Hebrews 4: 1-11
There is a connected and continuous rest to the 7th day Sabbath rest. It’s called God’s rest. It’s His eternal, spiritual energy. It is the rest that Adam entered into in the Garden of Eden. Although Adam was given work to perform – faithfully watching over and keeping the garden – he did so in God’s perfect rest. Like God, He never got tired; he never slept. It was only after he sinned that he and the earth were cursed with weariness and fatigue.
The fact that Hebrews speaks of God’s rest as a Sabbath rest does not mean the 7th day Sabbath is done away with. It means that God’s rest is Sabbath-like. For as the 7th day Sabbath is the sign that proves and seals God’s perfection of a finished and new creation, so does God’ rest signify God’s work in us as new creatures for the finished new earth and heavens.
The 7th day Sabbath further illustrates the nature of God’s eternal rest. For instance; like the 7th day Sabbath rest, God’s rest is recognition of God as Creator. And like the 7th day Sabbath’s rest from temporal works, God’s rest is a cessation of his completed eternal works.
However, that doesn’t mean that once we enter God’s rest, we won’t be engaged in activity. We will, for work is good. Work was never part of the curse; weariness and boredom are. And as we work – faithfully watching over and keeping God’s completed works on the new earth, and perhaps elsewhere – we will do so in a perfect enjoyment of rest and pleasure forever.
It is God’s eternal rest that God promised Abraham and his descendants, and it is still available to God’s people today. Entering God’s eternal rest begins with accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. That’s why the Hebrews’ writer mentions another day besides the 7th day Sabbath. That other day is Today. To the unsaved, he says, “Today is the day of Salvation.”
The perfect, subjective experience of God’s rest begins with Jesus’ return for His people. So, besides no more death and no more tears, there remains an everlasting rest prepared and waiting for us. And as the Hebrews’ writer encourages, we get there by obediently keeping the faith.