Heb. 4:9: "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."

The writer of Hebrews refers to the children of Israel how that they had not been able to enter into the promised land because of unbelief. It had been due to sin that they had not come into the land of Canaan. They had hardened their hearts. They had tempted the Lord. God was grieved, with that generation of 20 years of age and older. "They do always err in their hearts and they have not known My ways. So I swore in My wrath 'They shall not enter into My rest'." Heb. 3 : 10, 11.

But there were some that entered into the land of promise: Joshua, Caleb, and those who had been 20 years of age at the time when the Lord had pronounced who should not enter. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." Those who went in by faith and were known of God and who knew God went into the rest. Under Joshua, they had been led into the land which they were to receive for an inheritance.

The land of Canaan was spoken of to Israel as the land of rest. They there had the territory apportioned to them by tribes. In the wilderness, they were in a state of unrest. They were on the march, going to and fro. But those who went to Canaan would be in the land of rest. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." In the new land, they would not have continuous rest because of the enemies that were to be driven out. There were times when they were harassed by surrounding nations, as in the period of the judges, because they had wandered away from God, and had not lived by His precepts and commandments. But when the people would turn to the Lord, God would send them a Judge to deliver them. Then we read, "The land had rest forty years, fourscore years, etc."

There is much unrest in this world. The nations are not at rest. There may be those that are for peace, but there are others who are for war. As the psalmist says in Psalm 120 :7, "I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war." War is a sign of the restlessness of men's minds on a huge scale. As one country vies with another in the armament race, it shows that they are in a state of disquietude. The farther nations get away from the Lord, the more agitated they are. So it is also with individuals. Sin causes a person to be ill at ease. Why in our present day do people always want to be on the go? They do not "take time to be holy, and speak oft with the Lord." "There is no rest for the wicked" is often said in a light manner, but it is true. Man estranged from the Lord can find no rest. As the dove released by Noah could find no rest for its feet, until it returned to the Ark, so our souls can find no rest until they return to Christ.

Jesus said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Those that are living without the Lord Jesus Christ and have not tasted of salvation are labouring under the burden of sin. They can find no rest. Sometimes a Christian can have the times and seasons that he does not enjoy the rest for his soul because he has strayed far away from the source of rest for his sin-disturbed soul. The only true Source of rest for a sin-burdened soul is Jesus Christ. To rest in the atonement of Jesus Christ, Who shed His blood on Calvary, so that we might have peace with God, gives rest to the soul. As a soul for the first time, or repeatedly, comes to that haven of rest, he may realize that "there remaineth a rest to the people of God."

It is true for the hereafter, that there remaineth a rest to the people of God." It will be the eternal Canaan. No longer will there be the wandering in the Wilderness of Sin.

If rest remaineth unto the people of God, what remains to those who are not people of God? It is obviously true for them that there is no rest. Dear reader, do you enjoy the rest to your soul that is possible for the people of God