Spiritual Adrenaline and Worship

Hebrews 3 – 4 are definitive in understanding faith, the finished work of Christ, and the fulfillment of the seventh day rest. One of the principles of hermeneutics (interpretation of Scripture) is that you understand the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament, not the other way around. These two chapters give meaning to the seventh day rest of creation in Genesis 2:2 – 3 and the greater seventh day rest in Christ.

The message of the book of Hebrews is one of encouragement to believers who were discouraged by persecution and considering abandoning their walk with Christ. Some have never had to face that kind of persecution and so it is hard to identify with that temptation. But in the two chapters mentioned above, the writer reminds us of an important story in Israel’s history as it relates to the seventh day rest. He connects entering and the conquest of the Promised Land with entering the seventh day rest of God.

First he states that some of those who came out of Egypt did not enter the land because of unbelief. They died in the wilderness, while their children, led by Joshua and Caleb, entered and conquered the Promised Land (3:16 – 19). Then he says that God’s promise of entering His rest is still in effect with something much greater than what the nation of Israel received when they entered and took possession of the Promised Land under Joshua (4:1 – 10).

He reminds the believers that David prophesied in Psalm 95 about another day of rest that was coming, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” His point is that there is a greater seventh day rest of God for the people of God who will receive His word and believe. Then comes the clincher: “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” Hebrews 4:9 – 11.

This passage teaches the truth of resting in the Life of Christ, which fully pleased the Father. This defines salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. But in order to rest in peace (RIP) with God through faith in Christ, you must die to the life of trying to please God with your own righteousness and good works (RIP). Entering the seventh day rest of God is to receive the Life of Christ, the only Life fully pleasing to the Father, believing that He is now your life, and that you are accepted and loved by the Father just as the Son is in Him!

What a relief it is to know that your life pleases the Father. This is what it means to worship the Father in spirit and truth. The seventh day of rest in the OT was the day of worship. Resting in the Life of Christ becomes a life of true worship.

The next verse gives some trouble. “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” 4:11. The word “strive” is the Greek word, speodow, and means to exert intense effort with speed and exhilaration, to be motivated with intense desire. You could call it the Greek concept of adrenaline. We get our English word “speed” from this Greek word.

In the context of Hebrews 3 – 4, this word means that for those who have believed in the finished work of Christ for their salvation and are resting in His Life as theirs to please the Father, there is a new motivation of excitement in living His Life! In Christ there is a spiritual adrenaline for obedience and good works! The Holy Spirit motivates with spiritual truth and sound doctrine for obedience. No longer are you trying to earn God’s favor, but with greater and greater effort you are living in it! The grace of God is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning.

Today, meditate on the truth that in Christ your life is His Life and that you are fully pleasing to the Father in Him, and feel the excitement of spiritual adrenaline!