BROKEN REST. Hebrews 4:4-5 God rests when His work is completed to His satisfaction. He looked at His creation and saw it was "good," so He rested in that finished work. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross is a "finished" work to which nothing can be added or taken away. Those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation rest where God rests - in the finished redemptive work of Christ. The future joy of God, and consequently of those who believe in Jesus, will be experienced when the new heavens and new earth are in place in their perfection. Those who have become "a new creation in Christ Jesus" will enjoy the blessings of a sinless society— a world free from any evidence of sin — and a spiritual rest where everything done will be for the glory of God.
The subject of rest begins with God's rest after creation. There is no mention of evening on the seventh day, which may mean that His rest is for all eternity. The rest of God is not because of fatigue but because of satisfaction. What God does is forever. God provided for rest to be available from the foundation of the world, but disobedience keeps people from experiencing that rest. Rest can be ours now by claiming what God offers and promises to those who love and obey Him.
What God did in creation was perfect. He was completely satisfied that it was “good,” and when God saw all He had made, it was “very good.” The rest God has, has given us a glimpse into the future when sin is permanently removed, creation is renewed and restored, and ultimately there will be a new heaven and earth where righteousness endures and eternal joy will be ours.
Human inability to rest stems from sin that has affected everyone, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” When sin entered the world and caused separation from God, He could not find rest with sinful mankind. In God, there is eternal and absolute goodness, so He cannot rest where sin is present. He gave humanity free will so that we could know Him honestly and choose to love Him. God gave us the ability to sin, not the desire to sin. What each of us does is our own choice, and we must accept the consequences of our actions.
God allows sin to enter His creation. We know He does not tempt us to sin, but He provided both an opportunity and a necessity. The opportunity was given to choose to love God, who “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” God’s nature is love, and that love can be imparted to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The necessity is that when God’s love is rejected, judgment for sin follows. It cannot be avoided to maintain justice.
It wasn’t a failure on God’s part when sin entered, but the way was opened for God’s grace to be demonstrated, and the work of redemption began by the work of the Father, “The Father worketh…” Then Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, “… and I work,” and He completed the work that “settled forever, sin’s tremendous claim.” The foreshadowing and prophecies pointing to the coming Savior were fulfilled when our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. God’s holiness and righteousness could not spare His own Son when “He delivered Him up for us all.” Christ finished the work of redemption, and God could “rest.” We can rest where God rests— on the finished work of Christ.
Believers in Christ can also find rest from struggling to live a holy life by taking on the yoke of our Lord. That is how we learn about Him and from Him, who is meek and lowly in heart. When we do that, we will find rest for our souls. We can relinquish anxiety, our own opinions, and selfish interests, which then allows us to grow in faith and Christlikeness.
When trials and afflictions come upon us, we find rest in knowing they will not last forever. The Lord will be revealed from heaven, and there will be peace when we see Jesus. Then we will be able to say, "It will be worth it all when we see Jesus... it will be worth it all when we see Him." Faith provides rest because it rests in God, allowing God to do what He chooses so that we can share in His divine rest. Our rest does not mean we stop working; instead, we find it in participating and finding meaning in sharing in God's perfect work. That is where we find absolute joy today.