What Is Spiritual Rest? (Hebrews 3 and Psalm 95)

What is spiritual rest? Hebrews 3 (quoting Psalm 95) discusses a rest for the people of God in the spiritual promised land. Are you looking for a sermon on spiritual rest? Try reading or listening to this chapter from Work and Rest God’s Way for a better understanding!

Table of contentsThe Promised Land and Spiritual RestRebellion with the Twelve SpiesUrgently Enter the RestUnbelief Is a Heart IssueMoving from the Physical Rest to the Spiritual RestAn Important WarningThe Need for FaithThe Gospel in the Old TestamentGod Preached the Gospel to AbrahamGod Preached the Gospel to Adam and EveCombining the Gospel with FaithA Continual RestA Spiritual Rest That Is Still AvailableGod’s Spiritual Rest Is Not about a Physical LocationFootnotes

John Eliot was a Puritan missionary to the American Indians, pastor of the First Church in Roxbury, and founder of the Roxbury Latin School in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He fulfilled his pastoral duties, including preaching biweekly into his eighties, while ministering to the Indians. He took up court cases for their property rights, pleaded for clemency for them, fought against them being sold into slavery, sought to secure lands and streams for their use, and established schools for them. He labored to consolidate Indians so they could enjoy a Christian society, and at one point, there were fourteen towns of “Praying Indians.” Eliot learned their tongue so he could translate sermon transcripts, the Bible, and twenty other books into their language.121

Eliot was busier than most of us can imagine. He seemed as though he lived the lives of many men. Why do many of God’s most faithful servants work the hardest, and yet are rested and at peace? The answer is there’s a rest that’s not physical. The most important rest is spiritual, and they experience it. Conversely, why do some of the laziest people, who do the least, seem overwhelmed and filled with anxiety? They experience physical rest, but they lack spiritual rest.

The Promised Land and Spiritual Rest

The clearest passage explaining spiritual rest is Hebrews 3:7–4:11. Rest is the theme of the verses as the word occurs twelve times. The author of Hebrews also references the Old Testament extensively in these verses. Unfortunately, sometimes people read the Old Testament and think, “What does this have to do with me? How can I learn from people who lived so long ago and whose lives are so different from mine?” These are unfortunate questions because the New Testament states the Old Testament provides us with examples and instruction:

“For whatever things were written [in the Old Testament] were written for our learning” (Romans 15:4).

“Now all these things happened to [the Israelites] as examples, and they were written for our admonition” (1 Corinthians 10:11).

Often, the Old Testament provides a backdrop for New Testament instruction. One such example takes place as the author of Hebrews reveals that the Promised Land is a type and shadow of the spiritual rest God offers His people.

Rebellion with the Twelve Spies

We must be familiar with Israel’s rebellion on the border of the Promised Land. In Numbers 13 and 14, the twelve spies returned after spending forty days examining the land. They shared their report with the nation, that while the land was as wonderful as God said, it was also filled with enemies. Ten of the spies said Israel couldn’t defeat the enemies, but Joshua and Caleb said God would give them victory.

Tragically, the people believed the ten spies, so they didn’t believe God; therefore, God said the nation couldn’t enter. They would’ve received the land the next day, which means what was about to be a wonderful blessing for them, ended up being a moment of historic discipline. Israel was forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years—one year for each day the spies were in the land (Numbers 14:34). The generation of unbelief would die, but their children,