Resting in Promised Land Living

by Pastor Benjamin Davis

The book of Hebrews speaks of God's rest for His people.  It makes a comparison between the children of Israel entering the promised land of Canaan and God's children in Christ entering into the promised land of the finished work of the cross.

For if Joshua had given hem rest, then God would not afterward have spoken of another day.  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 4:8-10).

Promised land living for the believer in Christ is successfully living above the power of sin.  Sin is the source of all poverty, disease, broken relationships, and despair.  It is the one thing that can prevent God's people from prospering in the way that He desires for them.

The good news is that through the cross of Jesus Christ, God's people can live above the power of sin.  To do so, we must learn to rest in the finished work of the cross rather than work from our own resources in overcoming the sin that besets us.

In the cross of Jesus Christ, God condemned sin, but gave grace to the sinner.  That grace empowers God's children to identify with Christ's death, and indeed become dead to sin.  Once we are dead to sin, it no longer has any power over us.

The law is useful for educating the conscience about what sin is, but it is powerless to help the believer in Christ overcome that sin.  Therefore, the Hebrew author encourages God's people to cease from their work and trust in the cross of Christ for the victory they need.

The amazing thing about experiencing God's rest in the cross of Jesus Christ is that it will produce a work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope (1 Thess 1:3) that is greater than any work, labor, or patience that we could produce on our own through law and our own attempts of serving the Lord.

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest...for promised land living in Christ (Hebrews 4:9).