“Rest, daughter, everything is finished.”
I woke up to that word within me one morning, a few years ago. It was not the first time. I knew it was His voice, but I could not understand what He meant.
I was in search of the truth of my faith in Jesus. I had so many questions and I determined to find the answers. Questions like what happened at the cross? How much were we forgiven? Who is the holy Spirit? There were, and still are, so many different doctrines about Christianity and I wanted to know the right one.
For someone who grew up in this world, where everything has to be earned and worked for, the concept of resting was limited to a certain time like a holiday. But to think about it, I don’t think I ever fully rested. Even during school term break, there was always the next term, the next exam, or the next task looming in my head, waiting to be done, even though they had not even begun! There was never rest, no, not in the real meaning of rest. After completing primary school, there was secondary school, then higher education, then the expectation to get a job, and so on and so on.
What did God mean by resting? I asked within me and yielded back to my study of His word.
It was about a year later when I began to get a glimpse of this rest He was talking about, after many, many times of studying His word, making sure that none of the writings contradicted each other, which is not possible for He is an integral God. It was very important for me to get His heart every time I read the Bible, even though different parts were written by different people, thus they contain the flavour of the writers’ personalities, but still, the truth came from one and the same Spirit. The Spirit that also resides in me.
I soon saw that although Paul explained salvation in a slightly different way than Peter and John, each of the writings compliments each other; they are different angles of the same picture.
With patience, by patience I mean His patience towards me that never gave up teaching me, I saw more and more about this rest that God spoke of, even in Hebrews chapter four:
4 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
That rest is Christ!
The context of the passage above, and the entire book of Hebrews, is the writer was encouraging Hebrews believers to stand of their faith in Christ – making a case that Christ is the substance, while the law is just a type, a model. Therefore, Christ is the high priest, while Aaron was just a type. Christ is also the lamb sacrifice, the lamb of God that was mentioned in the gospel of John, to take away the sins of the world, while the bulls and rams were just a type, until the real lamb was to come.
The Hebrews believers had grown weary, perhaps from waiting for their prayers to be answered, and there came temptations to forgo their faith, either by letting go holiness or by going back to the works of the law, to offer sacrifice at the temple, thus forsaking their faith in Christ, who is the end of the law (Romans 10:4).
When we believe in Christ, the cross takes place. What I mean by that is:
All of our sins were placed on the body of Jesus, that was why Jesus came in flesh (Hebrews chapter ten).
10 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me
Then as the Lamb now carries our sin, the Lamb has to die, because the Lamb has become us, become sin and the wage of sin is death. This is the part where most preachers say, “Christ took our place and you took His.”
When we believe the above, we accept the work of Christ. God sees our faith and He rewards us with righteousness because we are saying basically this to Jesus:
Lord, I am sorry that you have to bear my sins (this in the Old Testament is where the offender lays his hands on the head of the lamb), but I don’t have any other means to be saved, Lord. Only you, the perfect man, can atone for my sins. I thank you, Lord, for your love for me that you do this for me. Here I believe you have taken all my sins and your death on the cross is the proof that you have fully paid for them, Lord. Thank you for being my Saviour, thank you for redeeming me, I am yours, Lord.
Notice that everything is by faith? (Now, faith is believing that is based on His words. Any other believing that is not based on His words is not faith, it is just, well, belief.) That is why Christianity is righteousness by faith, not by works, for no one can keep the law. It’s entirely based on the perfect and finished work of Christ, which is the only work accepted by God. And now we are the righteous in God’s eyes, by gift, yes, but it’s 100% legit nevertheless. We have peace with God.
That's why the cross completely changes everything. From then on, everything in our lives works by faith.
Just like we came to be saved through faith, the way we receive anything from God now is through faith, by His grace. This is what Paul meant when he said grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Christ Jesus (Romans 5:21). Once we are righteous, God releases blessings to us by making promises to us (thus grace, there is no condition, only faith), just like He did with Abraham.
If I promise my daughter that I will bring her to Disneyland, there is no condition made for that promise, it is entirely based on my delight to give her that experience. Simply because I love her and I want to give her joy and happy experiences. That is how God is to us. Now that we are His sons and daughters, He delights in us, just like He delights in Jesus, and He just wants to bless us without our doing anything to earn it, but simply believe and wait. This is grace.
The just shall live by faith. In other words, the righteous receive by believing. Rest and receive, beloved, this is the hallmark of a believer in Christ.
