Tyler Duvall - Outside Reading #2 - The Book of Hebrews

Brief introduction to biblical rest

The word “Katepausen” is the Greek word for rest and is found in Hebrews 4:10. The actual translation of the word “rest” in Hebrews 4:10 is translated as “to be led to a quiet abode”

Many Christians have been set free from the “pharaoh” of their life. Perhaps you are one of the people who have been set free from slavery, bondage, addictions, and brokenness much like the Israelites were in Exodus. However, what happened when the Israelites were finally freed from Pharaoh? They had just crossed the Red Sea and when they thought the journey was over they had to face the desert. Surely this was a mistake right? God promised a land flowing with milk and honey and all they could see was dry wastelands…and yet God wanted them to journey through it and to trust him.

Many Christians get stuck in the desert for their entire life just like the Israelites even though they were promised a land flowing with milk and honey. But why? There are two main reasons why Christians today can never experience the promises of God and end up suffering in the desert.

1). First reason is UNBELIEF:

Hebrews 3:19 – “so we see that they [the Israelites] were unable to enter [the rest/promised land] because of their unbelief”

Do you really believe that the God who delivered you from Pharaoh can also bring you into His promised land?

2) Second reason is NOT LEANING ON GOD’s STRENGTH

Hebrews 4:10 – “for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his”

Many Christians are tired, working in our own strength because we don’t believe God can or will come through for us. As a result, we are preventing God’s rest/promised land in our life.

You know what’s sad is that the journey across the desert was measured and the average time it takes to walk across it takes 11 days…that’s how serious unbelief is. As a result the Israelites walked an 11 day journey for 40 years.

Let’s learn from their struggles and believe that God can provide for us in the dry places.

Jeremiah 17:5-8

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.

 But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought  and never fails to bear fruit.