Entering God's Rest

“Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. He raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart.” (Ps. 148:1-14)

In the story of creation we see God resting on the seventh day. He then consecrates the seventh day and considers it holy. What exactly does it mean for God to rest? In the biblical definition of rest it is defined as “to desist from labor”. Any other definitions of rest entail a cessation of existence or qualities of destruction. Since on this seventh day we see no cases of ceased existence or destruction we can safely assume that God was merely ceasing labor. What does that mean for God? He does not cease to exist. He does not change form. Did He stop giving and position himself in a state of reception? When we think of paradise and rest much of the time we envision ourselves being ministered to. In movies or books you always see men’s fantasies involving a “harem” type of administration to their needs and this is how a lot of men picture rest. So does God resting mean that he puts himself in a state of openness to the ministering of gifts? And what exactly are the types of gifts God likes to receive? What pleases God? Praise, thanks, tithing, devotion and love are all attributes of giving to God which man is capable of and which the Holy Spirit prompts in us. Hebrews chapter 4 mentions the rest of God in great detail.

In Hebrews 4:7, Paul quotes a saying of David which when put into parallel with the eternal rest that God offers tells us not to “harden your hearts”. So hardening our hearts and not remaining open to God is a type of inhibitor to entering into His rest. We can only enter God’s rest when we remain open to Him and allow ourselves to be ministered to. Now as far as the Sabbath goes, today we have made it a day of praising, thanking, and giving to God. The Sabbath is a day where God has commanded us to cease from working and to allow ourselves to be completely open to his ministering. When we come before God, his Spirit indwells us encouraging and allowing us to become open in His presence. God made it a point to designate a day where we would be required to assume a position of openness to him so that he could minister to our spirit. One might say that we should be in a state of openness at all times; that is eternal rest and that is exactly where God wants us to be.

The term “harden your hearts” is in reference to the children of Israel who were led out of Egypt. They were freed from slavery just as we are freed from the slavery of sin by our deliverer, Jesus. But the children of Israel refused to believe that God could provide them with true freedom and they rebelled against him. It was in this instance that God declared they would not enter into rest. In this sense he meant that they would not experience the peace of settling down and they would have confusion and wandering. The same can be said of us as Christians. We may receive Christ and be freed from slavery but unless we believe, “combine it with faith”, that God has truly freed us from all the power of sin we cannot truly enter into his rest and peace either. If we continue to believe in the lies of Satan that we are not worthy in spite of our worth given through Christ then we can never truly open ourselves up to God for the healing and freedom he has to offer us.

When God rests, it is not an act on his part to cease being or cease acting; it is his positioning of himself into a place of openness to receive our praise, worship and ministering through the Holy Spirit. The Father enters into the rest provided by the Holy Spirit. When God was finished creating the world, he entered into the rest of the Holy Spirit as He was ministered to by the worship from His creation.

God’s rest is simply taking in the exaltation of His entire creation which is accomplished by the surrounding, encompassing and ministering nature of the Holy Spirit. And we should also enter into that rest by our exaltation alongside the rest of creation of the One True God – it is through our praise that we are allowed to partake in God’s rest. The only way we can properly praise God is through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. God is still fulfilled within Himself, yet He chooses to include us in the interaction between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are privileged to partake in His divine nature.