Rest
Hebrews 4:1-13
October 21, 2018 – Redeemer
Israel. Israel. Israel. God’s Old Testament people had witnessed the greatest act of salvation the Lord had ever worked. Lamb’s blood had spared them from death and broke loose Pharaoh’s hard hearted grip on them. They had left Egypt loaded with the loot of their oppressors. In their baptism at the Red Sea Pharaoh’s army and horses were drowned and they came out alive on the other side. God gave them His Word on Sinai, confirmed His oath that they would enter into His rest – the Promised Land. The nations stood in fear of the Lord their God. When Moses took a census there were over 600,000 men of fighting age who left Egypt. Do you know how many of those made it into the Promised Land? Two.
Now you understand why the writer of Hebrews preaches to us, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”
Who among us doesn’t need a little rest? Rest from trying to prove ourselves and provide for ourselves. Rest from keeping our families safe and our bodies functioning. Rest from the evil that threatens us and the disappointments that hound us. Rest from trying to justify ourselves – what is my purpose? Why am I here? Is my presence at work or home or in the world of any value? Am I doing anyone (or even myself) any good? Even rest from justifying ourselves before God.
The Israelites of old could rest. Their rest was in God alone. The Lord brought them out of Egypt with Moses. He annihilated their enemies. He fed them in the wilderness. He dropped bread from heaven and sent quail on the winds. He poured out water from a rock. Their clothes never went thread bare and they didn’t wear any holes in their shoes. When they finally arrived in the promised land their leisure suits were 40 years out of style, but they entered God’s rest – a land they didn’t purchase, homes they didn’t build, vineyards they didn’t plant. The Lord God did all the work and they entered His rest.
It shouldn’t have taken forty years. 600,000 men should not have died in the wilderness. They all should have entered God’s rest. They had God’s sure Word, but they did not all believe. The first time they approached the Promised Land twelve spies were sent to scope out the territory. Those twelve spies all saw exactly the same thing. The enemy was big. The enemy was mean. The enemy was many. But two of those spies believed God’s promise when He said, “I will give you this land. I will defeat your enemies. You will find rest in Me.” The other ten spies voted by sight and not by faith – “There’s no way we can take the land.” There’s always a danger in doing theology by democracy – you’re likely to vote against God and that is what the Israelites did. So God gave them more time, a time of repentance, a time to hear His Word, trust His promises, 40 years of worshipping in the wilderness. 603,548 men died in the wilderness (census number from Numbers 2:32). Joshua and Caleb were the only two of the fighting men who left Egypt to enter into Canaan.
Like the Israelites of old, our rest is found in God alone, but we have it better than they did. They only had the promises of an eternal rest. We have the fulfillment in Christ Jesus.
By the work of Jesus Christ we have been set free from our slavery – not to Pharaoh, but to the prince of this world, to Satan, to our sin, to death. The Lamb of God Jesus Christ was sacrificed for us. The blood of God was painted on the post and beams of the cross just as those little lambs of Passover had their blood painted on the doorposts. Death took Jesus so that is it passes over us. Jesus was locked up in the prison house of our sin and was punished with God’s wrath so that we could go free. In the waters of baptism our enemies were drowned and we were made alive. By faith we have already entered into God’s rest. We confess it every Sunday – because of Jesus, by faith in Him, we have the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
We have more than the Israelites. The Israelites saw Pharaoh’s army drown and saw the promised land across the Jordan. We have Jesus risen from the dead, seen by 500 people. By His resurrection we have the certain assurance that our sins are forgiven and we have been freed to enter the eternal rest of life with Jesus. Yet, Jesus Himself still warns us saying, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:24–25, ESV)
Why? The writers of Hebrews tells us “For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.” (Hebrews 4:2, ESV) In the wilderness the Israelites let their eyes guide them – they got bored with manna, sick of quail, tired of the same old clothes, afraid of their large and mean enemies. The Israelites begged Moses to take them back to slavery. The Good News they had from God did not benefit them because they had no faith in it. They didn’t believe their ears. They lived by sight.
Is that not still our temptation? How much time a week do you hear God’s Word? Three Scripture readings on Sunday and 15 minutes of sermon – unless of course you daydream about the Vikings and then you’re probably under 10 minutes of Jesus a week. The rest of the time we journey through this wilderness we see everything we don’t have, the enemies against us, the sin that would enslave us. Satan is always around whispering his sweet pleasures in your ear – seeking your soul. You’re running here and there, even running on Sunday morning and Monday evening because you think you’ll find rest up north or in your work or in the success of your children. Why are the odds of a rich man entering heaven the same as the largest animal in the Middle East (a camel) making it through the smallest opening – the eye of a needle? Because the rich man sees his rest in his riches (and spends himself trying to hold on to them.)
We have one Word that accomplished our rest and will guide us to eternal rest – Jesus. We have one time to hear that Word – today, the Lord’s day. We might not have tomorrow. We might not have next Sunday. The Lord might return. You might die. Faith in Jesus comes from hearing Jesus – today. Today we have His Word. Today the way is open. Today you can be certain of rest – eternal rest – Jesus did the work at the cross and you receive the benefit. That promised rest might not seem as secure as wealth, or as exciting as sports, or as peaceful as a weekend at the cabin, but it is the only rest from your sin, from death, and from Satan’s rule. It is the only way out of this barren wilderness of restlessness. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest. In the name of Jesus.
Pr. Bruce Timm
October 21, 2018 anno Domini