another day spoken of, which is TODAY God is calling us from our sins and come unto Him and He will give us rest from the burdens of sin but we need to enter through faith Heb 4:2
What did the Israelites disobey during their trial of the wilderness that led them to not enter into Christ rest
Eze 22:13
Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, ‘which,
if a man does, he shall live by them’;
and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Why the next verse says there
remains a Sabbath-rest
for the people of God Heb 4:9 and the Sabbath rest is according to the commandment Luke 23:56 because breaking God's law is sin 1 John 3:4 James 2:11-12
The next verse clearly shows these two rests
Heb 4:10
For he who has entered His rest has himself also (in addition) ceased from his works as God did from His.
God ceased from His works
on the seventh day, Heb 4:4 Gen 2:1-3 just like God commanded us to Exo 20:8-11 as we were made in His image and likeness so to enter His rest one also ceases from work on the seventh day Sabbath. Exo 20:10
Heb 4:11
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, l
est anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience
We don't want to follow the same mistakes of the Israelites who sinned and never entered their rest in Canaan, which is a type of heaven. The same applies to us to enter in Heaven Rev 22:14
12 For the word of God
is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
In Christ rest no one is in rebellion or breaking God's law, why there is just peace
Isa 48:18
Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
Jesus is coming soon and we need to come out of our rebellion to Him and obey Him and His commandments, His version, God’s own personal Testimony
Exo 31:18 written personally by God, His law and will Psa 40:8, It’s why we see the ark of the covenant, which holds God’s personal Testimony, the Ten Commandments written and spoken by the God of the Universe revealed at the last Trumpet before Jesus comes in all His Glory
Rev 11:19 as it is the standard of what God will judge all man
2 Cor 5:10 James 2:10-12 Ecc 12:13-14 Mat 5:19-30 Rev 11:18-19 Rev 22:14-15 and removing anything God covers under His mercy seat which below sits God’s Testimony His Ten Commandments, laying it aside as to say its not for me, I do not believe that's going to work out so well as Jesus taught plainly
Mat 15:3-14 Mark 7:7-13
So lets be willing to forsake our sins Pro 28:13 and come to Jesus, He will give us rest.