HEBREWS 4:1-11
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
“So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”
Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
(New International Version)
Oh Lord, my God, I know these things to be true – that every day that I live is holy unto You, Oh God; every day that I live is my Sabbath, my day of worship, because I have been sealed in covenant with You and I am, therefore, holy unto You. But tradition is so strong, and people are so adamant about their traditions, their dogma, their religious beliefs… Saturday or Sunday? Gerizim or Jerusalem? Those ignorant of Your teaching, those uneducated to New Covenant thinking fuss, fight and argue about such things. And, Lord, I know it must grieve You to see people who love You so divided and refusing to love and fellowship with one another because of their various opinions concerning their religious doctrines. And all the while they ignore the greatest truth of all, that the way we will be known to be Your disciples, Your children, is by our love for one another. Lord, I may not be able to make much of a difference in Your kingdom when it comes to calling your children to peace with one another. But I do pray that, perhaps, I can make some difference in a few individual hearts and lives, calling them to experience Your divine “peace,” now and in eternity, by sharing with them the good news of Your sacrificial love poured out for us through the gift of Your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, Oh Lord, for Your beautiful Sabbath, the New Covenant in Christ, and “the peace that surpasses all understanding” that it provides.
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