Our Radical Need For Rest

The world we live in is filled with anxiety, stress and tension. And we don't know how to get rid of it. As a result so very many of us cannot sleep. And that can indeed be a very, very serious problem. Lack of sleep, even for one night, can reduce your daytime alertness by as much as a third and impair your memory and ability to think. Studies indicate that sleepiness doubles the risk of getting hurt on the job. In the U.S. the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that each year drowsy driving is responsible for 100,000 automobile crashes, 71,000 injuries and as many as 1,550 fatalities.

Sleep is not an option. Lots of studies support what our bodies tell us. We have to sleep. But there is an even deeper need. The writer to the Hebrews calls it God's Rest ! After pointing out that the first generation descendants of Israel led by Moses out of slavery in Egypt never received it, the writer continues.

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, 

"As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest,'" although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 

For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works" (Gen. 2:2). 

And again in this passage he said, "They shall not enter my rest" (Deut. 1:34-35).  

Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, 

"Today," saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" (Ps. 95:7-11). 

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. - Hebrews 4:1-10 ESV

The entire OT points to God's promised Sabbath-rest. We learn from Scriptures that God created the week of seven days and decreed that His people should rest on the seventh as He did. Some Rabbis in days gone by asked if God did anything before He rested on the seventh day. Yes, they replied, He had one more thing to do. Before He could step back to exult and delight in His work of creating, He created peace, joy and happiness. He did this because He wants His children to celebrate with Him the perfect balance and marvelous wonder of all He has created. He wants to bless them with an entire day in which to rejoice and be happy as they ponder upon and celebrate His wisdom and goodness.

This is what the LORD promised Israel when He led them out of slavery under Moses' leadership. In essence He was promising, "Trust Me, follow Me, obey Me and I will bring you into the land I promised to your forefather Abraham. It is a land overflowing with good things, food, drink and all you need for life. I will make you secure. You will become the mightiest nation upon earth and no enemies will ever harm you again. I will put my name upon you and bless you, for you are My children."

But they blew it. They threw it away. They hardened their hearts, complaining and chasing after idols. And so they all perished in the wilderness. No rest for the wicked. No rest for unbelievers. But . . .

"there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his" (Hebrews 4:9-10 ESV). 

Rest is still waiting for you today! God holds it out: perfect peace, happiness, security, fullness and joy.  It awaits you and you have nothing to do to gain it other than to trust Him. More on this next time.

No Rest, No Sleep, No Hope—Forever!

I'm not a night owl. I have zero appreciation for those of you who love to stay up into the wee hours of the morning. My eyes begin to droop around 10 p.m. I want my bed. I need my rest and I want it to start long before midnight. Then when 6:30 a.m. comes I'm rested and ready to roll out to begin the new day. I've had my eight and I'm on the way.

Whether you're a lark like me or an owl, one of the huge problems of our day is getting enough sleep. Tons of products promise to put you to sleep. Some work for some. Many don't and they droop along through the day, fighting to keep going. Stress, anxiety and tension follow and soon sickness of one sort or another sets in. Can't sleep, can't work, not gonna make it.

That's what happened to the thousands who were rescued from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses and the saving Hand of the LORD. They didn't make it. It's all recorded in the Biblical Book of Exodus. They made it out, but the foreboding wilderness of Sinai stood between them and the Promised Land. And when they came up to the very borders with orders to march, they caved in. They believed the reports of most of the spies. Those guys are as big as giants; its hopeless, they said. And so Israel turned back in doubt and rebellion toward the heat and horror of the desert. Hebrews puts it this way:

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.' As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.'" - Hebrews 3:7-11 ESV

No rest for the wicked. And the most wicked thing you can do is to doubt the promises of the loving and forgiving Savior. That's what the Children of Israel did. They gave it up. They threw in their towels. They lost hope and turned to other gods. They didn't, they wouldn't believe in the LORD who brought them out and set them on the path leading to freedom and security. So they invited the anger of the LORD upon themselves.

I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest." Hebrews 3:11 ESV

And the LORD's anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying, 'Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.' And the LORD's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD was gone. - Num 32:10-13 ESV 

No rest, no sleep, no hope. That's today's warning for all who once claimed to be members of the household of God in Christ Jesus, but threw it all away in unbelief and rebellion.

Take care, brothers (and sisters), lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. - Hbr 3:12 ESV

It's hell not to be able to sleep in the darkness, plagued by fear, guilt and remorse. It's hell to wander through the house, staring out at the night while everyone around you is quietly and happily taking deep breaths in sleep. No rest, no sleep, no hope. That's your future if you throw away all that is freely given to you in Jesus. No rest, no sleep, no hope—forever!

 

                 

Genocide Or Justice?

One blasphemous website mocks the LORD God. The author writes,

Why would anybody worship the god of the Bible? He lies, cheats, and kills with impunity. But, he loves us! His mythical son Jesus is a little better, but he wants to torture people forever. The story of Jesus' crucifixion is a horrible story of human sacrifice, and Christians even celebrate it by ceremoniously drinking his blood and eating his body. This is ritual vampirism and cannibalism.

The site goes on to describe what it calls genocide commanded by the LORD as recorded in numerous places in the Old Testament. The author estimates that God killed roughly 33 million people, including many children! Why, he asks, would anyone want to worship such a God?

This is not a casual question. It is one that pastors often are asked. In my last post we looked at Elisha and the murderous bears. Let's look at another frightening slaughter commanded by the LORD, a story taught to every little child in Sunday School.

