For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 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”; and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.” Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. (Hebrews 04:03-10, NKJV).
The Israelites of ancient times were offered sanctuary in the Promised Land as soon as they departed from servitude in Egypt, but they did not enter because of disobedience.
In refusing to believe the promise, they opened the door for that ultimate rest to be offered to the entire world. In other words, what they meant for evil, God used for His good purpose. What would have happened had they obeyed that first time is a matter of speculation, but their refusal was an intrinsic part of the Father's Plan of Redemption, and foreshadowed that nation's rejection of their Messiah some 14 centuries later.
Paul says it this way in Romans:
I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. (Romans 11:11, NKJV).
God used their stubbornness and pride to throw open the door of salvation to the entire world. And that door is still open to Jews and Gentiles alike, so that for the last 2000 years, what was a bipartite division of mankind between Jew and Gentile, has, during this designated day, become a tripartite division, consisting of Jew, Gentile, and the Church. The former two become one in Christ, who is our ultimate rest.
This is very good news indeed, and reminds us of three very important characteristics of our God.
The first is that He is faithful. He ordained rest, and when it was refused, although He swore that the disobedient generation in the wilderness would not be allowed to enter His rest, He guaranteed that that some must enter it.
That some is is comprised of all those who are descendants of Abraham by faith (as opposed to genetics).
Secondly, it shows He is long-suffering. Jesus, our most Excellent Sovereign and King, sacrificed Himself nearly 20 centuries ago, and yet the door remains open.
Finally, it demonstrates God's incredibly gracious persistence. He has been saying since David (the ancient psalmist King of Israel), and in reality, since the Fall in Eden, Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.
This is not an exhortation made once, or a few times, and then forgotten. It is an invitation that He has repeated daily throughout human history - through His Word, through a person's circumstances, through the gentle persuasion of His Holy Spirit who is with mankind continually, wooing us to Christ. His goal is for each man, woman and child to ask forgiveness so that He can be in each one as a down payment, or guarantee, of eternal life to come.
But there is bad news here, as well, and it's this: there will come a day when that door will shut, like the door of Noah's Ark, and then those left outside, by their own choosing, will suffer irrevocable judgment. They will have waited too long, past the Day of Salvation freely offered through faith.
And rather than entering into His rest, they will enter into the Day of Judgment and God's Wrath.
To any who read these words and dismiss them as quaint, or fantasy, or myth, or dysfunctional superstition, please note, your willful rejection of the truth is precisely what will become for you, an unpardonable sin.
Repent now, while you still can, and believe.
That is all it takes, but it takes no less than that.
