The Promise: Rest
“For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Acts 2:39
There is a promise of God that is for everyone… a promise of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (self-control)!
This promise is without any type of discrimination of race, color, gender, financial status, or anything else that you may think “why” you wouldn’t qualify for it.
Peter said in Acts 10 when God showed him a vision about this promise is for everyone, “I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.” That day, the promise came to the gentiles (non-Jews), and they received the promise just like what was first poured out in Acts 2.
The reality of Acts 2:39, “For this promise is unto you…” has moved from a promise to a possession.
Here is what I want everyone to understand is that just because it is promised doesn’t mean we possess it!
The story of Israel and Moses and the going and defeating in the land of Canaan is such a sad story.
Before they even left Egypt, God told them they would enter a place of rest, a land that flowed with milk and honey, “the Promise Land.”
When they arrived at the brink of the promise, they sent in scouts to make sure the land was everything that God had promised them.
First mistake, well, not their first mistake, but this was a BIG mistake.
Why in the world did they need to make sure it was everything God had promised was true?
Of course, the enemy showed them things that put so much fear in them about the Promise Land, they came back with what the Bible calls an “evil report.”
Because of their unbelief (10 scouts out of 12), all besides Joshua and Caleb that were over the age of 20 died and did not enter in the place of rest.
God gave them ownership from the day they left Egypt, BUT THEY CHOSE NOT TO POSESS IT!
Guzik comments, “Hearing God’s word isn’t enough. Ancient Israel heard the word, but it did not profit them because they did not receive it with faith. Hearing gave them the opportunity, but the opportunity only profited if it was mixed with faith.”
Guzik continues, “Think of the joy Israel had in coming out of Egypt and approaching the Promised Land – and then think of all the graves dug in the desert. A wonderful promise was available but unattained. They came short because though they heard God’s word, it was not mixed with faith.”
There is a promise that God has for you but you must be willing to do more than just hear the word.
You must repent so God can forgive.
You must be baptized so God can forget.
You must be empty so God can fill you with His Spirt of rest!
Israel heard the Word about the promise but allowed unbelief to keep them from possessing it.
What is keeping you away from His Promise of complete rest?
I am not talking about physical rest (that is important too), but spiritual rest!
Nicky Gumbel says, “The New Testament presents the ‘land’ as a picture of the Christian life. Realize what is already yours in Christ Jesus and then take possession of it.”
God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.
For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world.
We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”
Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. Hebrews 4:1-9 NLT
Guzik writes, “Be diligent to enter that rest: The rest is there, but God does not force it upon us. We must enter that rest. Clearly, the rest is entered by faith; but it takes diligent faith. This shows us that faith is not passive; it takes diligence to trust in, rely on, and cling to Jesus and His work for us.
Lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience: If we are not diligent to enter that rest, the result can be a disaster. We may fall according to the same example of disobedience. We may fall, even as the children of Israel did in the wilderness.”
That rest is a promise for us today. Believe it. Claim it. Possess it.
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Acts 2:38-39
