Entering God’s Rest
(week 36/05)
Olubi Johnson
Hebrews 4:1-2, 9-10 NKJV: Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
Here, the scripture reveals that there is a rest in God for His people that God wants us to enter.
What then is this rest?
The rest of God is the condition in which all the satanic distortion and desolation has been overcome and removed.
When God recreated the earth after it had been corrupted to be without form and void by satan’s rebellion:
Genesis 1:2 NKJV: The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Jeremiah 4:23-26 NKJV: I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; And the heavens, they had no light. 24 I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, And all the hills moved back and forth. 25 I beheld, and indeed there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26 I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were broken down At the presence of the LORD, By His fierce anger.
After 6 days, all the satanic desolation and corruption on the earth had been removed and on the 7th day God entered into a state of rest.
Genesis 1:3-5, 31-2:2 NKJV: Then God said,”Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Hebrews 4:3-4 NKJV: For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way:”And God rested on the seventh day from all His works“;
So also in our lives a state of rest is reached when all satanic distortion and desolation has been removed in our spirits, souls: mind, will and emotions, bodies and circumstances.
Now, just like many the children of Israel did not enter into God’s rest in the promised land because of unbelief and disobedience, many Christians live and die and never enter into God’s rest as defined above which can also be described as a state of perfected love in which all fear and torment have been cast out:
1 John 4:18 NKJV: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
How then do we enter God’s rest?
By labouring in the Word and prayer.
Hebrews 4:11 KJV: Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
1 Timothy 5:17 NKJV: Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.
1 John 2:5 NKJV: But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.
Colossians 4:12 NKJV: Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
In our article next week, we will see how to make the labour in Word and prayer an easy yoke and a light burden.
