Real Life Parables

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:9-11 NIV)

Hebrews is probably one of my absolute favorite Biblical texts. It is such a frustration that so many people really misunderstand the message it brings. The purpose of the book is to show the supremacy of Christ AND His atonement above everything else.

In these verses, the writer says that "there remains a Sabbath-rest for the people of God." What does he mean by that? Well, the short of it is that the Jews' acting out the Sabbath Day rest by doing no works pointed prophetically to another rest that was to come. Just as God had rested on the seventh day, so they were to commemorate that God had rested by resting themselves. Yet the writer says that this rest was prophetic of another - namely, that of Christ when He sat down at the majesty on high.

The Jews believed that the rest they were seeking was a rest from their physical enemies. To them, the Sabbath rest was a preview of that kind of political rest that they, as a nation, would one day experience. However, as the writer points out, those who were thought to have given Israel rest spoke themselves of that rest still being future.

Yet, they had not truly entered into rest with God, but only acted like they had. How so? The short of it is that they refused to enter that rest with God because they preferred to work. This is the consistent message of the New Testament, especially Galatians, Romans, and also here in Hebrews. As Paul said in Romans 9:31-32 (NLT) ~

"But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law,
never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the
law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.

The short of it is that because they refused to simply come by faith, and that alone, they fell short of truly achieving the rest God had planned for them: a spiritual one. So the writer explains that when we believe we enter into rest with God. This means we rest from our works just as God did from His. Too many people misinterpret this as talking about heaven, but that is not the case. It is the same old works/faith argument as made elsewhere. The warning is that we must not fall short of obtaining that rest. We can fall short of it, as did the Jews of that time, by still trying to justify ourselves by our own works, rather than just simply trusting in the over-achieving nature of the atonement of Christ.

My wife has been troubled as of late because I really fought hard to build our ministry to where it was. It literally took much sweat and tears and physical labor as well as all the expected spiritual struggle. Yet, it seems like we weren't accomplishing very much. The time came when I knew it was time to go. I struggled with it, but knew it was the right thing.

Funny thing about is that my dear friend, who stepped into my shoes as pastor of the church didn't have to do much of anything. Everything was just handed to him. He came in and BOOM! the church was full, and people were getting saved, and it seemed that everything that I had struggled to obtain, I had not obtained it, and everything I had wanted to obtain, he did obtain it, and that with no work. It just seemed like he waltzed in and there it all was waiting for him. This has been very difficult for my wife to deal with. I have no problem with it. I think it's great to see us give an opportunity for someone else to succeed.

I had a pastor one time that said God speaks to us oftentimes through our circumstances - a "real life parable," if you will. To me, this personal tale screams the message of Hebrews. Jesus Christ did all the work. He did all the sweating, bleeding, toiling. He did all the agonizing, and all that I had to do was just step into what He had already done, and BOOM! everything just fell right into place.

Just as my wife has had trouble dealing with things and fighting the temptation to be jealous, so it is with religious folk. They want to fight and scream about works. They cannot tolerate those who simply trust in Christ by faith. They want to drag us up the "rough side of the mountain." No thanks.

I believe that God has indeed spoke through our circumstances. God has shown me just exactly what He did for me. I entered into Christ, and into His labors, and therefore, I have ceased from mine. Could we ask for a more amazing salvation than this?