What is the Rest of God? How does one enter it? How will one know that they have found the Rest that God prepared for them and not for someone else? Hebrews 4:1 states that God has given us a promise of entering into His rest and that we should be in fear (reverence of) not entering into it. God’s rest, like all of His other promises, are there for the taking, but we must receive it by faith. (Hebrews 4:2)

“What is the Rest of God”

Most of us know that labor is the opposite of rest. However, Hebrews 4:11 says that we should labor to enter His Rest. Let’s begin with a simple definition of rest and labor. Webster’s Dictionary 1828 defines labor as an exertion of muscular strength, or bodily exertion which occasions weariness; particularly, the exertion of the limbs in occupations by which subsistence is obtained. It also may include intellectual exertion; application of the mind which occasions weariness. In contrast, Webster (1828) defines rest as cessation of motion or action of any kind, and applicable to the body or being; as rest from labor; rest from mental exertion; rest of body or mind. Does God mean for us to stop exerting all energy and sleep?

Are you mentally exhausted at the end of your labor?

One of the ways to know if you are in natural labor rather than laboring to enter God’s Rest is to ask yourself the question: are you exerting physical energy for subsistence and tired at the end of the day? Are you mentally exhausted at the end of your labor?

I Corinthians 2:7-16 provides insight into the wisdom of God verses natural wisdom. Verse 14 states the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither does he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Verse 16 says that we (children of God) have the mind of Christ. This helps us to understand that the natural revelation of rest and labor are different from the revelation by the Spirit of God of rest and labor.