Read: Hebrews 4:1-7 NRSV
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For indeed the 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. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
‘As in my anger I swore,
“They shall not enter my rest”’,
though his works were finished at the foundation of the world.
For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.’ And again in this place it says, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ Since therefore it remains open for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he sets a certain day—‘today’—saying through David much later, in the words already quoted,
‘Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.’
As you may have gathered from our readings this week, there is something more to rest than just having a bit of a lie-down on the couch. Rest is inextricably tied to obedience in God. Because the Israelites broke the commandments, including gathering manna on the Sabbath, they were denied entry into God’s rest, His holy and fulfilling presence. Their failure is a reminder to us that human will isn’t enough to bridge the gap between the Creator and the creation. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. But even as we accept that it is Jesus’ sacrifice that leads us back to the Father, today’s passage reminds us that we have a responsibility to strive towards obedience.
We are still called to the spiritual disciplines, including honoring God with our time. The early Christians who read this passage may have suffered from the same temptations we do. Instead of orienting their lives around God, they may have tried to orient God around their lives. The outcome of this backwards thinking is our hearts start to harden, or grow stale until we’re unable to receive God into his proper place. Imagine trying to wash a counter with a sponge that’s been left out to dry for a few weeks. This passage tells us that a certain day (today!) we should redirect our hearts back to God by resting in his presence. We must pick up the sponge and drop it in the water that soaks, fills, and renews it.
God isn’t just being finicky about being the center of our lives. We have no life without God. He wants what is good, healing, and healthy for us, which is only possible with him taking up residence in our hearts. God’s vision of our unity doesn’t involve a bunch of legalism and rule-following. It looks a lot more like a holiday at home with our loved ones than a criminal trial with a lot of specific procedures. We can turn to the book of Isaiah to get a glimpse of what resting in His presence can look like:
The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert,
His righteousness live in the fertile field.
The fruit of that righteousness will be peace;
its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.
My people will live in peaceful dwelling places,
in secure homes,
in undisturbed places of rest.