So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword. - Jos 6:20-21 ESV

This is the well-known story of the fall of Jericho's walls after Joshua and his army had marched around the city for seven days, led on the final day by the priests and the ark of the covenant. The city and all within it was devoted to the LORD for destruction. The bloody massacre of everything alive followed. I'm confident that most Sunday School teachers do not invite their students to picture in their minds Israel's soldiers chopping and slashing through Jericho's women and children with their swords. Many similar stories of slaughter follow in the history of the Children of Israel's capture of the Holy Land (Num 31:7-17; Deut.2:33, 34; 3:6; 20:13-18; Jos 6:21, 24; 8:24, 25; 10:2-40;11:11-23; 1Sa 15:3-9; 27:8-11). How shall we respond to the atheists who mock us for worshipping such a God?

To comprehend all this we must have some background. The principle cited to Israel by Moses applies:

"Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, 'It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. - Deu.9:4-6 ESV

What was so wicked about these nations in Canaan? Their polytheism, the worship of numerous gods and goddesses stood at the root of an utterly immoral and depraved population. Sacred prostitution, child sacrifice and snake worship abounded. Consider some of the gods, what was taught about them and how they were worshipped.

The word El is a generic name for 'god' in the Semitic languages of the time (Hebrew and Ugaritic). It was applied to the God of Israel by Joshua: The Living God, Joshua 3:10. In the Canaanite religion the god El was the head of their pantheon. Their gods reflect influences both from Egypt to the west and Mesopotamia to the north and east. This region was the site of numerous wars fought by the nations of these regions to control the land. Further, since the great bulk of the populace lived an agrarian life great emphasis was upon the fertility of the crops, their flocks and, of course, of humans. So we have many myths about how to please the gods and obtain their blessings and protection. Samples include:

<—Asherah - Mother goddess, wife of El, Queen of heaven. Her images were found in forests, carved on living trees or in the form of poles beside altars at the side of roads. Many references throughout the OT refer to Asherah images and condemn worship of the goddess (Isa.17:8; 27:9; Jer.17:2; Micah 5:14).


Ashtoret (Hebrew) goddess —> of fertility sexuality and war, known also among the Greeks as Astarte or Aphrodite and among the Romans as Venus or Diana. Among Phoenicians and Babylonians she was Ishtar, courtesan of the gods, worshipped in a cult involving sacred prostitution. Many other goddesses could be mentioned. As Israel settled into the land Moses sternly warned them about the practice of having intercourse with women or men devoted to these goddesses. He does, in fact, use a word we translate as 'holy' (qadesh), when referring to women and men set apart to serve as prostitutes.

None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute (qadeshah), and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute (qadesh). - Deut. 23:17 ESV

Baal - lord, master, son of and successor to El, Lord of heaven, god of rain, storm and thunder, giver of fertility. He fights with Mot (god of death, drought and adversity) to revive the land. 108 times the OT refers to the Baals (e.g. Exod.14:2; Num 22:41; Num 25:3; Num 25:5; Jos 11:17; Jos 12:7; Jdg 6:25; Jdg 6:28; Jdg 6:30; Jdg 6:31-32 ESV).

Moloch - one of the baals or lords. The primitive title of this god was very probably "king" (melech in Hebrew) the consonants of which came to be combined through derision with the vowels of the Hebrew word bosheth, "shame". The chief feature of worshipping this god was to put a fire inside the god's metal image with outstretched hands. When the idol was red hot a child would be put between the hands and burnt. The worship of this god continued long after Israel occupied the land. One special centre of such atrocities was just outside of Jerusalem, at a place called Tophet ("place of abomination"), in the valley of Gehennom. According to 1 Kings 11:7, Solomon erected a high place for Chemosh (Kemosh in Hebr.) the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, "on the mountain east of Jerusalem." On this account Solomon is at times considered the monarch who re-introduced the impious cult into Israel. Thus in the NT one of the words for hell is gehenna - after the valley of Gehennom (Matthew 5:22,29,30). 

We could go on and on about the many gods worshipped in this land, including Reshep - god of plague and the underworld, Shulman -god of health, Koshar or Hothar - god of crafts, Marqod - god of dance, Yaw - god of sea and river, Yarikh - god of the moon, etc. 

The point to all of this is that Canaan was totally and radically idolatrous. This worship of false gods touched every aspect of marriage, home, family, the raising of children, culture, economy, travel —everything they said and thought and did. For 40 years they had heard of the Israelites out in the wild places, the people whom the LORD God had delivered from slavery in Egypt. In Jericho only the prostitute Rahab accepted the stories and put her and her family's life into the hands of Israel and Israel's God. Thus she was spared to become an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Joshua 6:17,25; Matt. 1:5). 

Let atheists mock the true God. Let them accuse God of genocide or whatever they want. Like us all they will stand before God to give an account of their unbelief, their self-centered pride and their idolatrous worship of human intelligence. The story of Jericho and others like it are given to warn us that there is but one God. No others will be nor may be permitted to rival Him. Those who mock Him and worship idols will surely perish and die and will be separated eternally from Him and from all hope. 

But ours is also a God of mercy and forgiveness. In spite of it all He would have none perish. For this reason our LORD took upon Himself our human flesh and offered up His life in our place. We who put our trust in Him and in His sacrifice are surely forgiven and do indeed inherit life eternal (John 3:16-18; Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 1 John 4:10).