Genesis 2:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them." Verse 2 goes on, "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done."
God didn't rest because He was tired. He rested because He had finished all His work. Hebrews 1:3 (Amplified) says that, "He (Jesus) is the sole expression of the glory of God (the Light Being, the out-raying or radiance of the Divine), and He is the perfect imprint and very Image of (God's) nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty Word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt. He sat down at the right hand of the Divine Majesty on High."
Hebrews 10:12-14 (Amplified) says, "Whereas this One (Christ) after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins (that shall avail) for all time, Sat down at the right hand of God." Verses 13&14 say, "Then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet for by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy."
The term "sat down" indicates that His work on our behalf was complete and there was no need for anything else to be done. Now come the real test of our faith in His finished work on our behalf. In Hebrews 4:9-10 (Amplified we read that "There is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath rest reserved for the (true) people of God. For he who has once entered (God's) rest also has ceased from (the weariness and pain) of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His Own."
This is the "rest" that our Father has provided for His children. Jesus has done everything needed to bring us into a complete and unbroken relationship with God. In Jesus, there is no more need of human labors to complete this salvation. If we can, by faith, accept what Jesus did on our behalf, then we can rest from all guilt, all condemnation, all shame, all rituals and all doubt about our being made in right standing with God.
Ephesians 2:5-6 (Amplified) says that, "Even when we were dead (slain) by (our own) shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; (He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation)." Verse 6 goes on, "And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together (giving us joint seating with Him) in the heavenly sphere (by virtue of our being) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
When God "sat down" or rested, it was because His work was complete. When Jesus sat down, it was because His work was done. It was complete. When we were made to sit down together with Him, it was because (through Him) our work was done (for us). God rested from His complete work, Jesus rested from His complete work and we're to rest in the complete work too.
This is the "rest" of salvation that God wants us to enter into. We're to finally realize there is nothing left for us to do, but to believe in what Jesus has already finished. He caused us to "sit down" together with Jesus and when His work was done, our work was done. For years, we've worked at our salvation in our own minds and labors of the flesh. We keep trying to do good things in order to be blessed or to receive blessings from God. We are still judging our works instead of His.
Our works and labors of the flesh aren't only of no avail, but are also proof of our unbelief. The more we try "working for our righteousness," the more we show our lack of "rest" in GOd's ability to make us righteous.
We keep condemning ourselves because of failures instead of resting in the truth that they're already paid for by Jesus' sacrifice. We follow customs of dressing, fasting and many other religious traditions, to be what we think God wants us to be instead of just resting in the truth that He has already made us to be what He wants us to be.
You can't improve upon perfection. God, through Jesus, has made this new birth (this new creation) so perfect already that He, Himself has declared our body to be His temple. Is it wrong to do good works? No, it isn't. But, to doing good works and trying to make your salvation more pleasing to God, is wrong.
When we don't rest in the finished work of Jesus (whatever that work was) isn't faith in God. This is what the Israelites did in the wilderness that displeased God so very much. If God brought them out of Egypt, then how could they doubt Him? God delivered them from being slaughtered by Pharaoh when they were afraid he would kill them, God saved them from drowning in the Red Sea when they were afraid of drowning, He provided them with water from a rock when they feared dying of thirst, and He gave them manna when they doubted He could give them meat.
It seemed like no matter what God did, they still doubted what He could do. When we were lost, we doubted God could save us. When He saved us, we doubted He would really accept us. When God forgave our sins, we doubted that it covered all of our sin from the past, present or future. When He did away with sin, we doubted our righteousness. When He said He'd heal us, we doubted that "By His stripes we are healed."
Like the Israelites, we've put so many limitations on His salvation that no matter what He says He has done, we still doubt He will (or already has) done it.
Actually, we're not even sure of the forgiveness of our sin. Every time we do the least things wrong, we act like and feel like we have missed it all over again. It seems as though we cannot even rest in the fact that "our sin and iniquities He remembers no more." We can't rest in the fact that "By His stripes we were healed or that "He bore our peace (that which was needful to our peace of mind and well being). We find it hard to rest in the fact that "He bore the curse of the Law and that the blessing of Abraham could come upon us."
The "rest" of salvation is the complete trust in the finished work of Jesus when He sat down.
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