Hebrews 4
The point here is not rest merely, but “His rest,” that is, God’s rest. The prominent thought of God from the beginning was to have rest. As soon as everything was made, and He saw that it was very good, He rested. The Sabbath was the sign of it, and in the time that is coming, it is said,
The great desire of man, too, is to rest. It is man’s ideal; it is God’s reality. The question for each of us is, are we looking for a rest before God’s rest? There is rest of conscience for us:
“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and I will give you rest” —but it is not that. Neither is it rest of soul:
It is the day when everything will be in unbroken rest, gathered round Himself; His rest. Is that the rest we are looking for?
What is the desire of every man from the politician down to the lowest and the poorest? He is looking for the day when he can lay down his cares and cease from toil, rest on his laurels, spend a happy old age in the bosom of his family, have a bright sunset in some little spot he has retired to.
If you had asked the Apostle Paul, however, in what way he expected to spend the evening of his days, he would have answered, “I expect to be martyred.”
It becomes a testing question to everyone, therefore, whether it be God’s rest he is looking for, or whether it is a rest in time. Are you waiting for God’s Sabbath; are you looking for no rest till this comes? We shall never find our resting place until we get into God’s rest, and that rest is not on earth, it is in heaven.