Sabbath School Lesson

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Lesson 5 for January 29, 2022

JESUS, THE GIVER OF REST


Rest is the main topic in Hebrews 3 and 4.
It’s a special kind of rest that’s been offered but not
achieved yet. Some people already enjoy it, but most
haven’t. It’s the same one as Adam and Eve enjoyed just
after Creation. We will enjoy this rest the day we will
enter “the city which has foundations, whose builder
and maker is God.” (Heb. 11:10)

Rest for Israel:


Which rest was offered?
Why didn’t they enter that rest?
Our rest:
When do we enter this rest?
Which is God’s rest?
When will we enjoy this rest?
WHICH REST WAS OFFERED TO ISRAEL?
“But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord
your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your
enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety,” (Deuteronomy 12:10)

God offered Israel two types of rest: A physical


place to rest, and a moment in time to rest.
Abraham was promised that his descendants
would live in Canaan, from the river of Egypt to
river Euphrates (Gn. 15:18).
Canaan would become a second Eden where God and Israel would
enjoy rest and common company (Dt. 12:9). First, they would have to
expel those who had gone beyond the limits of evil (Gn. 15:16), and
to fully remove idolatry from the land (Dt. 12:2-3).
On the other hand, God gave them the Sabbath as a special moment
to remember Creation and Redemption, thus enjoying divine rest
(Ex. 20:8-11; Dt. 5:12-15).
WHY DIDN’T ISRAEL ENTER THAT REST?
“So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:19)
The generation who left Egypt saw wonderful works from God, like no other generation.
They saw:

The ten The crossing The miracle of Water from The presence
plagues of the Red Sea manna the rock of God in the
cloud and fire
However, only Caleb and Joshua believed God would fulfill His promise
at the gates of Canaan.
The unbelief of the other ten spies was quickly spread among the
people. Let’s not follow their example but strengthen our weak faith and
encourage one another (Heb. 12:12).
“The land to which we are traveling is in every sense
far more attractive than was the land of Canaan to the
children of Israel... What stayed their progress just in
sight of the goodly land? ... It was their own willful
unbelief that turned them back. They were unwilling
to risk anything upon the promises of God [...] We are
standing, as it were, upon the very borders of the
heavenly Canaan [...] If we have faith in the promises
of God we shall show [...] that we are not living for this
world, but are making it our first business to prepare
for that holy land.”
E. G. W. (That I May Know Him, June 12)
WHEN DO WE ENTER THIS REST?
“again He designates a certain day, ‘Today’ ...” (Hebrews 4:7)

The rest God promised to Israel—and to all humankind—


was not fully given when Canaan was conquered (Heb. 4:8).
And not even when Israel controlled all the promised land
in the times of David and Solomon (2Cr. 9:26), because the
people of God were still idolatrous.

This rest is intimate communion with God. It’s been at our


disposal for everyone since Creation (Heb. 4:3-4), even TODAY
(Heb. 4:7). Some people have already entered it, and others
are about to do so (Heb. 4:1, 6, 9-10).
“Today” we are called to acknowledge that God has been
faithful to us, and that we have enough reasons to accept His
invitation right away.
WHICH IS GOD’S REST?
“For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his
works as God did from His.” (Hebrews 4:10)

We are encouraged to enter God’s rest, not ours.


There are two moments in the Bible when God rested: Sabbath
(Gn. 2:2-3), and after the construction of the Temple (2Chr. 6:41).
In the first case, He had finished His
work. In the second, His promises had
been fulfilled. The first rest was
broken by sin, and the second was
incomplete.

God still longs to give us full and perfect rest, as Adam


and Eve were given in their first Sabbath. He will give it to
us once His throne is established in the New Jerusalem
(Rev. 22:3). Will you want to enter His rest?
WHEN WILL WE ENJOY THIS REST?
“For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as
God did from His.” (Hebrews 4:10)
What do we rest from when we enter God’s rest?
We are liberated from our own works when we accept
God as our Creator and Redeemer as the
commandment about Sabbath encourages us to do.
That is, we are free from trying to achieve salvation by
our own works.

When we accept the salvation Jesus offers, we find “rest for our
souls” (Mt. 11:29). This is how we enter His rest.
On the other hand, “there remains therefore a rest for the people of
God” (Hebrews 4:9). This is a future rest that’s complete and free
from sin. “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest”
(Hebrews 4:11).
“A life in Christ is a life of restfulness [...] Your hope is not in
yourself; it is in Christ. Your weakness is united to His strength,
your ignorance to His wisdom, your frailty to His enduring
might [...] Let the mind dwell upon His love, upon the beauty,
the perfection, of His character. Christ in His self-denial, Christ
in His humiliation, Christ in His purity and holiness, Christ in
His matchless love—this is the subject for the soul's
contemplation. It is by loving Him, copying Him, depending
wholly upon Him, that you are to be transformed into His
likeness.”
E. G. W. (Steps to Christ, cp. 8, p. 70)

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