Do you want to know God’s definition of His rest?

Well, for Israel, it was to dwell in the “promised land,” which is the land of rest. But today, under the grace dispensation, this abiding in the “promised Land” is a metaphor for us abiding in “the spirit.”

“If we live (since we have life) in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25 (KJV)

Hebrews 3 describes how the children of Israel entered not into the promised land because of their “unbelief,” not trusting God’s Words to them. Note here that, instead of God saying ‘They shall not enter “My promised land,’ God calls the land “My rest.”

“So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.” (Hebrews 3:11)

For us this means… what the physical land inheritance was to the children of Israel … God’s grace and rest is to us as members of “the body of Christ.”

Note the progression of the children of Israel.

1. They were salves in Egypt for 400 years, bound under the Pharaoh, who metaphorically represent Satan. But the God through Moses delivered them… just a Christ through Jesus delivers believers from bondage to Sin’s power and its dominion “in the flesh.” (Rom. 8:3).
2. Now delivered, having passed through the Red Sea, Israel was in the wilderness of the Sinai desert where they were guided by god’s literal presence and sustained miraculously by God’s provision of manna from heaven, water out of a rock, shoes that did not wear out. But the desert was not to be their homeland. God’s call was for them to enter the promised Land. We know what happened, they did not trust God and that generation of Israel all died in unbelief, thus, never going beyond the wilderness. The parallel to Israel’s for believers is that many are saved… but they never enter the realm of living in and by their spirit in which there is rest… due to unbelief. More on this later.
3. The next generation of Israel did enter in… as they carried God’s presence with them in the form of the Ark of the Covenant, which represents Christ as their all. In the Ark was; 1) the pot of manna, 2) the Two tablets of the Law, and 3) Aaron’s rod that had budded. When they cross the Jordan the Ark crossed first, when they wall of Jerica fell the Ark led them in their march… until the walls fell. The literal presence of God was with Israel. By Contrast, we today have the spiritual reality of these three things by Christ in us, in our spirit. So, today we have 1) the living “Law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2a), and 3) we have fellowship with Jesus as our “bread of life,” and 3) we have His rod guiding and governing us … from within, by His life in us. Thus, we are fully provided for and sustained… in and by faith in His words written in a Book.

God wants us to live in the mindset of faith in His words made alive in our spirit. His word tells is we are sets us above our enemies or difficulties.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: ⁴ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Ephesians 1:3-4 (KJV)

 For us, this is “the promised land,” the place of His rest for us.

God’s Word always says “Fear not, fear not.” But do you know that there is only one thing the Bible tells us to fear? “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” (Hebrews 4:1)

Here, God tells us to fear that we don’t enter His rest. Many of us worry about many things but God tells us not to be afraid. When my mindset is not in trusting Him and His words for me, I revert to my ‘old’ fallen mindset of a control freak, and it is accompanied by anxiety, fear of something being out of control. I, as we all, need to be rest-conscious, not to be problem-conscious. Paul says; “to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6b).

Going back to Israel not entering the land in the initially 40 years. There is another lesson that we can learn from this story. God told the children of Israel that He had come to bring them into “a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exo, 3:8) This means that the promised land was a place flowing with abundance and provision. This was also a sure promise; a statement of what God will do. However, what was the posture of God’s people of Israel when they reached Kadesh Barnea, the border between the wilderness and the promised land? They sent twelve spies into the land for 40 days and chose to believe the report of the then spies who said that the Israelites could not take the land because it was inhabited by giants from the tribe of Anak. (cf. Numbers 13:33)

In Hebrew, the word Anak means a neck chain, picturing a yoke that binds and weighs you down as a slave. Though God had already delivered the children of Israel from their taskmasters in Egypt and they were no longer slaves, they still had a slave mentality. Instead of focusing on God’s goodness and promise, the children of Israel focused on their giant problem—the Anakim (neck chain)—and they were weighed down with anxiety and fear. That generation “died in unbelief” never entering the Promised Land.

Today, some of us still have this slave mentality. We are so focused on the “sons of Anak, (Anakim)” (Gen 13:33) in our lives, our problems and symptoms, instead of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, so that we cannot enter our “promised land” of rest. Have you ever read the story of the twelve spies and asked yourself if you would side with Joshua and Caleb—the two spies who said, “Let us go immediately and take the land!” or if you would agree with the ten spies? Today the Holy Spirit would say, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, like your fathers in the wilderness.” (Hebrews 3:7–9)

In other words, are your problems bigger than what God is saying about your situation? Before every problem in your life is reigned over, will must believe that God will deliver you according to His Word, will you walk in rest?

God wants us to have the revelation that whatever we need of Him to do for us has already been done because Jesus has accomplished all for us. And God is asking,

‘Despite of the giants, would you go up and enter the promised land of My rest?’ Can you be rest-conscious, rather than giant-conscious?’

A true saying is this; “whatever you take hold of (or focus upon) will take hold of you” – is it God’s word, or the Anakim that will take hold of you?