June 17

Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world. — Heb 4:3 BSB

We enter into rest by ceasing from our own works and resting on Christ’s work, as it says, “For the one who has entered into his rest has also ceased from his own works, just as God did from his.” When you can fully rest on the finished work of the Son of God, and by faith believe that your sins were laid upon Him, that He bore them in His body on the cross, that He has washed you in His precious blood, clothed you in His righteousness, and is sanctifying you by His Spirit, then you can find rest. This provides something firm and solid for the conscience to rest upon.

While the law thunders, while Satan accuses, while the conscience condemns, there can be no rest. But you can rest where God rests. God rests in His love, in the finished work of His dear Son, in the perfection of Christ’s humanity, in the fulfillment of all His covenant promises, in the glorification of His holy law, in the satisfaction of His justice, in the harmony of all His attributes, and in the revelation of His grace and glory to humanity. For He rests in His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased.

The tabernacle in the wilderness and later the temple on Mount Zion were types of the pure and sacred humanity of the Lord Jesus. God visibly rested there in a cloud upon the mercy seat, which the Jewish writers called the Shekinah. This was the place of His rest, as He said, “For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation. This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it” (Psalm 132:13, 14).