How To Find Rest (4)

In Hebrews chapters 3 and 4, a couple of things stand out regarding rest. The first thing is that it is about God's rest. The Christian is invited to partake, not of his own rest, but of God's rest. To remind us of this, Scripture refers us to the first mention of rest in the Bible. "For in a certain place he spake thus of the seventh day, And God rested the seventh day from all his works" (Heb. 4:4).

God rested on the seventh day, and His rest was because His work was finished. Adam came to life on the sixth day, so God's seventh day is the beginning of Adam's life. Adam began to live in the rest of God, and was invited to contemplate the marvelous divine work, to which he did not need to add anything. In the same way, the Christian is invited to participate in this rest, not his own, but God's rest.

And when does God rest? When his work is finished. This indicates that, in our case, the work of Christ on the cross, and later, his work in building the church are already accomplished, and therefore the Christian must join God's rest in Christ. Adam did not need to add anything to the work of creation; neither does the Christian need to add anything to the work of redemption. That allowed Adam to rest and the Christian to rest from his works.

What is the raison d'être of works in man? They are an attempt to reaffirm himself, his own capacity; they are an attempt to demonstrate to God that he can make merits to obtain salvation. For the natural man, to deprive him of works is to strip him naked and shame him, it is to take from him all basis for self-satisfaction and pride. It is to rob him of his self-righteousness, and to leave him plunged in inactivity.

The human being, by himself, will never do works that please God, therefore, there is no place for his rest. If he could do perfect, finished works, there would be room for the rest of his works; but it will never be so. Therefore, the only possibility for him to rest is for him to renounce his works, to submit himself to the works of God, and to enter into the rest of God. That is why the Christian is invited to enter into the rest of God, and not into his own rest.

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