Hebrews 4:9-10 NKJV 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.
A week or so ago my daughter “booked” washing the dishes after lunch. To her utter dismay, when she got to the kitchen after a long extrapolated lunch, all the dishes had been washed. She was exasperated and broke down in tears. I was touched, moved even, by her desire to participate in some of the processes that make our household run smoothly. Here is the thing though, no matter how much she desired it, no matter how long she hang around the kitchen, or how loudly she cried, the dishes would not become unwashed. It was a done deal. It was finished.
Jesus’ last words of the cross were “It is finished”. Translated from the Greek word Tetelestai which denotes closing of a business deal, completion of an assignment, paying off a debt…you catch the drift. It is on the basis of this finished work that the writer of Hebrews instructs us to enter God’s rest.
”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 4:9-10 NKJV
We cannot add anything to Jesus' sacrifice to save ourselves. Like my daughter crying at the kitchen sink, the work of our salvation is complete and cannot be reversed. Our only rational course of action is to rest.
It is in the place of rest that we can hear the voice of God as He instructs us on how to live this earthly life in victory.
We cannot pray, serve, fast or give our way into God’s good books. None of these affects God’s love for us. There is a place for these things, but it all begins with first and foremost accepting God’s gift to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, without whom everything else becomes pointless religious hum-drum.