ONLY BELIEVE…Your Passport to REST!

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¹⁹ So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. – Hebrews 3:19 NKJV

³ For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:

“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’”

although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. – Hebrews 4:3 NKJV

¹¹ Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. – Hebrews 4:11 NKJV

The rest spoken of in both Hebrews 3 and 4 is more than just the rest of entering the Promised Land as the Jews of old were promised. For even them entering the physical literal Promised Land of Canaan was a picture, a shadow of the true Promised Land, the true rest that would be both ours and theirs in Christ. Many years after the Children of Israel had been in the Land of Canaan, King David got a revelation of the True rest for God's people that was to come later (Psalm 95:7-11) This is the true Sabbath rest and it is accessed solely by believing in Jesus, the Christ of God.

It is interesting to note that even in the "shadow", Moses a type of the Law could not bring them into the Promised Land, but Joshua, a type of Christ (full of Grace and Truth) did. Under the Law there is no rest but under Grace there is an abundant of rest.

Now we know that rest is the opposite of unrest. Unrest involves all kinds of stress, worries, struggles, weariness, fear, uncertainty, endless fruitless labor - you name it. No wonder Jesus said: come unto me all you who labor and I will give you rest...remember Matthew 11:28 -30. Today we find our rest in Christ, apart from Him we cannot truly rest for He is the Lord of the Sabbath.

The only work we are to do now is to strive to enter His rest, and how do we do that? It all begins when we believe in Him and in what He has done for us. By the perfect sacrifice of Himself, Christ has made us perfectly righteous before the Father. So now there is nothing between the Father and us and nothing can ever separate us from His love - NOTHING! Believe His promises to you today and rest in them knowing He who has spoken is faithful, we stake our very lives on His Word which has been tried and tested and is forever settled in Heaven.

This "believing" is not a passive mental assent “yes the promises are true” and then we sit by twiddling our thumbs, no this believing is actively holding on to that specific Word He has spoken to you and waging warfare with it, standing against all opposing voices with it.

Yes, this resting involves refusing to panic, refusing to go with the crowd, refusing to surrender the promises of God to you, refusing to look at your shortcomings, this resting is refusing to take your focus off of Christ, regardless of what is happening around you. Our believing will be evidenced by our speech and conduct. "We believe, therefore we speak..."

So that's why in Hebrews 3 and 4 the Holy Spirit repeatedly says they, the Jews of old, did not enter His rest because of their unbelief and He also admonishes us to believe when we hear His voice today so we may enter the true rest, the true Sabbath and once we do, we will cease from our own works, that is we should stop trying to impress God hoping to be made righteous on account of our performance and also trying to make things happen on our own. We should just simply trust Him.

Source: Google Images

So what is the Lord saying to you today? Unless you believe Him, you will not enter the rest He has for you. Unbelief is such an insult to God, and to entertain it is tantamount to questioning the very essence and character of God, no wonder He calls an unbelieving heart, an evil heart of unbelief and warns us to guard ourselves against it (Hebrews 3:12).

Unbelief ultimately destroys the one harboring it, let us work at resting in God by actively choosing to believe Him over everything and everyone else. Blessings!