“Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it” (Hebrews 4:1).
What does it mean to enter into God’s rest? Each passage of the Bible has three applications or meanings: a local, temporal application for those to whom the message is addressed; a second, individual application for each reader; and an scatological application or meaning that reaches out to the Second Coming of Jesus. The Book of Hebrews was written for the Jews who had converted to Christianity, for whom it was very difficult to accept certain truths of their new faith, so much so that some returned to their original beliefs.
The author of Hebrews presents the pact that God made with the Hebrews from the beginning, and warns of the impossibility to enter into Canaan because of their stubbornness and disobedience. For the ancient Hebrews, Canaan represented entering into God’s rest after forty years of wandering in the desert. So the first application of this text was for the Christian Jews who were deserting the Christian faith. God warns them that the same thing will happen as happened to the olden Hebrews.
In the individual application, you and I run the risk of falling into sin and missing out on the rest of our heavenly Canaan. We must not ignore the lessons given to the Hebrews. We are candidates for enjoying heaven with its perfect, complete, eternal rest.
The third application also has to do with you and me. We can begin to rejoice in divine calm and quietude. The weekly Sabbath rest is an anticipation of the permanent rest that awaits us. Therefore, let us live in peace let us avoid conflicts and anxiety. No matter how intense, difficult, precarious, or full of suffering our life may be, it is temporary. A different world is waiting for us. Let us took at the circumstances around us with eyes of hope. Let us take hold of the inheritance that Jesus left us—His legacy was, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you” (John 14:27).
May no one rob us of our inheritance of peace.
Let us experience a portion of this exquisite blessing each day.
Let us approach the throne of grace with reverent fear and supplication, and claim this precious promise. May no one miss out on receiving it: “We should show be our daily lives that we have peace and rest in the Saviour. His peace in the heart will shine forth in the countenance. It will give to the voice a persuasive power. Communion with God will ennoble the character and the life. Men will take knowledge of us, as of the first disciples, that we have been with Jesus.”— Gospel Workers, sec. 12, p. 510.
Taken from: Devotional Thoughts for Women 2023 “DAUGHTER OF MINE” Do Not Be Afraid From: Arsenia Fernandez-Uckele Collaborators: Xiomara Perdomo & Esteban Cortes