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Laboring to Enter Into Rest

Rest is not idleness, though it may be ceasing to do a certain work. When God rested on the seventh day, He ceased the work of creating; but He did not become idle. He never is. He performs the work of upholding it all. And get this point: His rest is enjoying the finished work. We ought to bear in mind this truth when we read Hebrews 4:11 , namely, "Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."

This refers to our entering into the rest which Christ realized for us through His cross, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. That rest was the enjoyment of His finished work of opening the way for us to arrive there pretty soon. The Lord's day is not a rest day in the sense that we may sleep and take things easy spiritually. Rather it is entering into God's house to enjoy the truth of entering the rest wherein we will in heaven be very busy praising and serving God. Resting is enjoying a finished work. It is activity, doing what now we must do, namely, serve God constantly with our whole being, body and soul.

Our labor to enter into that rest is not earning it or preparing it. Christ earned it and prepared it. And the rest that remaineth is a gift of God's grace through the labor of Christ.

As our eating and drinking are necessary for us to have health and life, laboring to enter into that rest is a work which we perform. It is a work which God enables us to perform. It is using our bodies and souls, our hearts and our minds, which Satan led us to use for sinful deeds, now in works of love to God. We will in heavenly glory serve God with constant thankfulness for His gift of grace in Christ.

Let your rest day, the Lord's day, then, be a day of spiritual activity, revealing your longing for your love of God and thankfulness for what Christ has earned for you.

Read: Hebrews 4 .

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:

Job 40 ; Job 41 ; Job 42:1-17 
2 Corinthians 5:11-21 
Psalm 45:1-17 
Proverbs 22:14 
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Quote for Reflection:

   … Peter’s tears, which he shed in secret, testified before God and the angels that his repentance was true; for, having withdrawn from the eyes of men, he places before him God and the angels; and, therefore, those tears flow from the deep feelings of his heart. This deserves our attention; for we see many who shed tears purposely, so long as they are beheld by others, but who have no sooner retired than they have dry eyes. Now there is no room to doubt that tears, which do not flow on account of the judgment of God, are often drawn forth by ambition and hypocrisy.           – John Calvin