Tag: God Gives Us Rest - Joshua 21-24

Joshua 21:43-44

Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands.

Tag:  God Gives Us Rest

The “land” in Exodus and Joshua is a “picture” of what Christ promised us in the New Testament.   The writer in Hebrews said it this way:

Hebrews 4:1-3

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,

‘They shall not enter my rest,’”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

The writer of Hebrews is telling “us” (NT Christians) are like “them” (OT Israel) in that God had promised something, based upon THE WORK He has done for them.   When Joshua lead them into the land, God gave them “rest” and conquer the nations that were in the “promise land” - that was promised to Abraham and his descendants.   However, they will, soon (as the story unfolds) lose the possession of the land, because they did not pursue the rest of the land “by faith.”   The “effort” they were to put into the land, was not “mixed” (or “united”) by faith.  

We have the same “rest” to enter into for our lives.   But, we have to enter into that rest with and by faith.   The faith we have in Christ is to lead us to the “rest” we can find only in Christ.   But, we must pursue that rest by faith.   But this faith is not an intellectual understating or simply acknowledgment. It is “obedient” faith.  It is faith that says I will submit, walk and/or follow through with what God says.  If you have faith that a chair can hold you up but you never sit in the chair you will never have the rest that chair promises to give.  If God says that He will provide what you want but you constantly worry, you will never enter into that rest He can offer.   Rest is only for those who walk in “obedient” faith.   We can make decisions contrary to Christ and expect to “rest” in His promises.