Hebrews 4

It's really taking a good bit of thinking this morning to wrap my brain around the logic flow in the first part of this chapter. There's a lot of writing about rest and entering God's rest, and it kind of gets confusing. I think that I've got it figured out, though.

Just as God rested after creating the world, He promised to give us a rest from our toils when we die. Of course, that depends on us having faith in Him, and that is the reason why the children of Israel who had no faith will never enter God's rest. God is already at rest, and He wants us to join Him there, but only some will make it. Those that are obedient to His word and do not harden their hearts to Him. The good news, though, is that this is a living promise; it is open-ended. The promise to enter God's rest by faith wasn't extended only to the Israelites in the desert. It didn't end with Joshua. The promise is open "today." That means that each day we have the opportunity to hear God and choose faith in Him. I'm not talking about needing to renew your salvation every day; that is a false doctrine. I'm saying that if you happen to have ignored God yesterday, you get another chance today. Just don't run out of todays before you make the choice.

You can't fool God either. This promise is real, but so are the consequences for disobedience. You can't hide from that, and you can't trick God into thinking that you have faith. Nothing is hidden from Him. He can see right through you like an X-ray machine, but even beyond that, He can see into your soul and spirit and heart. Knowing that might make it a little scary to approach God. What if He thinks I'm holding something back? What if He sees what I'm holding back? Truth be told, you probably are holding something back; we're all human. That's what makes Jesus such a key element. He's the high priest through whom we can approach God, and He is sympathetic to our weaknesses since He lived as one of us. When you realize the truth of that, and you realize the connection that that creates between humanity and Christ, you approach God with confidence and He is faithful to provide mercy and grace to help overcome our weaknesses.