DID NOT GO IN. Hebrews 4:6-8
The Israelites could have entered Canaan under the leadership of Moses and later Joshua, but they did not act in faith. They disobeyed God and died in the wilderness. Our Lord Jesus has promised the rest of a perfect relationship with God based on His acceptance because of satisfying the righteous claims of God by His finished work on the cross. We do not create the situation, nor do we have the criteria to produce proper rest. We rest in our Lord Jesus for that privilege and the basis of it. It is up to us to trust and obey Him "to be happy in Jesus." The time and opportunity for that to happen is "Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."
God gave the Israelites the chance to enter Canaan, but they disobeyed, failed to enter in, and died in the wilderness instead. That’s the consequence of disobedience and unbelief. God still offers people the opportunity to enter His rest by inviting “whosoever will” to accept salvation through faith in Christ. That’s the relationship God desires – “He would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” We don’t create the rest for our own soul and spirit that we need to be in fellowship with God. It’s up to us to trust God’s word and put our personal faith in Christ alone. Today is the time to “Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
When Israel finally entered Canaan a generation later under Joshua's leadership, even that was only a partial and temporary entry into God’s rest. Their hearts had not changed, only their actions. For many centuries, they disobeyed God and suffered the consequences of unbelief, disobedience, and rebellion against God.
Our current rest still involves dealing with enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. We can rest fully in what the Lord Jesus Christ provided for us through His death on the cross. We have been redeemed and cleansed by the precious blood of Christ from any dead works and the mistaken belief that we can gain anything from our sinful flesh. In our flesh, “Dwells no good thing,” but thankfully, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Our rest from guilt is in the blood of Christ shed for us, and our deliverance from the power of sin is through the living Lord Jesus Christ.
When we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air, or when death claims our bodies, we will find rest—not only from the power of sin but also from the presence of sin. If we look further into the future, the eternal state in the ages to come will be the blissful rest of living in love in the new heavens and new earth, where sin and suffering will not be remembered, and all things will be made new.
The potential danger of an attitude of unbelief, as seen in the Hebrew believers, will prevent us from enjoying even the first “rest.” The “provocation” of the Jews in the wilderness serves as a warning to us. We need to make our “calling and election” sure to ourselves, not to God. If we listen to, or worse, pay attention to false teaching, our joy, peace, and hope can be lost. All believers can stumble just like the Jewish Christians did if we do not pay earnest attention to the word of God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we must refuse to harden our hearts. God rests in His holiness because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done on our behalf. How much more should we rest there!